Fire and Love

by Erin Wright

  Before they could go back to their awkward staring contest, Tenny asked hurriedly, “What are you doing?”

  “Shopping,” he answered dryly.

  Right.

  Scintillating conversation we’re having here.

  As they continued to stare at each other, Tenny worried her bottom lip. She wanted to go camping with Moose and Georgia and Levi, even if it did involve a three-day stint with hordes of mosquitoes, and she wanted to be able to breathe while around Levi.

  Somehow, though, it kinda looked like neither of those two things were going to end up happening.

  She tried to think of a casual way to bring it up – So, been doing much camping lately with Moose? – but her mind was blank.

  Well, not blank. It was whirling right along, focused on the Superman curl across Levi’s forehead, and how his thick eyebrows and strong jaw gave off the all-too-true impression that he knew what he wanted and how he wanted it, and how his bulging muscles created dips and valleys everywhere she looked, tempting her to run her teeth over them…

  Yeah, her mind wasn’t blank. It just wasn’t producing anything useful, or at least, anything she could say out loud.

  “Well, I’ll let you get to it, then,” she said finally, when the silence was unbearable and she couldn’t handle one more moment of it. “Cook will have my head if I don’t hurry–”

  “Do you have any plans for this weekend?” Levi broke in, his deep voice rumbling through her, starting with her turquoise-painted toes and working its way up her body.

  “Ummm…no. Not yet,” she said truthfully. Not unless you ask me to go camping, that is. She decided to keep her mouth shut and just see what he said. If weekend plans included being forced to practice yet another Beethoven piece on the piano, listen to her mother prattle on about how disloyal Georgia was for stealing Tennessee’s fiancé away from her (everyone seemed to have forgotten that Moose had never actually proposed to Tennessee, let alone her having said yes to the idea), and listen to her father rant and rave about how you can’t trust anyone these days, not even Rocky’s children…

  Well then sure, she had plenty of weekend plans.

  Just none that she actually wanted.

  “Moose, Georgia, and I were going to go camping this weekend, up in the Goldfork Mountains,” Levi continued.

  “Oh, how fun!” Tenny said, an overly bright smile blossoming on her face.

  “Fun?” Levi echoed, cocking one of his thick, dark eyebrows at her.

  “Well, I mean, I think it’s fun. I’ve never been camping before. But a tent, a sleeping bag, the great outdoors…that could be fun, right?” She stumbled to a stop, her cheeks flushing pink under his steady gaze. She was practically yelling, “TAKE ME, TAKE ME!” and wasn’t that just embarrassing as hell. She wasn’t used to begging people to include her in their plans. She was usually the center of people’s plans, or the one doing the planning. Just one of the side benefits of being one of the most popular girls in town.

  No, she definitely wasn’t used to having to beg people to include her.

  Silence.

  Then fiinnnnaallly…

  “Did you want to come along with? Give me someone to hang out with, since Moose and Georgia will spend all of their time either swapping spit or declaring their love to each other.” He grimaced at the thought.

  She mirrored that grimace. She was happy for her cousin, of course, and thrilled to pieces that she wasn’t the one in a relationship with Moose, but really, their love for each other was a bit puke inducing.

  “Well, if you’re okay with that,” she said hesitantly. “I’m sure it would be fun, but I don’t want to be in the way.” Because yeah, she really wanted to go, but only if Levi wanted her there. Being an unwanted third wheel wasn’t exactly her idea of a great way to spend the weekend, especially if she was going to have to do it without a single coffee shop in sight.

  “Good,” he grunted, ignoring her not-so-subtle plea for reassurance. “Usually we like to leave on Friday evenings but since Georgia has some things to do at work, we’ll be leaving Saturday morning instead. Can you be ready by then?”

  “Sure! Yeah! Of course!” she exclaimed brightly, and then mentally kicked herself. She really needed to tone down the enthusiasm. “Uh, well, see you Saturday morning. Bright and early.” She flashed a smile at Levi and then pushed her cart towards the checkout line, her heart going a million miles an hour.

  She was going to go camping with Levi.

  Now there were some weekend plans she could get excited about.

  Chapter 3

  Levi

  Levi made his way up the creaking, broken boards of his father’s rickety front steps, trying to find the most stable planks to step on. He really didn’t think that putting his foot through old, rotten wood could be classified as a good time, and as bonus points, his dad would just chew him out for “ruining” his porch. Levi rolled his eyes at the thought; as if this piece-of-shit conglomeration of rotten boards and rusty nails could actually be ruined. As he figured it, lighting it all on fire could only improve the look of the place.

  He rapped three times on the broken screen door and then eased it open, stepping into the dank, dark interior of his childhood home. “You home, Dad?” he called out, shuffling through the maze of refuse and garbage that covered the grimy floors. He held the bag of burgers up next to his head, not wanting to accidentally drop them into a pile of garbage and never be able to get them back out again. This also had the side benefit of helping to drown out the smells of the slowly disintegrating house, by putting the cheeseburgers right next to his nose.

  He heard a disgruntled grunt emanating from the living room, only barely perceptible over the blaring of the TV. Judge Judy was on, one of his dad’s favorite shows. Yelling at people for a living was right up his alley; listening to someone else do it was almost as enjoyable.

  Levi stepped to the doorway of the living room, his eyes still adjusting to the semi-darkness of the ramshackle house. His father kept the blinds drawn and a couple of lamps on 24/7, keeping his world in a constant state of twilight. He had no idea how his father knew what time it was.

  Actually, his father probably didn’t care what time it was. If his entire day consisted of drinking and watching TV, did it really matter if it was three in the afternoon or seven in the morning?

  “You have some good stuff in there, boy?” his father demanded, peering suspiciously at the bag of burgers in Levi’s hands.

  Good stuff, of course, meant alcohol. Pabst beer if he could get it; anything else if he couldn’t.

  “I already told you – I’m only bringing you food from now on,” Levi said firmly. “If you want alcohol, you’re gonna have to get it fro—”

  “Dammit, you worthless piece of shit!” his dad hollered, cutting him off. “If I wanted some damn food, I’d walk into the kitchen and get some. Worthless, just like your mother.”

  And so it began – the same rant his father always slipped into when Levi was doing anything other than supplying him with alcohol.

  “When she ran off, leaving a crying baby in my lap, I should’ve known better than to take care of you,” his dad snarled. “I should’ve dropped you off on the courthouse steps and gotten the hell out of Dodge. You’ve been nothin’ but a disappointment.” His watery blue eyes were like fiery orbs in the dim lighting, dancing with anger and hatred and disgust. “Why, if I could have back all the money I ever spent on you, feedin’ you and clothin’ you and makin’ sure you stayed warm, I wouldn’t have to ask you to bring your old man a little somethin’ to tide him over. I’d be rich! You can’t even—”

  The screen door banged shut behind Levi as he walked out of the dark, dingy house, his hands shaking, the bag of burgers left sitting on the cluttered mantle over the non-working fireplace.

  “I didn’t say you could leave!” he heard his father shout, the words drifting out of the house on the summer breeze, but Levi ignored it all, hurrying towards his truck and fre
edom.

  His dad, surprisingly short considering that he was his father, was also too lazy and too drunk to chase after him, not to mention that Levi had muscle and agility on his side. His dad had whooped his ass more times than Levi could possibly count growing up, but the beatings had stopped once he could stare his father in the eye. Bullies tended to do that – they only liked to beat on people who couldn’t defend themselves. Thank God his mom had apparently been some sort of Amazonian, considering how tall Levi grew up to be. If he’d been on the shorter side, the beatings could’ve continued until high school graduation.

  Not, of course, that Levi would ever know for sure how tall his biological mother was. His dad refused to discuss her at all, except to say she was a worthless whore who’d dumped a crying baby on his lap. The few times Levi had tried to pry information out of his dad, even the most basic of information like what was his mother’s name, where was she born, and what did she look like, his father had simply told him that he didn’t talk about bitches because they weren’t worth the waste of oxygen.

  Levi started driving the streets of Sawyer aimlessly, trying to get his hands to stop shaking and his heart to stop pounding. Despite the fact that he’d long ago told himself that he’d become immune to his father’s screaming fests, they still weren’t what he’d call enjoyable. Moose must’ve told him a hundred times to stop even trying, but Levi couldn’t help it. Watching his dad practically mold himself into his recliner; his hairline receding in tandem with his beer belly growing; eyes getting so watery, walking through his trash-strewn house was probably a death-defying stunt for him…

  It was hard to just turn his back on him, even if his father was a class-A douchebag.

  Levi finally made himself go home, to the empty rooms that made up his house. Being at home by himself every evening was soul-sucking. There was a reason why Levi was willing to go on this camping trip with Moose, despite the fact that it had been polluted by the presence of the female gender.

  Anything was better than yet another weekend by himself.

  And okay, yeah, so he’d added to the problem by asking Tennessee to come along too, but hell, he knew Moose wasn’t gonna agree to have a guys-only weekend, so if they were gonna be stuck with Georgia being there, Levi might as well have some eye candy to drool over. It was nothing more than that – it could never be more than that – but considering how stunningly, stupidly gorgeous she was, having Tennessee Rowland around wasn’t exactly gonna be a trial.

  Well, other than the whole no-scratching-his-nuts and no-wearing-just-his-boxers part.

  The shit he was willing to put up with for his best friend.

  He kicked off his boots and settled himself down onto his lumpy couch, flicking on the TV. Although it had been fun to have Moose sleep at his house for a couple of nights after he finally left his parent’s home behind, Levi was glad to have his couch back when Moose had moved up to Franklin. He hadn’t told Moose this, of course, but Levi hated his bed. It was supremely comfortable, supremely large, and…supremely lonely.

  Just him on a king-sized Tempur-Pedic mattress, all alone, just didn’t work, whereas he could actually sleep on his couch, lumpy or not. Its narrow confines kept him from tossing and turning all night long, reaching for someone who wasn’t there.

  He turned on a documentary about bats, and, stuffing his pillow underneath his head, shut his eyes, trying to drift off to sleep. Red-rimmed, bleary eyes haunted him, floating in the darkness.

  Worthless piece of shit…

  Worthless piece of shit…

  Shit…shit…shit…

  Chapter 4

  Tennessee

  Tenny stood on the curb in front of her parent’s home, the smallest suitcase she owned propped up against her leg as she waited for Moose to come pick her up. She’d managed to fit everything that she needed for two nights out in the wilderness into only this tiny bag, which she considered to be nothing short of a miracle. She’d spent the day before packing and unpacking and repacking the suitcase, trying to shove and cram every last item into place.

  It was stupidly early in the morning – who was honestly up at 7:30 in the morning on purpose?! – but on the bright side, it also meant that she didn’t have to listen to her mother harangue her about “poor life choices” yet again while she was trying to get out the door. Her mother didn’t get up before noon any more often than Tennessee did.

  Tenny had needed the time this morning to get her hair just right and stuff yet more last-minute items into her bag, but two and a half hours after her alarm had gone off, she was beginning to lose steam. Georgia had told her that their campsite was hours away, up in the mountains; maybe she could catch a nap in the backseat on the way.

  She was hiding a yawn behind her hand when Moose’s headlights caught her eye. They pierced the early morning darkness as he drove up Mansion Way towards her parent’s house.

  It wasn’t actually named that, of course – that was too ostentatious even for the richest farmers and business owners in the area – but it’s what everyone in town called it. Tenny was quite sure no one even knew the true name for the road (Golden Creek Way, which was only slightly less ostentatious, honestly) other than the post office employees.

  They even occasionally got mail made out to “425 Mansion Way” instead of “425 Golden Creek Way” but their delivery person made sure it got to the Rowland home anyway.

  Just one of the many benefits of living in a tiny town.

  Moose pulled to a stop in front of her in his piece-of-shit truck and jumped out, shooting her a quick hello as he grabbed her Louis Vuitton suitcase and hucked it into the bed of the truck. Tennessee let out a little squeak of terror at the sight of a $3000 suitcase being thrown around like a sack of potatoes, and Moose looked back at her, surprised. “You okay?” he asked, his eyes going up and down her, checking for injuries or an insect crawling up her leg.

  “Yeah, fine,” she said faintly. She looked through the cab over to Georgia in the passenger seat who was waving excitedly, obviously missing the fact that Moose was doing his best to destroy Tennessee’s possessions. Tenny gave her a wane smile as she got up into the backseat of the truck.

  “So glad you’re coming with us!” Georgia said excitedly as soon as Tenny got inside. “What did Aunt Roberta say about it?”

  Moose got back in and threw the truck in gear, pulling away from the curb to head for Levi’s house.

  “Oh, you know,” Tennessee said dryly. “Only hobos sleep outside; that I shouldn’t go on a camping trip without a chaperone; that I’m probably going to come back with Lyme disease…the uzh.”

  Georgia grimaced at her in sympathy, even as her hand wrapped up together with Moose’s. It was like they couldn’t stand not touching each other for more than three seconds at a time.

  Puke inducing, indeed.

  “I’ll do my best to guard you from ticks and hobos,” Georgia said solemnly. “Snakes are on you, though.”

  “There’s snakes up in the mountains?” Tennessee half-shrieked, her eyes popping wide open with surprise. “Like, honest-to-God, going-to-kill-me snakes?”

  Georgia and Moose both laughed at the terror in her voice as they wound their way through the city streets to Levi’s house. “Yes, there are snakes up in the mountains,” Moose said, the laughter still plainly in his voice as he responded. Tennessee’s spine stiffened. She did not like getting laughed at. “But they won’t bother you for the most part, unless you bother them.”

  For the most part…

  Those were not exactly reassuring words in Tenny’s eyes.

  They pulled up in front of Levi’s house before Tenny could interrogate them further, and she sank back into the worn seat with a flustered sigh, not wanting to ask questions in front of Levi and have him laughing at her, too. Two people laughing at her per day – that was her limit.

  A girl had to have standards, you know.

  Levi carelessly tossed his duffel bag into the bed of the truck and then swung
up into the backseat, greeting Moose and then Georgia in turn. Moose, who hadn’t bothered to get out to help Levi load his bag, pulled away from the curb as Levi finally turned his dark eyes towards Tennessee. “Good morning,” he said softly. “Sleep well?”

  Why was Tennessee suddenly getting the impression that Levi was imagining her in her PJs? Despite what a lot of people thought, she did not sleep in silk negligees edged with lace. When she pulled out her flannel PJs that night, Levi was going to be sorely disappointed, she was sure of it.

  “Yeah, okay,” she said. “Just another night in the Rowland household.” She laughed dryly. “And you?” His eyes flicked down her body and back up again so quickly that if she hadn’t been watching, she might’ve missed it.

  “Yeah, I slept great,” Levi said softly.

  Tenny couldn’t breathe, which was, as she saw it, completely ridiculous. They were having a boring-as-white-paint conversation about sleeping well the night before but there was a part of her brain that couldn’t shake the feeling that they were discussing so much more.

  The conversation turned back towards their weekend plans and how Moose and Levi did this every year the weekend after Memorial Day (“Only an idiot goes out camping on Memorial Day weekend,” Moose said firmly) as Levi settled back into the seat, his legs spreading apart as he tried to fit his long body into the small space. Their knees ended up pressed against each other, and somehow, this must’ve pushed blood up her body and into her cheeks, because Tennessee couldn’t seem to keep her cheeks from flaming a brilliant red.

  It was their knees, for hell’s sakes. She’d rounded this base and blew right past it when she was in fourth grade, back when Moose still held an allure to her.

  But despite her best self-recriminating speeches, she couldn’t seem to get her cheeks to turn any other color than tomato red.

  And anyway, she was being an idiot because no matter what it was that Levi did to her, she was 99.34% sure she didn’t do anything for him. He was in love with Georgia – he had been his whole life, an apparently very common affliction in their world – and likely just saw Tennessee as an annoying tagalong. She was a third wheel to a third wheel, which…did that make her a fourth wheel?