Flight

I fought back the urge to roll my eyes. “I’m sure it does, Jess.”

“I’d have to agree.” Levi smiled impishly.

“I’d invite you guys to crash at my house, but my parents will flip if they see that I’ve been drinking. I’m going to stay over at their place anyway,” Hailey explained.

“You still live at home?”

“Yeah. I just graduated from high school.”

“Oh, duh. You said you were eighteen.” I thought about it for a minute before answering, weighing my options. “Okay, I’ll stay at their place then.” Somehow knowing Hailey was going to be there made it seem better. Besides, I was too exhausted to argue.

“I knew I’d be taking you home tonight,” Levi whispered as we walked the few blocks to his place. I shrugged his arm off my shoulder instead of saying anything. He only laughed.

I barely noticed the outside of the house when we arrived, but I took notice of the inside. It’s not like I had been in too many college boys’ apartments before, but it wasn’t what I expected. My image of dirty laundry and beer cans littering the floor was way off. The large living room was furnished with two black leather couches and a love seat. The only evidence that a bunch of guys lived there was the mess of video game controllers on the floor.

Giggling, Jess let Jared lead her to his room as soon as we arrived. I sat down on one of the couches.

“You are more than welcome to sleep in my bed.” Levi slumped down next to me, putting his feet up on the circular ottoman that matched the couch.

“As tempting as that offer is, I’ll take my chances out here.” I slipped off my shoes and curled my legs up under me.

“Wow, Levi, you’ve never offered to let me take your bed before,” Hailey said with exaggerated insult.

“And I’ll never offer you my bed. If you don’t want to sleep on the couch talk to your brother, or better yet, go home.”

“Aww, you are always so sweet to me.”

I laughed lightly at their banter. I liked how Hailey wasn’t afraid to stick up for herself. No one else ever seemed to challenge Levi.

Owen joined us and we all talked for a while, mostly about all the trouble Levi, Owen, and Jared used to get into as kids. It turns out they all grew up together. I laughed more than I had in ages, and eventually I must have fallen asleep.

***

I was so comfortable when I woke up. Warm and more content than I had been in a while, I tried to stretch. I didn’t have any room which was odd because my room at the hotel had a king size bed. I opened my eyes and first only saw the quilt; it was draped over me and someone else. I turned my body and looked right into those darn blue-gray eyes again.

“Good morning, beautiful.”

“Oh god.”

“Sleep well?”

I struggled to move, but he still had his arms around me. Relief flooded me as I discovered we were on a couch and not a bed.

“What are you doing here?”

“You’re in my apartment, or did you forget?”

“I mean why are you sleeping on the couch with me? Why aren’t you in your room?”

“Oh, I gave my bed to Hailey.”

“But I thought you’d never…”

“I was just messing with her. Besides, I thought we could use the privacy.”

“Was I really so zonked out I missed all of this?” I asked.

“You fell asleep in the middle of a conversation and were leaning against me. You looked too comfortable to disturb, so I just moved us a bit.”

“I see. Well at least we’re on the couch and not your bed.” I was only pretending to be calm. I couldn’t believe I had spent the night snuggled up with Levi. I was admittedly surprised, yet relieved he hadn’t tried anything.

“Don’t sound so relieved about it.” His voice was playful but there was definitely a note of offense there.

“Hmm, yeah because it would have felt great to wake up in bed with a guy I don’t know.”

“You do know me, Allison.”

“That again?” I asked him, still struggling to move out of his arms and off the couch.

“You are really cute when you get angry.”

“Just shut up and let go of me so I can get the heck out of here.”

“Wow, calm down. Aren’t you going to let me make you breakfast? It’s the least I can do for the girl I just spent the night with.”

“I did not spend the night with you, we were on the couch.” I blinked a few times, trying to get rid of the dryness in my eyes from sleeping in contacts.

“You spent the night in my arms, sweetheart. Sex or no sex, you can’t argue that.”

I groaned. Sudden laugher reminded me that we weren’t really alone. I struggled against Levi again, and he finally relented so I could sit up. Owen walked into the room just as I stood up and made an attempt to get some wrinkles out of my dress. Levi remained lounging on the couch.

“Good morning. Did you enjoy the wonderful accommodations of our living room?”

“Where’s Jess? Please tell me she’s here somewhere,” I said, not bothering to answer Owen. I was so over being made fun of.

“She’s in with Jared,” the guys both said at once.

“Um, could one of you please get her for me?” I asked, slipping my flip-flops back on and picking up my purse from the floor.

“There’s no way I’m taking the chance of seeing Jared naked,” Levi said sitting up and stretching.

“Gross. Fine, which room is his?”

“Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously. We have to be at work in like 20 minutes.”

“Well, if you are already going to be late you might as well stay for breakfast.”

“Which room is his?” I repeated.

Ten minutes later, I was walking out the front door with Jess trailing behind me. The cab was supposed to arrive any minute. “You could have at least let me get dressed!” Jess struggled to strap on her sandals.

“Thanks for an amazing night, Allison!” Levi laughed.

“I didn’t tell you that you had to leave, just that I was leaving.”

“Why are you so mad?”

“I so don’t have to answer that.”

“I thought you and Levi hit it off. You two were pretty cozy last night.”

“Don’t start. He has some nerve insinuating anything happened between us.”

“Wait. So nothing happened?”

“No, thankfully I slept on the couch.”