Oakley
Twenty
“You’re insufferable!” I laugh, playfully swatting at Jessie’s arm as she shoots a devilish smirk in my direction while wiggling her eyebrows like a cartoon character.
“What?! All I’m saying is next time, you should shoot me a text and tell me to give y'all a little bit. Though, I am grateful that I interrupted before anything had really started. There’s no way I’d be able to live with knowing what my cousin sounds like when he’s—”
“Okay, that’s enough. Geez, did you drink the whole bottle at the top of the cliff with Justin?”
Jessie giggles, and I roll my eyes in exasperation.
I know how it must have looked, to emerge from behind the waterfall with Levi following only seconds behind me. Her lighthearted teasing fills me with the warm and fuzzies.
It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this kind of camaraderie; it’s a welcome change to what I’ve gotten used to.
“I had no choice after you turned me down. How else was I supposed to get through one-on-one time with Justin?”
“Oh, you poor thing,” I deadpan, and my friend erupts into a fit of alcohol-fueled laughter.
We make our way down the trail, Jessie swaying slightly as she tries to keep her balance. My legs shake with muscle fatigue as we race the rapidly setting sun back to our cars.
Here in the mountains, it gets dark long before sunset. If I was afraid the other night on the side of the road, I certainly have no interest in sticking around the actual woods now. The last thing I need is a run-in with a mama bear.
It’s been a good day. The strenuous hike to the swimming hole was filled with equal parts excitement and nerves, but it was nothing compared to the trepidation of standing at the edge of that cliff and peering down to the deep water below.
And then there’s the overwhelming exhilaration and sense of freedom as I jumped. I’ve never felt anything like it.
I think I left the old me behind at the top of that cliff.
When I sprang up out of the water, spluttering and gasping for breath, I emerged as someone new.
Sure, everything I’m running from is still behind me, if the near-constant buzzing from my phone is any indication.
But right now, I don't care. I’m unwilling to give it any more of my time and energy.
I don’t have any space left in my mind or heart for Travis.
He made sure of that the second he laid his hands on me.
I might very well eat those words when I finally come down from this high, but maybe I’ll find the strength to push through and deal with it the way I should have in the first place.
I need to change my number. I need to disappear once and for all.
Wasn’t that the whole reason for coming here?
I silence the latest call on my phone as we approach the trailhead, Jessie and Levi’s vehicles slowly coming into focus in the near-black night.
A warm hand on the small of my back sends frantic butterflies fluttering throughout my limbs, his gentle touch burning like a brand.
Every nerve ending gathers in the place where his skin brushes the sliver of mine, and I lean into the touch, enjoying the quiet possession it asserts.
Undeniably, something changed between us in that cave surrounded by floating rainbow prisms and the roar of the falling water. Any apprehension I felt at allowing myself to get close to someone melted into the damp stone beneath my feet at the dominating way he held me beneath the falls.
He steers me towards the passenger side of his truck as Justin follows Jessie over to her car. I look up at him questioningly, but his expression is hidden by rapidly falling shadows.
Justin whistles for Bandit, and the pup bounds over to him without a second thought. He leaps through the open door of Jessie’s car before she closes him inside.
“We’ll drop Bandit off on our way,” she says, and my confusion mounts.
“I’ll take you home,” Levi says.
Without waiting for a response, he opens the truck door and steps back, allowing me to climb up. I hesitate for a moment, and with him as close as he is, I can see his eyebrows quirk in question.
“Is there a problem?”
I shiver at the suggestive playfulness and quickly grab the handle, hauling myself up into the seat like a pro. Like every other time before, he checks to make sure I’m settled with my seatbelt in place, before closing the door with a smirk.
Before I know it, we’re cruising down the two-lane road back to town. I can’t wait to take a hot shower and relax with my Kindle and my latest spicy romance book. Suddenly, my stomach drops.
Because Levi is taking me home.
Except I don’t have a home. I have a motel room.
Embarrassment threatens to drown me as my heart races and I frantically search for some excuse as to why I need to be dropped off anywhere but at the goddamn apartment complex.
How could I be so stupid? I was so busy enjoying myself that I let my guard down and didn’t think.
I mean, it’s not the end of the world, really. So what if Levi finds out I’m living out of the motel and not the quaint and comfortable apartment I let him think I was settled in?
No need for the dramatics, Oakley. I silently berate myself as I stare out the passenger window.
“Are you warm enough?” Levi asks, and I nod my head yes. Out of the corner of my eye I catch a glimpse of a disapproving frown. “You’re shivering.”
“I’m fine.”
“You have goosebumps running up and down your legs.”
My eyes flash to his accusing look directed at my bare legs, the skin indeed raised with goosebumps. It has nothing to do with the chill mountain air that streams in through the cracked windows and everything to do with the intense stare from the man seated next to me. And he damn well knows it.
We pull onto the main road, and Levi pulls the truck up in front of the apartments, throwing it hastily into park.
“Which one is yours? I’ll walk you to your door,” Levi says, and the click of him taking off his seatbelt jars me back into the conundrum I’ve found myself in.
“No!” I exclaim. His brows shoot up, and I hurry out an excuse. “I mean, it’s not that far. Plus, the apartment is an absolute mess right now.”
“It’s not too late. I can help you straighten up if you’d like.”
“Nope. Uh… I mean… No, thank you. You’ve done so much for me already.
A girl’s gotta do something on her own.” I give a half-hearted laugh that’s not at all convincing.
“I had a really nice time today,” I add, needing to get the hell out of this conversation, but not wanting to leave him thinking I didn’t enjoy myself.
His lips press together in a firm line, like he wants to say something but doesn’t dare open his mouth for fear of what might come out. Finally, after a resigned sigh, he speaks. “I had a good time too. Are you sure I can’t walk you to your door?”
I’m staring, spending entirely too long looking at the man to my left, my hand suspended halfway to the door handle. I plaster a forced smile on my face. “Positive. See you around, Levi!” With that, I wrench open the door, hop down, and close it behind me.
There was a slight shift in Levi just now, but I can’t put my finger on what it was. He felt altogether the same as, and different from, the man who nearly kissed me under the falls.
Nerves trickle through me like an IV drip, and the longer I stand here trying to figure out what to do, the more suspicious it looks. Clearly, he’s waiting for me to make it to my door—damn the gentleman you are, Levi— but I can’t very well go walking up to someone else’s frickin’ apartment.
All I care about right now is getting home, and I can’t do that with Levi sitting here waiting for me to get inside.
Making up my mind, I cross behind the truck and head towards the back of the apartment complex.
I’m hoping the apartments have a secondary entrance that I can pretend to go in until the coast is clear.
I disappear behind the building, leaning up against the brick wall, thoughts swimming and still trying to make sense of whatever that small shift was.
A sigh of relief leaves me as the sound of the truck pulling away fills the night air.