Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
LEVI
Emma: We’re done. Meet us in the parking lot :)
“I’m assuming we all got the same text.” Jake sits to my right, holding a large bucket of popcorn that’s been empty since the middle of another crappy horror movie. Jake seemed to enjoy it, but Cam was indifferent. I hate jump scares. They’re a cheap way to try to make a horror movie scary.
“Yeah,” Cam and I confirm.
It’s been a hell of a fucking day. It was fun for a while, but eventually the arcade became boring, the restaurant’s music got too loud, and once we were ready to go, stupidly thinking the girls were close to finishing, Kami texted Cam letting us know we had time for a movie.
Not to say I’m not thankful for the downtime, but this seems a bit excessive.
Stevie was never a bad-looking woman. In fact, I found her sexy, so what could be taking this fucking long?
The guys and I make our way out of the theater. Cam bumps my shoulder, taking advantage of Jake being distracted by a text he got.
His voice is almost a whisper. “What’s going on between you and Stevie?”
These nosy sons of bitches. “Nothing is going on between me and Stevie. I’m only helping her.” Throwing my empty soda cup out, which was full of something that wasn’t Mountain Dew since my roommate hates the smell, I ask, “Is it impossible to believe that we could be nothing more than friends?”
Jake looks at Cam. I try to remain unfazed at the side-eye they’re giving me. Neither of them needs to know what happened last night or the effect that her innocent kiss had on me this morning.
The boys might not know everything, but they’ve seen something between us, and I do not like it one fucking bit.
Cam puts his hands up. “Sorry I even asked.”
Jake smirks and leads us to the mall’s front entrance. There, we look for his car, which is where the girls are supposed to be. Stevie is the tallest of the three, so I look for her familiar hair, but I come up empty.
As we reach Jake’s BMW, we see three figures in the shadows.
“We came out through the side entrance,” Em says and grabs Stevie’s hand, bringing her into the light of the parking lot lamps.
I suck in a breath, almost choking on my spit. Fucking hell.
Her new fit hugs her body tightly, showing off her long legs, torso, and slightly bigger-looking breasts.
She’s still wearing flared-out jeans, but they’re a dark orange and tighter than her usual pair.
It’s accompanied by this striped tight sweater or long-sleeved shirt, I can’t tell which, but that’s not the part that stuns me the most. It’s her hair.
My eyes roam to her face, and I try not to react too much.
I don’t know what the fuck kind of makeup they put on her, but it enhances the green in her eyes and the fullness of her lips.
She still looks like the Stevie I saw a couple of hours ago, but happier, like a weight has been lifted off her shoulders.
“Holy shit,” Jake says.
Holy shit is right.
Em smiles. “Doesn’t she look perfect?”
“Levi?” Stevie whispers, waving her hand in my face.
I clear my throat. “You look amazing, Bambi.”
That makes her smile. “Thanks, Hotshot.”
That compliment wasn’t enough, but I can’t compliment her the way I want to with everyone around. They’ll think something has already happened between us.
Em steps toward Jake and hands him back his card.
“Thank you, Jake. I’m sorry we took so long.” Stevie grimaces.
I turn to my best friend, and his eyes haven’t stopped roaming up and down Stevie’s body since she’s gotten back. He looks like he wants to eat her, and for the first time…all right, for the third time, I want to punch the blond bastard.
“No need for apologies. It was my pleasure.” His voice is a lot more suggestive than I expected or want it to be.
“We should head home,” I say loudly without looking at my roommate.
Jake licks his lips before looking me in the eye and raising a brow as if goading me. The fucker heard the edge in my voice.
I shrug in indifference, so of course he tries to provoke me even further by walking up to Stevie and giving her a long hug.
She seems comfortable with it, but it stirs something in me.
After saying bye and thanking everyone again, I lay my hand against Stevie’s lower back, guiding her to the car.
Looking over my shoulder, I send Jake a dirty look, and the motherfucker winks back.
I might’ve just proved his and Cameron’s point.
Knowing them, they will talk about it on the way back to campus.
Putting my focus back on Stevie, I realize she seems taller than I remember. Looking down, I see new boots.
“Yeah, I know.” She shrugs. “But they’re very comfortable and only three inches tall.” She sounds happy. Good.
She moves around me and to the passenger seat of the car. The entire time I watch her short hair bounce in tight waves, managing to catch a glimpse of her ass in those jeans.
Fuck. Me.
I check myself and jump into the car. Shit, she’s even walking with more confidence. Everything I already knew was beautiful has tripled.
Before I can turn the radio on, she takes charge and hooks her phone up to the Bluetooth adapter that old cars usually have.
That’s new.
“Risk” by Gracie Abrams plays. “It’s been stuck in my head all day.” She turns the volume up without asking, which is fine, but not something she has done before.
Then she does the last thing I expect her to do: sing.
I turn to look at her. Stevie has her eyes closed while singing the soft yet firm song.
Glancing a couple more times while trying to maintain my focus on the road, another song plays, and she sings again.
We speak briefly about what the guys and I did at the mall, but the rest of the drive is filled with her light singing voice.
Once we pull up a couple of blocks away from the apartment, where I find a great parking spot, she snatches a notebook that she’s been hiding in her backpack and starts to write something down.
Her nose scrunches up like it usually does when she’s focused, and I take the opportunity to step out of the car.
Opening the back door, I grab what seems to be the hundreds of shopping bags the girls and her brought along.
Once I round the car to the passenger seat, Stevie’s staring ahead with her notebook closed.
At first, I’m worried she’s upset about something, but as soon as I open the door, she places the notebook back inside her bag, steps out of the car, and looks me in the eye, smiling.
“I finished the song,” she whispers.
My eyes widen. “Your callback song?”
She nods, still grinning, and jumps in excitement before throwing her arms around my neck.
I almost lose my balance before dropping all the bags, not giving a shit what’s in them, and hugging her back.
Her lavender and vanilla scent, along with the new shampoo smell, envelops me.
A sense of pleasure hits me at knowing that I’m partially responsible for the good day she had, and that the things she did seemed to trigger her artistic side.
She’s been stressing out about finishing this song for weeks.
Stevie lets out a deep breath, and I press her the tiniest bit closer to me, urging my body not to react to her closeness.
She pulls away completely, leaving me slightly hard and oddly disappointed. “Today was great. Thank you, Hotshot.”
Smiling, I ask, “Are you happy with your new look?”
She nods. “I feel like myself again. An even better self.”
“Good.” I’m quick to continue. “You have to know that you’ve never been anything less than beautiful, but this outfit—” I pick at her collar.
“—this hair—” I thread a lock of her hair in between my fingers.
“—and this makeup—” My knuckles graze her cheek lightly, causing her to flush the tiniest bit.
“—enhance everything that was already there.”
We stare at each other, holding our breaths like we did last night. My eyes move to her lips, and she does the same.
Bad idea.
Apparently, I’m not as strong as I thought because I lean in a bit closer, and then Stevie moves.
“Let me help you with the bags.” She bends down, and it takes everything in me not to punch myself in the face.
What the fuck is wrong with me? I can’t have a nice moment with the woman without getting hard now.
Okay, I need to salvage this night. Her finishing the song should be celebrated, and there’s one more item on the list we can check off.