Carry Me

“Ooh! Let’s try this one!”

Levia sighed as Addison picked out another cake. The baker behind the glass counter smiled at Addison and cut a couple of small pieces off for the rest of the group to try, placing it on a tray with the others.

Matt and Addison decided that now would be a good time to pick out a cake, and of coursed asked Levia to come along. With Levia now came Zacky, and she wanted Laney to come too. If Laney was coming then Johnny was two, and thus there were six of them standing in the small bakery about to eat more sweet stuff than was healthy.

“I think that’s enough, babe,” Matt said, gently pulling Addison away from the display of cakes.

She frowned, “I thought you loved me?”

“He does love you…and your figure,” Johnny commented.

Laney slapped his chest, “You’re such an insincere asshole!”

“Don’t start that now,” Zacky groaned, running his hands over his face.

Johnny said nothing but sat down next to Laney, squeezing her thigh and making her squeal. Luckily there weren’t many people in the place, though that didn’t stop Laney from glaring at Johnny. He looked away innocently.

The baker carried the tray of cake samples over and set it on the table. Levia’s mouth began to water, literally, at the sight of it. She loved cake.

“You’ve got a little drool there, Lev,” Zacky said, wiping off Levia’s mouth with his finger.

She blushed at the feeling of the calloused skin on her lip, “My bad.”

Matt stared at Addison, amused, “You’re drooling too, Ads.”

Addison’s head snapped up, “Huh?”

Matt chuckled and grabbed a napkin, wiping the trail of drool down Addison’s cheek. Levia thought it was cute, his gesture, though Zacky thought it was gross.

“That’s nasty, Addi.”

“Hey! Your girl was drooling too!” Matt defended. Levia also found it cute how quick he was to fight for her sister.

“They’re sisters. They share the same lack of control for their saliva,” Laney said nonchalantly.

Zacky just stared at her while Matt smirked.

“You have no idea how true that statement is-OW! Ads!”

Addison glared at him though she still smiled, “Keep that to yourself!”

Zacky’s nose turned up, along with Levia’s not pleased face.

“Didn’t need to know that,” she said.

“Zacky might find it useful,” Johnny said in the same non caring manner Laney had moments ago.

Levia’s jaw dropped and Zacky coughed, sensing Levia’s awkwardness.

“Yeah, uh, how about that cake?” he suggested.

Levia sighed, sending Zacky a grateful look and picking up a piece of vanilla cake with think, light blue frosting. Everyone else picked up random samples and ate them, all moaning in delight at the taste.

“Oh! This is so…good!” Addison exclaimed, ignoring the chocolate and pink frosting around her mouth.

“You can say that again,” Zacky added, wiping the excess white cream off his fingers.

Levia closed her eyes and savored the sweet taste, not remembering the last time she had even gone anywhere to eat cake. It was amazing.

“You’ve got some chocolate there, Ads,” Matt said, smiling deviously down at Addison.

She looked confused, “I do?”

Matt nodded, “Yeah, but I can get that off for you.”

Levia opened her eyes only to see the sight of Matt pressing his lips onto Addison’s in a tender manner and proceeding to lick off the remaining frosting. Part of Levia wanted to ‘aww’ like she did every time Matt and Addison came near to her and the other part wanted to be disgusted.

Johnny frowned, “Ew.”

Laney sighed, “That’s so sweet. I wish I had that.”

“You don’t?” Zacky snorted, earning a glare from Johnny.

Laney shrugged, “It’s too early to tell.”

Everyone went back to eating more cake, much to the delight of a hungry and greedy Levia. Zacky tapped her on the shoulder, making her turn to face him with a guilty look and mouth full of strawberry flavored cake.

“You just watch,” he said, “I bet they’ll be the next Matt and Addi.”

Levia nodded, though she didn’t really understand what he meant. It clicked when she saw Johnny feeding a piece of cake to Laney, and instead of yelling she smiled, dazed at Johnny.

How cute.

Levia looked over at Matt and Addison to see them doing the same, only they were smiling and laughing with each other, playfully arguing about who had the best taste. The way they looked at each other was almost like an old married couple: still deeply in love despite what they’ve been through and how long they’ve been together.

She couldn’t help but smile dreamily at her sister and Matt, looking forward to the day when she had that. She hoped it would be soon, but highly doubted it would. It took long periods of time for people to develop bonds like that, and Levia had only been here for not even two months.

Yet she had already bonded so well with two people.

Levia distracted herself with another sample, not wanting to think about Jacoby more than she already did. She seriously needed to stop that.

“You okay?” Zacky asked, seeming to notice her change in mood.

Levia smiled slightly at his worry. It was cute.

“I’m fine. Just…was thinking about something.”

Zacky nodded and let it go, guessing that Levia didn’t want to talk about it. If she wanted him to know, she would tell him.

Levia couldn’t believe how nice Zacky really was, and how lucky she was to have hooked him.

Well, more like he hooked her. But still.

She had also been hooked by-

No.

She refused to say it.

Instead she thought about all the times she’d had with Zacky, and how much she really liked him. He was almost too good to be true.

So was a certain someone else…

Levia saw finger snap in front of her face and it startled her from her daze.

“You were spacing off there,” Addison laughed, retreating back into her seat on the other side of the table.

Levia smiled sheepishly, “Sorry.”

Matt shrugged, “No need to apologize. Addison just felt the need to interrupt you so you could eat more cake and help us pick one.”

Zacky leaned over and whispered in her ear, “You sure nothing’s bothering you?”

Oddly, Levia didn’t feel that tingly sensation she normal did. She shrugged it off, thinking it was probably just because her mind was elsewhere.

“I’m fine. Don’t worry about it,” she said, putting her hand on Zacky’s. The contact made her face warm.

Well at least that was normal.

“Hey! Less talking, more eating!” Addison scolded, picking up cake at tossing it in Levia’s direction.

Levia sighed. Maybe cake would take away her confusion.

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“Ugh. I am so full,” Matt whined, patting his tummy full of cake.

“You ate like a pig, sweetie,” Addison said, patting him on the shoulder.

Matt sighed and sat himself on the couch, pulling Addison down onto his lap. She giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck. It was autonomous, anymore.

“So how long do you think Zacky and Levia will last?”

Addison stared somewhat coldly at Matt, “What do you mean?”

Matt shrugged, “We all know Zacky really likes the girl, but we all also know he hasn’t gotten any in a while…”

“Don’t finish that,” Addison said, displeased, “he wouldn’t do that to Levia.”

“He’s done it to other girls, Ads. And I’m not saying he will, it’s just a…warning,” Matt stated, trying not to start anything but still get his point across.

Addison sighed, doubting her own words. She knew that even if Zacky didn’t mean to, he could easily do something to hurt Levia.

“She’s just so fragile,” Addison frowned.

“You know if Zacky does, he’ll beat himself up over it for weeks, even months.”

Addison slumped, becoming even more worried, “I know. We should’ve never let the two of them like each other. I want Lev to stick around, maybe even live out here with me.”

“If she’s with Zacky, there’s a good chance she will,” Matt said, trying to comfort Addison.

“But if he screws it up, she’ll want to leave, won’t she?”

Matt shook his head, “Not necessarily. She has not only you, but the Papa Roach guys…”

The two of them felt silent, remembering how attached Levia was becoming to the Roach guys, especially Jacoby and his kids.

“Oh, no. Why didn’t I think about it sooner?” Addison gasped, suddenly sitting up straighter.

Matt held her firmly, “What?”

Addison looked down at him, “She adored Jacoby way before she even knew him, and now that she does and he likes her back it’s only worse! She really likes him, but she really likes Zacky too…”

“I could’ve told you that.”

“But…she won’t hurt Zacky, will she?”

Matt shook his head again, “No. She wouldn’t.”

Addison frowned, not believing Matt’s reassuring words, “You’re sure?”

Matt nodded, “Positive. Neither of them will hurt the other. Don’t you worry your pretty little head about it.”

Addison smiled, satisfied with his answer as he kissed her on the forehead.

“What do you say we go catch some sleep? And try not to wake up Levia again this time, babe. You have no idea how awkward that was for the both of us,” Matt said.

Addison giggled, remembering how a couple nights ago she had, not on purpose, woken up her sister. Levia thought she was hearing things and had gone down the hall towards the window by the couple’s room, thinking that was where the sound had come from. Matt had come stumbling out, completely naked, and it turned out his drunken sex with her sister had woken Levia up.

Needless to say, Levia had seen more of her future brother-in-law than she cared to see.

“I’ll try not to.”

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Levia stumbled out of the car and shut the car door, giggling and waving drunkenly at Jimmy, who stuck his tongue out as he drove away. She unsteadily made her way to the front door of the house, thankful she had chosen to wear her purple Converse instead of heels. She tripped going up the steps and twisted her bad ankle, which had healed but still hurt, and hissed.

Maybe going to the bar with Jimmy and Brian wasn’t the best idea.

After the cake sampling, Levia told Zacky that she was tired and just wanted to go home. Surprised but not questioning, Zacky took her home and kissed her goodbye, telling her he’d talk to her later. Levia felt bad, but she just needed to clear her mind.

So she called up Brian and asked him to take her out drinking. As it turned out, he and Jimmy were already going to the bar at 3 in the afternoon and swung by to pick Levia up and bring her with them.

A month ago Levia would have passed out shots ago, but she had managed to hang in pretty well and actually wasn’t too drunk.

Or so she thought.

Levia was actually proud of herself for being able to open the door without too much trouble, and thought she must be getting a higher tolerance if she was actually thinking coherent thoughts.

Ignoring the suspicious sounds coming from the other end of the hall, Levia managed to make her way up the stairs and to her room. Once inside, she tripped over thin air and caught herself on her bed, coming face to face with the picture frames on her stand.

The first was a picture of her and Addison, smiling and hugging each other like the loving sisters they were. It was taken in Levia’s sophomore year in high school, and she looked so strange with her short, reddish brown hair and lip ring. Addison’s hair was dyed black and she had a nose ring.

Times sure does change people.

The second picture was one of Levia, this time in her senior year and looking much like she did today, her hair darker and longer, wavier. She stood next to a tall man with dark, ebony skin, his pale green eyes identical to Levia’s, and their facial features the same. The only difference was their skin color, though his brown hair was cut closely to his head. Stubble covered his face and it looked like a beard would form if he continued to let it grow out. On the other side of Levia was a girl a few years younger and she had deep gray eyes. Her hair was similar to the other two in the picture, and her skin was only a couple shades darker than Levia’s, yet lighter than the man’s. The three of them had theirs arms around each other and were smiling.

“Dad and CJ,” Levia whispered. She lifted it up to get a better look and ran her hands over the picture. She hadn’t seen either of them in four and a half years. She felt bad for just up and leaving like she did, but she couldn’t handle her mother and her step father’s stuck up new family and ways. She knew it made not only her dad, but CJ heartbroken too.

CJ was her oldest half sibling and the reason for her parents’ divorce. While her mother was having an affair with the gardener from Spain, her father slept with his French-Canadian secretary, impregnating her with a child that would become CJ, and thus the divorce was decided.

Levia missed her dad; she really did. Addison had always favored her mother and step-father, who had married some rich Russian entrepreneur when Levia was 6.

They had a very interesting and racially diverse family.

Levia sniffed, not realizing that she had been crying and put the picture back on the stand. Maybe all those drinks weren’t such a good idea. They made her emotional.

She wondered how it would all work when Addison got married. Surely both her mother and father’s families would come, and so would her grandparents and aunts and uncles…

The church would look like Ellis Island back in the day if her entire family came.

Trying to forget about her family and the guilt of not seeing her father in years, Levia stripped herself of everything but her underwear and just crashed in her bed under the covers. She would worry about changing and taking a shower in the morning.

When her mind was on other things.