Sweet Home

The sound of the dinner party wafts out from the gap in the open door, causing me to glance over my shoulder and frown a little before sliding further right, a precaution taken in order to make sure I remained hidden from all the partygoers. A sip from the sweating cup in my hands and a long exhale helps loosen some of the tightness in my chest. My head, though, still swims with too many memories, too many visions of things that I didn’t want to see. They come in the form of things done in the past, but morph into anchors that try to weigh me down and prevent me from leaving the place of endless blue skies.

I knew coming back down here was a bad idea. I scowl into my cup as I take another sip, anger and frustration swirling up and clouding over any other emotion lingering in my system. I’m annoyed at my family for talking me into flying down here early and completely livid with the fact that I seem incapable of telling them no. I’m a doormat normally, but a terribly kept one with mud and holes in my fabric when it comes to my family. They’ll always ask and I’ll always say yes; the thousands of miles hadn’t seemed to help give me any lead way in that department.

A scraping sound pulls me from my irritated thoughts and causes me to try and slip further into the shadows that an overhead awning is casting upon the back porch. Huddling my cup against my chest while attempting to not trip as I stumble back into the blackness, I watch as someone shuffles out. It’s a man and he lets out a sigh before talking a hearty gulp from his can of beer. He scoots forward before leaning with his forearms resting on the railings. I gulp because I can see the muscles of his back straining against his shirt.

“Has anyone seen Haley?”

The sound of my mother’s voice makes me jump. My drink sloshes out onto the sundress I’d put on for tonight’s party and my feet tangle up on each other as I try to avoid tripping on the potted plant I’d gotten too close to. The result of my efforts is a shattered fern and the exposure of my hiding place. I try to slink back, but my mother has poked her head out and spotted the man who was now watching me with a quizzical look etched upon his expression. My cheeks burn as I try to untangle myself.

“I’m right here, momma,” I call, sighing in defeat.

“What in God’s name are you doin’ out here, baby?”

I scramble to come up with an answer that won’t expose my discomfort to the man who steps forward to try and help me get unraveled from the cords and long fern leaves that are wrapped around my ankles. The longer it takes, though, the more my mother begins to smile and look between me and the man. I can practically read her thoughts as she starts to swell up with pride. Oh, God.

“I was—“

“Sorry, Ma’am,” interrupts the man. “We got a little tangled up.”

Gaping a little, I glance down to where he’s poised on his knees, long arms outstretched while his nimble fingers finally release me from the cords and plants. I stumble a little bit more before he steadies me with a hand on my hip.

“No, we weren’t—“ I try, but I’m interrupted once again.

“Oh, well… Levi, that’s alright. You two just be sure you don’t stay out here all night. Got lots of people who want to see both of ya.”

She grins and winks at me, which makes the man chuckle as he gets back on his feet.

“Sure thing, Mrs. Connors. Great party, by the way,” he says, offering her a pearly white smile she giggles at.

I try not to gag while shuffling back over to the railing and turning to face the backyard. I can’t bear to look at her anymore because I know the look she’ll throw me before going back inside. It’ll be something between a good-for-you-for-finally-kissing-a-proper-man and oh-he’s-definitely-husband-material-Haley-Lynn; either one is equally horrific.

As the sliding door is closed, the man, whose name is apparently Levi, comes to stand beside me. I throw him a slight scowl as he picks his beer back up and takes a gulp.

“Tangled up?” I grumble. “Really? That was the best you could come up with?”

He chuckles and flashes me another big grin. “Nice to see you again too, Haley.”

What?

“I don’t think I—“

“It’s Levi,” he interrupts again, which makes me release an irritable sigh. “You know… Summer after senior year, down by the campground?”

That description only takes a minute to absorb into my brain, then my eyes are widening and my skin is flushing in a fierce blush. He chuckles at my reaction and just takes another sip of his beer.

“Oh my God,” I mumble.

He doesn’t laugh too loudly or even start to prod me with embarrassing remarks; he just continues to drink his beer while I attempt to hide behind my hand.

Different now, dramatically so, it was no wonder I hadn’t recognized him. He was filled out in places that he most certainly had not been when we were younger—hell, he looked so different that I could swear he was not the same boy who felt me up inside his older brother’s tent and made me slide the condom on because he was shaking too badly. Now, he looked sure and confident, with bulging biceps that pushed against the pale blue button up he was wearing and dark stubble that coated his jaw.

I narrow my eyes while pushing pieces of my hair out of my face.

“Are you really Levi Curtis?” I ask.

Again, he laughs, pushing his hand against his lips in an attempt to hold the gulp of liquor he’d just taken back. He clears his throat a little while starting to nod. “Yea, it’s really me. Why? Do I look any different?”

Looking his expression over, I see that he’s only teasing and roll my eyes before directing them towards the backyard. I glance at him out of the corner of my eye though, which he catches me doing and tries to hide his smirk by rubbing his lips together. He clears his throat again so he doesn’t laugh.

“You just… Er… Seem bigger.”

“Yea,” he says, cheeks going red as he rubs the back of his neck. “I was a late bloomer, I guess.”

I almost snort at that and don’t even bother to hide the little chuckle that flits out of my mouth as I take another sip from my cup. Levi was definitely a late bloomer, but I can’t decide if I should blame our embarrassing first time on that fact or not. Neither of us knew what we were doing that night and the only reason we even got the zipper of his pants down was because I’d just wanted to see what it felt like to be with someone in that way. I’m sure he’d have stopped after I’d taken my bra off, if his wide eyes and sudden bout of asthma was anything to go on.

“Do you remember that night?” I ask, a wide smile cracking onto my lips.

Glancing over as I ask, I look over his face again and try not to swoon. I keep thinking I’ll see the awkward teenager who everyone cheated off of, not the handsome man who looked like he deserved on the pages of GQ.

“I try not to,” he chuckles. “In case you forgot, that wasn’t my proudest moment.”

“What? Come on, Levi! It was epic!”

He grins and looks over at me, finally switching his gaze onto my face instead of staring out at the backyard. I can practically feel the awkward tension seeping off his body and almost burst out laughing. I also wonder, though, why I’m not more embarrassed about being confronted with the first person I’d ever slept with. But I can’t find any speck of humiliation in my system as I continue to revel both inwardly and outwardly about the experience. Levi definitely seems like the more humiliated party here.

“I remember not being able to unbutton my pants I was so nervous. Guys like to reminisce about how loud he made the girl scream, not about how he couldn’t take his own jeans off.”

I nearly double over with laughter and end up teary eyed because I’d been mid-swig when he caught me with that line. He pats me on the back a few times, gently using his big hand, then draws back to take a drink from his beer and laugh himself.

When I manage to get the gulp down, I draw in a breath that is both an inhale of air and an exhale of laugh.

“Oh my God,” I murmur, wiping my eyes. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

“Reckon I’m still awkward,” he shrugs.

I laugh again because I think he’s wrong. I don’t see this Levi as being awkward, but more skilled and comfortable than I ever remember. And we’d only been talking for a few minutes now. I didn’t even want to know what kind of effect he could have on a girl after an hour of two and a steady stream of liquor (though I would bet that he could do just fine without the liquor).

“No… No, you’re definitely not awkward anymore. You’re smooth now,” I nod, grinning over at him.

“I’m smooth now, huh?” he asks, letting out a few loud laughs.

I giggle into my cup and nod. “Yea, real smooth. That line about making girls scream? Perfect.”

His cheeks tint again and he looks embarrassed again, but only for a second. After that he’s fine, even grinning widely over at me for the umpteenth time while his pretty eyes (he’s always had pretty eyes) rake over my face. It’s not until I watch them drift down to my chest and then a little bit lower that I know what he’s doing, and not ‘til he bites down on his bottom lip and swivels his head back around that I realize a pool of heat has suddenly surge to life between my thighs.

“See,” I smirk. “Smooth as fuck.”

Raising my cup to my lips, I glance at him over the rim of the red plastic and don’t care that he’s watching as I openly look him over again. I flick my gaze up and hold his for what feels like minutes.

When he slides closer, I try not to grin too big.

“I think I owe you a re-do,” he says. “I don’t think I could even be considered a proper Southern gentleman if I let you remember that all your life.”

Again, I smirk, but lean into him. “I don’t think you could be, either. Imagine what people would say!”

He nods and stares at me for a few seconds, seemingly to check if I was being serious. When he’s seemed to have found what he was looking for, he eases my nearly empty cup out of my hand and sets it on the railing along with his beer. Then he encloses my hand with his big one and starts to lead me off the back porch. I don’t know where we’re going and I don’t think he does either because he halts our movement once we’re far enough into the outstretching darkness that we won’t be seen easily by people inside.

He lets go of my hand in favor of easing his finely toned arms around my waist, drawing me into his chest. I wind mine up around his neck and lean in to plant a kiss on the corner of his mouth. He grins slowly.

“Think you can put the condom on yourself this time?” I snicker.

“Nah, might need some help with that, darlin’,” he murmurs before slamming his lips into mine.