(More Than) Just Friends.

Chapter Five

5

The next morning, I woke up facing the ceiling. Levi had a massive collage of girls all over it. Girls ranged from Megan Fox, to Vanessa Hudgens, to Blake Lively, to Zendaya Coleman, the montage was incredibly enormous. I kept scanning the wall, until I saw.. Wait. Was that a picture of me?!

I snapped my head towards where I suspected Levi to be, only he wasn't there. I sighed. He had some explaining to do, and like always, he'd already escaped it.

I picked up my phone to see the time. It was ten thirty-two in the morning. I groaned, not wanting to get up but I did it anyway. What was the point of sleeping in today?

I got up and headed downstairs. For a person who'd never been in the house before, they'd surely get lost. I did the first time I came here in kindergarten. I was attempting to go to the restroom but I ended up in the attic. Luckily Levi had found me and we'd spent the entire day laughing and hiding from his mom and dad. That was the best day ever.

When I finally reached the last step, I was greeted by Ms. Tompkins. I put on a smile as she hugged me. She was always like a motherly figure to me. When Levi and I played soccer together, she would always pick us up after the games and take us out for pizza, win or lose. That was just one of the many things she'd done for me in the past.

"Hi Kylie. How are you sweetie?" She asked in her soothing voice.

"Never better," I lied. "I just came over last night to study with Levi.. Then I ended up falling asleep."

She looked at me with knowing eyes. She probably knew that I was lying but I didn't want to tell her why I was really there. I didn't want the hugs, and the sympathy and all that other stuff.

Just then, Levi walked over to us and kissed his mom on the cheek.

"Hey honey. You slept on the couch?" She asked, noting him wearing his pajamas.

"Yeah.. I came downstairs to watch TV because I couldn't fall asleep. And when I finally did, I was on the couch and didn't feel like moving," he answered back. That was a lie. I'd seen him fall asleep, comfortably last night.

I watched them interact further as Levi completely dodged eye contact with me. What was the problem?

"I'm about to go out and catch the pre-black Friday sales. There's money on the counter if, well when you guys get hungry," Ms Tompkins spoke.

"Oh it's fine. I really should be going anyway Ms. Tompkins," I said.

"Oh please stay? You could help Levi decorate the Christmas Tree and put up decorations around the house," she tried to persuade me. "Doesn't that sound fun?" She asked me. Well it did sound fun. I'd always helped them with decorations, but Levi and I's 'friendship' was different this time around. He hadn't said a word to me so I was guessing that he felt uncomfortable. Maybe I should've left last night.

I nodded. "Well yeah. But--" She cut me off.

"But what? Are you spending today with family?" She asked.

"Well, no." I replied.

"Well it's settled. You'll spend the break here and have thanksgiving dinner with us. I'll see you guys in a few hours."

And with that, she was off. The house fell into an uncomfortable silence. This was going to be a long day.

Levi didn't move as I ran upstairs to get my sweatshirt. It looked as if he was contemplating something, trying to figure how to tell me to leave maybe?

When I came back downstairs, I headed for the front door. No point in overstaying my welcome.

"Where are you going?" He asked me alertly.

"I don't want to overstay my welcome. I'll be back before the dinner," I said as I slipped through the front door before he could disagree.

::Levi's POV::

I greeted everyone as members of my extended family poured into my house. It was about five forty-five in the evening and dinner was almost set. Where was she? She said that she would be back before dinner, yet she was nowhere to be found. I shouldn't have even let her go. That whole 'overstaying her welcome' thing was complete insanity. I wasn't acting weird because of that.

Just as I was closing the door, someone stopped me. I opened it again to see Kylie. Thank god.

"Hey get in here," I said and closed the door behind her.

I pulled her in for a hug, and she flinched almost. It's like I was holding her too tight, but only I wasn't. What was wrong with her? I looked at her suspiciously. Something was up with her.

"How's your dad?" I blurted out. He had to be the reason why she was so late and acting so strange.

I could see the flash of fear go through her eyes when I brought him up. What did he do to her?

"Uhh. He's--

"Come on everyone! Dinner's ready!!" My mom shouted, completely cutting Kylie off.

"You heard her," Kylie said with a smile. We walked into the dining area and sat next to one another.

After saying grace, we dug in. My family was pretty large and aunts, uncles, and cousins from all over were enjoying this meal with us. Only I really couldn't enjoy it if something was wrong with Kylie.

"So," My Uncle Max said, breaking the silence. "Levi, how's the college scouting going? Decided where you wanna go yet?"

I rubbed the palms of my hands against my pants as they quickly became sweaty. I hated this discussion every time it was brought up, because I knew the reaction would be the same. Everyone had such high hopes for me and the school that I really wanted to go to, no one really approved of. Everyone expected me to follow in the footsteps of my father and I didn't want to let anyone down, especially myself.

"Well, I got accepted into LSU... So I'm thinking of going there."

Everyone nodded in approval. "That's an excellent choice," he added before starting to eat again.

"No you don't. You want to go to Florida," Kylie said while eating. My eyes widened. She wasn't supposed to say that.

Everyone stopped eating and stared at her.

"And who's this pretty young lady? Your girlfriend?" Uncle Max's wife, Regina asked.

My throat suddenly became dry and I heard Kylie choke on her food. This was about to become exceedingly embarrassing.

I took a sip of water in attempt to avoid the question. Why were they budding into my business?

"We're just friends," Kylie said to her with a polite smile before returning to her plate. Aunt Regina nodded in content and everyone focused on their plates.

"For now.." I whispered loud enough for only Kylie to hear. I wasn't giving up on us that easily. We're definitely more than just friends.