Mismatched (bxb)

A WHOLE WEEK

A WHOLE WEEK had passed by, and Carl had still not figured out what exactly was going on inside that head of Levi's. A head accompanied by beautiful, dark curls and an attractive face, nonetheless... But it seemed as though that was the only thing Carl had clarified during the week; whether there was any other person in the area with a prettier face than that of the school's most favourite person. Undoubtedly, there wasn't any.

Carl had never been one to take the initiative to talk to someone he had massive crush on, so it wasn't really his place to try to talk to Levi whenever time permitted. But quite surprisingly, Levi had managed to get ahold of him and forced him to agree to a meetup on Saturday. Carl had been staying up late and staring into space all through the night ever since that incident had happened. And it hadn't seemed to bother him at all. 

The same could not be said for Leah, who had been extremely worried about his physical and mental health, and had looked after him during school hours like the mum friend Savannah claimed she was. Speaking of the latter, she had been overjoyed at hearing about the conversation between the two lovebirds that had ultimately led to, in Savannah's exclusive opinion, 'a date'.

'I wish,' Carl had replied to that several days prior to this moment.

'I hope you do wish,' Savannah had joked. 'Who knows? It might just happen.'

Carl had been so engrossed in that memory that he hadn't noticed Levi speaking to him. He tuned in to the present moment, looking at his companion as if to make up for the loss of attention.

'Why does she keep calling you that?' said Levi annoyedly.

It took a while for Carl to understand what he was talking about. As they both took seats opposite each other near a rain-stained window, he remembered that he had been on the phone with Savannah before they had arrived. On speaker, she would have been loud; but without it, she was still as clear. She had deliberately called him 'Carlson' on several occasions, as if to make aware that it was his real name when it was not. Carl had chosen to ignore her habit for the longest time, so it had not struck him when she had done the same while they were speaking.

Speaking of the phone call, Carl still didn't know why she had to call him that early to ask if he had her chemistry book with him. He had always been under the impression that Savannah was one to wake up at noon and go to bed after it struck twelve in the morning.

'I think she just finds it funny,' answered Carl, frowning. 'Maybe I should've been named Carlson all along. It sounds more common.'

'Well, I think that your name sounds very classy,' said Levi unexpectedly. 'Carlos suits you a lot better.'

Carl could not have come up with an appropriate answer to that even if he had been given all the time in the world. As if he could read Carl's mind, Levi cleared his throat awkwardly.

'I figured that if we're going to proceed with my plan, we need to get to know each other. If I ask you some questions, will that be fine?' continued Levi. 'Of course, you can ask me some in return, if you want.'

To not make it obvious that Carl already knew much more about Levi than was necessary, he nodded eagerly, waiting for Levi to begin.

'For starters... do you like cats or dogs?'

'Rabbits,' answered Carl. 'I think they're the cutest. In that essence, I think you have a bunny face, too.'

Carl expected Levi to scrunch his face in confusion or disgust, but instead, he tipped his head to the side, and it tugged at Carl's heartstrings in a concerning manner. The way Levi was looking at him now made Carl's stomach do backflips. He probably doesn't realize it, he told himself. Probably doesn't realize what he's doing to me. 

'No one's told me that before,' Levi replied. 'Except my mother. She used to call me hun-bun and stuff like that, years ago.'

'Used to?' Carl's expression switched. Years ago?

'She passed away a long while ago,' said Levi. 'I think it's reasonable people miss that fact, because now I live with my father and step-mother, and her son.'

'What's her son like?' wondered Carl. 'Younger than you, perhaps?'

'Older,' replied Levi. 'He's two years my senior. You haven't met him before, I think.'

'Oh,' said Carl. 'Different schools?'

'Yes, he goes to film school,' answered Levi. 'Enough about me. It's time for me to ask you some questions.'

'Go ahead,' Carl prodded.

'Can you tell me more about your friends?' said Levi, his gaze stilled on Carl's face as if he wanted to capture and note down every single emotion displayed on it.

'To begin with, the one who called me just now is Savannah; Savvy for short,' said Carl, shrugging. 'I guess she's a friend, although she started with less. Then there's Leah. She's been with me since elementary, and I love her to bits. Leon is her cousin brother, and I think they both look out for me, although... sometimes, I don't quite need it.'

'So I've noticed,' Levi crossed his arms above his chest. 'Why're they so fixated on your safety?' asked Levi. 'Did you have any trouble in Primary School or something?'

'I did,' said Carl. 'I used to be quite an easy target for bullies in Year Six, and the first one to find out was Leah. She was quite fiery back then, and shooed almost every one of those bullies away. Even then, she couldn't refrain from informing the teachers about the whole thing.'

'I'm sorry you had to go through that,' said Levi. 'But it's all in the past, now. Maybe they should let go of it and let you find your way through life.'

'Trust me, I feel the same way,' said Carl. 'I appreciate all the help, but it's not needed half the time. Now that I've told you all about it, can you tell me about your friends?'

'My friends?' chuckled Levi. 'Or the ones I call my friends?'

'Your so-called friends, then,' Carl tilted his head sideways. 'What about Ryan?'

'Ryan...' ventured Levi. 'It's hard to say. I think he expects something more than friendship from me, but seriously, he creeps me out. I don't like him that way... I'm scared to let him know that... and he honestly doesn't seem to get a hint that I throw his way.'

'Wow, so it's like that?' Carl shook his head slowly. 'Would you like to be my friend?' he proposed without thinking, and then, as an afterthought, added, 'out of public view, I mean.'

'I'd love that.' 

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What do you think about this chapter? Any hint of jealousy you detected? 😉

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Fun question: Who do you think is the most possessive out of the two of them?

I vote for Levi! Anyone else?

Do I still need to remind you to vote for the story at this point?

25-02-2024