“You could have called me last night when you got in,” I scold him.
“Well, my girlfriend hadn’t seen me in a while either. If you know what I mean.” He wags his eyebrows. Trevor has been dating my best friend, Marley, for a while now.
“Don’t remind me. I haven’t seen Levi in a month,” I whine.
“In my mind, you and Levi have never had any…relations.” He releases me and shakes his head.
Trevor begins to tell me about his adventures in North Carolina and that he feels they will call on him soon. Until then, he will remain in school and stay on the James Wayne Hockey Team. All his talk makes me miss Levi more.
We finally say our goodbyes, and I head back to my apartment. In front of my door is a box, and I’m trying to remember if I ordered anything. I pick it up and go into my apartment. I see that the return address is from Levi. I tear into the box to see what he sent me. There’s another box wrapped in pretty green paper with a large bow and a card. I want to open the gift, but I want to read the card too. I go for the card.
I miss you like crazy, Smarty, and I can’t wait to see you. Mmm. All the things I have in mind for when I do see you. Anyway, I wanted to send you something to remind you that while I may be far away, part of me is still with you.
Tears fill my eyes. Levi has a way with words and I know how much he loves me. I wipe my tears away as I rip open the paper on the box. My breath catches as I see the contents inside. It’s Levi’s jersey. His real WBS jersey. I begin to sob. One, because I miss Levi so much. Also, because he made it, and I knew that he would.
Chapter Two
Levi
Pops and Presley are coming down today for my game, and I happen to know that they are arriving early. I managed to get Presley to tell me where they are having lunch, and that is why I’m sitting in a restaurant, waiting for them to show up. My legs are bouncing slightly. I’m so eager to see her. She’s the girl I love, and it only takes one day without seeing her to feel like it’s been forever. So I’m about to jump out of my skin waiting to be near her again with all the time that has passed.
Just then, she walks into my line of vision wearing my jersey, looking as beautiful as ever, and my heart stops. Presley’s finally here. Her arm is hooked around my father’s, and she’s laughing at something he said. Smarty looks so carefree and happy. I love that I can capture this moment to savor on rainy days.
Presley catches sight of me and halts midstep, her lips parting slightly in surprise. When I stand, she runs over to me, grinning. I hold her close to relish in the feel of having her with me again. She wraps her arms tightly around me and then gives me a soft kiss.
“What are you doing here? I thought you had practice!” she exclaims, leaning back to look at me. She doesn’t let me go, which is good because I still have a firm grip on her.
“Nope. I wanted to surprise you.” I look around her at my father. “Hey, Pops.” Presley steps to the side, so I can hug him. “How have you been?”
“Just fine, Levi. Let’s have a seat.”
We sit down at our table. Presley sits close to me and holds my hand. She hasn’t stopped looking at me when she should be looking over the menu.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” she says in a mixture of a whisper and a breathy tone.
I chuckle at her. “You were on your way to see me, Smarty.”
“Yeah, but I wasn’t supposed to see you until later. I’ve missed you like crazy,” she adds softly.
To keep myself in control, I kiss her cheek instead of her lips. Just having her near me makes me want to drag her away to have her all to myself. “I missed you too. How are your classes so far?”
Smarty sighs dramatically, and I laugh. “Terrible, but between Trev, Marley, and Victor, I’m managing.” She smiles lovingly at my father.
“She’s easier to keep in line than you ever were,” Pops says with a chuckle.
“I’m sure. All this traveling isn’t tiring you out, is it?” If I worried before, I’m even worse now because I’m not nearby if something were to happen. It doesn’t matter that it’s been almost a year since his heart attack. He’s my old man, and I’m not there with him. How can I not be concerned?
Pops shrugs off my question. “Nope. I only go see my girl once a week, and I never get tired of seeing her.”
I roll my eyes at him when he winks, but Presley is under his charm. “You’re so sweet, Victor. You could learn a thing or two from him, Levi.” She bumps my shoulder with a smile, but the waitress saves me from giving her a smart ass comment.
After we order drinks, Pops excuses himself to go to the bathroom. I glance at Presley, wanting nothing more than to memorize her every feature while she’s sitting here with me. I’ll need this picture of how she looks right now for when I’ve had a bad day and I miss her like crazy. Those light brown eyes of hers are burning with desire as she leans towards me and brushes her lips against mine. Within seconds, I grab the back of her neck to pull her closer to me as she parts her mouth, and I kiss her for the first time in a month. Presley places her hands on my neck, her nails digging into my skin when I pull her lower lip into my mouth and bite down on it. I kiss her for a few more seconds before pulling away. A pout already on those lips of hers.
“It’s so unbelievably good to see you, Smarty,” I say softly.
She gives me a quick kiss and then leans away from me, taking my hand in hers once more. “Thanks for surprising me, Levi.”
I catch sight of my father on his way back to the table. “It wasn’t just for you, you know,” I quickly tell her with a small smile, placing our hands at the top of her thighs.