My Guardian Angel

Chapter 12:

Out on the Town

I stared hard at the calendar, willing the date to change, to go away and never come back to haunt me. The more I looked at it though the more it seemed to pop out on the page, mocking me. Sighing I put an 'X' on yesterday's date and circled the day that was looming just around the corner.

Two days from today I would be 18.

I placed my pen back down on my desk and resigned myself to not telling a soul about it.

"Watcha doin'?" I jumped in my seat with a sharp intake of breath as my hand flew to my heart in surprise.

"Levi!" I hissed at the boy grinning behind me. Glaring I watched as he bent down next to me and glanced at the calendar.

"Why is this day circled?" He said, pointing to my birthday. My hand automatically reached up to twine a curl around my index finger. He'd already been living with me for a week, and like I said, it was okay with me, just slightly... awkward. For example I went to take a shower when I was getting ready for school the other day and when I was reaching for the door handle, it opened and Levi stepped out in nothing, but a towel. I'd blushed redder than the time I'd once tackled him and ran into the bathroom without even acknowledging him. He'd been smart enough to not mention it later on when he was serving me my scrambled eggs. That was another thing. He had a hot breakfast ready for me every morning. The first day or two of him doing it sort of creeped me out, but then I came to realize that it was his way of thanking me.

"It's my birthday..." I muttered, pulling apart the split ends in my hair. After a moment I felt a pain in my shoulder and I yet out a yelp before glowering at Levi.

"What was that for!?" I yelled at him, referring to how he'd just punched me for telling him it was my birthday! He glared back just as intensely (like he had a reason to!).

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" He demanded, ignoring my question. I rubbed at my shoulder, feeling how sore it was before muttering,

"I didn't think it was important." His eyes softened a little as he watched me return to damaging my hair.

"Of course it's important! Why wouldn't I want to know my best friend's birthday?" I looked up and gave him a small smile, appreciating the sentiment before looking out my window.

"It's just... I've never really celebrated it before. It only signifies another year, so why should it matter?" His gaze quickly turned from soft to incredulous as he threw up his hands.

"Why should it matter!? Because you're supposed to celebrate living, that's why! You're birthday shows that you're not dead and you've got another year against the world! You celebrate just to throw in one more 'f- you!!'" My eyes widened at the last part of his little speech, but he just shrugged making me chuckle a little.

"I suppose I've just never thought of it like that. I mean I've never had a birthday party before so-"

"You've what!?" I rolled my eyes at him before repeating what I'd just said. "Why not!?"

"Well..." I fidgeted a little uncomfortably under his shocked gaze. This was one reason why I didn't like telling people about my birthday. "I probably did when I was really, really little, but then the whole thing with school, and then my dad and Robby..." My voice dropped to a whisper at the last part. "And it's not like my mom would ever throw me one. I don't think I've even gotten a present from her since then." Levi reached out to put a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"We're going to change that this year." He stated matter-of-factually. "Maylanie and I both." I stared at him a moment in surprise before smiling faintly.

"That... that'd be nice." Then, before I could change my mind, I leaned forward and gave him a small hug. He stiffened in surprise at first, but then he relaxed and returned my hug before I pulled away. When I did the soft fabric of his shirt tickled my noise and I smelled the fresh scent of the forest on it. Levi's smell. It made me grin. When I had returned fully to my chair I observed his shirt a little more and began to frown. He had on some old looking (but clean) cloth-like black shirt and black cut off pants. They both had holes in them and his feet were always barefoot.

"What?" I glanced up to see Levi looking self-consciously at me and I gestured to his clothes.

"I've been meaning to ask this for a while, and don't feel offended please, but why do you always wear the same clothes everyday?" He cocked his head to the side and looked at me like the answer was obvious.

"They're the only clothes I have." Now that he said it I realized it actually was obvious. Of course he hadn't been able to pick up any clothes when he was escaping from his brother, and it wasn't like he could just go out and buy some new ones here. Abruptly I stood up, feeling stupid for not asking him sooner. Here I was just sitting here and wearing different outfits everyday and he had on the same ripped old clothing and didn't complain in the slightest! My face burned with guilt and I gestured forward, determined to make it up to him.

"Come with me." Confused he did as he was told while I walked down my hallway until I was faced with two doors at the end. I ignored the one on the left (my mom's room) and instead turned the handle of the door on my right.

As I stepped in I took a deep breath. I could smell the scent of age and disuse in the room and as I looked around I saw dust coating much of the furniture. The bed was unmade even though it hadn't been slept in in years. I had a feeling that my mom hadn't been in here for years. I know I hadn't.

"Where are we?" Levi asked, curious as he surveyed the old room.

"This room was my brother's." He shot me a sympathetic look, which I promptly ignored as I headed towards the white double doors that I knew belonged to Robby's closet.

"I hope they haven't been eaten my moths or something..." I murmured throwing open the doors and coughing as dust flew out into the room. I waved my hands away and squinted my eyes as I looked through the cloud in front of me. "Let's see... You're about the same heighth and weight as Robby was... Hm. What should I choose?" I glanced out the small window by the bed and saw the grey murk surrounding the sky, and then I flicked my eyes towards the red bands on his wrists. "Long clothes then... Maybe some jeans..." I immediately picked out a pair of dark washed jeans and threw them at Levi's face as he came up behind me.

"Erm... what are you doing?" He asked as I threw a green long sleeved shirt at him. I rolled my eyes as I bent down to find my brother's shoes.

"Finding you clothes. Duh."

"Uhh... Why?" I surfaced from the closet, dust in my hair and on my clothes as I held a pair of black converse in my hands.

"Because you don't have any." I walked up to my brother's dresser and got him a pair of socks and... boxers... I shoved them into his arms as quickly as I could and pushed him towards the bathroom that was connected with my brother's room that no one ever used.

"Now put those on and either throw those old clothes away or put them in my room later so I can sew them up." I'd gotten enough holes in my shirts growing up to know how to sew properly at this point. "When you get ready in the morning just come in here and feel free to grab some clothes, but you are doing your own laundry." I said sternly giving him one last shove.

He paused and looked at me wonderingly, the clothes and shoes stilled piled up in his arms. "You don't have to do this for me." He muttered, fingering the jeans.

"I know. But it's not like these clothes are being used anyways." I said a little roughly. He glanced up worriedly and I rearranged my features into a sincere smile. "It's fine." I assured. He observed me for a moment longer before his face lit up into a grin. I looked down for a moment, blushing for some reason until his hand cupped under my cheek and moved my head up so my eyes met with his.

"Thank you." He said, a heartfelt smile on his face. Then he turned around and walked into the bathroom leaving me staring after him with my arms wrapped around myself. I swallowed for a moment before glancing up and catching my reflection in the mirror on my brother's dresser.

My cheeks were flaming red and my eyes stared back, flashing a deep violet. I shook my head for a moment and the next time I glanced up they'd turned to a dim yellow. I shook my head once more, sure that I had imagined the bright purple (the one color I'd never seen my eyes turn) and went to sit on my brother's bed, a cloud of dust flying up as I sat down. I tapped my foot impatiently as I waited for Levi to finally be done. It would be an understatement to that I was curious as to how he would look in normal Earth clothes. I was practically vibrating from where I sat. I heard the door creak open and my head snapped up.

"Finally! You take longer to get ready than a gir-" I stopped in the middle of what I was saying as I observed Levi. Swallowing I resisted the urge to pinch myself. I mean, I knew he looked good before but... damn.

To say the clothes fit him was like saying sweet and low is 'kind of' sweet. They fit him perfectly and showed off his muscles, at the same time hiding the red tattoos that marked him as a criminal. I understood what had taken him so long as I observed that he'd found some accessories in my brother's bathroom. There was a black bandanna tied around his neck (most likely to cover up his 'clan mark') and he seemed to have found Robby's hair cream. Instead of seemingly like he'd just rolled out of bed, it now had a cleaner look. It still looked messy and sort of all over the place, but it wasn't frizzy anymore and his bangs fell over his eyes in a very, for lack of a better word, sexy way.

"Uh... Wow." I said. He smirked for a moment and I swear my heart skipped a beat (isn't that supposed to be unhealthy!?) as his eyes (that seemed to stand out more now that he was wearing other colors instead of all black) surveyed my shocked expression. Then his brows creased together and his expression became exasperated as he held up the converse I'd given him.

"How... how do I put these on...?" I smiled as I saw a faint blush cross his cheeks and he glanced down at the ground. As he shuffled his feet I noticed that he'd put the socks on correctly at least. Being in a different world I guessed that he'd never had to tie shoelaces or wear shoes before like we did here on Earth. I giggled to myself a little causing him to send a glare at me. I responded by rolling my eyes and rising from the bed to walk over to him.

I ordered him to slip the shoes onto his feet and he did so obediently. Then I knelt down causing him to start a little bit before I gestured for him to put his foot on my thigh so I could tie it. He did so hesitantly and I tightened the laces before pulling up the two strings and showing them to him.

"Okay so after you put them on and tighten them get these two strings and tie them together like this." I bent down over his foot and brushed my hair to go over one of my shoulders so he could see what I was doing. "Then you make a loop like so," I continued concentrating on the laces as I taught an 18 year old how to tie his shoe, "and wrap the other one around. Go under, pull, make one more knot and, ta da! You've now tied a shoe." I grinned up at him to see him looking seriously down at me. I swallowed a little uncomfortably as he abruptly changed his mood once more. After staring at each other for a bit longer I brought myself back to the world of the living as I looked down and blushed for the thousandth time that week.

"S- so. How about you do the other one by yourself. I can see if you got it or not then..." I kept my eyes on the carpet as he tied the other shoe and I looked up to see he'd done it successfully before I smiled widely at him, trying to forget the previous moment.

"You did it!" He shot me a look as I proceeded to coo over him like he was a small child. I couldn't help it though. It was kind of adorable that he didn't know how to tie his shoe. A few minutes later found us sitting on the couch in the living room staring blankly at the television.

"Now what?" He asked after some commercial about dog food. I considered his question for a moment before looking out to see the sky had cleared up a little bit. Grinning I looked back at him to see him regarding me curiously.

"Let's paint the town red."

*****

I spent a few minutes patiently explaining to Levi that I didn't literally mean we were going to 'paint the town' and I just wanted to go hang out. After that was made clear we grabbed our jackets (along with my wallet and contacts) and started the walk towards downtown. Half an hour of joking and surreptitiously glancing sideways at Levi (he looked so different okay!?) we finally made it to the mall and I quickly pushed him inside so we could warm up.

My cheeks were flushed from the cold and it was hard to bend my fingers completely so I shoved them into the pockets of my jacket and headed towards the escalator so we could buy some fresh cookies from upstairs. A moment later, when I realized I was getting weird looks, I turned around to realize Levi wasn't behind me, so it had looked like I'd been talking to myself. Aggravated I looked around for him and saw that he was standing in the middle of the mall glancing around with his jaw dropped and his eyes wide. Oh, right, he hadn't been to civilization while on Earth. The closest he'd seen was my house and the boundaries of the school. I probably should have warned him...

Smiling to myself I leaned against a pillar and watched as he took in everything. He looked like he'd just discovered the North Pole. Though I suppose to him, that's exactly what it was. Once the shock wore off he seemed to snap out of his trance and realize I wasn't with him. Smirking I watched as he frantically looked around for me. His eyes were wide and they were darting in every corner until he finally found me. I twiddled my fingers at him and laughed causing him to smile sheepishly and rub the back of his head. He started towards me and I suddenly felt like there was a pair of eyes on me. Curious I lazily looked around until my eyes collided with a red head who was sitting on a bench a few feet from Levi. Her eyes were narrowed and had a malicious glint in them as she looked at me. I raised my eyebrows in surprise and wondered why she was looking at me like that. I didn't recognize her from school... I finally made the connection when I saw her send a small glance towards Levi. Ah.

My eyes flicked towards said boy and I saw him grinning like a kid at a candy shop at me. Double 'ah.' I hid my laugh behind my hand as I looked jovially at her. So that's what it was! I quickly realized I'd never brought Levi out in public and no one had seen him in his human form besides his half-sister. Therefore I didn't get to judge how girls reacted to him. It seemed that so far the average reaction was jealousy, I observed, as I noted two blonds switching between focusing on Levi's backside and sending me steely glances. Well, this was going to be an interesting day. Out of spite towards them I grabbed Levi's hand when he finally came up to me and pulled him towards the escalator, grinning happily as the scent of cookies wafted down from above.

"Come on slow-poke!" I called out laughingly. He seemed surprised at my attitude change, but he took it in stride as he obediently let me pull him along, the girls glaring after us (me) the entire time. Life was pretty good.

I let go of Levi's hand when we were in front of "Bethany's Cookery" and my hand felt a little cold. I easily chalked it up as it being from losing skin contact and thus heat. Placing my hands on the glass of the display case I tried to decide which cookie to guzzle down. My mind flitted between the hazelnut, the snickerdoodle, and the classic: chocolate chip.

"Hm. What are you getting Levi?" I turned around to see him staring confusedly at the delicious morsels in front of us.

"What are those round things?" He asked innocently enough. My mouth dropped though and I quickly poked his cheek before moving in to examine the back of his head.

"Are you okay?" I muttered still checking for any signs of a bump. "I mean you didn't fall down or something, did you?" He grumpily shoved me off of him and glared down at me as my eyes widened.

"You've never heard of a cookie. You have to have!! I mean... I understand the shoe thing and the mall, but you cook and stuff at home! You should know about food!" He merely shrugged (shrugged about not knowing about a cookie!) and folded his arms.

"We have the stuff in your kitchen in Meleva. Animals and things from animals, like milk and eggs, are pretty much the same here as in Meleva,. Therefore I pretty much know how to prepare a lot of things based on if it looks like something we have in Meleva. If not I just avoid it. I've never heard of these," his face scrunched up in thought for a moment, "coke-eys, though."

"Cookies. And you are trying one. Now." I pulled him up to the register and took out my wallet to order two chocolate chip cookies (desperate times like these call for the basics). I handed him one of the paper wrapped, steaming hot, pieces of heaven before tearing into my own and moaning loudly in pleasure, attracting some amused stares from the people around us. Levi watched me for a moment smirking before I tried to practically shove the cookie into his mouth myself.

"Okay, okay!! I'll eat it! Just calm down!" He pushed me away and I returned to eating my cookie as I concentrated on watching his reaction to my favorite dessert.

He seemed to look at it in slight fear for a moment before he slowly brought it to his lips. Impatient, I forgot my cookie for a moment as I leaned a little closer. Finally he bit off a chunk and chewed on it with a thoughtful expression. He swallowed and his eyes grew wide as he pulled the cookie away a little bit and looked at it reverently.

"This is amazing..." He whispered before tearing into it with as much zeal as I had. Laughing I took one last bite and wiped my mouth, having finally finished my cookie. Saddened I threw away my wrapper and licked the chocolate off of my fingers. When I was done I looked up to see Levi throwing away his wrapper too, also looking a little sad. When he turned around to face me I laughed as I saw a big smudge of chocolate on the side of his mouth.

"What?" He asked and since I was laughing too hard I gestured to his mouth, indicating the mess he'd left behind. He fruitlessly tried to wipe it off until I finally wiped my eyes and reached my thumb out.

"Here I'll get it." I swiped my thumb across his mouth and held it in front of his nose causing him to become a little cross eyed as he examined my now chocolate stained thumb. "There. You see?" There was a pause before he reached out and grabbed my hand. I regarded him curiously and before I could ask what he was doing he licked the chocolate off of my thumb and walked away, leaving me standing there dumbfounded with my thumb still in the air. After a surprised moment I ran after him waving my thumb, my cheeks tinged pink at his public display.

"What was tha-" He stopped me at the beginning of my rant by covering my mouth with his hand and pointing to the store in front of us. Annoyed I looked forward and noticed the sign that read "Hott Topic."

"What?" I asked when he'd finally uncovered my mouth. In response he grabbed my hand and dragged me in, a slightly awed expression on his face as he observed girls with pink air and guys with lip rings. Rolling my eyes I decided to let the previous incident drop, for now, as I followed him into the store.

We walked around for a bit (his hand still unconsciously holding mine) and he kept pointing to random things that I saw all the time, but were novelties to him.

"What's that?" He asked for the hundredth time. I let out an exaggerated sigh that he ignored.

"Hair dye." He shot me a look that told me to explain further. "It has stuff in it that makes your hair a different color. Like with this one you can make your hair," I grabbed it and looked at the underside, "green."

"What's that, then?" He pointed on to the next thing as some people watched us laughing a little bit.

"A CD. It has music on it that you can take with you. Remember the box in my room that you jumped and barked at your first week at my house? You put these in them to make music come out of it." I noted a few people look confused as they overheard my terminology and I realized I had to be more careful with what I said in public.

"Oh yeah I remember. What's that?" And so it continued as he pointed to more and more things. At some point we stopped holding hands, to which I was grateful (since that uncomfortable feeling was returning), and we ended up in front of the jewelry section. I saw him glance around and an idea struck me.

"Why don't we buy you something here?" He glanced down at me, startled. "Nothing expensive. Just something you can wear." He thought about it for a bit and then nodded, looking suddenly excited. He darted off to the t-shirt section and we rifled through that for a moment, not turning up any good results. I left him to continue looking through wallets ('it holds money' I'd explained) and wandered back to jewelry, not really thinking I'd find anything good. Something automatically caught my eye and I automatically started laughing. I grabbed it and ran back to Levi knowing that I was going to get it for him, whether he liked it or not (let's call it payback for the thumb incident). When I held it up he raised his eyebrows and fought to hold back a grin.

"Nice." He remarked dryly as I held up a chain necklace with a pair of dog tags dangling from the ends. I finally cajoled him into letting me get them and I threw them over his neck right away, laughing at my little joke.

Once we left the store I found a clock hanging to our right and noted that it was getting late.

"We better get going or it'll be dark before we reach home." I remarked. He nodded as he too observed the clock. We started out of the mall and as we went down the escalator I noted the red head was gone, but the blonds were still there. I saw them send him coy looks, blatantly ignoring me. Aggravated I looked up at him to see him fiddling with the dog tags, a small smile on his face. My annoyed face faded away to a smile as I watched him. So he did like it! Ignoring the girls I pushed open the doors of the mall and was hit with a blast of cold. I quickly wrapped my arms around myself and my teeth started chattering as the wind beat against my now thin seeming jacket. Without warning I felt something draped across my shoulders. I looked up to see Levi with his hands in his pockets, walking in just his green shirt, having wrapped me up in his jacket.

"Thanks Levi, but this is your's. You'll freeze without it." I started to take off his jacket to hand it back, but he quickly yanked his hands out of his pockets and planted them on both of my shoulders, effectively preventing me from removing the jacket. We were now stopped in the middle of the path, facing each other as our breath steamed white between us.

"Keep the jacket. I'm warm. You're not. Don't worry about it." I looked up at him as he regarded me seriously. I felt his hands tighten on my shoulders and I unconsciously leaned forward. I saw him lick his lips and I swallowed heavily. Suddenly he let go and abruptly walked away. I stood still for a moment his jacket hanging off my shoulders a little bit and my arms dangling by my sides. I stared after his retreating form as he scratched the back of his head.

What just happened?

A/N: Voila! Chapter 12 at your service. Originally I titled this 'chapter 11' and I realized "wait... I wrote more!?" So that was a pleasant surprise. This one is just to bring Levi and Lexxy closer and... wait... what is that? Is that.... chemistry I smell?

Eh, who knows? I'm just the author.

Note: For those who are continuing the tattoo on his neck is a new feature and I edited in to chapters 6 and 8, so no you're not crazy, I just want to give him a(nother) tattoo.

- IFightWithInk