Accidental Arrangements

by Alexandra Warren

  I shrugged as she let me go. “I don’t know. Where do you want to go?”

  Her hands flew to her hips as she cocked her head to the side and asked, “How are you going to ask me out on a date with no plans, Levi?”

  I shoved my hands in my pockets, rocking from side to side as I explained, “I mean, I got ideas. Just nothing solidified. I didn’t want to pick something on my own and have you all bored and shit.”

  “Well give me your ideas then.”

  I released a heavy sigh, nerves I didn’t even know I was capable of having rushing to the forefront as I answered, “I was thinking we could, maybe, go to one of those indoor trampoline spots. Jump around a little bit. Use our energy outside of the bedroom for a change.”

  Once the words were off of my lips, I was fully prepared for Jules to laugh me off, call me stupid, and turn me down. But to my surprise, her face actually seemed to light up when she said, “I’m down. Let’s do it.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yeah. Why do you sound so surprised?” she asked as she grabbed the bucket of nail polishes and sat them against her hip.

  And I could only shrug as I told her, “I don’t know. I guess I just assumed you’d rather be wined and dined. Treated to the finer things.”

  While Jules wasn’t overzealous in her need for expensive shit, it was obvious in the stuff she had laying around the house, laying around her bedroom, and sewed into her hair, not to mention how stuffy and rich her ex Charlie looked the one time I saw him. I was just sure he had taken her to all the fancy restaurants in town and on trips to exotic places, all things I could no longer afford.

  But once again, Jules managed to surprise me when she replied, “Levi, I didn’t have much of a childhood outside of the church. So any opportunity to feel like a kid again is like giving me a chance to experience all the things I might’ve missed out on growing up.”

  “Well, damn. Now I feel like this isn’t good enough. Like we gotta go to Disneyland or some shit.”

  She laughed, taking off towards her room with her bucket in front of her as she tossed over her shoulder, “We can save that for another day. This is a perfect start.”

  “Wear something comfortable. I’ll pick you up at eight,” I called after her, excited for whatever was to come.

  And she stopped just short of her door frame, turning around with a smirk plastered on her face when she asked, “Pick me up? You mean, meet me in the living room?”

  “Let a nigga do right by you, girl. Damn,” I teased, making her blush instantly.

  “Alright, alright. I’ll see you at eight. And don’t be late.”

  Jules

  I stepped out of my room five minutes after eight on purpose, the sound of my door creaking open being enough of a signal for Levi to turn my way from the couch, and then stand up to greet me. While Levi always looked good, something about knowing he was exclusively mine for the night had me even more in tune with just how fine he was. The stubble on his chin was a little fuller, the tight curls at the top of his head looked freshly moisturized, and… oh no.

  Not gray sweatpants.

  How the hell am I supposed to focus all night?

  I mean, sure we both needed to wear something comfortable if we planned to be monkeying around. But gray sweatpants were damn near a secret weapon, as if he needed anything to enhance what he was working with.

  I tried to keep calm as he approached me. But the closer he got, the quicker he realized, “Jules, you jacked my t-shirt?”

  “It looks better on me. Am I right?” I asked, running a hand from the V-neck collar to the knot I tied near my belly, turning the oversized tee into more of a crop top.

  And while it was clear Levi appreciated the look, that didn’t stop him from scolding, “That’s not the point, Jules. How’d you even get it?”

  “You left it in my room. So I washed it, and… voila. But, fine. I’ll go change,” I pouted, turning back towards the door, already thinking about what other shirts I could pair with my baseball cap, leggings, and retro Jordans I had on.

  But Levi caught me by the arm before I could get too far, turning me back around as he said, “Oh, no you won’t. I love it. And I’m kind of jealous we don’t wear the same size shoes.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh, imagining how all-around wrong that would be as I insisted, “Levi, you’d look like a damn clown with feet as little as mine.”

  “Man, I remember calling every sneaker store in town to get a pair of those Jordans in my size. I even went online ready to pay triple the retail price, but nobody had them,” he replied as he bent down to take a closer look at the shoes, even pushing down on my toes as if he was a shoe store worker checking to make sure I had the right size.

  I looked down at him, crossing my arms over my chest as I asked, “Are we gonna talk kicks all night? Or are we actually going to get out of here?”

  My question prompted Levi to stand up, quickly reminding me of my height disadvantage when he looked down at me with his lips pulled into a grin. “Nah, pretty girl. Leave all that attitude right here at the door. It’s all positivity once we step outside. Deal?”

  I shook my head, accepting the pinky he had extended my way and locking it with my own as I agreed. “Deal. Now come on.”

  The non-traditional nature of our situation made me giggle as he opened the front door of our apartment, letting me step out before he followed and locked the door behind us. Then he draped an arm around my shoulder, keeping it there until we made it to his car where he pulled the passenger door open for me.

  “Wow. You’re pulling out all the stops, huh?” I teased as I slipped inside, taking a full inhale of the Black Ice air freshener he had obviously just replaced considering its potency.

  And as he waited for me to settle in, Levi answered, “Getting your door is the bare minimum, Jules.”

  “Doesn’t mean it always happens,” I told him just as he was closing the door behind me.

  But once he made it to his side of the car, he was sure to continue the conversation by asking, “So you’re tellin’ me Charlie never got your door for you?”

  I rolled my eyes, irritation prickling my skin from the mere mention of his name, let alone his lack of basic gentleman skills. “Ugh. Can we not talk about him? I mean, unless you’re trying to disclose something about your past relationships too.”

  Levi immediately shook his head as he pulled out of his parking spot. “Nah, let’s not ruin our good time with irrelevant shit.”

  “Touché,” I added as we dipped off into the light traffic.

  For a moment, we rode in mostly silence, the only sounds being the light R&B coming from the radio station that had already transitioned into the Quiet Storm segment of the night. And as I took a closer listen, I realized they were playing one of my favorite songs.

  “Ooh! Turn this up.”

  “Jules, what you know about thee Joe Thomas?” Levi asked teasingly as he turned the knob to increase the volume.

  And I couldn’t help but laugh as I replied, “I’ve never heard anybody call him by his full name. I mean, he was always just Joe to us.”

  “Who’s us?”

  “Elizabeth and I. We used to love his baldheaded, chocolatey ass back in the day,” I answered thinking about the few times I was allowed to spend the night at her house during our teenage years before my father deemed her a bad influence and cut off all communication between us.

  Well... attempted to cut off all communication between us. And it certainly didn’t help that Elizabeth’s family had decided to move out here around the same time, making it even easier for us to become disconnected. But somehow we still managed to keep in touch over the years, using the internet as our main line of contact until I could save up enough money for a ticket out of town right around my nineteenth birthday.

  Even though I was busy taking a trip down memory lane in my head, Levi was completely present as he said, “That nigga Joe is a simp. Always trying to sing the panties of
f of someone else’s girl. Just listen to this.”

  He turned the song up even louder as if I had never heard it before, allowing me to hum along as we both listened to him sing about all the things your man wouldn’t do. And while it was clear Levi was bothered by the lyrics, I couldn’t help but smile when I suggested, “Well… maybe ya’ll shouldn’t make it so easy for him to do.”

  “Nope. He ain’t singing the panties off my girl,” Levi muttered as he pressed the button to change the station.

  “Levi! I wanted to listen to that,” I whined with a smile as I reached for the button to turn it back.

  But Levi blocked me as he said, “Now this is more like it.” Before continuing on to sing the lyrics to the new song out loud.

  “From the first time, I saw your face. Girl, I knew I had to have you…”

  “Oh my God. Stop,” I said, hardly able to hold in my laughs as he began to serenade me with another old school R&B song, Let’s Chill by Guy. His vocals surprisingly weren’t half bad. And by the time he hit the chorus, I couldn’t help myself in joining in.

  “Let’s chill. Let’s settle down. That’s what I wanna do. Just me and you…” we sang in unison as Levi kept one hand on the steering wheel and used his free hand to snap to the beat.

  “Just me and you, pretty girl?” he shouted over the music as the group went to the next verse.

  “At least for tonight,” I answered a little more eagerly than expected.

  Levi was still vibing to the music as he said, “See. Real music is supposed to bring folks together, not pull folks apart. I’m about to get a whole ass girlfriend out of this one track.”

  I burst with laughter, shoving him in the arm as I told him, “Boy, be quiet.”

  And he joined in on my laugh, peeking over at me before he said, “Happiness is a good look on you, Jules. A real good look. I like this you even more than the other you.”

  I blushed, turning to face out the window even though it was dark enough that he wouldn’t be able to tell anyway. But I felt… giddy - excited - even when I told him, “I want you to like both me’s. Cause they’re… both me. I’m not simple, Levi.”

  “I said I like this one more. Not I didn’t like both. And trust me, I learned you weren’t simple a long time ago. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to piece your crazy ass together. Even if it takes a little while.”

  “Well you have a few more months to do so,” I reminded him, suddenly rushed with mixed feelings that so much time had already passed meaning we were technically on the downhill slope.

  But before I could succumb to the emotions, Levi reached across the center console and grabbed my hand, bringing it to his mouth for a kiss as he agreed, “You’re right. And I’m about to take advantage of every second I can. Starting tonight.”

  &

  “Get that shit out of here!”

  I was hyped - and tired as hell - as I bounced down onto my butt after blocking Levi’s shot, sending it halfway across the trampoline while also depleting the last of my energy reserve. We hadn’t even been jumping for a full hour, but I was completely exhausted, especially after being challenged to a game of mostly airborne one-on-one basketball. And while guarding Levi was a tall order, I was proud to say I hadn’t lost that bad, though I was sure he allowed me some points just to save my ego.

  Of course he did.

  He was a professional. This was his element even if we weren’t on the hardwood he was used to. But I suppose he knew me well enough to know I would’ve been a poor sport if he didn’t give me a chance to score. And since this was supposed to be a good, fun experience for the both of us, he had also allowed me to block his shot.

  “Jules, you gotta chill. There are kids in here,” he said with a laugh as he fell onto his back, the coils beneath us causing the surface to shake from his impact.

  “It’s past their bedtime anyway. If they wanna stay up with the adults, then they’re going to hear adult words,” I reasoned, peeking over to the kids who were hardly paying us any mind as they engaged in a game of trampoline dodgeball. In fact, that had been our first order of business; spending fifteen minutes playing dodgeball with the group of kids who were all fawning over Levi the second we arrived.

  By now, he was old news.

  “You really think you’re all that cause you blocked my shot, huh?”

  “Twice. I blocked your shot twice,” I corrected, using my fingers as a visual.

  “And I blocked yours how many times?” he asked, putting a hand behind his ear as he waited for the response that made my two blocks sound like zero.

  So instead I answered, “Doesn’t matter! You’re like eight feet tall. And a professional basketball player. You’re supposed to do that. I’m not.”

  Again he laughed, brushing me off as he sat up and replied, “Yeah, whatever. I’ll let you have this one.”

  “Nope. I worked hard for it. So hard I feel like I need an inhaler,” I told him, putting a hand over my heart only to find it still pounding way harder and faster than usual.

  “Damn, maybe I am as lazy as Hope said I was…” I thought to myself as Levi asked, “An inhaler? Jules, I didn’t know you had asthma.”

  “I don’t. It just seems necessary.”

  Levi shook his head with a grin, taking a peek at the wall clock before he said, “I think our time is about up anyway.”

  “But it’s so fun here,” I whined, catching a second wind as I got back on my feet so I could bounce around a little more. And instead of joining me, Levi moved over just enough to catch me by the legs and pull me down on top of him.

  “Levi, there’s kids in here,” I mocked teasingly as he fell onto his back, the coils ricocheting once again, causing us to jiggle.

  And instead of being fazed by my reminder of our audience, Levi rolled me onto my back, hovering over me as he replied, “If they wanna stay up with the adults, then they’re going to see some adult activities.”

  I dodged his attempts for a kiss, laughing and squirming my way out of his hold as he tried to tickle me. And I suppose my competitive edge was still in full effect as I found extra strength to actually get away, even though I didn’t really want to be away.

  But I did want to jump around just a little more, and this time Levi decided to join me as he asked, “You having fun?”

  “Can’t you tell?” I fired back, doing a double bounce into a front flip that I just barely landed.

  “Impressive,” Levi said with a grin before asking, “You hungry?”

  “Is that even a question?” I asked as I bounced up into a toe touch, living out the cheerleader dreams I never got a chance to fulfill.

  And once again, Levi looked pleased when he said, “I’ll have to make a mental note of all that flexibility you’re showing off.”

  “Oh whatever. Are you ready to go home? I mean, we have food there,” I insisted as I tried another front flip, this time falling short and landing flat on my butt.

  But I bounced right back up just in time to hear Levi say, “Jules, we’re supposed to be on a date. Are you gonna let me do right by you or nah?”

  I smiled, the countdown clock on our time slot buzzing throughout, signaling it was time for us to go. “Alright, alright. Well what do you want to eat?”

  “Nah, you can’t ask me that. When you ask me that, I don’t think of food,” Levi replied with a smirk as he wrapped an arm around my shoulder and led us towards the row of lockers to retrieve our shoes.

  I sat on the bench as Levi dug into the locker we shared, passing my shoes back before grabbing his own and plopping down next to me. And as I shoved my feet inside each, I was sure to clarify, “Well what food do you want to eat, Mr. Graham?”

  “I think they have a taco truck a block or two from here. Is that cool with you?” he asked as he laced up his shoes then stood up, extending a hand to help me stand. And I nodded in response, accepting his hand and finding myself in the crook of his armpit once again as we strolled towards the exit.


  I usually wasn’t into public displays of affection, but something about Levi’s actions felt too natural, too comforting for me to combat. So I didn’t, instead slipping a little deeper into his embrace as we made our way down the street, passing an assortment of businesses that were closed for the night. In fact, all of them were closed for the night, except for the tattoo shop decked in neon lights.

  “I’ve always wanted a tattoo,” I muttered more to myself than him, thinking about all of the times I had almost talked myself into getting one.

  But it was clear he had heard me as he stopped right in front of the window pane, turning my way to say, “Let’s go get some. I’ve been itching for some new ink anyway.”

  “You’re serious? I mean, what are you even going to get?” I asked, curious to see what kind of design he had in mind considering how elaborate and well thought out most of his artwork seemed to be. I was just sure he had a number of sketches in his head, or at least saved on his phone for whenever the time was right.

  But to my surprise, he only shrugged when he answered, “I don’t know. I’ll figure it out after you get yours.”

  He was already pulling me by the hand towards the door of the shop, and I did my best log impression, forcing him to use extra strength to even make it a couple of steps. I mean, there were definitely more reasons than one that I hadn’t gotten one up to this point, mainly my fear of needles and the excruciating pain that came with them.

  But since I didn’t want to look like a complete punk, I attempted another out route as I told him, “You gotta go first. Then I’ll go. I just need some time to... get in the zone.”

  “Nah, Jules. You’re going to chicken out if we do it that way. I already know.”

  “I’m not going to chicken out,” I pleaded, though the ringing of the bell on top of the door once Levi pulled it open forced me to gulp before I actually stepped inside.

  “Well what are you getting then?” he asked as he stepped towards the counter as if he had been there a million times, grabbing a book I quickly realized was filled with designs.