Page 8 of The History in Us

Katie

Remember that over-active imagination? It definitely got the best of me. To think that someone as strikingly good looking as Levi Walker—the man, not the boy—would be attracted to me was appropriately placed near a toilet. My imagination was full of crap. He wasn’t attracted to me anymore than he was when he kissed me before he left for the military, but my heart galloped with the distinct memory.

It had been a warm summer’s eve, and I was all of thirteen. My aunt Tricia and uncle Leon hosted a party in honor of Levi. He had graduated from high school and immediately enlisted in the army. Being six years younger than him, I didn’t know much about him other than he seemed to be favored by my aunt because he was the younger brother of an ex-boyfriend. My uncle Leon was also his basketball coach throughout his high school years. Somehow Levi Walker had always been a part of my life, but on the periphery.

I was thirteen just barely, but I didn’t look like a thirteen-year-old. My face did, but my body held the signs of a young woman. Levi Walker would have been almost nineteen. The party was lively, rambunctious like a Carter gathering could be. All my aunts and uncles were present, including siblings and partners on my aunt Karyn’s side of the family. People were drinking. Teenagers were daring. And I had been treated to a collision with Levi.

Exiting the restroom, I wasn’t paying attention and walked smack into him. Lanky and lean, his body seemed impressive to me at thirteen. Regardless of being an older guy, he smiled at me. Me—shy, quiet Katie Carter.

“Whoa, there.” His rugged voice stilled me along with his long fingers around my wrists as my palms flattened on his chest to steady myself.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered, looking down at my feet. A gentle finger pressed under my chin and raised it to meet dark eyes, glassy and dazed from drinking.

“Don’t be sorry, sweet thing.” His voice dripped and drizzled over me. No one had called me such names before, in such a tone, and my body trembled with an unfamiliar tingle. He’d moved my wrists to one hand, securing them in a firm grasp. “You can bump into me anytime you’d like.” His hooded eyes lowered, dipping to my full chest. I’d caught boys staring at me before, but the look he gave me could only be considered lascivious, one of my vocabulary words, but I wasn’t offended. My body hummed in response.

He didn’t mean bump into him, literally—that much I knew—but I couldn’t think straight being that close to him. I cleared my throat and tried to look away, but the pressure of his fingertip deepened and he firmly held me in a locked gaze. “Aren’t you leaving for the army?” I asked stupidly.

“I’m leaving for the army,” he repeated, swaying a little on his feet, tugging me with him. His eyes unfocused for a moment with the sadness in his tone. I noticed for how richly dark brown his eyes were, reminding me of chocolate candy. This wasn’t the first time I’d met Levi Walker. I’d always had a crush on him, but I’d never been this close to him. My foolish heart beat double time.

He licked his lips and my eyes traced the motion of his tongue. My pulse raced as he held me pressed against him. My eyes refused to pull away from the curve of his mouth—puffy, pink, and prime for kissing.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he groaned, briefly closing off his chocolaty eyes.

“Like what?”

“Like you want to kiss me.”

I blinked several times, sensing the widening of my eyes. Had he read my thoughts? I certainly did not look at him like I wanted to kiss him, I adamantly argued in my head.Did I?Having never kissed a boy before, I was curious. And Levi Walker wasn’t just a boy. He was a man, going off to protect our country, and I was a silly girl, not even in high school yet.

“I don’t want to kiss you.” The words were weak, my voice betraying me. I didn’t, right?

“You know it’s customary to kiss a soldier before he goes off to war.”

Suddenly, all I could think about was kissing Levi. But I couldn’t make the first move. I didn’t know how. I didn’t want to be that girl. I didn’t want to be Penelope.

He appeared thoughtful—puzzled actually.

“You don’t?” He blinked, his eyes widening, attempting to focus on mine. His finger caressed my chin morphing into a full palm cupping my jaw.

“Nope.” I choked as I lied.  I did want to kiss Levi Walker. The greater question was why? I was familiar with him, but didn’t really“know”him. Being from a small town, everyone recognizes each other, but I didn’t know the real Levi, the man before me. We rotated in similar circles but not in the same manner. He was older than me by six years, I reminded myself.

“What do you want then?” His rough voice rasped as his eyes darted down to my lips. I bit the corner, a growing habit, and his lids drifted semi-closed as he stared at my teeth.

“I want a hero.” I paused when his eyes shot back up to mine. “Will you be a hero one day, Levi?”

I don’t know where the question came from. An over-active imagination and too many fairy tales as a child meant I believed in princes slaying dragons and heroes resulting from wars. Levi Walker was the first person I’d ever known who was going off to face an enemy, and I knew enough from current affairs to realize he was headed for battle.

“If I become a hero, will you kiss me then?” His mouth curved slowly at one end, emphasizing a soft dip in his skin. Was that a dimple? I narrowed my eyes, focusing as he pulled the other side of his mouth upward, blazing two dimples at me. He teased me with that smile, hinting that he knew what he was doing. I shook my head to free the growing thought running through my mind: I very much wanted to kiss Levi Walker.

As if reading my thoughts again, his mouth descended to mine. His lips wet and still. This wasn’t like the movies. I didn’t hear music in my head. My feet remained on the floor. But then…then…everything melted away, and the only sensation I felt was his mouth over mine, and mine moving in response, chasing after his. I suddenly couldn’t get close enough to him.

“Levi, what the fuck, man?”

The deep voice of another male broke us apart. Too embarrassed to look in the direction of who spoke to him, I buried my head in Levi’s chest without thinking. Levi released me so quickly, I staggered forward, and then he pushed me back, hands gripping my shoulders, separating us by a foot.

“Levi, what the fuck are you doing? She’s like ten.”