Summer. Cath was hunched over her laptop, typing frantically. The ideas were pouring out of her head, and her hands were helplessly trying to keep up.
"Cath. Cath!" Wren closed the laptop and Cath's fingers barely escaped in time. "What? Not now." she said, blinking around the room, stunned at the sudden natural light. Wren sighed. "Simon and Baz can wait. As I was saying, are you going to see Levi soon?"
Cath shrugged. She and Levi had been talking on the phone and texting each other constantly since school ended, but they hadn't seen each other in person. "Why do you ask?"
Wren gestured exaggeratedly to the duffel bag on her bed. "Hello? Going to see Jandro this weekend?" she rolled her eyes. "I was just curious to see if you're going to put seeing Levi off for so long that he turns into one of your internet friends."
"Shut up," Cath whined, but they were both laughing.
When was Cath going to see Levi? Why hadn't she already seen him? She hadn't seen him in a month. It wasn't that she was busy, and it wasn't that she didn't want to- she wanted to more than anything- what was she waiting for?
Hey, she started typing a text, I want to see you. (:
It didn't take Levi more than three seconds to reply.
come to arnold! stay with us! this weekend? ill come pick you up friday.
She was planning to stay in with Baz and Simon this weekend, but…
Can't wait to see you! she smiled down at her phone as she typed, picturing Levi grinning down at his.
miss you, sweetheart.
Cath blushed. Take that, Wren.
"Actually," Cath said triumphantly to Wren, "He's picking me up Friday."
Cath had almost forgotten how much she missed Levi. Levi, with his big eyes and his widow's peak and those puckery doll lips that only appeared when he wasn't smiling- which was almost never. Cath missed him so much.
For the rest of the week, she was elated at the promise of seeing him on Friday. She barely even minded when she had to drag her dad out of bed after a long night of broken ideas, or even when she ran into Abel and his assumed genius girlfriend at the Supermercado. Nothing could bring her down.
On Friday morning, Cath sat on her front steps with her bags packed and began to worry, which wasn't unlike her. What if he doesn't show up? The first worry popped up. He's Levi, she reassured herself, of course he's going to show up.
But Cath still worried. Levi had said he'd be there at around eleven-thirty, and it was now eleven-forty-one. She pulled her knees to her chest and tried to shake off any bad thoughts that came in. What if his car broke down? Wait, no, what if he got in a car crash? What if, what if, what if? Cath squeezed her eyes shut and tried to make it go away. She felt her heartbeat all over her body and that familiar feeling of panic started to wash over her.
"Cath? Cather?" a voice broke through the whooshing in her ears. She couldn't tell if she had imagined it or not. She looked up, and what she saw couldn't have made her happier if it was a ninth Simon Snow book. Levi. Levi in all his glory; dark blond hair flopping every which way, a black-and-red plaid flannel shirt, and that million-watt grin lighting up his face. Levi. She stood up and immediately found herself in his ams, her face against his beautiful, warm chest.
"I missed you," he murmured into her hair.
She nodded, her nose grazing his ribcage. "I missed you, too."