I avoided Levi as much as I could for the rest of that day. At night I had a peculiar dream about this, too.
In my dream, every time I went out to prepare something in the kitchen I made sure to finish doing that as quickly as possible so that I could go back to my room. However, during one of those times he caught me red-handed taking snacks from the fridge at midnight.
"Don't run," he said quickly, "You've been doing that all day, and I just want to talk..."
I didn't have the heart to face him, so I kept my back for him. "Oh, okay..."
"I just... wanted to thank you for helping me recover," Levi said, "And sorry for treating you like that when you were the one who made me feel better..."
"It's okay," I said, smiling to myself.
"You're not going to turn around?"
"Uhm..."
I heard his footsteps come closer. "Why not?"
I turned around and found him right in front of me. He was clothed, but all I could see was the image of his naked chest.
"Eyes up here," he said, smirking.
I blushed deeply and looked up at him. Levi rested his hand on my cheek and leaned in closer to me, ready for a kiss...
And then I woke up. I wanted to get back to sleep to continue dreaming. I wanted to know so badly how his lips felt...
Okay, I had to calm down now. This was getting out of hand. How was I supposed to face Levi now after having this dream? It was obviously not the first time that I saw him with his bare chest out, considering our sleepover the other day, but why was it killing me like this now that I had a crush on him? It was just a dream, but it felt so damn real.
The next Sunday morning I woke up early as usual. I wasn't in the mood to prepare a fancy breakfast again; my headache was still there. When I was hanging around in the kitchen to fix myself a quick sandwich, I noticed that the pancakes that I left for Levi yesterday were gone. So he ate them after all.
I left him a note on the kitchen table telling him that I would be going out for a moment. I grabbed my car keys and went out. I just wanted some fresh air, to be honest. And I really wanted to talk to Tina. I knew she wasn't a morning person, but I didn't want to wait till tomorrow to talk to her at work.
I pulled up to Tina's house and got out of my car. I went to her front door and knocked at the door. I didn't expect her to answer the door, but surprisingly she answered it pretty quickly. Well, not Tina, but some guy I've never met before.
"Hi," he said, eyeing me up and down. He had a thick British accent.
"Hi, where's Tina?" I asked, ignoring his advances.
"Who's asking?"
I rolled my eyes. "What, do you think I'm some kind of police officer? I'm a friend. Let me in, I need to talk to her."
"She's asleep," he said, yawning.
"Then I'll wait for her. Who are you exactly?"
"A friend," he said, smirking at me. I got the hint. They must have hooked up.
He let me in and I went straight to Tina's bedroom, trying to ignore the overall messiness of her house. I sat on her bed and waited patiently for her to open her eyes while I played with my phone.
While waiting for her I got a text message. Levi. I was shocked because Levi barely ever texted me. He was asking me where I went off to. I texted back telling him I went to Tina's.
'Thanks for helping me recover,' he texted back, 'And sorry. I'm not used to having someone look after me. Let me make it up to you.'
I smiled. 'What do you have in mind?'
'You wanted to go to the amusement park, right? Let's go tonight.'
Before I got to send him a reply, Tina groaned.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, stretching her arms out.
"I haven't heard from you in a while, so I came over," I told her, grinning at her, "Who's that guy in there?"
Tina blinked a few times. "Uhh... What was his name again? Matt? Marvin? Something with an M..." She yawned again.
"I hope you guys used protection, especially if you can't even remember the guy's name," I teased.
"I honestly can't remember anymore. I had a bit too much last night. And then this happened. He's still here?"
"Maybe he doesn't think it was just a one-night stand."
Tina groaned again. Moments later the guy walked in her room with an apple in his hand and handed it to Tina. She thanked him halfheartedly and took a bite from the apple. After he left, I looked at Tina.
"He brought you an apple," I noted, grinning mischievously at her, "He's a keeper."
"Oh please," Tina said, giving me a weird look, "What are you really doing here, Scarlett? Is everything alright?"
I looked away from her. "I signed the divorce papers two days ago."
Tina gasped. "Really? And he didn't pull any stunts?"
"Carly was there."
"Did you go alone?"
I shook my head. "No, Levi came along."
Tina was silent, so I looked at her. She was just staring at me.
"Tina, can I ask you something?"
She nodded.
"Do you still like Levi?"
She didn't answer me. In fact, she couldn't even look at me now.
"Tina?" I tried, "Please, I just want to know."
Tina breathed out heavily. "I don't know, I guess I may still have some lingering feelings for him. Or maybe it's the whole fact that it's you who's with him... I don't know."
"What about me?" I asked her surprised.
"I don't want you to get hurt, Scar."
"Why would I get hurt by him?"
Tina frowned, frustrated. "You just got out of a serious relationship. You should take things slowly."
"I am," I defended, "If you're talking about what happened at work on Thursday, let me clear something up. He was pretending to be my boyfriend so that Colt could leave me alone."
"Pretend? Scar, he's not the type who would fake something like that."
"What are you saying?"
"He wouldn't pretend to like someone unless he actually likes them."
I blushed at this. Just the thought of it... Nah, there was no way.
"But Scar, something about him feels off..." She paused for a moment. "Why is he keeping his past a secret?"
"He's opening up to me a little," I admitted to her without going into too much detail.
"What do you mean?"
"He told me a bit about his sister the other day. I found her clothes in the dresser when I first moved there, so he knew that I was aware of someone living there before me."
"He told you about his sister?" Tina grimaced. "I guess maybe I was being too pushy. He never told me anything."
I didn't know what to say to this. Her shoulders slumped.
"Do you think I should get married already?" she asked me.
I chuckled. "I can't answer that," I replied.
"I just can't seem to find the right guy." She sighed. "I thought Levi was 'the one' for a long time, but we dated for such a short time. We dated out of curiosity, but Levi never really liked me. At first, I didn't either. But right when we broke up, I started having some feelings for him. But it was too late. Now that I see you two, I believe that you're the one he trusts the most. Hell, he even went as far as to ask you to live with him."
I grabbed hold of her hand. "Thanks for being honest with me."
"I was right the other day, wasn't I? You do like Levi."
I blushed, and Tina laughed.
"That's a 'yes'," she stated.
"We're going to the amusement park tonight," I told her, blushing even more now.
"Oh damn, get it girl," Tina replied, laughing, "It's so obvious that he likes you. He asked you out on a date."
Date? Wait, I didn't think this was going to be a date. I told him about going there because I wanted to pay him back for buying me a phone. But now he was asking me to go so that he could make it up to me. We were in an endless cycle. But... a date? Was this really a date?
"What will you be wearing?" Tina asked me.
"I don't... have anything special..." I told her, "I want to wear a dress, but not the ones that I own. Something that's not too formal. Maybe I should buy something?"
Tina jumped to her feet immediately. "Let's go shopping."
Hours later I was dressed and ready to go. In the end I didn't buy a new dress. I bought a black, deep V-neck sweater and paired it up with some jeans with some heels to match. But on second thought, I decided to switch my heels for ordinary trainers. I was going to an amusement park after all, not a fancy restaurant.
Somehow Coraline found out about my 'date' with Levi, and she was sending me lots of luck and love through text. Honestly, I couldn't have asked for better friends. Coraline was... well, Coraline. She wanted Tina and I to be happy and loved it whenever we talked about someone we liked. And although Tina was jealous of my relationship with Levi, she still helped me choose what to wear and even gave me tips on what I could do with my hair. I admired people who could create different hairstyles and whatnot, because all I ever did with my hair was let it hang loose or tie it up in a messy bun. I didn't have long hair that I could do a lot with. My dark brown hair was shoulder-length, and today I was able to make it a bit wavy thanks to some videos that Tina showed me earlier.
I finished off my make-up by using a dark red lipstick. Ironically, Colt used to love this lipstick a lot. I got out of my bedroom and went to the living room to wait for Levi.
A while later I heard his footsteps coming from the stairs. I was having some grapes when Levi approached me. I handed him the bowl of grapes and asked him if he wanted some. He lifted his eyebrows at me.
"You look... nice," he said.
I grinned, feeling a bit giddy at his comment. "Why do you sound so surprised? Do I usually look like a cardboard box?"
"I-I didn't say that..."
I couldn't help laughing. He snatched some grapes from me and threw them in his mouth. Seeing Levi flustered made my whole day a thousand times better.
Levi insisted on buying the tickets, so I let him do it. The amusement park wasn't that crowded. It almost felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. Since both Levi and I weren't fans of big crowds, this was perfect for us.
We went on some slow rides first before deciding to go on the roller coaster. I wasn't a roller coaster type of person, but apparently Levi was. So I did it for him. Here's the thing about roller coasters... They're amazing once you're on it, but as soon as you get off, you'll feel like your world is still spinning. It was funny, because Levi was laughing at how much I was holding him by the time we got off the roller coaster.
"I should have known," I muttered, "The ride was called Insane Drop. My insides are a total mush right now."
Levi laughed. "Let's go again."
"Are you crazy? You're crazy, aren't you?"
"I was joking. Where to next?"
"I just... really need to sit down."
We found a nearby bench that was empty and sat down. Levi told me to wait for him and went off to go buy something to drink for me. As soon as he walked off, a random guy approached me. It was your typical damsel-in-distress scene that you saw in movies where some guy would try to flirt with a woman, and then the guy she liked would come out of nowhere to save her. However, I was a teacher. I was used to teens acting out on their raging hormones. This guy was a bit older than a teenager, but what was the difference? Who knows, maybe he also had some hormone issues he had to work out.
"A beautiful woman like you shouldn't be sitting here all alone," he said with a disgusting smirk on his face.
I ignored him. He told me a few more things, but I didn't respond to him. They were like flies. Maybe if you ignored them enough, they would go away. But in this case, ignoring him destroyed his ego and made him annoyed. He grabbed my hand, and I slapped it away.
"You need to get a life," I told him finally, looking him dead in his eyes.
"You little..."
"Little what? Aren't you ashamed of yourself? You're never going to get a girlfriend like this. Why don't you just throw away that stupid macho attitude and be yourself? It's never too late to change."
"What, are you going to start preaching now?"
"Should I continue?" I asked him, "Or will you just get out of my sight and I'll pretend this never happened?"
He raised his hands up in defeat and shook his head. He scurried away as quickly as he could. Levi walked up to me just then, giving the man a surprised look as he ran away.
"What was that about?" he asked me, "Someone you know?"
"No, he was trying to flirt with me or something," I said, sighing annoyed.
"Don't those situations usually end up in a fight of some sorts? I've never heard of a guy running away from this," he said amused, "What did you say?"
"I just did my job as a teacher," I told him, smiling innocently, "Making the world a better place."
He handed me a can of soda then sat down next to me. "You're something else, Scarlett."
"I'll take that as a compliment," I replied, popping the can open and drinking from it.
"It is," he said, snickering.
I took out my phone and snapped a few pictures of our surroundings.
"Okay, so where's your favorite place to go to when you're feeling stressed?"
"The beach," he said, "But only at night, when there's no one there."
"That's nice," I said, "I've never tried going at night before."
"It's pretty relaxing."
"Maybe I should take the girls along one day," I said, thinking out loud, "If it's just to chill, I should be able to take Coraline along."
"Why? She doesn't like swimming?"
"No, she's currently pregnant."
"Oh." Levi nodded. "That makes sense."
"I really messed up when she told Tina and I about it," I told him, "Somehow I got... jealous of her? I don't know."
"I can't imagine you getting jealous of your friends," Levi admitted to me, "You don't seem like you're that type."
"And I'm not," I agreed, "I'm surprised it happened in the first place."
"What were you jealous of exactly? If I may ask."
I looked down at the cold can of soda in my hands. "Oh, it's just... that I can't have kids. Maybe that was why Colt left me."
"If that was his real reason for leaving you, then he's an even bigger jackass than I had imagined."
"Wouldn't you have done the same?" I asked him, curious for his answer.
"Of course not," he said almost immediately, "First of all, I wouldn't have cheated. It ruins the purpose of my job, too. And second of all, cheating because your spouse can't have a child sounds ridiculous to me."
"Thanks," I said, smiling at him.
"I'm just saying," he said, "That couldn't have been the reason he left you. And you shouldn't keep brooding over the reason, either. It's not worth it."
"I know," I muttered.
"I wouldn't have left you if I were married to you."
It took me a moment to process Levi's words. What... was he trying to say? Was he just trying to cheer me up as a friend? Or was something else going on here?
"Hey Levi." I turned to him. "Is there a reason why you said you don't want to be my friend?"