Accidental Arrangements

by Alexandra Warren

  “Huh? N-no. I… have a good day,” I told him with a wave of my hand as I returned to my rightful place on the couch.

  And while I was still trying to sort through all of my nonsense, somehow Levi seemed to have it all figured out when he replied, “You too, pretty girl. You too.”

  &

  Keys jingling in the door forced me to wake up from what was easily my fourth nap of the day, each one more fulfilling than the last since none of them were planned. But I wished I would’ve woken up a few minutes earlier as the boisterous ruckus of kid-noise nearby forced me to sit up and see the absolute last thing I expected to see strolling into my apartment.

  “Sorry, Jules. I told them to be quiet, but… you know how kids can be,” Levi said with a half-hearted smile as two little boys argued about what they were going to watch on Netflix below him.

  I sat up a little straighter, being sure to cover my thighs with the blanket as I asked, “Levi, what is going on? Who are they?”

  He smiled proudly, adjusting the smallest one in his arms when he answered, “Jules, meet the gang. This is Andre, Adrian, and baby girl Anastasia.”

  “The gang? Whose gang?” I questioned, my heart pounding as I waited for his response.

  Of all the things I had read about Levi, him being a father had certainly never been mentioned. And considering how old the boys looked, it hardly seemed possible for him to be responsible for creating them. Then again, Levi had spent quite a bit of time in the limelight meaning he could’ve easily gotten a head start on things of that nature.

  But my thoughts were thankfully trumped when he replied “Oh! Shit. These aren’t my kids. They’re my sisters. She got called into work and needed a babysitter last minute so I volunteered. I hope you don’t mind.”

  I shook my head, keeping myself wrapped in the blanket as I stood up. “Uh… nah. Not at all. I’ll just go to my room.”

  “You don’t have to. I mean, I can keep them all in mine,” he insisted as little Anastasia wrapped her arms around his neck, obviously a big fan of her uncle. In fact, they all seemed to hold Levi in high regard as they waited nearby for instructions on where to go.

  So once again I assured him, “No, no. It’s fine. They need to be able to spread out. I’ll go.”

  “Uncle Levi, she’s so pretty,” one of the boys gushed from behind me the second I made my way passed them on the way to my room.

  And I heard the amusement in Levi’s voice when he teased, “Hey man. What do you know about girls being pretty?”

  “I like girls! They’re my friends,” the other one shouted proudly.

  And again, Levi teased, “That better be the only thing they are. But you’re right, Adrian. She is pretty. Very pretty.”

  For whatever reason, my heart fluttered at his agreement. Of course I knew Levi found me at least a little attractive, but hearing him outwardly express it to two obviously important people in his life made me feel even more… giddy.

  Still, that didn’t mean I was about to suddenly turn into his fan. So instead, I simply tossed over my shoulder, “Uh… thank you. Both of you. Have fun.”

  The boys went back to their discussion of Netflix options, but I could still feel Levi’s eyes on me until I shut the door. And instead of going to the bed, I rested against the back of the door, trying to figure out my next move.

  It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. I was supposed to stay out of his way and he was supposed to do the same. I mean, I still didn’t know much about him. And the things that I did know didn’t exactly paint him in the best light. But somehow his natural, genuine energy managed to overrule all of my preconceived notions, allowing the part of me that had no business getting involved to make its way to the forefront of my thoughts. Or maybe it was just the fact that I was in a dick drought and he was fine as hell.

  Either way, I knew I had to nip my little crush right in the bud before it turned into a major disaster. Though it sounded like another disaster was already brewing as I heard a crash from the living room, followed by a, “He did it!”

  “I turn my back for two seconds to put this pizza in the oven and ya’ll are already breaking stuff?!” I heard Levi shout through the door, followed by the sounds of his heavy footsteps.

  “We’re sorry, Uncle Levi! We didn’t mean to,” the boys spoke in unison, obviously tapping into their twindom.

  And I found the situation completely amusing until I heard Levi say, “Go tell Jules what you did. Now!”

  Wait what?

  A few seconds later there was a small knock on the door, forcing me to lift myself away from it so that I could grab a pair of shorts to put on. Then I pulled it open to the sight of both boys wearing a matching set of trembling bottom lips.

  While one, Andre, already looked on the verge of tears, Adrian straightened up enough to stammer, “Uh… J…J… Jules. We… We broke your thing.”

  “What thing?” I asked in a panic, stepping out to assess whatever damage they had caused.

  And I could hear the nerves in the spokesman-twin’s voice when he pointed and answered, “The elephant. We was just playin’ with it and the tail came off.”

  I released a heavy sigh, grateful that the thing they thought they were responsible for breaking had actually occurred long before I even knew they existed. In fact, the broken tail only reminded me of the night it occurred when Elizabeth got a little too live celebrating her very first sorority anniversary.

  But the delay in my response only caused little Andre’s tears to breakthrough, urging me to assure him, “Aww, it’s okay. You don’t have to cry. I can fix it.”

  I was just getting ready to pull him into a hug when Levi chimed in, “Nah, let him cry. They shouldn’t have been messing with stuff that wasn’t theirs to begin with.”

  “Well maybe if you had been watching them a little more closely like you were supposed to, this wouldn’t have happened,” I fired back, serving him a side eye as I comforted Andre.

  And I was hardly surprised when Levi shrugged me off to say, “Man, they ain’t my damn kids.”

  “That doesn’t make you any less responsible,” I told him before turning my attention back to the kids to ask, “Now how about we sit down and find something to watch altogether? I think Netflix just added some new movies.”

  While I hadn’t intended to take over Levi’s little babysitting gig, it felt like the only thing I could do if I expected to keep the rest of my things intact, especially as I watched baby girl go reaching for one of the candles that I thankfully hadn’t lit recently.

  But Adrian didn’t exactly make things any easier for me when he smacked his teeth and replied, “We already saw all those baby movies.”

  “Baby movies? Well what kind of movies do you watch then?” I asked, a little afraid of what he would answer. If my estimates were right, they couldn’t have been any older than eight, though I had a strong feeling they might’ve inherited the height gene from the same person Levi did giving them an extra boost.

  But regardless of my guess, I still wasn’t expecting Adrian to reply, “Tyler Perry.”

  “Tyler Perry? Like, Madea?”

  “That old lady is so funny!” Andre added, wiping at the leftover tears as he made his way to the couch with Adrian in tow.

  I peeked over to Levi for approval, not exactly sure if Madea was age-appropriate. But Levi only shrugged, leaving me to make the call on my own. And since they obviously must’ve known plenty about her from previous experience, I decided, “Well… alright. Madea it is.”

  I was already busy loading the Netflix app on the TV when Levi announced, “The pizza should be done in a minute.” Before asking, “Yo Jules, you think you can do something with Ana’s hair?”

  “Excuse me?” I asked, turning around in my seat to meet his eyes.

  And he only nodded in baby girl’s direction to say, “Her hair. I tried to do some pigtails, but you see how that turned out.”

  I followed the direction of his nod over to Anasta
sia who was now minding her own business as she sat on the floor playing with her small collection of toys. And regardless of how content she was being in her own little world, there was no missing the fact that the ponytail on one side of her head was way high while the other was way low.

  “Oh wow. That poor baby,” I said with a laugh.

  “You got me? Please?” he begged, his palms together as if he was praying.

  And while I had already done plenty, and had now signed up for at least an hour and a half longer of a shift, Levi’s puppy dog eyes managed to force an answer out of me when I replied, “Yeah. I got you.”

  Levi

  The kids had already dozed off by the time Lily texted me to say she was on her way. And while I usually would’ve been complaining about her being a whole two hours later than she said she would be, for whatever reason I didn’t mind as much today.

  Actually, I knew the exact reason I didn’t mind.

  Jules had managed to swoop in and save the day, keeping the kids busy and wearing them out in ways I wouldn’t have even been remotely capable of doing.

  Naturally, I wondered where her skills came from, or was it all instinct. And as if she could read my mind, she blurted, “They remind me so much of my little brothers. Or how they used to be. They’re almost grown men now.”

  “You have brothers?”

  She shrugged, peeling herself from between the sleeping twins as she answered, “Yeah. Three of them actually. They’re technically my half-brothers, but… same difference.”

  “Do you get back to see them often?” I asked, assuming they, along with the rest of her family, were back in her hometown of St. Louis.

  But I could tell the question made her uncomfortable when she released a heavy sigh, making herself busy gathering the leftover paper plates from the pizza as she answered, “I… can’t. My father doesn’t let me.” Then she made her way to the kitchen while I sat there processing her response.

  I could pretty much assume her actions were intended to dead the conversation. But I couldn’t help myself in joining her in the kitchen so that I could ask, “Doesn’t let you? What do you mean, he doesn’t let you?”

  I watched as she stuck the plates in the trashcan, pushing them down with extra force to ensure the top would close before she answered, “He… banned me. From seeing them. Said if they talk to me, they’ll go to hell on the same train I’m supposedly riding on by being out here.”

  “What? That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “He’s one of those guys, Levi. A hyper-religious prick who uses his supposed love for the bible to mask his hate for any and everything as if he was ever perfect,” she replied, obviously annoyed as she used a wet washrag to wipe the countertops that were already spotless.

  “But why would he hate you for following your dreams?” I asked in an attempt to piece together the information she was giving me. And my question prompted her to at least stop what she was doing to lean against the countertop with her feet crossed at the ankles and her arms over her chest as she stared at the ground, gnawing at her lip in deep thought.

  The silence was thick as I waited for the response that eventually came in a softened tone. “Because he… he associates following my dreams with… exploiting myself.”

  "Exploiting yourself? Acting and modeling are both pretty honorable professions. He should be proud,” I told her, more confused than anything by her explanation.

  But a couple of things suddenly made sense when she replied, “Proud of me for doing the devil’s work? Nah, that’s not how it goes. But you know what? It doesn’t matter cause I’m not doing that shit anymore anyway.”

  She started back into her cleaning frenzy, grabbing the broom to sweep the imaginary crumbs from the floor. And while I shouldn’t have even cared, shouldn’t have been so invested in her backstory, another question sat way too heavy on my tongue to hold it in.

  So I didn’t.

  “Is that why you stopped? You continuously got rejected for the big roles, and thought… maybe he was right?” I asked causing Jules to freeze in place as she turned to meet my eyes. And I could tell hers were troubled as her gaze became heavier and heavier until the few short knocks on the door interrupted.

  Jules darted from the kitchen while I made my way to answer the door. And when I pulled it open, Lily stormed in as if she had been to my place a thousand times, quick to rattle off, “I am so, so sorry, baby brother. The third shift manager didn’t show up, so I got stuck at the restaurant until they could find somebody else to come in and... Oh. I’m sorry. Hi, I’m Lily. Levi’s sister.”

  I hadn’t even noticed Jules was still in sight until she accepted the hand Lily had extended her way. “Jules. Levi’s roommate.”

  Lily flashed a smile my way before turning back to Jules to say, “I really appreciate you letting him take over that room. He was getting on my last nerves back at my place, emptying my refrigerator on a daily like I didn’t have three hungry kids to feed.”

  “Yours too?”

  “Hey! I replaced everything I ate, plus extra,” I defended before telling Lily, “Your kids are knocked out. You want me to help you get them to the car?”

  “How else are they gonna get there?” she replied teasingly before turning to Jules to ask, “You think you can grab the little one?”

  Jules perked up as if the request surprised her. “Oh! Um… of course. Let me go find some shoes,” she said before heading for her bedroom.

  And she was hardly out of earshot when Lily was already gushing, “I like her. And she’s even cuter in person than she was in her profile picture. I mean, what’s a filter when you look like that naturally?”

  While I hadn’t even seen the picture of Jules Lily was referring to to make such a call, there was no doubt in my mind that she was right. But since that was the last thing I needed to be admitting to my sister, I simply replied, “Yeah, that’s what your son said too.”

  “My son? Oh God. Which one?” she asked as she gathered all of Anastasia’s toys that were scattered across the floor and put them in a backpack.

  “Andre the little loverboy,” I answered as I shook him on the shoulder to wake him before moving onto his brother, both of them slow to move regardless of my actions.

  “You leave my baby alone. He’s gonna make a great husband someday,” Lily said with a laugh as she zipped the backpack shut.

  And just as she finished her sentence, Jules emerged from her bedroom wearing a pair of sweatpants and… Jules wears Jordans?

  Lord, help me.

  “Alright, little missy. Help me out here,” Jules said as she went to lift the deadweight of Anastasia’s sleeping body from the loveseat while I helped the half-sleep twins get their shoes on and their mom worked on their jackets.

  But when Lily peeked over to her baby girl, she gushed, “Wow, Levi. You actually did a pretty good job on her hair for a change.”

  “Actually, that’s all Jules. She was kind enough to handle it for me.”

  Lily smacked her teeth, pushing the tiny backpack over her shoulder as she advised, “Girl, don’t you fall into the same trap we’re all stuck in.”

  “Trap? What trap?” Jules asked as she patted Ana’s back in an attempt to keep her asleep.

  And while I wasn’t exactly sure what Lily was talking about myself, I certainly wasn’t expecting her to reply, “Doing all of Levi’s dirty work while he continues to coast through life without a real care in the world. He didn’t even know how to find a place to live. I ended up doing all of the work.”

  While Jules immediately looked surprised, she quickly masked it to say, “Oh wow. That’s… interesting.”

  And of course Lily was quick to agree. “Right? I can’t wait until he starts this new job tomorrow. Maybe it’ll knock some common sense into him.”

  “New job? I thought basketball was your job...”

  I ran a hand along the back of my neck, the embarrassing truth sitting like a lump in my throat though it hardly riv
aled how embarrassing my first day of work was sure to be. But now wasn’t the time to be ashamed or concerned about the opinions of others. I had to do what I had to do, starting with being honest in replying, “It is, but… it isn’t exactly going to keep the bills paid right now. So my agent got me a job at his brother’s car dealership.”

  The shock on Jules’s face was clear as day as she stopped just short of the door to say, “Wait a minute… you’re going to be a car salesman? Do you even know anything about cars?”

  “Can’t possibly be that hard,” I answered confidently as I wrapped an arm around Adrian’s shoulder to help guide his zombie ass to the car while Lily took care of Andre.

  The silence between us all was thick, the only sounds being the click of the car doors unlocking and being opened. And while Jules put Anastasia into her car seat on one side, Lily and I helped the twins get into the other before she side-eyed me, communicating whatever she thought she couldn’t say out loud.

  “What I do?” I asked with my eyes.

  But again, Lily only looked annoyed until Jules joined us to say, “It was a pleasure to meet you, Lily.”

  “Likewise, Jules. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of each other soon. And thanks for helping with the kids. I know they can be a handful.”

  Jules brushed Lily off with a smile as she insisted, “They were a treat. They’re welcome to come by any time.”

  “Girl, don’t say that if you don’t mean it. Their little clothes are way too easy to pack,” Lily replied with a laugh that Jules joined in on before thankfully amending her offer.

  “Well maybe not any time. Just… again. When absolutely necessary.”

  Lily nodded. “I can appreciate that.”

  And while it was good to see them hitting it off, I couldn’t help myself in jumping in to say, “Hey, what about me? I’m the one that fed them.”