for, lover (Completed; editing)

Chapter 17

I can hear the hotel shower running when I wake up. I'm surprised Maddy is awake at 8:30 and not sleeping in like I had expected her too. She walks out of the bathroom gently combing through her wet tangles when she notices me sitting up.

"Hey! I was going to head down to get some continental breakfast if you want to join me. Or I can bring you something up. It's up to you."

She slides on her flip flops and tosses the comb onto the desk. I should probably get up anyway so I might as well join her for breakfast.

"I'll come with you."

I climb out of the bed not worrying what I must look like this early in the morning without a shower and much needed TLC. I didn't bring actual pajamas with me so I ended up sleeping in a white t-shirt and plaid shorts. I'll shower when we get back to the room, I guess.

We take the elevator down to the first floor where the hotel had the entire lobby set up for breakfast. The tables were clean and the back counter was full of an assortment of breakfast foods that it was tough to choose from. There was a few people wandering around and a couple of others sitting down eating but still not too many to be annoying. 

Maddy hands me a plate and walks over to the waffle maker. I end up making a waffle myself and grabbing a cup of whatever dark roast they have out.

I pick a table off to the side and sit down next to the window. Maddy sits across from me. She starts digging in as soon as she hits the chair. I laugh and roll my eyes at her before taking the first sip of my coffee. No dark roast can compare to Scream Beans. Unfortunately this will have to do.

"I did some research when your lazy ass went to bed last night and there's a bunch of attractions out here that we can go look around today." Maddy tells me.

"That sounds nice but I really didn't come here to spend a bunch of money on mediocre entertainment. We will probably end up spending a bunch tonight anyway."

She groans and shoves another forkful of food in her mouth.

"This is going to be the only mini vacation I get this summer so how about let me enjoy it since you dragged me all the way out here for your date with Dexter."

I glare at her and get up from my seat.

"I forgot syrup." I mumble and walk back over to the condiment table.

I reach for a syrup packet just as the guy next to me does.

"Sorry, go ahead." I say and pull my hand back after ours accidentally touched.

He snatches the pack and looks at me with his arm extended out.

"It's all yours."

I look up and realize who I was talking to.

"Levi? What are you doing here?"

I try to keep my voice down so I don't draw any attention to us. I know Maddy is probably staring at me from across the lobby. She doesn't know what Levi even looks like.

"Same reason you are, I presume."

"You sent me the post. Of course I would come. Why would you?" I question.

"I figured you'd come alone so it was more of a precaution on my part to make sure you don't do anything stupid."

The amount of people that have decided I'm stupid and reckless is astounding. They all must be onto something.

"Are you stalking me or something? How did you get booked into this hotel?"

"It's the only one right next to the bar where the party is being held tonight. Not a coincidence, just intellect."

"Right..." I trail off and focus back on the table.

"I'll see you tonight."

He shoves the syrup in my hand and walks off. A part of me is kind of relieved I have someone watching my back in case this goes horribly but the sane part is freaked out that this guy would come all this way and end up in the same hotel as me without even telling me he was coming.

I guess it's a possibility that Levi also wanted to talk to Miles. That's none of my business but I don't get why he would be mad at Miles unless he also thinks Miles did some crazy shit. It's already going to look weird enough when I end up confronting Miles in a public space after he skipped town. I really don't need his old pal to come back me up.

I walk back over to the table and sit back down. Maddy was definitely watching me the whole time.

"Who was the guy?" She whispers.

"Levi."

"What? What is he doing here?"

I shrug and pour out a huge glob of syrup onto my plate. Maddy's still staring at me waiting for an explanation. I wish I had a good one.

"He said because he knew I'd come and thought I would be alone so he wanted to keep an eye out." I explain.

"Why wouldn't he just offer to come with you instead of being sneaky about it? That doesn't seem right."

"Yeah, I know that. I feel like he just said that to make me feel safe or something when in reality he probably wants to knock Miles' jaw out too."

Maddy laughs and waves her fork at me.

"Good! We could use the backup."

"No, we couldn't. I'm just going to talk to him and it'll go very smoothly. I won't even yell."

Her eyebrows shoot up doubtfully.

"Just like how every single confrontation you've encountered ended up with rainbows and kisses? Sure."

"I've had a lot of time to think about this, though. I wanted to make sure I knew exactly what I was going to say. I've been thinking about it the entire ride down here."

"You couldn't even answer when I asked you in the car!" She yells.

"That was before I really thought about it. Stop it. I have a plan."

I don't have a plan. I'm definitely about to wing this but I'm positive it'll go smoothly. Being away from him for so long with built up anger that has slowly subsided will make it to where I won't freak out when I see his face and can question him without my blood boiling.

"I can't wait to see this plan then." She provokes.

I sigh under my breath and finish my breakfast in silence. We head back up to the room so I can take my shower while Maddy finishes styling her hair. It takes her twice as long as me so it's good that she took her shower as soon as she got up.

I grab one of the brochures from the desk and flip through it while Maddy puts on her makeup. There is a lot of stuff to do around here that would probably be a great time waster while we wait for tonight. I guess I do owe it to Maddy to make this somewhat enjoyable.