Forever and Always

Chapter 74 - My Romeo

After two and a half more scary movies and an angry text from my mother, Levi took me home and dropped me off for the night, apologizing to my mother for keeping me out so late, much to my chagrin. I made my way to Poppy's room to check on her, and upon finding her sleeping soundly, I took a quick shower before curling up between my own sheets, happily surprised to find Max curled up at the foot of my bed.

"Hey, Maxxy," I smiled, patting the top of his head while he thumped his tail into my mattress, happy to have me home. He made his way up the bed and I moved my feet to the warm spot where he had been laying while he made himself comfortable, his plush fur tickling my waist while he let out deep, relaxed breaths. He was the best dog I had ever been around, and he was always so polite to Poppy. I let my mind wander back to when he had been a puppy while I petted him absently in the dark.

After probably half an hour staring at the faded adhesive stars that were stuck to my ceiling, entirely devoid of the eerie green glow they used to give off, I was startled to the point of letting out a quiet yelp, as the sound had come from right outside my second story window. Max was completely knocked out, snoring lightly with every exhale.

"Some guard dog you are," I muttered, getting out of bed to investigate. I was genuinely terrified that we had accidentally summoned a demon or something, my thoughts racing while I walked towards the sliding mirror that opened into my closet. I grabbed a tool from the pitch darkness that I had lovingly dubbed my "apocalypse bat." I had never played baseball in my life, but once my father had left, I realized that I was the only thing standing between a nighttime intruder and the people I loved the most. I had bought the bat after a lemonade stand I had had with Mikasa using my cut of the profits.

I jumped when I heard a quiet knocking on the window, but peeling back the curtains, I realized that I definitely had the jump on whatever was out there. They couldn't see what I was doing inside, and they couldn't possibly have the balance required to stay on the eave once I hit them over the head with a baseball bat. Taking a deep breath, I looked beyond the curtains and flung the window open, ready to knock the creeper off the side of the house. Until I realized that it wasn't a creeper at all, but Levi who balanced on the outside sill of the window like a trapeze artist who'd been doing it his whole life.

"It is I, the East, and Juliet is the sun," Levi quoted, laughing at what must have been the horrified expression I wore on my face as I realized I had been about to knock out my fiancee.

"Jesus Christ," I exhaled, helping him into my room. "How did you do that? I was deciding whether or not to kill you with a baseball bat before I opened that window and saw it was you. That or you were a demon."

"What? No points for the Shakespeare?" he reevaluated his comeback when he saw the unamused glare I was giving him. "See that tree over there?" Levi asked, pointing at a tree that was about fifteen feet from my window.

"Don't tell me you fucking jumped. You goddamn idiot," I muttered, returning my bat to the closet, the morbid side of me a little upset I didn't get to hit somebody with a bat.

"Shh," he shushed me, holding a hand up and catching his breath. "Didn't jump," he breathed, wiping his brow with his bright pink cast that nearly glowed in the dark. "The tree has nothing to do with it. I was just fucking with you. I just climbed up your stone siding and then did the best pull up of my life, but damn I'm outta fucking shape. That was like the goddamn Olympics or something. I'm surprised I could even fucking reach it."

"I figured you'd be with Riva and Dom," I whispered, sitting on my bed. I was under the impression that he would want some alone time with his cousins.

"Nah, they dropped me off here when they went to their hotel. Well, I mean Dominic went to the hotel. I'm under the impression that Riva's out clubbing right now. That man collects fucking bodies like they're fucking pokemon."