Carry Me

“You should really come and visit all of the guys sometime. I know they’d like to meet you again, this time when they’re not miserably hungover.”

Levia laughed, digging into her plate of spaghetti. She loved spaghetti.

“I would like that too, actually. I mean, you guys really are one of my favorite bands, and you have no idea how awesome it was for me to even see you in my sister’s kitchen.”

Jacoby laughed, “Exactly! You should come back up there with me tonight. You could spend the weekend with us, then come back next week and help with the wedding some more.”

Levia pursed her lips together in thought. It really wouldn’t be a bad idea, since she really did want to see the rest of the Papa Roach guys again, but she was worried her sister wouldn’t approve.

Oh well. Addison wasn’t her mother; she couldn’t tell her what to do.

“Yeah. That actually sounds like a lot of fun.”

Levia looked down the table. The gang went to Olive Garden, much to Levia’s delight, and were taking up an entire back corner of the room since there were eight of them.

On one side, there was Matt on the end, Jimmy next to him, followed by Johnny and then Jacoby. Across from Matt was Addison, followed by Zacky, Brian, and then Levia.

Brian reached over and squeezed Levia’s knee, causing her to jerk and bang it on the underside of the table. She glared at Brian, who laughed, and rubbed her knee for about the 6th time that night.

When she thought Brian wasn’t paying attention, Levia grabbed his thigh, causing him to twitch and kick Jimmy under the table.

“Hey! What was that for?!” Jimmy asked, pouting and rubbing his now injured leg.

“She grabbed me, man! I swear!” Brian said, pointing at Levia.

All eyes went to her and Addison scowled, “Brian! Stop blaming things on my sister!”

Brian tossed his hands up in annoyance and Matt laughed, locking eyes with Levia. The two knew how Addison was with Brian.

Those two just liked to piss each other off.

Jacoby frowned at his phone under the table before closing it and looking up at Levia, “Well scratch that. Tobe’s got family coming over for the week and we’re all supposed to help. How about next weekend?”

Levia shrugged, “That’d be fine.”

Jacoby smiled and ate the rest of his pasta. Inviting Levia up for the weekend was the closest he was getting to a date with her, for now anyway.

Zacky shifted in his seat uncomfortably. Addison was being her usual flirty self, playing footsy with Matt under the table, which disgusted Zacky because of the cuteness of it all, and the looks they were sending each other made Zacky feel like he was a voyeur in some badly acted porno.

Not to mention Addison kept purposely rubbing her bare legs on Zacky’s.

He really wished she wouldn’t do that. She was as bad as Brian with teasing him on his lack of a sex life the past couple of months.

He should’ve sat by Levia.

That was another thing that made him frown. She seemed more than happy to chat away with Jacoby, and she always let Brian hit on her without beating him up.

Zacky doubted she would really beat a guy up just for that, anyway.

Jacoby sighed and flipped his phone shut again, “I gotta go. Ma’s getting sick of the kids and wants me to come back. I have a…bit of a long drive ahead. I’ll see you guys.”

Everyone nodded and said their goodbyes. Levia bit her lip. She almost forgot that he had kids.

Now she felt bad for liking him and actually starting to have real feelings for the guy.

Jacoby smiled at Levia and winked before bending down to pat Matt on the shoulder and give him money for supper. Then he left.

“Forgot he had kids, huh?” Brian asked quietly, leaning over so no one else would hear him.

Levia chewed on her lower lip, “Yeah. Now I feel…weird.”

Brian watched her with interest before shrugging, “Don’t. He obviously doesn’t feel weird about it.”

Levia tilted her head, “What do you mean?”

Brian shook his head, “Nothing.”

“It’s too bad Jacoby had to leave. The girls are still coming and I’m sure they would’ve liked to meet him,” Addison said sadly, rubbing her leg on Zacky’s again. Zacky pounded his head on the table.

Matt stared at him strangely while Johnny groaned.

“Laney’s coming too, isn’t she?”

“Yes, And I swear if you two get into an argument I’m shoving a breadstick up both your asses!” Addison warned, grabbing a soggy breadstick and waving it in Johnny’s face for emphasis.

He recoiled, “Get that greasy thing away from me! And my ass!”

“That’s what she said!” Jimmy exclaimed.

Brian high-fived him, laughing, “Nice!”

Levia snorted. She covered her face when she realized what she just did but it was no use. Johnny and Jimmy were staring at her with amusement, since they had never heard her snort before, while Zacky, Matt, and Addison were laughing.

Brian ran his hand painfully slow up Levia’s leg before giving her upper thigh a light squeeze. She squealed, jumped, and snorted again. Nearby tables were staring at the group like they were insane, while everyone just laughed at Levia more. She tried to hold back her laughs as well, but they just ended up coming out as snorts.

Amber, Veronica, and Laney approached the table, eyebrows raised, at everyone. Laughter ceased and they greeted the girls.

Brian slid his way out of the booth, purposely shoving his butt in Levia’s face as he crawled overtop of her, to go greet the girls. Levia’s face twisted in disgust and she moved closer to Zacky.

“Why hello there, ladies,” Brian greeted, putting an arm around Amber and another around Veronica. He nodded at Laney, who nodded back.

Addison rolled her eyes, “Excuse Brian and his man-whore-ishness, girls.”

Amber giggled and stared lustfully at Brian while Veronica licked her lips and scooted closer to him. Laney stood off to the side, arms crossed and looking at the girls with disappointment.

“Oh, it’s alright,” Amber said, fluttering her eyelashes at Brian, who smirked in response.

Levia leaned over to Zacky, “Do girls always act this way around him?”

“Only if he’s single,” Zacky mumbled.

Levia said nothing, simply watched the two girls giggle in delight when Brian acted all gentlemanly by pulling out their chairs for them before sitting down next to Levia, still chatting them up.

Addison groaned, “Every time!”

Matt rubbed her arm, “It’s okay. We all know how much of a whore Syn is.”

Brian turned around to point at Matt accusingly, “I heard that!”

Matt pointed back at him, “Good!”

Levia noticed that Levia was still standing, “You sitting, Laney?”

Laney looked up at Levia and smiled, “There isn’t a chair.”

Jimmy pulled a chair up inbetween him and Johnny, “Now there is!”

Laney frowned, but moved to sit down anyway.

Jimmy pulled out the chair, allowing her to sit before push her chair in for her, “For you, m’dear.”

Laney giggled, “Thanks.”

Johnny scowled at the two, but took a deep breath and sighing, “Hey, Laney.”

She looked over at him, eyes narrowed, but her face went back to normal when she saw he was trying to be civil, “Hey.”

Addison smiled in delight because the two had managed to make it this long without arguing. Matt shook his head and chuckled at his fiancé’s behavior.

Zacky turned to whisper in Levia’s ear, “He just doesn’t want a greasy breadstick up his ass.”

Levia giggled and put a hand over her mouth, Zacky gazing at her. He liked the sound of her giggle.

“Don’t tell me I have to worry about you too, Zacky,” Addison winked at him, making Zacky slightly uncomfortable.

“Nope. Nope you don’t,” he answered quickly.

Addison stared at him, almost like she had been at Matt earlier, making Zacky even more uncomfortable. He unconsciously scooted backwards, to the point where he was practically laying on Levia.

“Good. Then I won’t have to punish you,” she breathed.

Zacky gulped. He really didn’t like his best friend’s future wife hitting on him, especially when his best friend, who was very large, was sitting right across from them.

Addison smiled and went down to the other end of the table to talk to her friends and to keep an eye on Brian. Zacky cast an uncomfortable look in Matt’s direction.

“I hate it when she does that.”

“Me too. Me too,” Matt said.

Levia shifted in her seat. She knew her sister meant no harm by doing anything. It was just her personality to act that way. Still, she knew that it hurt Matt, even if was just innocent playing around.

Levia looked at Matt sadly. He looked up and locked eyes with her for the second time that night, smiling. The butterflies returned and although not as prominent as they were with Zacky or Jacoby, they still affected her. She broke eye contact and looked away from his hazel eyes. They were so pretty…

“She thinks you have pretty eyes,” Zacky said, reading Levia’s body language. She looked up at him, mortified.

Matt chuckled and looked Levia up and down, staring at her in the same way Zacky had a few nights before, “Does she, now?”

Zacky frowned, not expecting this reaction from Matt, while Levia looked down and bit her lip. Matt smiled at her embarrassed gesture.

“You’re cute when you do that.”

Levia put her face on the table. She was beyond embarrassed.

Johnny chuckled, agreeing with Matt, “You do. And you look cute with her head down on the table like that too.”

Zacky narrowed his eyes, only slightly so he wouldn’t be obvious, at Matt and Johnny. Of course, he thought it was cute too, but he had never chosen to tell her for fear that he would mess up their friendship and scare her away. Obviously Matt and Johnny didn’t care.

Levia refused to bring her head up and finish eating her spaghetti, which was now probably cold, and decided to just not eat anything.

“You can bring your head up anytime, sweetie, “Laney laughed, “it’s been at least 15 minutes.”

Levia shook her head and mumbled against the table, “No.”

She was glad her hair was still down, though it was messy. It covered her face from their view.

“Just leave her alone. She’ll get back up if she wants,” Johnny said.

“Oh boy. Here we go,” Matt mumbled.

Laney turned her head quickly, “What was that?”

“Oh, nothing,” Johnny said.

“I’m trying to be nice, asshole, but you’re making it a little hard.”

“You couldn’t make it hard even if you tried.”

Laney’s mouth dropped open at his comment, “I didn’t mean that kind of hard!”

Johnny shrugged, “You couldn’t do it either way.”

Laney glared at him, “How would you know?”

“Heh, I think I’d know.”

“I should kick your ass right now.”

“But you wouldn’t.”

Laney silenced, not saying anything but glaring at Johnny.

Levia and Zacky exchanged a worried glace. Matt was tense, ready to stop one or both of them if they did anything. Jimmy was watching, clearly amused yet bothered by the fact that they were fighting. Addison was too busy trying to get Brian to stop hitting on Amber and Veronica, who were flirting with Brian like he was the only man on earth.

Johnny licked his lips, since they were dry, and stared Laney down.

The other four continued to watch, waiting for someone to make a move.

After a few more seconds of staring, Laney crashed her lips into Johnny’s, channeling all of her anger and frustration into the kiss. Johnny didn’t pull away, but instead grabbed the back of her hair and shoved his tongue forcefully into her mouth, dominating Laney easily.

Matt stared at the two like they were insane, Jimmy’s mouth hung open in shock, Zacky dropped his head onto the table and pounded it repeatedly, and Levia looked just plain uncomfortable.

Well that was unexpected.

“Hey! Stop that! There’s people here!” Matt hissed, slapping Johnny on the back of the head.

Johnny pulled away from Laney, who had a dazed look in her eyes, and glared at Matt, “That hurt, man!”

Laney resumed in narrowing her eyes at Johnny, “What was that? You can’t just shove your tongue in my mouth!”

Zacky’s pounding resumed, and Levia had to hold his head to get him to stop. Jimmy just laughed and shook his head, mumbling about women, and Matt slapped himself on the forehead.

“Christ! Go have hot hate sex and yell at each other in your car! We don’t want to hear your fighting or watch you eat each other’s faces! We’re trying to eat!”

The restaurant silenced except for couples whispering about Matt’s sudden outburst, and what freaks were sitting at that table.

Levia scooted closer to Zacky. She didn’t like people looking at her like they were.

Johnny huffed and stood up, forcefully pulling Laney up with him, “Fine! We will!”

Matt smacked his forehead again as Johnny dragged Laney to his car.

“Well…that was interesting,” Matt commented.

“You can say that again,” Zacky said, scratching his head in confusion.

“I don’t believe I’ve seen a thing like it before in my life!” Jimmy exclaimed in a terribly inaccurate English accent.

Levia stared at the direction that the two had just left in, “What the fuck just happened?”

Zacky put an arm around her, “Love happened, m’dear. Love.”

-------------------------------------------------------

A few more rounds of beer and wine later and everyone was ready to leave. Brian left with Amber and Veronica, much to the displeasure of Addison. Not that she really cared, since she was extremely drunk by that point and actually got in the same car as the three so she could ‘keep an eye on that ball-sucking man whore’. Matt was so out of it he didn’t notice, nor did Levia or anyone else.

Jimmy decided that since he was the best at driving while wasted off your ass, that he should drive. Everyone agreed.

Truth be told, Jimmy actually drove better when he was drunk. Surprising and abnormal, yes, but Jimmy was not a normal person.

First he dropped off Matt and Levia and an imaginary Addison at their house. Little did they know that Addison was really next door at Brian’s, passed out on the sofa while Brian did who-knows-what with Amber and Veronica. Probably not much, since they had all passed out in the car, minus Brian, who hardly drank anything.

Hopefully he didn’t do anything to them in their sleep. You never know with that guy.

Matt and Levia stumbled into the house, leaning on each other for support. The two were laughing so hard for no reason that they found it hard to communicate their thoughts to each other.

“You know, I always thought you were really hot. It’s too bad my sister got to you first,” Levia said, her expression suddenly sad.

One of Matt’s hands was on her butt, the other on one of her boobs, though neither of them seemed to notice.

Matt stopped, nearly tripping Levia and himself, “Who’s your sister?”

Levia squinted, “I have a sister?”

Matt looked shocked, “You have a sister?!”

Levia gasped in surprise, “Dude! I have to go meet her!”

“You don’t know her?”

“Know who?”

“What?”

“I dunno.”

“You have a nice ass,” Matt said, spanking her.

Levia giggled, drunkenly poking Matt in the chest, “You should buy me dinner before you do that!”

“Didn’t we just eat?”

“Iunno.”

Their words became more slurred as they entered the house, Levia tripping and landing on her left arm, causing it to bleed a little again.

“Oh shit my arm is bleeding!”

Matt looked over, “Oh shit your arm is bleeding!”

The bandage wrapped around Levia’s arm hardly became blood soaked, and she soon forgot about it.

Matt, through his blurred vision, checked Levia out, “You’re sexy. I like you.”

Levia tripped over her own foot trying to get up off the floor, “I think you’re sexy too!”

“Hey motherfuckers!”

Brian stumbled into the doorway, falling over his own feet and landing on Levia, sending both of them to the floor.

“Well hello there, pretty lady.”

She smiled drunkenly up at him, “Hey there, sexy!”

Brian wasn’t nearly as drunk as the other two, and he could handle his alcohol, but his coordination wasn’t the best.

He turned to Matt, though still on the floor on top of Levia, “Hey man, your fiancé is at my house.”

Matt looked confused, “I’m engaged?”

Brian nodded, “Yeah, man. She’s passed out on my kitchen floor. Right in front of the fridge.”

Matt stood up straight, falling over sideways and onto the floor. He burst into a fit of giggles, and Levia soon joined him.

“Imunna go save her,” he mumbled before looking consciousness and going limp.

Levia’s vision became even more blurred and Brian’s face wavered back and forth.

“Lev? Buddy? You okay?”

She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Brian looked at her worriedly.

“Nap time,” she mumbled, and her head hit the floor.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Levia awoke to the strong scent of…Brian?

The cologne was so overwhelming that Levia was practically gagging before she could even open her eyes to see where she was.

“Hmm. Maybe I sprayed a bit too much.”

Levi glared at Brian, “Maybe? I’m choking over here!”

Brian shrugged, “Sorry.”

Levia’s eyes widened when she realized where she was. She was in Brian’s bedroom, on his bed.

She shot him a disbelieving look. He held his hands up in surrender.

“You passed out right under me last night! I didn’t know what else to do with you!”

Levia’s jaw dropped, “What?!”

Brian shook his head, “That came out wrong. I meant that-”

“Syn! Matt wants you downst-oh. I didn’t know you had a girl up here.”

Brian shook his head again, “I don’t, Zack. Levia passed out at Matt’s last night and she looked really bad so-”

“Levia?” Zacky asked, confused. He opened the door wider to see Brian putting on his shirt and Levia laying on his bed, clearly disoriented. He felt a pang of anger, thinking that they had done something while Levia was incoherent.

“Hey, Zacky,” Levia greeted.

Zacky nodded at her and turned back to Brian, “You were saying?”

Brian sighed, “She passed out and I was afraid she had alcohol poisoning so I brought her here to watch her.”

“In your bed?” Zacky asked, raising an eyebrow.

Brian shrugged, “It seemed like a good idea. Matt and the other girls were fine.”

Zacky grunted, “How did you manage to get Matt over here anyway? He weighs as much as a fucking horse!”

Brian laughed, “I just dragged him over here.”

“That would explain the grass stains.”

Levia sat up, “So, I’m okay? Matt and Addi are okay too?”

Zacky nodded, “Yeah. We’re all just…a bit hungover is all.”

She turned to Brian, “And we didn’t-”

He laughed and shook his head, “No.”

Levia and Zacky sighed in relief. Brian gave Zacky a knowing look, but Zacky just shrugged him off.

Levia put her head back on the pillows and closed her eyes, “Nap time!”

Brian and Zacky exchanged a mischievous glance, before jumping on the bed and cuddling up with Levia, whose face was beet red, despite her closed eyes.

She groaned, “Not again!”