Amia
The rain comes down harder, but it’s as if time stands still. Everything freezes and everyone that had been behind us in the quad and in front of us in the parking lots disappeared. Sweat ran down my neck despite the cool rain that quickly soaked my clothes. I gripped Liz’s arm tightly as I called on courage I wasn’t sure I had. The only sound was the pounding of blood in my ears and the pitter-patter-pit of rain as it came down on the roofs of the cars and bounced against the concrete floor.
When I turn around to find who was behind us, I feel her physically relax by my side. My eyes instantly lock on Levi and all of the air is expelled from my lungs. Relief washes over me with the rain and drips from my hair. I had been trying to brace myself to face Dylan, but now that I knew it wasn’t him, I knew how not ready I really was.
After what happened last night, I know I need to make some changes, but I’m not ready to think about it yet. I’m not ready to deal with it today. Levi steps towards us and it’s like someone pressed the play button. The quad and parking lot were filled with people and everyone was moving again. He looked the same as he had earlier, he stood like a god among peasants.
In the blink of an eye, he closed the distance between us and I had to dip my head back to look up at him. Now that he was within arms reach, he tipped the umbrella closer to us and farther from him. The rain dripped from the umbrella and landed on his shoulder. One after the other the raindrops started to drench his shoulder. I searched his eyes for a hint of the red I saw earlier.
There’s none.
“Mm… there’s my favorite stalker,” Liz teased.
My face heated as Levi gave her a pointed look. She winked at him and he shook his head. I elbowed her and when she looked at me she had a look of mock shock there as if she had no idea what I was getting at. I gave her the “shut up” look and she rolled her eyes. I noticed that Levi made her feel at ease as much as he made me.
The stress had completely evaporated from her body and the anxious look in her eye was nowhere to be seen. A smile spread across her face as she too looked up at Levi. It was obvious to me that she preferred Levi to Dylan, but more so now.
“Thanks for walking Amia earlier. Is there something we can help you with?” Liz asked as she bat her eyelashes at him.
“I just wanted to see what my two favorite girls are up to,” Levi said.
“Favorite girls? Us?” Liz smiled.
“I must have heard wrong because I’m sure that’s Natalie,” I said.
“Ah kitten, are you jealous?” Levi asked. The husk in his voice caused goosebumps to break out across my skin, but I blamed it on the cold from the rain.
“Far from it. You seem to forget that I have a boyfriend,” I said. At the mention of Dylan, Levi stills, the smile drops from his face, and his darken. Something flashes in his eyes, but it’s gone as soon as I’ve seen it.
“I can’t seem to forget that little bit of information, no,” Levi murmured.
“Why are we bringing him into this?” Liz asked.
Levi’s eyes trail over my face and even though I’ve got a full layer of makeup on I feel naked. His eyes pausing over the bruises that lay hidden just beneath the surface. I almost believe he can see them. He reaches out his hand, but freezes an inch away from my cheek. His finger brushing against the bruise on my cheekbone.
“I agree with Liz. Let’s not bring him into this,” Levi said. His eyes flashed with amusement and I couldn’t help but smile.
“What do you want Levi?” I asked.
He doesn’t answer me for a moment, his eyes searched mine. Only when his hand drops from my cheek does he blink, a smile pulling at his lips.
“I wanted to hang out,” he said.
“That doesn’t make any sense. I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but we don’t do…. this. We don’t talk at school and we don’t hang out after. We’ve got somewhere to—”
“That sounds great! We could use an extra person, couldn’t we, Amia?” Liz asked.
She turned to me so only she could see my face. Her eyes darted back and forth between Levi and Dylan’s Audi. I swallowed knowing what she was getting at. We were about to walk in the rain to the coffee shop to possibly meet a stranger. The best choice of action would be to take Levi with us. That way we weren’t alone. We would feel a little safer knowing that Levi was with us and I wouldn’t feel like I was putting Liz in danger by having her come with me, even though I didn’t invite her. I knew there would be no changing her mind now. I sighed.
“We could,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Excellent. Where are we going?” Levi asked.
“We’re going into town,” I said.
“And you were going to walk all the way there?” Levi asked.
“I walk everywhere Levi,” I said.
He threw his arm around my shoulder and I could practically hear Liz squealing in my hand. She had always been a fan of Levi and I had to try hard not to laugh at the way she wiggled excitedly beside me.
“You’re not walking today. Remind me again why we are going to town?” Levi asked.
“I’m meeting someone,” I said as we walked.