“Okay, but be really quiet. You’ll have to come in through the window,” I began to describe the intricacies of getting onto the roof below my window, but he cut me off.
“I’ve got it.”
Click
.
I had just enough time to check myself in the mirror, gently patting each cheek to elicit a little color, and applying a coat of Chap Stick to my lips. Could be worse, I thought of my reflection. I heard a light tapping on my window. I pulled back the curtain to reveal perfection incarnate. Levi was dressed entirely in black. Black baseball hat pulled down low on his head. Black long sleeved t-shirt, just small enough to insinuate his amazing chest. Black Dickies pants, not too baggie, not to tight. Black Converse high tops. He was an adorable version of a mime, minus the white face make-up, of course.
I took a deep breath and slid the window open. Levi silently, and with surprising grace, pulled himself through the open window and jumped down onto the floor lightly, careful to avoid stepping on my bed; what a gentleman, huh? He stood in the middle of my dimly lit room looking around with interest. I became suddenly aware of the clear juxtaposition of his strong masculine figure in my tiny, baby pink room.
“Pink,” he commented immediately.
“It’s my favorite color,” I said feeling a little like a second grader. I had painted my room this particular shade of
thistle pink
when I was in the eighth grade. Everybody had given me crap about it, but I loved the color and the warm glow it seemed to produce.
Levi walked over to a book shelf in the corner of my room and ran his finger over the spines of the books, quickly reading the titles. I wondered what he was thought of my literary selections. He then picked up a frame that rested on the top shelf. It held my favorite picture of me and Hannah; a black and white photograph taken at my cousin’s wedding. We were both laughing. Hannah’s eyes were closed and she was holding her stomach, as if something was so funny it hurt. I had my head turned to the side and I was whispering something in her ear.
“This is an awesome picture,” he commented quietly, “What are you guys laughing about?”
“I don’t remember,” I sighed, a wave of sadness rolled over me. God, I really wish I did.
“Who is she?” he asked glancing up at me, his eyes staring directly into mine, searching.
“Hannah. My best friend,” I realized this was the first time I had ever called her that. I wondered if I had just jinxed our entire friendship by breaking our prohibition on the
best friend
title.
Levi placed the frame back on the shelf, walked over to my CD player and began picking through the CD cases. Uh-oh, I thought, this is the
shit in his pants
part. I looked away, embarrassed by what he must be thinking.
“Hmm… We’ll have to do something about this,” he said, smiling crookedly at me. He then pulled my desk chair close to my bed where I was stationed, and sat down. He turned his hat around so the bill was backwards and looked at me seriously. “So here’s the situation, Chelsea,” he said, suddenly all business, “We’re a little irritated by the way Toby has been behaving lately. With you and in other ways as well,” he spoke fluidly, calmly, “So we’d like to teach him a little lesson, but we’re going to need your help.”
“Sure,” I heard myself agreeing, “but what are you going to do?”
“You don’t need to worry about the details. All I need from you is to be the bait.”
“The bait? Wow, I’m flattered,” I said, heavy on the sarcasm.
“What I want you to do is text Toby,” he continued, ignoring my comment, “Tell him to meet you at the benches in Vistas in twenty minutes,” he checked his watch, “At two o’clock. I’ll help you sneak out to meet him. You’ll be back in your bed by two thirty. Promise. I’ve already taken care of everything else.”
“Okay,” I nodded. “But what are you going to do to him?” I pressed. He reached his hand forward and brushed his thumb against my cheek. My heart skipped.
“Don’t worry about it. Just trust me.”
You know how people are always talking about trusting their gut? Oprah has entire episodes dedicated to this topic. Guests come onto her show and blather on about the time they listened to their instincts and saved themselves from instant death or scams or whatever. Well, I am here to say that is bullshit. It is your brain you should trust. That is the place where logic and reason reside. It was my gut that was so entirely swept away by Levi in all his hotness, that I blindly followed his instructions. Without so much as a second thought, I texted Toby, changed into my favorite jeans and a hoodie, and followed Levi out the window.
Levi lowered himself down off my roof, using the side of the house for traction. I hadn’t made this escape in a long time, but my feet knew instinctually where to be placed on the lattice that ran down the side of the house. As I made my descent, Levi placed his hands around my waist to guide me. My heart fluttered as I felt the warmth of his fingers press against my skin just above the top of my jeans. When my feet were firmly planted on the ground, Levi grabbed my hand and led me to the street.
“We’ll need to take your car,” he said simply. I looked around, noticing his car, as well as Bryce, were nowhere to be seen.
“But, it’s really loud when it starts up,” I whispered back, “My parents will hear.”
“I’ll drive,” he said reaching out his hand for the keys, “Trust me.”
I handed them over like a well trained parrot, and we silently got into my car. Levi put my car in neutral, released the emergency break, and looked over his shoulder. We rolled backwards down the hill, until my house was out of sight, at which point he turned the key in the ignition and my car grumbled to life. Retracing our path, we drove back up the hill and past my quiet, sleeping house. I relaxed a bit and looked over at him.
“You’re looking very Jason Borne this evening,” I remarked of his incognito attire.
“And you’re looking better than I remembered,” he replied. I could feel my face turn red at the complement and was thankful it was dark in the car.
We drove to the top of my street and turned right and headed up a steeper hill. About halfway up he parked at the entrance to the park. Vistas was the large county park that abruptly cut off the expansive suburban development where I lived. It contained two lakes and a dozen or so trails winding over hills and in and out of steep valleys. The trailhead we had stopped at was the main entrance to the park, and from there I could see Hannah’s house, its backside staring down at me. It looked dark and gloomy. I thought about the stranger asleep in Hannah’s room. How different would this night be if Hannah were here? Would I even be on this strange mission had she been?
We walked up the gravel path toward the first set of benches where kids from my high school often met to take bong loads and suck down Jell-O shots. The moon was nearly full and in the light I could see the benches were vacant. As we approached, Levi gave his final set of instructions.
“Toby should be here in five minutes,” he said glancing at his watch for confirmation.
“If he doesn’t flake on me again,” I pointed out.
“He won’t,” Levi said looking serious, “When he gets to you, just start talking about whatever seems natural. Whatever happens just know that you are completely safe.”
“What do you mean?” I asked weakly.
“I’ll be right over there,” he pointed to a thick cropping of trees.
“Levi,” I said beginning to feel uneasy, “Tell me what’s gonna happen.”
Just then the sound of a car door closing rang through the quiet night. I looked back at Levi with fear suddenly reaching my gut.
“You’ll be safe. Trust me,” he repeated sternly. He gave me one last look that I couldn’t quite read before running noiselessly into the thicket of trees.
I could feel my heart beating in my chest, loud and fast, as the realization that I may have made a huge mistake by blindly following Levi set in. Although my palms were warm and clammy, I began to shiver. I sat down on one of the benches and took a deep breath. From where I sat on the hill, I could see all the way to my elementary school. I could see the pool where I’d learned to swim, and the house where I had my first babysitting job. I marveled for a second at the strange path my life had taken that night.
I heard the crunching of gravel under his feet before I could see him. Toby came around the bend in the path with his usual eager smile on his face. What a puppy dog, I thought.
“Chels!” It’s so good to see you!” he exclaimed, like we were old friends meeting in the supermarket.
“Hey Toby,” I responded, trying to keep my voice steady, “Thanks for coming.” He sat down beside me on the bench. I kept my eyes fixed on the neighborhood below, avoiding eye contact. “Listen, Toby. I’ve just been thinking that… I wanted to make it really clear that… You know that we’re just friends, okay?”
He was silent, frozen. For a moment I thought it was because of what I had said, but when I turned to look at him, I saw he was staring up the path toward the hills behind us. I followed his gaze. My body froze when I saw what he was looking at. A group of four men were walking rapidly toward us. Each of them dressed entirely in black, including, and most frighteningly, their ski masks. For a quick instant I thought perhaps one of the figures was Levi. But they were all much larger than him. These were not adolescent boys, they were men, big men. And one thing was blatantly clear, they were coming for us.
If my heart was beating fast before, it was now pounding with such speed and power that I thought it might explode out of my chest. I stood up, bracing myself. Toby hesitated for a split second and then began to run. He hadn’t made it two steps before the men surrounded us. The one nearest to Toby raised his leg and kicked him directly in the back, sending him tumbling to the dirt. I watched, as the side of Toby’s face made contact with a large rock on the ground. Blood splattered out from his mouth and dripped down his chin. He was still for a second, his horrified eyes looking right at me, as if pleading for help. But what can I do? I thought helplessly.
“
Stop!” I screamed, with more force than I knew I had in me. I bent down and started pulling Toby up. He was halfway to his feet before another man kicked him in the stomach throwing him backwards to the ground. He screamed out in pain as the back of his head collided with the corner of the bench. Two of the men the grabbed Toby by his arms and yanked him forcefully to his feet.
“
Stop!” I screamed again, this time running at the smallest of the four men and attempting to knee him in the crotch. He was faster than me and was able to grab my arms and hold my flailing body away from him. “Please!” I pleaded hopelessly into the amber eyes that stared out from the mask. The other men ignored me completely as they began dragging Toby back the way they had come, up the hill and into the darkness. The man who had me by the arms shoved me forcefully, sending my body stumbling backwards, and joined the others as they disappeared into the trees. Just then I heard a sound I’m not sure I will ever be able to completely forget, Toby began to cry.
I stood still for a moment while everything seemed to go silent. Then my body began to tremble uncontrollably. A heat, like I’ve never felt before, surged through me, starting at my chest and radiating out to my fingers and toes. I began to run, where to, I didn’t know. I got about a hundred feet before I slipped on the dry grass and tumble forward, my hands hitting the rocky ground with incredible impact.
The next thing I knew, Levi was lifting me to my feet. My body was shaking and I could feel cold, wet tears streaming down my face. He stood in front of me, holding my shoulders firmly.
“
You’re safe, Chelsea” he said sternly, “You were never in any danger. Everything is okay.”
I heard sound behind me and turned to see a group of guys, all in black, coming out of the thicket of trees where Levi had been hiding. They were laughing hysterically, clearly recounting the hideous scene between Toby and the masked men. My eyes went back to Levi’s.
“
Come on. I’m taking you home,” he said grabbing my arm and directing me back to the path and down the hill.
My breathing was slowly becoming more regular, and the trembling was beginning to subside, but my heart kept up its frantic pace. When we got to the car, Levi steered me into the glow of the streetlight and held out my hands, palms up. I noticed for the first time they were bleeding. He pulled out the bottom of his t-shirt and gently dabbed the blood from my hands.
“
You’re okay,” he said calmly, looking up into my eyes and giving me a questioning smile. I looked away.
We got into my car and Levi drove to my house, neither of us speaking. The heat that had overcome my body had dissipated, and I was now freezing. My muscles felt heavy and useless. Levi had to practically carry me up the side of my house, onto the roof and then in through the window. When we were finally in my room, he pushed me gently to sit on my bed. He walked with confidence to my dresser, looked at it for an instant, and pulled open the second drawer where I kept my pajamas. He selected a pair of flannel pants, and a tank top and handed them to me. He got down on his knees in front of me, and looked up at my hung down head.
“
Chelsea. Everything is okay,” he repeated once more, “I want you to put on your pajamas, and get into bed. I’ll be right back,” his voice was so sweet and comforting, I forgot for a moment the revolting scene he had just choreographed. On light feet, he soundlessly walked out of my bedroom door. I pulled off my jeans and shirt and replaced them with the pajamas. I climbed into bed, pulling the covers up to my chin, still shivering.