I forgot he has a Texan accent.
“Yeah,” I say. “Meets vintage store.”
He chuckles. “You mean garage sale.”
Levi strolls in. I summon superhuman strength to focus on Austin.
“…we play FIFA in here too, and Madden. It’s Kit, right?”
Confirm my name. Look friendly.
“Austin.” Helpful that he doesn’t try to shake my hand.
Levi joins us. “You made it.”
Austin turns to Levi with an unreadable expression worth a thousand words in best-friend language. After two pats on Levi’s back, Austin combs through short, dark curls and turns to Sophie and Mia.
“I was bribed,” I say to Levi. Warmth spreads through my chest at his resulting grin. I glance away, keeping my guard up.
“Open to bribery. Good to know.”
He points to a couch, and my skin chills. Fear tightens in my chest. My pulse thunders in my ears, as memories flicker.
“Here, you three can have the good seats,” he says.
Oh. Oh, good. I let out my breath.
He squints at me. I deserve that. I’m being so weird.
Levi lowers next to a guy whose lanky frame is already spreadonto an adjacent couch. He’s holding a remote, and red hair pokes out of his ratty baseball cap. “Fixin’ to start, y’all.” His focus turns to me, and my split-second first impression of country bumpkin was way off. His peaceful eyes betray a contentedness and a certain wisdom, more than he should have from his short life. He is king of Zen, like Baloo fromJungle Book.
Levi’s body language says that Austin and Mr. Zen are his close friends.
“Tucker,” he introduces himself with a raised hand. “But e’rbody calls me Haymitch.”
That’s his floor name? I’ve read and rereadThe Hunger Gamestrilogy. I wonder why he was named that.
“Kit,” I say.
Weird that Dangerous Guy has such sweet friends. Aiden’s were just like him.
The Flooders lounge is like a living room full of my brothers’ crew, and I miss Mav and Grey more than ever. The guys “participate” in the movie by shouting things at the screen and teasing each other. They even include me in their banter, pass their snacks around to share. This is the way to watch a movie.
Levi asks to walk me back to my building after.
I look to my friends for an excuse, but Sophie shoos me forward. Seriously? I need bouncers, not wingwomen.Is he being polite since he invited me? Or is this a “loop walk” that girls keep mentioning? His gentle half smile draws me along, one rebellious foot after the other, until I’m following him down the stairs.
He opens the stairwell door, and a wave of heat smacks me. Even at night, Texas is a furnace. Crickets chirp in the dark as I struggle to make out my building across the field. I rub my eyes, exhaustion tugging at me. Dark images from my nightmares flicker in my mind.
Dropping my hands, I startle. Oh right. Levi’s here, glancing at me with amusement.
“Your floor is really fun.” My words slur as I stifle a yawn.
“The feeling is clearly mutual.”
A bug corpse the size of a golf ball makes a nasty crunch under my sandaled foot. Gross.
“What’s with the dead bugs everywhere? Are those the ones that made all that noise a couple weeks ago?”
