Never Say Goodbye (15 page)

“Hey, you ready to go princess?” Levi asks from behind me.

“Ready to go?”
I ask questioningly.

“Yeah, Sophie left, and Brynn looks like she’s going to be leaving with Chad, so you appear to be free to leave with
me,” he says with that cocky look.

Damn him, I want to slap that look off his face, but he’s got a point. Oh what the hell, why not?

“Sure, let me just tell Brynn I’m leaving.”

“Take your time princess, we have all night,” he says matter of fact. I just stare at him for a minute then head in the direction of my best friend.

I say my goodbyes and then walk out with Levi in tow.

“Your dorm or my place?” he asks once we hit the front lawn.

Hmm…this is a good question. Do I want to possibly have his roommates hear us? Do I want people in my dorm to possibly hear us? What to do…

“What are you thinking about?” he asks, breaking me out of my twenty questions.

“Trying to figure out where we should go,” I say truthfully.

“If you’re worried about my roommates, most of them are out for the night,” he says looking at me.

“Oh…umm…okay,” I say nervously.

“Liv, we just slept together last night, don’t get shy on me now,” he says pulling me towards h
im. He looks me in the eyes, “Are you nervous to sleep with me again?” he says with a sexy look.

I can’t help but laugh at him and his tenacity. “No, I guess we can go to your place,” I say.

“Thank God, no offense, but my bed is bigger and a hell of a lot more comfortable,” he says pulling me along towards his car.

“Should you be driving,” I ask nervously.

“Yeah, I had a few and that was hours ago. I thought I was going to be the DD tonight, but the guys all found other places to go,” he says as we reach his car.

We get in and make the short drive to his place. I’m excited and nervous at the same time and I shouldn’t be. Hell
, I did just sleep with him yesterday.

He parks and we head inside. So many questions are swarming in my head. Do we have sex and then I leave, do I stay the night, do we talk and hang out first? What the hell did I get myself into?

“Princess, stop thinking,” he says as he hands me a drink. I take it and down it quickly.

“I’m good,” I tell him.

“Sure you are, that’s why you just drank that like its water,” he says with a laugh. “And you’re here for the night, one time won’t be enough,” he says answering my unspoken questions.

Chapter Fourteen

I wake up to a buzzing sound. It takes me a minute to recall last night’s events and realize I’m not in my dorm in my bed, but rather in Levi’s bed. I find my phone and another missed call from Brynn. I also see I missed ten text messages. I shoot her a message back saying I’ll call her in a few minutes.

I turn over to see a sleeping Levi. I slip out of bed and grab my clothes before heading in
to the bathroom to freshen up.

After I’m dressed I call Brynn back trying
to be quiet, to not wake Levi.

“Where the hell are you?” I hear from a panicked Brynn.

“At Levi’s, you knew this last night,” I whisper into the phone.

“Shit, I forgot, sorry. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” she screams into the p
hone.

I start to laugh, “Thanks, but can you do me a favor?” I ask
, hoping she’ll pick me up.

“Sure, what’s up?” she asks happily.

“Can you come get me?”

“Yeah, text
me the address and I’ll be right there,” she says excitedly. Why, I’m not sure.

“Okay, I’ll text it and thanks Brynn,” I say softly and end the call. I quickly text her
Levi’s address, thank goodness I remembered what street he lives on.

I make my way back into the bedroom to find my wristlet and my shoes.

“Good morning,” I hear from a yawning Levi.

“Morning,” I say with a smile.

“Happy Birthday,” he says smiling at me.

“Thanks.”

“Why does it look like you’re leaving?” he asks me curiously.

“Because I am, Brynn’s on her way to pick me up.”

“I would have taken you home Liv. I was thinking of giving you a birthday wake-up call, but that doesn’t work when you wake-up before me,” he says with a smile.

“Brynn woke me up by her constant texts and calls,” I say truthfully.

Levi moves over to the edge of the bed and pulls me down to him, “So, why don’t you call your best friend and tell her never mind, that I’m taking you home,” he says as he smashes his lips to mine.

“Better idea, why don’t we make this a quickie and then I can be ready by the time she gets here,” I say with a smile.

Before I can blink, Levi has my pants pulled down and is yanking my top over my head. I can’t help but laugh because he’s quick, real quick.

“You said we
gotta move fast. I’ve seen the way she drives, she’s nuts,” he says.

I get the rest of my clothes off and jump un
der the covers with him.

Levi wastes no time grabbing the condom out of the nightstand, puts in on, all while kissing me silly. Sex with Levi is fun. Who would have thought friends with benefits would be the way to go?

After Levi gives me my birthday orgasm, we quickly get dressed and rush down the stairs to a waiting Brynn. She doesn’t look happy.

“Hey, ready to go?”

“Liv, do you realize how loud you get?” she says giving me a smirk.

“What? Oh shut up, let’s go,” I say trying to forget what she just said.

“She does get pretty loud, doesn’t she?” Levi chimes in.

“Seriously you two, knock it off. Brynn let’s go, Levi if you ever want to have sex with me again you’ll shut up now,” I say with a s
erious smile.

Brynn just laughs and heads to the door. I follow suit, say bye to Levi and we make our way back home.

The drive home was Brynn drilling me for details on how sex with Levi is. I tell her a few things to keep her off my back, but nothing too important or personal. That’s my business.

When get back to the dorm and Brynn is rushing me to get a shower and get dressed because she booked us appointments for manicures and pedicur
es. I do as my best friend says, I get showered and ready then before I know it we are out the door and on our way to our first appointment.

We get our toes and nails done,
then grab a bite to eat before heading back to the dorm. It’s already going on 4:00 and the party starts at 6:00.

We g
et back to the dorm with Brynn rushing around. “Here,” she says, handing me a garment bag.

“Brynn, what the heck is this?” I say shocked.

“I want you to feel and look beautiful today. You’re my best friend, it’s your day, enjoy it,” she says looking pleased with herself.

I hug my best friend before opening the garment bag. I open the bag to see a beautiful green dress. It has spaghetti straps that cross in the back, which is cut rather low, and in the front it’s a simple
, but elegant neckline. The dress is a dark green color that sparkles.

“Brynn, you shouldn’t have,” I say mesmerized as I continue to hold up the dress and look at it.

“Yes, I should have. It goes perfect with your eyes,” she says beaming.

I hurry and put it on excited to see how it looks. As I zipper the back, Brynn hands me some silver sparkly heels to wear. I put them on then stand and look in the mirror.

“You look fantastic. The guys are going to go crazy over you tonight,” she says with a smile.

“Hell yeah they will,” I say excitedly. I feel like a million bucks right now. I hug my best friend again and then
rush her to get ready.

Once Brynn is ready
, she does our make-up and hair. Before we know it, it’s time to go.

When we get to the sorority house, I’m surprised to see it
’s already packed with people. Don’t get me wrong, I know my sorority sisters and some of the fraternity guys, but I don’t know this many people from school.

As we head
inside we are swarmed with sorority girls all wishing me a happy birthday. Megan is there handing me a tiara and sash that says “Birthday Bitch.” I can only imagine how much fun tonight’s going to be.

Brynn’s already planning out what I should get guys to do because it’s my birthday, but we’ll see. I’m not as crazy as my best friend.

The night is getting crazy. More and more people are showing up by the minute. Everyone is talking to me, wishing me a happy birthday and wanting to get me shots. I happily decline because I would like to remember tonight. I’m only on my second beer and I’m nursing it pretty good.

“Sup
biatch,” I hear from an excited Sophie. She comes up and gives me a hug.

“Hey.
Where the hell have you been?”

“Ugh, don’t ask. Doesn’t matter now, I’m here so let’s party!” she yells and people start to cheer.

We head to the dance floor and are joined by Brynn, Megan, and some sorority girls. There are a few guys on the floor too. We start belting out the words to Katy Perry’s Roar, while laughing and having a good time.

I have no idea how much later it is, but Brynn is pulling
on my arm telling me it’s time for cake. Who eats cake at a party where you’re drinking? I don’t say anything though, and let her lead the way.

Sophie and Brynn are on
each side of me and tell me that we are celebrating Wolffe’s birthday too, but I have yet to meet him. Before I have time to think about it, two sorority girls are carrying out a cake full of burning candles. I only turned nineteen, what the hell?

Chad is standing beside
someone; I’m guessing Wolffe and motions for him to blow out the candles with me. So we stand, side-by-side and wait until the mass of people stop singing Happy Birthday so we can blow out our candles and continue on with our night.

That’s exactly what we do. We blow the candles out and Brynn’s beside me in seconds. She introduces me to
Wolffe and then runs off to get plates.

I stare at him
, not believing my eyes. I’m looking in the eyes of my childhood best friend, Nathan, yet he’s looking at me like I have two heads.

“Do I know you?” he says looking confused.

I can’t even comprehend words right now, I’m speechless.

“Are you a fan?” he says looking more confused.

“No, I squeak out,” and before I have a chance to say anything else, a girl comes up to him.

“Hey baby, you ready to go, this party is lame,” she says in a
squeaky tone.

“We can’t leave yet,” he says as he walks away with her. I can hear her bitching at him, and yet here I stand, immobile
, not believing my eyes. Did he not recognize me? I mean it was almost ten years ago but still, how do you forget someone you were best friends with?

“Hey,
whatcha staring at?” Brynn asks as she stands beside me.

Before she can say another word, I grab her by the arm and drag her to the first open bedroom I see. I walk us in and slam the door
, not believing who the hell I just saw.

“Seriously Liv, what’s wrong?” she says looking worried.

“Wolffe, that’s what’s wrong,” I spat out, not believing my eyes.

“Isn’t he hot? Did you guys hit it off? He’s great right?” Brynn keeps talking oblivious to my facial expressions.

“Brynn STOP,” I yell, hoping she will stop with the questions.

“What’s wrong? Did he say something rude?” She asks.

“Why didn’t you tell me who he was?” I ask angrily.

“What in the hell are you talking about?” she asks looking confused.

“Brynn…that’s Nathan Wolffe,” I say his name slowly, hoping she picks up on it.

“Yea
h I know, what’s the big deal?”

“Nathan
Wolffe, you know Nathan Wolffe as in my best friend growing up before he moved to Michigan,” I state intently.

The look on Brynn’s face is pure shock. Clearly, she didn’t know it was my Nathan, but damn it doesn’t make it any easier seeing him.

“Liv, I swear I didn’t realize it. How the hell did I not put two and two together? Ugh, I’m so dense sometimes,” she says apologetically.

“I thought you knew and just didn’t want to tell me, don’t worry about it,” I say,
frustrated.

“Did he recognize you?” she asks curiously.

“Nope, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t remember me,” I tell her sadly.

“Awe Liv, I’m sorry, maybe if you talk to him, he’ll remember,” she suggests.

“No, he’s probably nothing like I remember anyway, that was years ago.”

“You guys have a lot in common, I told you this already,” she says, “even your damn birthday cake flavors are the same,” she says smiling.

“Who doesn’t like strawberry torte? It’s a white cake, with the strawberry filling, with vanilla crème, topped with buttercream icing and fresh strawberries on top, I could live on that shit,” I say smiling.

“I know you could,” she says with a laugh, “let’s go back out to the party,” she says heading towards the door.

“Brynn, promise me you won’t say anything to him about knowing me years ago,” I tell her before she opens the door.

“I won’t say anything, I swear,” she says before giving me a hug.

We head back out to the party. I see a glimpse of Nathan thru the mass of people milling about. I still cannot believe it’s him.

Nathan, my best friend through childhood has grown into a man who looks like sex on a freaking stick. He’s probably the hottest guy I’
ve seen in, well, ever. That’s saying a lot because Ryan was good looking and so is Levi, but they’ve got nothing on Nathan.

Who would have thought that my Nathan would look like a sex god? And
all he has on is jeans, a tee-shirt, and a backwards cap. His eyes are the bluest freaking eyes I’ve ever seen. Obviously, I got lost in them while staring at him. I’ve always loved his eyes, even growing up I was jealous of his eye color.

Nathan is around 6’3” with
sleek muscles, basketball and working out definitely helped him with those, his jeans are sitting low like the first time I saw him, and they hug his ass just right. But it’s the blue shirt he’s wearing that makes his eyes stand out even more; that’s what made me realize who he was, but damn, how I’ve missed him. I didn’t realize how much until just now.

Where would we be if he never moved? Would I have fallen in love with him? I mean, I know I loved him gr
owing up, but we were inseparable and we were kids. How can he not recognize me?

I glance around the party again and connect eyes with Nathan, but as soon as our eyes lock he looks away. I know he has to know it’s me. You don’t forget someone that was such a huge part of your life, do you?

That’s the last I see of Nathan through the rest of the night. I dance and party with the girls along with Chad and Levi, before we decide to call it a night.

I say goodnight to my best friend, who’s spending the night at Chad’s and leave with Levi, who’s staying at my dorm tonight.

I’m entitled to birthday sex, so don’t judge me. This friend with benefits thing is working out a lot better than I expected.

We barely make it into my room before we start ripping each other’s clothes off. I’m tipsy, but not drunk, thank goodness because I want to enjoy this night.