Messed Up by Molly Owens Read Free Book Online

your house.” I peeked out of my window and saw him leaning against his car waving up at me with a small smile. A thousand and one butterflies stirred in the pit of my stomach.
    “Okay, but be really quiet. You’ll have to come in through the window,” I began to describe the intricacies of getting onto the roof below my window, but he cut me off.
    “I’ve got it.” Click .
    I had just enough time to check myself in the mirror, gently patting each cheek to elicit a little color, and applying a coat of Chap Stick to my lips. Could be worse, I thought of my reflection. I heard a light tapping on my window. I pulled back the curtain to reveal perfection incarnate. Levi was dressed entirely in black. Black baseball hat pulled down low on his head. Black long sleeved t-shirt, just small enough to insinuate his amazing chest. Black Dickies pants, not too baggie, not to tight. Black Converse high tops. He was an adorable version of a mime, minus the white face make-up, of course.
    I took a deep breath and slid the window open. Levi silently, and with surprising grace, pulled himself through the open window and jumped down onto the floor lightly, careful to avoid stepping on my bed; what a gentleman, huh? He stood in the middle of my dimly lit room looking around with interest. I became suddenly aware of the clear juxtaposition of his strong masculine figure in my tiny, baby pink room.
    “Pink,” he commented immediately.
    “It’s my favorite color,” I said feeling a little like a second grader. I had painted my room this particular shade of thistle pink when I was in the eighth grade. Everybody had given me crap about it, but I loved the color and the warm glow it seemed to produce.
    Levi walked over to a book shelf in the corner of my room and ran his finger over the spines of the books, quickly reading the titles. I wondered what he was thought of my literary selections. He then picked up a frame that rested on the top shelf. It held my favorite picture of me and Hannah; a black and white photograph taken at my cousin’s wedding. We were both laughing. Hannah’s eyes were closed and she was holding her stomach, as if something was so funny it hurt. I had my head turned to the side and I was whispering something in her ear.
    “This is an awesome picture,” he commented quietly, “What are you guys laughing about?”
    “I don’t remember,” I sighed, a wave of sadness rolled over me. God, I really wish I did.
    “Who is she?” he asked glancing up at me, his eyes staring directly into mine, searching.
    “Hannah. My best friend,” I realized this was the first time I had ever called her that. I wondered if I had just jinxed our entire friendship by breaking our prohibition on the best friend title.
    Levi placed the frame back on the shelf, walked over to my CD player and began picking through the CD cases. Uh-oh, I thought, this is the shit in his pants part. I looked away, embarrassed by what he must be thinking.
    “Hmm… We’ll have to do something about this,” he said, smiling crookedly at me. He then pulled my desk chair close to my bed where I was stationed, and sat down. He turned his hat around so the bill was backwards and looked at me seriously. “So here’s the situation, Chelsea,” he said, suddenly all business, “We’re a little irritated by the way Toby has been behaving lately. With you and in other ways as well,” he spoke fluidly, calmly, “So we’d like to teach him a little lesson, but we’re going to need your help.”
    “Sure,” I heard myself agreeing, “but what are you going to do?”
    “You don’t need to worry about the details. All I need from you is to be the bait.”
    “The bait? Wow, I’m flattered,” I said, heavy on the sarcasm.
    “What I want you to do is text Toby,” he continued, ignoring my comment, “Tell him to meet you at the benches in Vistas in twenty minutes,” he checked his watch, “At two o’clock. I’ll help you sneak out to meet him.