Chapter 7
Mabel
On getting home, I have so much energy that I start pacing around. Unable to settle to anything. I don’t feel like reading. I don’t feel like just sitting here. A shower doesn’t help. And all the while I keep thinking about that kiss.
I used to have a crush on Levi. Of course I did.
Every girl did. But I have grown up and made my own life.
I thought I understood who I am, but today, that kiss has shaken my whole world.
Not just the kiss, it’s that damn smile.
The way Levi really listens to me when I talk.
The way he cheered me on and encouraged me all day.
And then there was that kiss. That was a damn, sexy, hot kiss. I don’t have much to compare it to but I never knew that just a kiss could set my whole body on fire. Make me want more and more.
I’m not saving myself for anybody. I just sort of assumed that nobody would ever want me. But today has been a day of firsts. I feel different. Changed. I’ll always be a book nerd, but is there any reason why a book nerd can’t get herself a sexy cowboy? Can’t a book nerd be loved?
And even if it’s not forever, if today has taught me anything, there is no danger in going out there and having some fun. And after years of not joining in, I deserve some fun. And I want that fun with Levi.
With that I get myself ready, put on my best dress, tamp down my nerves, and go and find Levi.
Before knocking on his door I take stock of what I’m feeling.
A little bit nervous but more excited than anything.
And when he opens the door and I’m faced again with looking into his amazing blue eyes, those broad shoulders, his strong arms that felt so good holding me to him.
Under his t-shirt is the washboard stomach I know so well.
He gives me an intense, heated look. There is anger there, but also something else. Something like when he told me smart is sexy or when he looked down at me in the torch light in the cellar.
He steps back, waving me into his house. It’s a cabin on his family's farmland. Messy, with clothes, a guitar, old records, a couple of cowboy hats and pairs of boots.
“What do you want, Mabel?” It sounds like a loaded question.
Now the nerves come up. How do you ask a guy to have sex with you? Can’t he just take a hint and pull me into his arms? But instead he watches me carefully as I start to fidget.
And then, the words pour out. The nervous jumble I wish I could control. I read so many books you would think I could articulate better. But faced with Levi, in his home, with what I want to ask of him, my mind is a whirling mess.
“It’s been such a good day and I know I didn’t think it would be and I said I don't do town events but it turned out to be a lot of fun. Fun with you. And then with the kissing…I never would have thought… Well, when you asked if I ever asked anyone to the prom and I was thinking…”
I let out a deep sigh, wishing I could get the words out. “I thought we might do the kissing thing again.”