Page 2 of Don't Fall For Her
“We don’t even know him,” Rhett says to all of us.
“Well I do, and I’ve repeatedly asked each of you to try. But do you listen to me? No.” I roll my eyes and continue working.
I do my best to ignore my brothers and eventually they walk away.
“Don’t worry, you’ll see Levi soon. Let’s start planning our trip and we’ll see when we can go. I think we can swing it within the month,” Emmanuelle says as she hugs me.
“But what if he doesn’t want to see me?”
“I saw the way he looked at you. That boy wants you just as much as you want him.”
I hope she’s right, I’ve never liked a guy as much as I like Levi. And he does text me first most days. So that has to mean something, right?
Levi
When I was fourteen, I made the decision to join the Marines. My father was a mean drunk and I had to watch him beat my older twin sisters, Lynton and Leighton. I was small and scrawny at the time, and I hated it. So I started working out. I tried out for football and bulked up as fast as I could. After two years, I was bigger than my father. But my sisters didn’t want me to step in. He still never put a hand on me, but I wanted to defend my sisters. We made a pact that when I turned eighteen, we would all leave and never come back.
I never told my sisters about joining the Marines. I decided to do that because I didn’t want them to have to support me. This way I could go to college if I wanted to, and if not, I’d at least learn a skill while I was in. I didn’t have a plan as to how long I’d stay in the Marines. When I finally turned eighteen, I was ready to go. I needed to get my sisters away from our father. If we didn’t leave soon, I was going to kill him.
When I told my sisters that I had enlisted, they were upset. Not because I enlisted, but because they were scared about me leaving. We’ve never been away from each other. I was sent to MCRDSD which is the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego for my training. That was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Not the training, but being away from my sisters.
I’ve now been in the Marines for two and a half years and I’m stationed at Iwakuni Air Station, on Honshu. I love it here, but I miss my sisters. They’ve come to visit me a few times since I’ve been stationed here. I haven’t decided what I want to do. Do I want to re-enlist? Or do I want to go into the reserves? Either way, I need to figure it out soon.
Last year, my sister Leighton lost her best friend, Kayla, in a car accident. Kayla had a little boy, Davis. She left Davis in the care of my sister. It was a hard time for everyone. Not only was Kayla Leighton’s best friend, she was like a sister to all of us. Now Leighton, Davis and Lynton live in Lake Renegade, Illinois. Leighton’s married to Valentino Marconi, he’s an enforcer for the Cimaruta MC. And they just had their second baby, Theodore. I haven’t gotten to meet him yet, but we use Script to video chat once a week.
Six months ago, a group of us were traveling through Wintervale, Montana. There was a memorial for five people who had lost their lives on the mountain five years ago. Two of them were Adam and Molly Vandenberg. That weekend, I met Felicity Vandenberg. And ever since I met her and got to spend some time with her, she’s all I can think about. She’s making it hard for me to stay in the military. I’ve been hesitating on asking her to come and live with me in Japan. Felicity and her brothers, Lukas, Rhett and Paxton are really close. Maybe even closer than I am to my sisters. When they lost their parents, Felicity was sixteen. Lukas stepped up and took care of all three of his siblings. I think that’s a big reason Felicity and I got close so fast. Both of us had older siblings that were willing to drop everything to take care of us. And while I didn’t lose my parents, the way our life went, it’s feels like we did. We just don’t have the good memories that Felicity and her brothers have.
I’m headed back to the States this weekend. First I’ll stop in Lake Renegade to meet my new nephew and to see the rest of my family. Then I get to see my girl. She doesn’t know I’m coming, I’m trying to surprise her.
CHAPTER TWO
Levi
“Aren’t you headed back to Lake Renegade this weekend?” my best friend, Tristan, asks.
“Yeah, I’m leaving for the airport in like, an hour. What are your plans?”
“I’m just going to chill here.” He shrugs.
“Why don’t you come with me? You can see the family and then come to Wintervale with me to see my Felicity.”
I hate that Tristan doesn’t have any family to visit. Both of his parents died when he was young and he doesn’t have any siblings. When we went to boot camp, my sisters embraced him as part of our family. But he still has a hard time with it. He’s told me some of his life story, but I know there’s more. I figure he’ll tell me when he’s ready.
“I don’t want to be a third wheel with you and Felicity.”
“Please. You know you won’t be. Now pack your shit, get online and book your flight.”
Tristan laughs and starts packing. I’m relieved that he didn’t fight me about this. We have the next two weeks off and we’re going to have fun.
“So what’s Lake Renegade like?” he asks as he packs.
“It’s a cool town, one of those ‘everybody knows everybody’ places. But it’s only like two hours from Chicago. We should find out if there’s a hockey game while we’re there.”
“Fuck yes! I’ve never seen the Redhawks play live.”
“It’s fucking incredible. And you’ll get to hang out with a few of the players.”
“Your life is turning into a fucking fairytale, Anderson.” He laughs. “Direct flight, right?”
