Blackout ✓

14 | hometown heroes

A / N :

Keep an open mind reading this chapter! <3

Aimee x

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

MY FAMILY DIDN'T CELEBRATE THANKSGIVING.

Mom and Dad were red-blooded Americans in many respects, but they never could make peace with this holiday. Still, Thanksgiving break remained a convenient opportunity to visit home and catch up with my hometown friends.

On Saturday before I was due to return to college—Dad would drive me back to Halston Sunday afternoon—my best friend from high school, Stefanie, invited me to a party. Stef was among the handful of people I kept in touch with from high school. And it was quite literally a handful; I could count them on one hand.

At the party, she immediately hopped to mingling with the social circle she'd never left. I drifted through the rooms of the house, dazedly inspecting the family photographs on the wall. Even though nothing stopped me from consuming more—Stef was the designated driver for the night—I had decided to only drink enough to feel a light buzz.

In the upstairs hallway, a photograph caught my eye.

A familiar school field, filled with chairs and strung with a banner between each post of the football goal at the nearer end to the staging. Our graduation day.

There stood a tall boy with flat-ironed hair, with his family, in the black and blue robes of our senior class. His bright smile against dark skin shone in every picture.

My eyes widened. This was Levi's house, and I hadn't even noticed till now. Did Stef know?

Of course she knew, I chastised myself. Why didn't she warn me?

"Don't hold my high school hairstyle against me," a deep, friendly voice came from behind me. I jolted and turned around to see Levi watching me, hands in his pockets. My breath caught in my chest. "I'm different now."

"Aren't we all?"

He tilted his head towards his shoulder when he shrugged. He drew a thoughtful sip of beer. "I suppose so."

His once-spiky hair was now unstyled, cropped short to his scalp. Levi's hair was not the only thing that had changed. Back in high school, he'd always worn scuffed sneakers and band t-shirts, very much playing up to the scene kid stereotype. Now he looked like an adult, with comfortable green cargo pants and a white shirt that hugged his biceps.

"It's good to see you, Vee. How's life treating you?"

"Ha! I haven't heard that nickname in—"

"Four years?" Levi's warm brown eyes twinkled at me. The sounds of the party continued below the second-floor landing where we stood, but I paid them no mind.

"Yeah. Thereabouts. I'm good. Studying Pre-Med and self-medicating with alcohol when I can," I half-joked. "What have you been up to since graduation?"

"I got a job as an electrician's apprentice. Been working my way up through the company since then. Boss is really nice. He treats us like family."

"That's very sweet." I stepped away from the photographs to pause next to Levi, leaning against the wall. "I'm glad you're doing okay."

In high school, all the girls had had a crush on either Levi or his best friend in high school. I was not an exception, entertaining a brief infatuation between dating Khan and dating Max.