Carry Me

Levia Wallace had never enjoyed plane rides. She was always paranoid that the plane would fall down and crash or explode in mid-air. She had been told her entire life that thoughts like that were absurd, but she never listened. It was still scary.

It made it even worse that she had to be alone. Levia never did like being alone.

The minute the plane landed she bolted down the runway and grabbed her luggage as quickly as she could. She was just so glad to be on land again, where it was safe. The people she passed gave her strange looks, but she ignored them. She hated attention and how uncomfortable it made her feel.

Levia wondered if maybe they could tell she wasn’t a Californian. Her olive skin wasn’t too tan, and her dark brown hair, in a messy side ponytail, wasn’t faded from the sun like most other girls out here. She had on cutoff jean shorts, black low top Converse, and a purple tank covered up by an oversized gray zip-up sweater, which she didn’t think was too abnormal in California, but she really had no idea.

With shaky hands and jelly-legs she made her way through the airport, now searching for a sign with her name on it. She had her luggage and was ready to head out into the heat of California. She just had to find whoever was picking her up first.

On the plane ride, Levia got a call from her sister, Addison, saying how she and her fiancé Matt were too busy to pick Levia up, so one of his friends would be picking her up instead.

Levia didn’t even want to know what Addison meant by busy.

She scanned the faces of people in the airport, looking for a “hot guy wearing a fedora”. Levia shook her head at her sister‘s description of the guy. Wasn’t she supposed to be getting married and shouldn‘t be talking about other guys like that? And yet, Levia knew that Addison was very good at descriptions, and if she said a guy was hot, he probably was.

Something the two sisters had always shared was their taste in men. Sort of. Levia preferred the tall, skinny ones while Addison went for the tall, buff ones. Addison would always tease her about picking the “twigs” while she chose the “manly men”. Though Levia had a thing for tall guys, she usually ended up with guys not much taller than her. But back to Addison’s type, Levia was pretty sure that this Matt guy would be one of those manly men. Addison always did have more luck in the boyfriend department.

Her thoughts were stopped when a fedora-clad man came into view. Levia examined him, debating on whether or not he fit Addison’s description. He had a notebook-sized piece of paper sitting at his feet with “Levia” on it in what looked to be Addison’s neat cursive writing. He was texting and not even looking around for anyone. She couldn’t see his face, but brown, spiked hair stuck out from the back of his fedora.

Levia shrugged, deciding that this was the guy and made her way over to him. His attention was still strictly on his phone, a blackberry. Levia brushed her bangs out of her right eye and stopped a couple of feet in front of him. When he still didn’t notice her, she timidly tapped him on the shoulder.

Levia’s pale green eyes met the chocolate brown ones of the guy in front of her as he lifted his head. He slowly put his phone in his pocket and gave Levia a questioning look.

Levia, never one for eye contact, looked down at the sign on the ground by his feet instead and ran a hand through the ponytail over her left shoulder, not knowing what to say to the guy.

He cleared his throat, “Are you Levia?”

She nodded and brought her head up to stare at his fedora, still avoiding eye contact, “You must be one of uh…Matt’s friends?”

A bright smile took over his face and he nodded, “You bet’cha.”

Levia took the opportunity to examine his face while she had the courage. From his cheekbones to his eyes to his mouth, Addison was right. Even from his torn jeans to his purple shirt with skulls on the side, he was pretty hot.

Not quite her type, but still hot.

The guy noticed her staring and scratched the back of his head, “I’m Brian, by the way.”

Levia, not wanting to be rude, politely smiled, “Nice to meet you.”

Brian let his eyes travel down her body before bringing his head up to look at her face again, “You too.”

Levia felt a small amount of heat rush to her face and she stared down at the floor again. She never did get used to male attention, mostly because she didn’t get it often in college, or high school, for that matter.

“Need some help with your bags?”

Levia shrugged and handed Brian her biggest suitcase. He looked like a pretty strong guy, and besides, her arm was starting to hurt.

Brian gladly took it and started walking off in some direction. Levia jogged to catch up with him and walked behind him like a lost puppy.

He turned his head over his shoulder, “We’ll just head out to my car and I’ll take you to Matt and Addi’s.”

Levia mumbled an ‘ok’ and continued following Brian out of the airport and into the parking lot where a black Escalade was waiting for them.

Not used to seeing such nice cars back home, she took a moment to admire it before walking around to the back and putting her two other small bags with her suitcase. She walked up to the passenger side of the car and hopped in while Brian got in the driver’s side.

An awkward silence, normal to Levia, took over the two as the airport became smaller and smaller until it disappeared from sight. Levia shifted in her seat and pulled down on her shorts before crossing her arms over her chest and blankly looking out of the window again. Brian let out a small laugh and Levia stared at him.

“What’s so funny?”

He glanced over at her, “Nothing. You’re just so quiet. Nothing like your sister.”

Levia shrugged, “I’m always this way around new people.”

Brian nodded in understanding, “So once you do get comfortable around us, which I’m sure you will since Matt said something about you staying for a couple months, you’ll be just like Addi?”

Levia snorted a laugh, “I’m not nearly as flirtatious.”

Brian glanced over at her again, a small smirk on his face this time, “Really now?”

She nodded, “And I’m…uncomfortable with people invading my personal space.”

“Which is the opposite of Addi,” he laughed.

Levia let out a small laugh too, “I guarantee you the minute she stops hugging me to death she’ll insist that I hug everyone else who’s there. By the way, who all is gonna be there? Addi said something about Matt’s…band mates?”

Levia was completely clueless as to who exactly Addison’s fiancé was. She knew he was in a band, and it was a band she liked. Levia just wished that Addi would tell her. Levia loved a lot of bands and their music, but she usually didn’t know much about the band members.

But she did have to say, now that she thought about it, Brian looked kind of familiar…

“Yep. We’ll all be there.”

Levia tilted her head to the side, a gesture she did when she was confused. She didn’t even realize she did it at all.

“You’re in Matt’s band?” she asked.

Brian nodded, “Yeah. You do know who we are, don’t you? Addi said you would.”

“I would know if she told me,” Levia said, crossing her arms again in a displeased manner.

Brian laughed at her childish nature, “So she hasn’t told you yet?”

Levia shook her head, “She said if I didn’t figure it out by the end of the night she’d tell me.”

“So you listen to our music, but don’t recognize us?”

“Supposedly.”

“Have you been to one of our concerts?”

“So I’ve been told.”

Brian made a ‘humph’ noise, “What concerts have you been to?”

Levia bit the side of her lip in thought, another gesture she didn’t know she did, “Recently? Papa Roach, Avenged Sevenfold, Slipknot, Shinedown, Disturbed…”

“Is that all?” Brian said jokingly.

Levia shrugged, “Nope.”

Conversation ceased as the Escalade pulled up into a driveway of a decent sized home in a suburban neighborhood.

While Levia gaped at the house, Brian shut off the engine and rested his left arm on the steering wheel, turning to Levia.

“Welcome to Huntington.”

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Levia carried her bags up the small path, with the help of Brian, up the small stairs and onto the deck to knock on the door. She expected to see her sister, but was surprised when a tall, muscular, and rather intimidating guy wearing a snug t-shirt and normal jeans opened the door.

He nodded behind her, probably at Brian, before looking down at her at giving her a warm smile.

“You must be Levia.”

Levia held back a smile. Not only was he exactly her sister’s type: tall, tan, and handsome, but he also seemed genuinely nice. Not to mention his voice that could make a girl drop her pants in a heartbeat. Her sister had really lucked out on this one.

Letting a tiny smile show through, and stuck out her hand for him to shake, “You must be Matt.”

Matt laughed at Levia’s outstretched hand before grabbing her at the elbow pulling her in, crushing her in a hug. Levia’s face heated at the unexpected contact and she stiffened. She attempted to pat Matt on the back and waited until he let her go before shielding the right side of her face with her bangs. Matt and Brian laughed before Matt put an arm around her and led her inside.

Levia admired the décor, not paying attention at all to where she was going, and ran right into the side of the wall on the way to the living room.

Matt quickly took his hand from around her shoulders, thinking he led her right into the wall while Brian laughed and clutched his knees, dropping Levia’s bags carelessly on the floor.

Levia rubbed her left cheek, where she had hit the wall, and frowned. She was hoping to make a good first impression on her future brother-in-law, but that didn’t seem to be happening.

Footsteps thundered through the house and Levia subconsciously cringed at the noise. Brian was practically on the floor in laughter by now and Matt was staring at his arm as if it were evil.

Three guys Levia didn’t know and her sister appeared around the corner. Levia was still rubbing her throbbing face and the three guys immediately burst out into laughter while her sister ran over to her.

“Levia! What happened?!”

Levia cringed at Addison’s panicked voiced, “I just ran into a wall. Nothing to be worried about.”

Addison frowned and roughly pulled Levia’s hand from her face. She gasped, “That does not look like nothing to worry about!”

“Addison I’m fine-”

“Matt! Oh my…get her some ice!”

Matt looked confused, “Me? Make Johnny go get it!”

The shortest of the three unknown guys glared at Matt, “No! I’m not Addi’s bitch! That’s your job!”

The tallest cracked up laughing and leaned on the wall for support. Levia’s gaze lingered a bit longer than necessary.

He was so tall…

She shook her head and gently put a hand to her cheek, “Really, Addison, I’m fine.”

Addison gave her a disbelieving look but decided to let the subject go, “Sorry. It’s just the first time I’ve seen you since before you left for college and I’ve just been so worried because I know how you hate plane rides and being alone. Plus, I mean, just look at you! You’ve grown up so much and I’ve just missed you and-”

Levia laughed, “Addi!”

Addison stopped talking and stood quietly staring at Levia. She broke out into a huge smile and grabbed Levia, nearly cutting off her oxygen supply. Addison’s 5’7” frame wasn’t too unevenly matched with Levia’s 5’5” one, but the older sister’s excitement was too much for Levia.

Matt grabbed Addison and gently pulled her away, “I think that’s enough, Ads. You’re suffocating the girl.”

Addison smiled brightly at Levia. The girls hadn’t seen each other since two days before Levia left their quiet home in Maine for college in Iowa. Addison felt silly continuing her college days in Maine without her sister, so she transferred to college in California, got an internship, met Matt through an interview, and the rest is history. Levia, on the other hand, had just graduated from college no more than a week ago and headed straight out to California to see her sister for the first time in almost 5 years.

The girls chatted back and forth, exchanging “girl talk” and just catching up. When they started talking about shopping and relationships, the guys were having none of it. Brian began backing away until he bumped into a small end table. The shortest, Johnny, did the same except he backed into the tall guy.

“Watch it, short shit,” the tall one said harshly.

Johnny glared and leaned with his side on the wall, not knowing what to do. The tall guy, whom Levia still didn’t know, looked at the two oddly, as did the third and final guy. Who was also very cute.

Wow. Matt had some cute friends.

Matt, not wanting to break up the moment but doing it anyway, put a hand on Addison’s shoulder, “The other guys will be here soon. Maybe we should start getting ready.”

Addison rolled her eyes at the carelessness of her fiancé and gave Levia a smile before walking off with Matt, “You can take your stuff up to our guest room. Jimmy and Zacky will show you where it is.”

Levia tilted her head to the side, wondering who they were. Brian came up to her and tapped her shoulder before walking past her and towards the kitchen, “Jimmy’s the beanstalk and Zacky’s the…other one.”

Zacky smacked Brian on the arm as he walked by before turning his gaze to Levia and smiling, “Nice to meet you, Levia.”

Levia smiled at the way he spoke. His barely noticeable lisp was adorable.

Should 20-something year old guys really be adorable?

“Levia…that’s a very interesting name,” Jimmy commented, rubbing his chin in thought.

She looked down at the ground and ran a hand through the waves of her ponytail again, “It is.”

“Aww, I think someone’s shy,” Jimmy said, putting an arm around her waist and leading her towards the stairs, “Zacky, grab her stuff and bring it up.”

Zacky gave Jimmy a ‘what the fuck, I’m not doing anything for you’ face but grabbed Levia’s bags anyway and followed the two through the hall and up the stairs.

Jimmy turned at the top, leading an uncomfortable Levia to the end of the hall and opened a door. The walls of the room were a deep purple and white quilted sheets covered the queen-size bed.

Levia made her way from Jimmy’s grasp, thankfully, and jumped on the bed. It was rather comfy.

Zacky huffed and dropped her bags by the edge of the bed before leaning against it, “You have some heavy shit!”

Levia giggled, “Well I am a girl, you know.”

The two guys smiled at her giggle, making her shut up and look away.

“Well let’s head downstairs to that party!” Jimmy said, breaking the silence.

Zacky nodded and left the room, Jimmy following. Levia thought it was best to follow the two and did so.

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Levia had never been so drunk in her life.

Of course, she was only 22 and hardly ever drank anything but one or two beers every now and then. Maybe a shot of vodka here and there, but she had never had Jack Daniels.

That is, until Zacky and Brian decided to give her a couple shots.

At first, it burned. A lot. Levia didn’t know if she could possibly handle more than one. She thought she was going to die from the first.

With a lot of encouragement from Zacky, Levia decided to try another. And another. And another.

Now, three or so shots wouldn’t normally affect someone too much, but then again, Levia never did have much of an alcohol tolerance.

Not that Addison or any of the guys knew this. Addison was already trashed and passed out in Matt’s lap while the other four guys weren’t even buzzed.

It was only 9 at night.

Levia remembered Matt saying something about another band that the guys were friends with coming over. Or maybe that was just the alcohol.

Levia stumbled her way over to the table to grab a bun. Her brain was still coherent enough to know she should eat something with all that crap she drank earlier. She rolled up the sleeves of her now unzipped gray sweatshirt and reached for one. It was farther away than she thought.

She heard a chuckle from behind her and whipped around, maybe a little too fast, because she almost fell on the ground. However, she was caught by the mysterious person behind her. They held onto her elbows as her legs were in a pile underneath her.

“Woah, there!”

Levia recognized the voice as that tall, lanky guy…Jimmy.

“I need buns,” she mumbled.

Jimmy laughed, loudly this time, and pulled Levia up to her feet. He still held onto her by the shoulders, like he was afraid she would fall if he let go.

“I think you already have some,” he said, twisting his head to try to catch a glimpse of her butt.

Levia shook her head, making her vision spin, “No! Not the kind I wanna eat!”

“The boys are here!”

Levia and Jimmy turned their heads in the direction of the voice to see Matt yelling and waving a group of four guys walking into the backyard.

Levia tried to get a good look at the guys, but it was a bit hard when all she could see were fuzzy spots.

“Hey there, Jimbo. Who’s the cutie?”

In a normal situation, Levia would’ve blushed, mumbled that she wasn’t cute, and avoided eye contact with this man for the rest of her life.

But this was not a normal situation.

Brian appeared out of thin air and wrapped an arm around Levia, pulling her close. Though drunk, she could clearly smell that torturous JD on his breath.

“This here is Levia! She’s Matt’s girl’s sister.” he said.

The stranger, who was a little shorter than Brian, had black hair standing straight up on his head and tattoos covering his body, smirked at her, “The name’s Jacoby,”

Levia drunkenly smiled before something clicked in her head, “That reminds me of Jacoby Shaddix! It’s funny that you have the same first name! I’ve so been in love with that guy since high school…”

Jacoby, clearly amused, stared at Brian.

Brian shrugged, “Should we tell her?”

Jacoby shook his head, the smirk returning, “Nah. It’ll spoil the fun if she knows. She probably won’t remember anyway.”

Brian nodded, “Yeah. She’s pretty wasted. But I’m not worried. By the time we’re done with her she’ll have a tolerance so high she can out drink any of us!”

The two guys laughed and Levia swayed to the beat of the music playing on the radio in the background. Apparently she knew the song, because she started humming along to the words, much to her surprise.

“You know this song?” Jacoby asked, still amused by the drunk Levia’s antics.

She giggled, “I guess so!”

Brain chuckled and gave the smaller girl a side hug, “I think I’m gonna like this girl.”

Levia closed her eyes and sang along to some song about wanting to be loved.

“I can’t believe she knows our song, even when she’s drunk,” Jacoby laughed.

Brian laughed too, “I dunno. Addison said something about her favorite bands being Papa Roach and Disturbed or something earlier.”

Jacoby smiled and looked at the girl in a new light, “So she’s a huge fan, huh?”

“Guess so.”

Jacoby grabbed Levia’s hand and pulled her out of Brian’s arms and towards the radio system. People were dancing around it, drunkenly, of course, and Levia guessed Jacoby wanted to too.

Brian just shook his head, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”

Jacoby gave Brian and knowing glance and laughed before dragging Levia away.

Levia thought the song ended and a different one started, but she couldn’t be sure. It must’ve been a slow song since Jacoby had put his hands on her waist and she somehow managed to get her arms around his shoulders. She was confused as to how this happened, but enjoyed it anyway.

Not even a minute into the song, which sounded strangely like Papa Roach, Levia thought, and she was resting her head on Jabob…Jaco…well whatever his name was, she was resting her head on his chest. She was ready to fall asleep.

He chuckled, “Tired?”

Levia lifted her head up to look at him, but her vision spun and she felt her face hit his shoulder before she could respond. She closed her eyes and let sleep overtake her.

“I take that as a yes.”