Luckily, I thought ahead. I grab Levi’s hand. “I’m going to need your help with this one, cowboy.”
“‘Picture,’ huh?”
“You and me,” I tell him.
I lead him up to the stage, my legs shaking. Everyone recognizes Levi from before, so the applause is off the charts. It takes a moment to get another mic, but when the song starts, I just take a deep breath and pray.
It’s easier since Levi’s singing the male part, and he’s up first. He’s so damn good that I’m in awe, and I naturally start singing the song when I’m supposed to, staring at him while I do.
He gives me a sly grin when I sing the lyrics,I’ve been waiting on you for a long time.Then the last verse we sing together feels like kismet.
I thought about you for a long time
Can’t seem to get you off my mind
I can’t understand why we’re living life this way
The last notes of the song sound, and the applause from the crowd is epic. I jump into Levi’s arms, and he carries me off the stage with my legs wrapped around his hips. All the while, those last lines float through my head. It’s exactly like our life right now. Why are we living life on the down-low?
This talk with Levi needs to happen tonight.
18
Levi
The truck’s lights make the backwoods road glow with a harshness that collides with the warm feelings spreading through me. Tab’s tinkling laughter sinks its way into my flesh like tender hooks, the same anchoring sensation as when I play football. This moment, here with her, settles me. I can’t imagine looking over to my passenger seat and not seeing her. Or not picking up the phone and talking to her. In the same way that my hands feel empty when they’re not carrying a football. The sport is my life’s purpose, and now, so is she.
“I don’t want to go home,” Tab says, sighing.
I know what she means. Home doesn’t have her yet. It has an empty apartment and quiet rooms.
“Lucky for you, I already thought about that.”
“Oh yeah?”
I grin, hoping the waitress earlier was right. Out here, there aren’t premium hotels with room service, but I don’t think Tab is that kind of girl anyway. Not that we wouldn’t enjoy it, but she’salso not the kind of girl who would throw a fit if that isn’t where we ended up.
I turn down a road, notated by a small, oblong sign barely noticeable among the dense trees.
“Not that I don’t trust you,” Tab says, staring out at the remote woods around us, “but do you know where you’re going?”
“I always know where I’m going.”
“Even in backwoods Tennessee?”
Luckily, the woods clear up ahead, revealing a rustic cabin with a faded Office sign hanging out front. It swings in the wind as my truck tires grind against the gravel.
“Where are we?”
I grin. “A tiny house campground.”
“Wait, are you serious?” She moves in her seat, leaning over the dash, gaze scanning the area around us while I pull up to the office.
“Let me go rent one.”
“Oh my gosh! I’m going with you.” She opens the truck door before I fully park, and I have to hurry to catch up with her.
“I take it this interests you?”
