He’d wanted Thane so badly that he’d thrown all caution to the wind and decided to give in to his desire. Just being near him seemed to short circuit his brain. His cell phone rattled on the nightstand seconds before the alarm began to chirp. Thank God. Levi rolled off the bed, picking up his phone and turning off the alarm as he headed to his brothers’ room. Levi pushed open the door with all the grace of a bull in a china shop and flipped on the overhead light. The groans started immediately.
“Up and at ’em.”
Levi left his brothers whining about his insensitivity and made his way down the hall, going straight for the coffee maker in the kitchen.
By the time Logan reached the kitchen, Levi was guzzling his second cup of the strong, black brew. He saw lots of coffee in his future today.
“Why are you so on it?” Logan asked, dropping his tennis shoes on the table, heading to the cabinets with the coffee cups. Luke entered the room about twenty seconds later, pulling a T-shirt over his head, struggling with holding his shoes and putting his arms through the holes at the same time. Normally, Levi would have made fun of him, teasing the super-smart one of them about being seriously handicapped with his lack of common sense, but not this morning. He reached out, plucked the shoes from Luke’s hand and dropped them on the floor. Luke looked at him like he’d solved the hardest mathematical equation on the planet and shoved the other arm through.
“You’re already dressed?” Luke asked.
Just because he was in a testy mood, he threw out a “Nothing gets past you two.” When they both looked up at him simultaneously, he let out a frustrated apology and grabbed the car keys off the hook. “Get your backpacks and clothes. Mrs. Rustenhaven said you could use the locker room to get dressed. I’m going to the car.”
He was out the front door and waiting inside the driver’s side of the car within minutes. Ten minutes later, they were parked alone in front of the dimly lit track. Levi climbed the fence to unlock the gate from the inside. As much as he could have used the rest, he and Luke were getting a lot out of this time. Logan was just taking one for the team, although he did seem to be smiling more these days. Levi appreciated that, but in this, Luke got to shine. The kid was Forest Gump. No kidding, he put his tennis shoes on and he could run for hours and never get tired.
They didn’t have much to say this morning. Probably his fault, and after the first thirty or so minutes, Levi fell behind, Luke sped up, and Logan collapsed in the grass. Levi wasn’t far behind Logan. He was a hot sweaty mess when he finally dropped to the ground, stretched out flat, and let the morning dew cool his skin as the sun began to rise. It had to be after seven by now.
“Luke, we got about ten minutes,” Levi called out when he heard the rhythmic slap of shoes hitting the pavement as they drew closer.
“I think he’s getting better,” Logan said, tossing an arm over his eyes.
“We’ll see today. They’re including me,” Levi said, half thinking about that, but dwelling more on this bad mood that had settled over him.
“We need to go to the Salvation Army after school. I gotta get new black slacks for my debate tonight. I tried mine on and they come up to my calves,” Logan said.
“Did you see if I have any that fit?”
“Yeah, they’re way too big in the waist, but they’ll work with a belt if we can’t swing the money.”
“No, we can go. I’m off at the clinic at two today. I’ll come by and pick you two up after school. We can go then.”
“Whatever you want to do.” Logan shoved up on his arm, looking at Levi. “Now that you’re off on Friday and Saturday night, I should get a job and help.”
Levi stared at Logan who busily pulled at the grass. “That’s cool, if you want. Maybe I could take Luke out on Friday night, just me and him, but if I can get a weekend night, like I’m hoping, I’ll have to take the shift. They tell me I’ll make lots more money.”
“I need to work. The debate team’s going to Washington, DC, in May and we each have to come up with six hundred dollars. If I go to work at the print shop, they’ll donate to my trip and pay me. I can make up the rest between now and then.”
Another unexpected bill. Six hundred dollars was a lot of money to come up with over the next three months. Levi forced himself to stay chill, hide the anxiety from Logan. They’d figured it all out, hopefully. “I can help. And we should have the social security checks by then,” Levi reasoned.