by Raathi Chota
“Ready to go?” Levi asked as he leaned against the doorframe.
“Yeah.” I smiled as I grabbed my phone. Benny went to the basketball game, so Levi was going to visit Blake. I decided to tag along since I had to give him his Christmas gift. I walked downstairs, where I saw Jade and Richard in the living room. Their suitcases were placed on the sofa as they packed. I raised a brow as I stared at Levi’s stuff, which was all over the room.
“When are you guys leaving?” I asked.
“Since I must get back to work and it will take three days to drive back to California, we must leave on the first of January,” Richard said.
“Tomorrow’s your last day.” I frowned at Levi.
“We’re leaving around noon, though,” Jade added.
“Yeah, and Levi…” Richard trailed off as he gave his son a look. Levi slowly shook his head, and Richard scoffed. “Whenever you’re ready, son,” Richard said, then walked out of the room. Jade walked up to Levi and put her hand on his cheek.
“Not bit by bit. Everything, Levi Ramone Radcliff,” she said in a serious tone. I watched as she walked out of the room, then turned to Levi. He already had his gaze on me as he bit his lip.
“What was that about?” I asked. He let out a sigh, then approached me. He placed his hands on my arms as I stared into his deep blue eyes.
“Some things in California happened, and I…I’m not ready to tell you, princess.”
“Are they bad things?”
“Awful,” he said, then wrapped his arms around me. I rested my head on his shoulder as we swayed. “But we shouldn’t let that spoil the day. Come on.”
***
We drove in silence at first as I looked out the window to see everything covered in snow. I turned to my left, where Levi was focused on the road.
“Hey, look in the back,” he said after a while. I raised a brow as I looked over my shoulder to where a gift bag was on the seat. I reached over and picked it up. I put it on my lap and oddly stared at it. “Since you already gave me my Christmas gift, here’s yours. It’s a bit late, but I could only get it yesterday.”
I picked up the object and gasped when I saw the vinyl of Bastille I admired at the Winter Wonderland.
“Oh my god. Thank you, Levi,” I said as I took in every detail.
“No problem, princess.” The corner of his mouth rose as he looked at me. I playfully punched his shoulder since I couldn’t hug him. I didn’t think I’d get a gift from Levi; he always joked around and said he was my gift.
After ten minutes, we arrived at the Gunner household. It seemed like everyone was home since there were three vehicles. We got out and walked to the front door. I rang the doorbell and stepped back while Levi stood behind me. A sudden noise came as I looked over my shoulder and saw Scruffy.
“Oh no,” I mumbled as I crept behind Levi.
“Hey, buddy,” Levi greeted as he crouched down and patted Scruffy. The dog turned to me and barked. I yelped from his noise as I slowly backed away. “What the heck did you do, princess?” Levi laughed as he held Scruffy back.
“Nothing!” I exclaimed.
“Ha, watch this,” Levi said as he crouched down and formed a ball from the snow. “You want it?” he asked Scruffy as he threw it up and down. Scruffy jumped as he eyed the snowball. “Go get it!” Levi ordered, then threw the snowball. We watched as Scruffy ran after it. The snowball landed flat in the snow. The dog stopped as he searched for it.
“Shame on you!” I said as we snickered. We watched Scruffy as he spun around and watched us. He let out a growl as we froze.
“Shit,” Levi cussed as I ran to the door and rang the bell again. “Yo, Gunner, open up!” Levi exclaimed as the dog ran over to us. Scruffy continued to bark as I rang the doorbell. It flew open with a confused Mrs. Gunner.
“Axel, come and control your dog!” she yelled, then pulled us in. Axel entered the room with a wide grin spread across his face. He gave us a cheeky wave, then walked out the door.
“Hi, Mrs. Gunner. Hope you had a lovely Christmas.” I smiled as she pulled me in for a hug.
“Nice to see you two again. Oh, we had a lovely Christmas! Always good seeing the Rowleys,” she said as she motioned us to follow her. She continued to talk about Christmas as I tried to listen. Levi tapped my shoulder, and I looked at him. He whipped out her present. He was so eager to get her the gift, which confused me. We barely knew Mrs. Gunner, yet he got her such an expensive gift. “I made Blake’s favorite. He loves red velvet. Want some?”
“Yes please,” Levi said as I nodded. As she took out bowls, Levi placed the envelope next to the cake. I nervously bit my lip as she spun around and stared at it.
“Merry Christmas!” Levi and I said in unison.
“Oh my God,” she breathed out. “Thank you, but you didn’t have to.”
“We wanted to,” Levi said as she slowly opened it. To see her reaction was priceless. She covered her mouth as her eyes widened.
“Sending me away for the weekend to a beach resort.” Mrs. Gunner wiped moisture from her eyes.
“Yeah,” I stated as she walked around the island and hugged us.
“Oh, thanks, you two!”
“You’re welcome, Mrs. Gunner. We know how hard it is to have a full-time job, be a single parent, and having two beasts to feed,” Levi said as I gave him a strange look.
“Thank you again. I don’t know when I’ll use it, though,” she said.
“You can use it any time before spring break,” Levi said.
“Thanks.” She cut us a piece of cake. We took a seat and ate the delicious red velvet cake.
“Where’s Blake?” I asked.
“He’s in the shower,” Mrs. Gunner replied.
“Hey, pumpkin,” Axel called as he entered the kitchen with a plain box.
“Axel?” his mom asked as he set the box on the table.
“Yeah, Momma?”
“You don’t refer to a woman as ‘pumpkin,’ especially that kind of word,” Mrs. Gunner reprimanded as Levi snorted.
“Wha—she likes it, don’t you?” he asked.
“Err…” I trailed off as I shook my head.
“She even has a boyfriend, Axel. I don’t think he likes that you call his girlfriend a vegetable,” Mrs. Gunner added as I chuckled.
“Momma,” Axel whined.
“Call her by her name,” Mrs. Gunner said in a neutral tone. Axel turned to me with a blank look. He bit his lip and tilted his head.
“Y-you don’t know my name?”
“I do. How could I forget?” He mumbled the last part as he took a quick glance at Levi and his mom. I raised a brow as I watched Mrs. Gunner shift in her seat uncomfortably as Levi turned away. “It’s Lana. Lana Jane Willson,” Axel said as he smiled at me. I gave an awkward smile back as I watched him move the box closer to me. “You forgot your vinyl in my car the other day.”
“Thanks,” I said as I looked at the Mayday Parade and Alt-J label.
“Well, I gotta get to work. You kids enjoy, and baby, don’t call her a vegetable again,” Mrs. Gunner said as she stood up and kissed Axel on the cheek. Levi and I waved, then watched as she walked out of the kitchen. In the hall, I saw Blake walk out; he stopped when he saw his mother. She spoke to him, then gave him a kiss too. I looked opposite me to see Levi stand up as Axel motioned him to follow. I watched as the two walked in the direction of Blake. Levi greeted him with a handshake and pointed at me. I immediately went back to my cake when they turned to me. Out the corner of my eye, I saw someone enter the kitchen. When I glanced up, I saw Blake cut himself a piece of cake.
“Hey, baby girl.” He bit his lip as I scowled. He called me that recently, and it annoyed me.
“Please…don’t call me that,” I said.
“Why not? My brother can call you pumpkin and Levi calls you princess, so why not?”
“It’s just—no. Why do you call me that?”
“Because one day you’ll be my girl. Then I’ll call you baby.”
> “Never.” I held my fork back and shot the cake in his face. It landed on his nose as I laughed. His finger reached up and wiped the cake off then ate it. “Ew,” I groaned. I shook my head at his immaturity then continued to eat my cake. I glanced up and noticed Blake’s stare. I raised a brow yet diverted my eyes to his crewneck. It was black and had The Killers on the front. “Nice crewneck.”
“Thanks, Axel got it for me,” he said.
“Cool. What’s your favorite song?” I asked as we locked eyes.
“Smile Like You Mean It,” he said. “Favorite My Chemical Romance song?”
“The Light Behind Your Eyes,” I replied. Blake nodded, then returned to his cake. I finished, so I stood up and walked to the sink. When I placed my plate in the sink, I remembered why I came.
“Oh. Your Christmas gift,” I said, then spun around. He got up and walked over to me with his empty plate. He stood in front of me and reached behind to put his plate in the sink. Blake looked down at me with a smile.
“Yours too,” he said, then walked out of the kitchen. I quickly followed behind him as we walked down the hall. Music blared through one room, which I assumed was Axel’s, followed by laughter. I entered Blake’s room and took everything in. Even though I’ve been in here once, it was during the night, and the next morning was an absolute blur since I ran to his bathroom to puke. It looked the same with the many posters on the wall. He had a clean desk and shelves built above with a bunch of tools displayed. Blake had his back turned to me as he rummaged through his drawer. I took out the little box from my coat pocket and waited. He spun around with a small box too, but he had a little bow.
“You go first,” we said in unison. We laughed as I raised a hand to stop him.
“I’ll go,” I mumbled, then gave him the box. I nervously watched as he opened it. “I’ve noticed that you didn’t have one and you always used Levi’s or matches so…” I trailed off as he took out the Zippo lighter.
“Thanks.” He chuckled.
“Also, the guy said I could get it engraved, so I put your name, because it’s for you, and my name, since it’s from me.” I pointed to our names.
“Cool. Now my gift will be sorta cheesy.” He sighed then took out a cigarette. I watched in awe as he flicked open the Zippo and lit his cigarette. He inhaled the smoke then blew it in my face. He put the lighter in his pocket and handed me the cigarette. I put it between my lips as he held out my present. I took a drag and exhaled it in his face. He slowly bit his lip and laughed. “You do realize we indirectly kissed,” he said as I gave him the cigarette.
“Whatever,” I said, then took the box and opened it. I raised the familiar chain and observed it.
“I noticed that whenever you check me out, you look at my dog tag. So I got you one. Well, I always had more since my dad used to collect them,” he said.
“Thank you, but it’s your da—”
“I have quite a few. He used to travel around the country and collect one from each state. That one’s from home.” He pointed at mine.
“And yours?” I looked at his.
“Connecticut.” He smiled, then took the dog tag from me. “Yeah, so err…I did the cheesiest thing known to mankind because Axel said so. I got our initials engraved on it.”
“Wow, Blake Gunner.” I observed our initials, B and L, that were drawn in cursive. He took the chain and walked around me. I bit the inside of my cheek as he moved my hair to the side so that he’d put it on. His fingers grazed on the back of my neck as he clipped it. I spun around and looked up. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he said, then put the cigarette to his lips.
“Did Levi ever go to Minnesota?” I randomly asked. Blake slowly shook his head and raised a brow. I bit my lip and looked down. My thoughts diverted to earlier in the kitchen when Axel said he knew my name, then looked at Levi and his mom. “Did Axel ever visit Illinois before you guys moved here?”
“Yeah, we all did. Once a year for the summer and then we’d stay at Aidan’s,” Blake replied. “Last summer was weird, though. He stayed longer.”
I opened my mouth to say something but cut off when my phone rang. I mouthed a sorry to Blake as I took out my phone then walked out of the room.
“Hello.”
“Hey, babe,” Benny greeted as I leaned against the wall.
“Hi, you leave for the game yet?”
“Yeah, we just got here. Listen, err…I need a favor. That’s if you’re not busy.”
“N-not at all.”
“Well, my parents left for Wisconsin this morning, so Sam’s all alone at home, bu—”
“He’s all alone!”
“No, no, no! There are people there. I just need you to check up on him…and, well, them too,” Benny mumbled. “But if you’re busy, I understa—”
“No, it’s cool. I’ll go. Enjoy the game,” I said as I walked back into Blake’s room.
“Oh, thank you. You’re a lifesaver and thanks again for the tickets,” he said, then ended the call.
“Who was that?” Blake asked as he played with his lighter.
“Benny, he wants me to go to his house.”
“Okay, I’ll take you.”
“Are you sure?” I asked as we walked out of the room and into the living room.
“Yeah, it’s cool,” he said, then put on his black denim jacket. He grabbed two helmets that were hung up and handed one to me. We walked out into the cold weather where Blake’s motorcycle was.
“C-can I drive?” I mumbled. He turned to me with a confused look and eyed me up and down.
“Can you?”
“Yes! How do you think I got to the station that night of the drugs?” I asked as I put on my helmet.
“Sure, okay.” He chuckled. I walked to the motorcycle then swung my left leg over it as I gripped the handles. Out the corner of my eye, I noticed Blake’s stare.
“You just gonna stand there or what?”
“Sorry, just enjoying the view,” he said as I sat on the motorcycle. A few seconds later, I felt the weight as Blake sat behind me. I turned the key then started the bike. Blake’s arms wrapped around my waist as he kicked the side stand in. I drove out of the driveway and onto the road. At first, I turned slowly and got used to the motorcycle, but after five minutes, I cruised. A smile formed on my face as the wind sent chills through my body. I felt Blake’s hand on mine as we held the accelerator. I kept my eyes on the road as he turned it. The motorcycle roared as I laughed. After ten minutes, we arrived at Benny’s house. I parked the bike in the front as Blake kicked out the side stand. I removed my helmet then got off the motorcycle.
“That was fun.” I grinned.
“It was. Not bad. I’ve taught you well.” He smirked as I gave him the helmet.
“You’re acting kind of weird these past few days. What’s going on?” I asked as he scooted to the front of the motorcycle.
“Actions speak louder than words, baby girl,” he said, then put the visor on. Without another word, he started the motorcycle and sped off. I was frustrated, so I stomped my foot on the ground. Since there was snow, I almost fell but quickly regained my balance. I walked to the front and raised my hand to knock, but the door flew open with Carter in front of me.
“Ugh, you’re not the pizza guy,” he groaned, then spun around. I stepped into the house and shut the door behind me.
“What gave you that idea?” I asked sarcastically.
“Well, first, you don’t have pizza; second, you’re not a guy; and third, you have nice boobs,” he said, and I immediately covered my breasts. “Take it as a compliment.” Carter laughed as he pointed at me. I rolled my eyes as I watched him sit on the sofa and scroll through his phone.
“Wh-where’s Sam?”
“He’s in the basement. Ugh, it’s been thirty-one minutes and fifteen seconds. Ha, thank goodness, I ordered five boxes.”
“Wow, that’s a lot,” I said as I walked toward the basement.
“Well, we’re
hungry as fudge,” he said as I walked downstairs.
“Dude, come on, you can’t be on your phone all the time. What the hell you even doing on there? Watching anime po—”
“Checking your mom out on Tinder!” Sam said as I reached downstairs.
“Damn, that hurt,” Aidan said as he put his hand on his chest.
“I don’t need babysitters!” Sam exclaimed, then spun around to face me. His expression immediately changed as he smirked at me. “On second thought, maybe I do need one.” He grinned then walked toward me. Aidan and Liam scowled and strolled to the sofa. “Hey, cutie. If I were an octopus, all three of my hearts would belong to you.”
“Damn,” Liam said as he flicked through the channels.
“Err…yeah,” I said.
“Pizza’s here, blokes!” Carter said as he carried five boxes down the stairs. I sat between Liam and Aidan as Carter put the boxes on the coffee table. Sam came and squeezed between Aidan and me.
“Hey!” Aidan pointed out, since he was halfway off the sofa.
“Got a problem? My house,” Sam stated as my eyes widened.
“N-no, here, eat pizza,” Aidan mumbled as he shoved a slice in Sam’s mouth.
“Hey, you’re wasting good food!” Liam called out as he reached over me to get the pizza Aidan shoved down Sam’s throat. Sam swallowed the whole thing, and Liam’s jaw dropped. Aidan reached over for another, but I quickly stopped him.
“That hurt,” Sam whined as he pointed at Aidan. “Lana, it hurt!”
“Aidan!” I scowled as Aidan threw his arms up and backed away. Sam frowned as he put his arms around me and cried.
“I was playing!” Aidan said as he looked at Sam. “He’s faking it!” He pointed. I scoffed as I swung my arm around Sam’s shoulder. I glanced down and noticed he pulled his tongue. Aidan opened his to argue, but I quickly leaned forward.
“Okay…let’s see what’s on TV,” I sighed as I took a slice of pizza. Carter agreed as he flicked through the channels.
***
“Ugh, I’m bored,” Sam whined as he leaned his head on my shoulder.
“Yeah, let’s do something fun. This is boring,” Aidan said as he turned off the television.
