Half of My Heart ✔️

19 | a house divided

I wake up to the soothing sound of talking downstairs with laughs scattered ever so often. I sit up in my bed, feeling sluggish, and rub the sleep from my eyes. I slept like a baby in my bed, remembering how good it feels to sleep on something besides a lumpy twin-sized dorm mattress.

As I brush my teeth and get changed, I think of how comfortable Levi already seems with my family. I'm too lazy to put in my contacts, so I slide on my glasses and head downstairs.

When I get to the kitchen, I realize that I was the last to wake up. Levi smiles at me from the breakfast nook where he's talking with my mom. I note that he's still in his pajamas — grey sweatpants and a black t-shirt. He smiles at me. "Morning, four-eyes," he says, taking a bite of toast.

"What're you guys doing awake so early?" I ask them as I get some orange juice from the fridge. I hear Dani laugh at me from her stool at the island.

"Early? Scar, it's almost noon," Dad tells me. He's cooking something at the stove, and it smells really good. I look at the clock. 11:53. Great.

"Jet lag," I say.

"We're in the same time zone as UNC," Dani retorts.

"Whatever."

I sit next to Dani with my glass of orange juice. Dani leans into me and says quietly, "Someone's trying to get on Mom's good side."

I look over and watch Levi eat an apple, listening to my Mom tell some elaborate story. I listen closely and realize she's telling him how she and Dad met. I smile to myself, tuning in to Mom's recount of her extremely problematic courtship. It's my favorite story, and Levi seems to be enjoying it just as much as I did the first time I heard it.

". . . so the next clue of the scavenger hunt led me to the top of this mountain, but when I got there, Gray wasn't even there," my mom is saying, laughing at the memory. "There's just another clue that tells me to trek back down the mountain and drive to the middle of nowhere."

Levi is laughing along with her, and Dad interrupts from his position in front of the stove. "Baby, you're making me look bad. Why don't you tell him what was waiting for you once you got to the middle of nowhere?"

Mom rolls her eyes at her husband, but I don't miss the unmistakable shine of overflowing love in her gaze. Mom turns back to Levi. "I'll admit, it was very romantic," she admits, still smiling. "There were flowers and candles and food and—"

"Presents," Dani adds. "That's the best part of the story, in my opinion, the presents Dad gave you. A man will only be as valuable as the things he can buy me. Clothes, jewelry, shoes—"

"Anyway, as I was saying," Mom continues, side-eyeing her daughter. "Yes, there were presents, but that was definitely not the best part of that day."

Dad laughs. I raise my eyebrows at her comment at the same time that Levi asks, "So then what was the best part?"

Mom and Dad share a look from across the room, and I'm the first to understand. I set down my orange juice and cover my eyes. "Gross, gross, gross, gross," I chant, squinting my eyes shut. "Keep it to yourselves."

Dani laughs. "Scar, you innocent little thing. How do you think me, you, and Archer got here? The stork?"

Dad walks over to Mom and kisses the top of her head. "Definitely not the stork," he says quietly, but loudly enough for me to head. I groan as Levi laughs.

"Here, take your vitamins," Dad says when he gets back to the counter, placing two Flintstone gummy vitamins in front of me. "I made you a sandwich. Burnt the way you like it. And eat some strawberries too. I bet you're not getting enough fruits and vegetables."