°14• Realisation

When my mother called me to announce that my father had been in a car accident and that he was in the hospital, my night with Levi and the others ended there, I wanted to hit the road immediately, but Levi persuaded me not to.

He told me it wasn’t a good idea to drive because of my emotional state and that I should wait until morning. To my surprise, he offered to take me there so he wouldn’t have to worry about me driving alone. It seemed to calm him when I didn’t argue but accepted because deep down, I knew he was right.

I asked him if it was ok to miss work for a couple of days, and he only replied he didn’t give a fucking shit. His words, not mine. All that mattered to him was my security, and the only way he knew I would be ok was for him to drive me all the way there.

How can I be so lucky to have him in my life when I need him the most? It’s beyond me.

“Babe, are you alright?” Levi asks me as he drives, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“I don’t know. All I want right now is to get there and see my father.” I say before putting my hand on my mouth to prevent crying.

While Levi keeps his eyes on the road, he reaches for my hand, squeezing it. “The important thing right now is that he’s alive. I know how you feel, babe; trust me.”

“Were you in this kind of situation with your father?” How stupid of me to ask. Of course, he knows. He lost his mother.

He doesn’t respond but pulls his hand away from mine.

Fudge, did I say something wrong?

“My father died in a car accident when I was ten.” He says after a while.

Stupid, Tory, stupid.

“I’m so sorry.” I reach for his hand, and thankfully he doesn’t pull away.

Levi shakes his head. “It was a long time ago. You didn’t know. Come on, babe, sleep a little. You didn’t sleep well last night.”

I lean towards him and kiss his cheek for his kindness. He turns his head towards me and beats me to it, giving me a peck on the lips. I lean my head towards the car window to try to sleep a little. Before I fall asleep, Levi brings my hand to his lips, leaving a kiss on my skin. I smile at his gesture.

I wake from my slumber while rubbing my eyes and stretching my body on the bed.

A bed?

The realization hit me hard as I'm wide awake now. I sit up on the bed and look around me.

Oh, I’m in my old room at my parent’s house. How the heck did I get here, and where’s Levi?

I get up to leave my room as I look for him. When I go down the stairs, I hear noises from the living room.

“Levi? Mom?” I say when I see them sitting together on the couch, looking at photo albums.

Wait a minute, what photo albums? Which one? Now I’m very awake.

“Mom, what are you doing with those?” I say, panicking as I point at them.

“Honey, I’m just showing some souvenirs from when you were little to your boyfriend here.”

Boyfriend? Did she say boyfriend?

I look at Levi to see if he’s going to correct her, but he says nothing, not a single word. He’s just sitting there smirking at me. It’s like he enjoys seeing me like this. Jerk!

Breath. Breath. Breath. Please don’t give him another reason to tease you. Breathe, that’s it, nice and easy.

“How come we’re already here?” I ask. The last thing I remember was falling asleep in Levi’s car.

“I took your cell phone from your purse to call your mother, and I told her we were coming. With the help of the GPS, I knew where I was going. I wanted you to sleep as much as possible.”

God, I love you, Levi.

What?

The realization hits me; it hits me hard. But now is not the time to dwell on this. I have to focus on the reason we are here. I have to think of my father. I will have time to panic later.

I can’t believe I love Levi.

Concentrate Tory! I snap at myself.

“Hmm, when can we go and see Dad?” I ask my mother, trying to avoid looking at Levi. If I do, I’m scared he’ll see right through me and how I feel about him.

“We were waiting for you to wake up. Levi was kind enough to keep me company until you woke up.”

I see mother approves of him, which I’m grateful for.

“Let me get my purse, and we're good to go.” My mother says as she walks into the kitchen.

“Are you alright, babe?” Levi asks when he’s beside me.

“Peachy keen,” I answer, avoiding his eyes, his beautiful grey eyes.

Peachy keen? What kind of answer is that? I think to myself when I realize what I said. Ugh, sometimes I embarrass myself.

“You sure?” He asks again.

“Uh-huh,” I answer as I smile at him so he won’t get more suspicious than he already is.

Fudge, I don’t think it worked the way he’s looking at me suspiciously.

“Ok, I’m ready to go.” My mother says suddenly when she’s beside us.

For once, I’m happy about my mother’s interruption.

On the way to the hospital, we didn’t speak much. We just listened to the music on the radio.

At the hospital, Levi decided to wait for me in the waiting room, he said it was a family matter, and he would see me afterwards.

When I step into the room where my father is resting, I’m happy to see that he’s awake. I run to his side and hug him as hard as I can.

My emotions are so upside down that I can contain my tears any longer.

“Tory? But what are you doing here? Rose, didn’t I tell you not to disturb her.”

“You’re my father. I had to come.”

“Oh, darling, but it’s only some bumps and bruises. They’ve kept me here just for observation.”

We talked for a while, and after, I decided to let my parents be and went to join Levi to see if he wanted to grab a coffee.

He holds my hand and starts to walk with me when suddenly I hear someone calling my name.

“Tory?”

I turn to see who called my name. Fudge! I definitely didn’t need to see him again.

“Davis.”