by Layne, Lyssa
While we were away, I had decided something important - I wanted to share my room with Levi and never let him sleep alone in his room again. I wanted us to live as a couple from now on.
We rode past the bar and the university. There were already a lot of people outside the campus, I would have to get my schedule soon. Levi parked in front of the apartment building and we stood there for a couple of minutes, his arms around my waist. The last time we had both been here, we’d been broken, but now we were back, stronger and even more in love.
"I hope Bekka is home," I announced walking up the stairs.
"If not, we’ll drive over to the bar, they’re probably there, or at Tyler’s place."
We faced the apartment door with a big smile on our faces, ready to get back to routine. Levi turned the handle and the door swung open. "She must be home."
"Oh, bloody hell, they’re here, Rebekka!" I recognized Tiff’s thick British accent and it made me giggle. "Bekka, get your arse over here!"
"NIX! Oh my God! I've missed you so much!" Bekka jumped into my arms, just like they do in the movies. She was holding me so tightly, I could barely breathe. It was heartwarming and so typical of our friendship. We hated being apart for very long.
"She missed you so much, she forced me to sleep over," Tiff kidded around.
Bekka released me and turned to Levi, placing both of her hands on his shoulders before she hugged him. Levi looked stunned, but hugged her back. "I’m sorry about what I said to you and what I did. It wasn't my place to act like that."
"Don't worry about it. I think I kind of needed it at the time," Levi admitted. They hugged again and Tiff joined them.
"Group hug! I love my Americans." Tiff was so funny, and yet weird at the same time. I joined the group hug and Levi smiled warmly at me.
"Are you girls working tonight?" I questioned when we separated.
"We all are. They missed you at the bar and Tyler can't wait to have you back at work," Bekka explained.
I was tired and would have liked to sleep, but this was real life. I needed to work and make money. My angel stayed by my side all night. He’d called Kyle to let him know he was back in town and would be starting his day early tomorrow. He had a lot to catch up on, with clients waiting for his return to get their tattoos done.
Bekka noticed my new necklace almost immediately and she almost teared up at the thought of Levi giving it to me after he’d gotten his new tattoo. A hopeless romantic, she called him. I wanted to do something special for him, too and I was thinking about getting new ink. Angel wings or something. I had to try and consult Kyle sneakily, certain he would be able to help.
The night at work flew by. We danced, drank a few shots and enjoyed the night. I had missed the atmosphere of the bar; it was like my second home. I felt like I belonged there with my friends and I was happy and proud to have them in my life. They gave me lots of reasons to smile and feel loved.
Levi held my hand on the way home. He seemed to know that my thoughts were elsewhere, and holding my hand was his way of providing support. Everything I’d been through in the past weeks had come to its natural conclusion tonight. I had the best boyfriend in the world and I was also extremely fortunate to have the best friends. They were not judgemental, they accepted me and loved me for who I was. It was the greatest gift I could ever hope to be given.
Tiff came home with us. I was getting the impression she’d enjoyed staying at our place while I’d been away. I didn't mind at all, I loved having her around.
"I'm effing smashed and steaming drunk." Tiff was having a hard time walking a straight line. She’d had far too many glasses of bourbon and I hoped she wasn't going to vomit.
"We’re almost there, Tiff. Do you think you’ll make it or do I have to carry you?" Levi questioned, grinning at me.
"Don't worry, Romeo, I can still walk, even with my heels." She was wearing four inches heels. How she was still able to walk at all was beyond me. My feet were killing me and I was wearing sneakers.
"I can't wait to be in bed with you," Levi murmured against my ear.
I kissed his sweet lips and circled my arms around his neck. "I can't stop thinking about it. You and me together in our home." I’d suggested Levi move into my room earlier, and he’d happily agreed to the idea.
"I like it when you say ‘our’." He kissed my temple. "I really want us to have a real home of our own someday."
He was the sweetest guy in the world. "I want that too, Angel. We will have a home of our own, when I'm done with school."
"We could do it, now." Levi suggested quietly. "I can afford it. I used to own a loft, but I sold it when I went to the East coast."
"I would love it, Levi, but we have a lease on the apartment until June and I don't want to leave Bekka dealing with the apartment by herself. Next year will be better. Maybe she’ll move in with Ty."
"I’m sorry, Rock Star. I shouldn't push you about this. We have all the time in the world."
"We do and it's a conversation which is a bit too serious for 3:30am." We laughed together and I followed it with a yawn. "I’m so sleeping in... don't wake me up..."
"I’ll be up early and at the shop for most of the day," Levi reminded me.
When we got to the apartment, Levi and I went into my bedroom and Tiff headed into Levi’s bedroom, which she’d adopted in the past days.
When I woke up much later, Levi was gone. The room felt empty and cold without him. He’d left a note on his pillow.
Meet me at the shop later, if you want. I miss you already.
Levi, your angel. xxx
P.S Why are you so damn cute when you sleep in one of my t-shirts?
I had a huge smile on my face and I wanted to squeal with delight. A few words scribbled on a sheet of paper and I was missing him like crazy. All I wanted to do was kiss him and tell him how much I loved him. I got up and took a quick shower, deciding to call Kyle while Levi was busy catching up with clients. I called the shop, keeping my fingers crossed that Kyle would answer.
"Ink Me Tattoo." A voice announced and I recognized it as Kyle’s.
"Don't say my name, or tell Levi that I called. It's Nix." I took a deep breath. “Is there any chance you can come over to my place and do a tattoo for me?"
"Why don't you come here?" he asked suspiciously.
"I want to get a new tattoo and it's a surprise for Levi. I don’t want him to know."
"Oh geez... I'm not tattooing his name on you. There’s strict rules about this and it always brings bad luck."
"No, no, nothing like that. I want the word Angel in between two angel wings."
"OK, that sounds cheesy enough. Where do you want it?"
"Lower back, or the inside of my bicep."
"Oh come on! On the boob at least." I could hear the smile in Kyle’s voice.
I laughed. "You are an ass."
"Any colors or just black and grey?"
"What do you think would look better?" I was still new to the world of tattoos and I wasn't sure what would look better.
"Okay, we’ll go with color. I'll be there in about forty-five minutes. Levi’s busy with a client and he’s booked out all day." Which meant he wasn't going to be questioning Kyle too much about his unexpected outing.
"Thanks. Don't forget, you can't tell him." I wanted to make sure it was kept a secret.
"I'm not stupid, y’know." he grumbled, but I knew he was kidding around.
"I know."
"I'll see you later."
He hung up and I danced around like a little girl who’d been promised a Barbie doll. I knew another tattoo in such a short period of time was probably not the smartest idea but I was determined I wanted it. It was part of our commitment to each other.
I cleaned the living room and got ready for Kyle’s arrival. I was nervous but excited at the same time. I had to decide where I was going to get the tattoo and quickly. I liked the idea of my lower back, but on the inside of my bicep, it would be closer to my heart where
it belonged.
When Kyle arrived, he already had some designs planned out. He had four different options but explained that he could change any of them and do exactly what I wanted. I decided on a set of wings, spread wide, with ‘Angel’ printed in a really nice, feminine font. Kyle was going to add the same purple as they’d used on Levi’s star tattoo. Kyle was a great artist, very talented and surprisingly funny.
I’d made a final decision to have the tattoo on the inside of my bicep. The anxiety I felt as he was preparing his machinery only added to the adrenaline pumping through my system. It was an amazing feeling and I was excited when Kyle plugged his machine into the wall. He adjusted the pedal, moving the inks closer on the small table he’d set up. He had black, purple, pink and white in small containers. Kyle drew directly onto my skin, adding more details than the original design he’d shown me earlier. For the first few minutes, the pain was barely tolerable, but after a little while, the skin became numb and it was a lot better. At some point, my eyes watered up, not because of the pain but because of the emotional journey I was going through with Levi.
Kyle remained silent while he was marking my skin. He was done within an hour and he seemed pretty pleased with his design. The tattoo looked great. The colors all blended together beautifully, the effort he had put into it was impressive.
"Now, let’s hope Levi won't want to kick my ass or kill me," he announced as he began to pack up.
"Why would he do that? Do you think he won't like it?" His comment had me worried. I was suddenly afraid my angel wouldn't like it.
"No, because I marked you. I’ve crossed a line." I guessed this must be a rule between them.
"I don't want you to get in trouble. I’ll talk to him, make sure he knows it was my idea, not yours."
"Yeah. Thanks. I’ll add your name to my will." He laughed, but I wasn't sure if it was funny.
"Don't worry about it," I tried reassuring him.
Kyle left a few minutes later with his equipment, heading back to the shop. He refused to charge me for the tattoo, but I planned to figure out a way to give him the money. If I had to hide it in his jacket to make him take it, I would do it.
Levi came home late in the afternoon, saying he wanted to have dinner with me. He’d brought broccoli soup and chicken salad wraps. My new tattoo was hidden under a long sleeve t-shirt, protected by a bandage. I was dying to show him my new addition now, but I was waiting for the right moment.
We ate sitting beside each other. He kept his hand on my thigh the whole way through dinner and kissed me every now and then.
"Bekka told me it's your birthday next weekend," he said. "Is there something special you want to do?"
"Oh... hmm. It's only my twenty second. I don't really need to celebrate or anything. I have you, that’s all I want."
"Oh come on, Nix, there has to be something you’d like to do. Do you want to go to a nice restaurant, or maybe go to the bar? We could even rent movies and spend the night at home if you want, we never do that."
"School’s starting in two days. I need to concentrate on that first, then I'll think about my birthday. A movie night sounds good though."
"School, right. Did you get your schedule already?"
"No, I'm going tomorrow morning. I hope we’ll be able to work something out with our schedules." This bothered me as I wanted to spend all my free time with him at the shop, I wasn't so sure about school anymore. It was definitely going to make things harder.
"Rock Star, look at me." I lifted my eyes to meet his. "I'm not going anywhere. We’ll find time here or at the shop and I’ll meet you at the club every night." He kissed my forehead. "And every night, ’we'll meet in bed. I don't want to spend a single night away from you."
"You always know what to say to comfort me." The tattoo under my shirt sleeve was burning, screaming to be unveiled. "Now, I need to talk to you about something. Don't be mad at Kyle... it's all my fault." I said, as I removed my top. "I wanted to respond to your declaration of love, by showing you how much you mean to me, my angel." My face flushed as I fumbled with the shirt.
He was totally silent. He’d seen the bandage on my arm and he knew what I’d done. I saw a faint hint of a smile, but I could also see how anxious he was. Once it was uncovered, he studied it from different angles. "So... I’m your angel, eh?"
"You are. It's how I see you, it's what you are to me."
"At least the punk-ass did a great job. I love it, baby, but you didn't have to do that."
"I know, but I wanted to. I love you so much."
"Me too, Rock Star. Forever," he said pulling me towards him. He aligned our bodies against one another, kissed my forehead and simply held me for a long time. He was breathing me in and I stood there, listening to his heart beating.
Soon afterwards, he had to go back to work and I joined him at the shop. I was already missing Beauty and enjoyed the short ride to the studio. Levi pretended to be mad when he saw Kyle, taunting him for a couple of minutes, but he finally thanked him for the great job he’d done on me. He trusted Kyle, when all was said and done. Levi had a very busy schedule for the rest of the night, with only a couple of short breaks until he would finish at 10 pm.
I eventually had to leave to get ready to work. I cleaned my newest tattoo and pampered myself a little before I headed to the bar. For the first time in my life, I was nervous about starting school again. University was a big deal for me and I didn't want to fail. All my life, I’d been first in my classes, but coordinating work, school, studying and time with Levi was going to be difficult. I wanted to be with him all the time, but I knew it wasn't going to be possible. Levi had been in this situation already, I knew he would understand all the time I would spend at school or home studying, but I was still worried about how it would affect our relationship. I crossed my fingers that we could work through any difficulties.
The night at work was fairly uneventful. In fact, it was downright boring and I was feeling more stressed by the hour. I had to be at school by 9am the next morning. Levi showed up at nearly midnight. He’d ended up working more hours than he’d planned and he looked exhausted. I sent him home to relax and get some sleep.
Bekka and Tyler couldn't seem to keep their hands off each other. They were madly in love and were completely unable to stay away from each other. I couldn't keep count of the times I rolled my eyes at them, suggesting more than once that they needed to get a room. Tiff was fighting a massive headache from the previous night and the Tylenol she’d taken weren't strong enough to relieve her pain.
When my shift ended, I called a cab and hurried home. Levi was already settled in our bed, sleeping soundly. I decided not to wake him, he needed the sleep after hours spent inking people. His job required huge amounts of concentration and a lot of creativity. It had to be exhausting. I wanted to join him but after the shift I was starving. I ate a few chocolate chip cookies and washed them down with a glass of milk before heading to bed. I set the alarm for 8am. I was dreading tomorrow. We would find out exactly how complicated our lives would be until Christmas. I hoped I would have a free afternoon or morning during the week, so we could spend some time alone and do things together. It was easier for him to change his schedule than it would be for me. I was hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. Consequently, I had a hard time falling asleep.
The last time I checked the time, it was almost 4:30 am. When the alarm went off at eight, my eyes were gritty and my head was being hammered by a massive headache. I took two extra strength Advil’s and got ready to go and collect my schedule. When I left the apartment, Levi was still sound asleep and I envied him so much. I wanted to crawl back under the covers and cuddle with him, but today was registration day so I had to get moving.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
My schedule turned out to be fine. I would be free Wednesday mornings and Friday afternoons. My days would be starting at 9 am and I’d be out by 5 pm at the latest. I couldn't complain, it could've been much worse.
Levi was waiting for me outside the university with Beauty. He was sitting on his motorbike with his arms crossed. People were staring at him, mostly girls, but he didn’t take the slightest bit of notice of them. The boys were busy examining his Harley, which even I had to admit was quite a nice machine. Any guy would probably envy him. Looking at my angel, I saw he only had eyes for me, and I was proud to be his girl.
"Hello, my lady." He was playing Casanova today, his green eyes reflecting in the sun and his sunglasses hung off the neck of his t shirt.
"Hello, my crazy-hot boyfriend." He extended his hand towards mine and pulled me into him. "I missed you, Prince Charming."
"I missed you too. I'm sorry I slept all this time, I wanted to go with you this morning." I just wanted to go ‘aww’ at how cute and selfless he was.
"Don't worry about it, you needed your sleep."
"Come on, get your cute ass behind me, I wanna go home." I love hearing him say home. It made me smile like a fool.
I settled behind him, placing my hands around his waist and tucking them under his t-shirt before we headed out of the parking lot. People were still staring at us. Beauty was an awesome bike, but I didn't know why it was such a big deal here. There was no doubt a student couldn't afford such a toy or, maybe Levi attracted them because he looked like such a bad-ass. I laughed at the thought. He might look tough with all the tattoos and the motorbike but underneath it all, he was a sweetheart.
We spent the afternoon eating popcorn and nachos. Levi had to be at work early in the evening. I had class tomorrow and the idea of sitting on a wooden chair for hours was about as tempting as eating a can of dog food. I tried to motivate myself by repeating in my head that it was my last year. After that, there wouldn't be any sitting on hard wooden chairs ever again. At least, I hoped so.
My first week of school was over, and the teachers had swamped us with homework. I wanted to die. School, homework, work and boyfriend were almost impossible to schedule into one day. I’d only had a few days of school and already the dark circles were back under my eyes. I was getting less than four hours of sleep each night. How was I supposed to get through my last year of university at this rate?
