Road-Trippers

Two: Let's Go

Levi's what we call a wise guy. Sure, I may be considered a wise guy, myself, but if there had to be one, it's him. He may appear shy, but he sure likes cracking jokes and making puns. It never ends. He's also a perfectionist, which is why I'm waiting for the clock to strike exactly 3:30 before I pick him up.

My currently-wrinkled forehead plummets into the horn. "Levi!" The vociferous sound echoes through the air and I stop, a red dot encircling my forehead. Out of the windshield, a blonde head finally comes into view. I hop out of the car and wrap an arm around his pale shoulders.

"Hey, Joey."

He loads his bags into the backseat and climbs into the passenger's seat. His guitar case takes up a lot of our room, but I don't care because Levi's guitar playing is grandiose. I get back into the driver's seat and smile down at him.

"Are you ready, man?" I'm on the verge of giggling like a little girl. We both know we shouldn't be doing this. He cracks a chuckle and looks over to his front door.

"No, not yet..." Dang it. He's up to something. Every time he's ever used that tone, nothing good has ever come out of it. And look! He's biting his lip! A dead giveaway that he's hiding something!

"Hey, Levi?" asks six-year old Joe.

"Uh-huh?" replies Levi with a fist full of sand.

"Did you steal my shovel?"

"No..." He bites his lip and giggles, dumping a handful of sand into little Joey's hair.

He covers his blue eyes with a hand and points to his doorstep. I look in the direction his index finger points me in. My eyebrows raise, my eyes widening as much as they physically can. I remove my sunglasses and Levi cracks.

Walking over to the car with exaggerated arm movements, a rolling black suitcase, and a pair of thick dorky glasses is some guy who looks like he's never seen the light of day before. As he comes closer, I can read the badge pinned to his navy striped shirt.

My first day in the USA!

My head spins. I slap Levi's shoulder. He lets out an exhausted laugh. "Jeez, man! What?" He casually brushes back his wavy hair with a hand and bites his lip once again, this time to stop him from cracking up for the billionth time.

"There is some foreign kid in your front yard!" My mouth hangs open like a trapdoor. I want to slap Levi, but he's always been stronger than me.

"Yeah. That's Antoine. He's our foreign exchange student!" Levi bites his fingernails, laughing softly.

"Where'd you get him? Mars?" My face is burning. This trip was supposed to be a secret. I can't have anyone else know about it. I spin around, now glaring back at Levi. He's still on the brink of tears, laughing his face off once again.

"France! I know I should've told you earlier, but I knew you'd act up like this," he says, removing his other hand from his forehead, now pink where it once was. I can fathom why he's saying this. Last summer, Levi got a girlfriend and didn't tell me until the first day of school. You can only interpret what I did. They broke up in three weeks.

I bite my lip and fold my arms across my chest. "Fine. Bring him in. The more the merrier." I look back at Antione. Who knows? He could be a swell person.

Levi delivers me a blithe punch in the shoulder, eyes squinted impishly. "I knew you'd come around! Antione!" The foreign exchange student dashes over to his new friend as if he were an eager puppy. "Let's get in the car."

"Car... automobile?" says Antione, loading his bags into the back, eyebrows furrowed. "No. Not car. Palace." I crack a smile. I would have to agree.