Forever and Always

Chapter 20 - Family Dinner

The rest of the summer faded slowly, the year speeding by, and Levi getting better each day. He bought our plane tickets so that we could go visit Poppy for her birthday. After that, I would fly back to California to finish my senior year and Levi would go ship himself off to Harvard. He was missing the first two weeks of classes so that he could see his daughter, which, although slightly irresponsible, was incredibly commendable. I admired his devotion to his daughter, and I was bursting at the seams with excitement to meet her. I had gotten permission from my mom to miss the first week of school as well to meet Poppy, although  I knew I owed her big time, because I couldn't tell her why I had to. I didn't want to be the one to tell her about Levi's daughter. I figured Levi would want to do that.  

I was a little nervous going into the fall semester. It was the same fear I had when I had gone back to school for the spring semester. A lot of rumors were spreading around my school about why I had disappeared for a year and change. I had a couple of kids saying I went to prison, and although it hurt to have my peers dissing on me so often, I didn't care enough to refute any rumors, no matter how wild. My old friend group had moved on in that time, and after a couple of weeks of awkward time spent trying to pick up the pieces, they mostly gave up on trying to re-immerse me into their world. It was especially hard because I wouldn't smoke or drink with them anymore, so that cut down on our activities list quite a bit. I usually got picked up by Petra or Levi after school, but with Levi gone and Petra working another job, I had to mentally prepare myself to have no friends for about a year.

In the meantime, my mom had invited Levi and Petra over for a family dinner at my house. She wanted to discuss how the summer went, and get the ball rolling on our future plans. I had moved my stuff back into my house with my mom the week prior, preparing to live with her again. I finished unpacking in the upstairs bathroom that Mikasa and I shared before I trudged back into my room, flopping onto my neatly made bed. My dog, Max, greeted me happily, licking my face and snuggling up next to me. For such a large dog, he sure thought he was a miniature. I petted his head and closed my eyes. 

A gentle knock on my bedroom door got my attention.

"Yeah?" I called. "Come in." The door opened and my sister stepped into the room.

"Do you know what time Levi and Petra are getting here?" She asked me, leaning up against the wall and folding her arms. Max jumped off my bed to greet Mikasa and she patted his head lovingly.

I shrugged. "Ask mom. I don't know," I answered. "Levi's been busy packing his shit and Petra's at work, so I haven't gotten a hold of either of them all day."

"Okay, because me and him need to go for a little drive. Talk about stuff," she said dangerously. "Sasha is coming, too."

"Uh, why?" I asked, flicking an eyebrow up and sitting up on my bed, wrapping my arms around my knees.

"You don't have an older brother, and Dad's gone, so I need to have a man-to-man conversation with him, followed by an "if you ever hurt my baby brother, so help me God, they'll never find your body" kind of conversation. Sasha is going to be my back-up. That midget's gonna know not to fucking mess with you."

"Jesus, Mikasa, you need to chill."

"If he wants to marry my baby brother, he's not gonna ever hurt you. That's just how that's gonna go. Me and Sasha will go to prison and become cellies. You'll have to come visit us."

"Take a deep breath. He isn't gonna hurt me. Don't worry."

"I'm still gonna go for a drive with him," Mikasa insisted. I consented, dropping my head and nodding slowly.

"Whatever," I grumbled. "Do what you want. Make sure you bring him back in one piece, please."

"No promises," my sister gleamed, wrapping a strand of her cropped black hair around her finger.