“Don’t be a creep,” he whispers to himself. Rationalizing several scenarios, he decides that her shirt is dirty, and her pants must be uncomfortable, so there’s really only one solution. Unzipping a side zipper and then lifting her back, he slides the frilly white shirt over her head and then tosses it on the floor. The pants are trickier. Unsnapping the waist of her pants, he writhes and twists the stiff fabric, careful not to wake her.
Dropping the pants to the floor, Levi glances at her bra, pleasantly surprised that her breasts are larger than he originally thought. Looking away, and then quickly looking back, he checks out her underwear and smiles – lace is his favorite.
Dresses are so much easier, he thinks.
Before he leaves, Levi removes Thessaly’s phone from her clutch and connects it to the charger on her side table – unable to ignore the text thread from Mason.
Waking up with a pounding headache and a churning stomach, Thessaly rolls toward the sound of her vibrating phone and opens her eyes.
Her mouth parched and her throat sore, she presses the symbol for the speakerphone and croaks, “Hello?”
“Hey, sis!”
Recognizing Shelby’s mellow drawl, she places the phone on the pillow next to her mouth. “What’s up, Shelby?”
“You sound sick – you okay?”
Thessaly rubs her eyes and pinches her temples. “I’m, you know, I’m sleeping under a fan.”
“Someone had too much to drink,” Shelby chants loudly.
Wincing at the volume of the phone, Thessaly moans. “What do you want – I need to get dressed for work.”
“Would you like a house guest? Or rather, a couch guest?”
“Who’s coming?”
“Your favorite brother.”
“Kip is welcome here anytime.”
“Lame joke, Tess. My flight arrives around six.”
“Tonight? Should I pick you up?” Thessaly rolls her shoulders back and yawns.
“You got a car?”
“No. It’s just what people say, I guess.”
“I’ll take a cab. Hey, I wanted you to get your new stuff before next week, so FedEx is scheduled for tomorrow.”
“How thoughtful. And since you’re the best bro ever, I know you’ll help me unpack the shipment.”
“Throw in beer and some of those edamame dumplings we had last time, and you got a deal.”
Writhing at the thought of beer and dumplings, Thessaly swallows back a shallow gasp. “Text me when you get here.”
“Will do. Take some aspirin, sis.”
Rolling on her back and peeling her eyelids apart, Thessaly counts the rotations of the ceiling fan to fifty before blinking. “Holy shit,” she croaks.
Sitting up slowly, Thessaly grabs her phone from the pillow and scrolls through her missed texts.
Seth: Please tell me you got laid.
Mason: Did you like the flowers?
Meg: Do we have a dating policy @ work?
Seth: Meg and I are secretly dating.
Shelby: I’m trying to call you. Wake up, TayTay.
Meg: Meeting with Pete moved to 3 p.m. Seth and I are NOT dating.
But it’s the incoming text that puts a smile on her face.
Levi: Good morning, wildflower.
Wildflower?
Lying back down and curling up in her duvet, Thessaly decides to call Levi.
“Hi,” he answers on the first ring.
“Hi. Thank you for bringing me home last night.” She smiles.
“Oh, so you do remember me carrying you home? This is becoming quite the routine, Tess.”
“Was I really that bad?” Thessaly cringes, praying she didn’t barf or say anything stupid.
“Your face was green, and you kept trying to rap a Coolio song, but you didn’t do anything embarrassing.” Levi huffs rhythmically as a beeping noise echoes through the speaker.
Twirling a greasy lock of hair, Thessaly grins. “Whatcha doin’?”
“Just finished my run and heading to the shower. I’m meeting with a new group of Afghani refugees starting the immigrant program today. And then I have a business seminar about composting. Oh, and tonight the farm is hosting a dinner party. You should come, Tess.”
Without pausing, she replies, “I’d love to come – and I promise not to rap.”
“That’s a shame. You can really throw down the gangsta beats.”
“My East coast rap is even better. I’ll see you later, Levi.”
“Eight o’clock, wildflower.”
Blissful, she ends the call and then immediately phones Meg.
But Seth answers the phone. “Good morning, Pony Boy.”
“Oh my God!” Thessaly slaps the bed and wheezes.
“Calm down. I thought you knew?” Seth claims.
Thessaly controls her laughter and says, “I had an idea, but seriously? Does Meg know?”
“Tess, it’s not a thing. It’s just a thing-thing.” Meg’s raspy voice erupts through the speaker while the sound of her smacking Seth echoes in the background.
“I think it’s a great thing-thing, Meg!”
“Don’t get your hopes up, it could end in murder by the weekend.”
“Ha! So, hey, I’m not feeling great and I’ll be working all day in the shop tomorrow,” Thessaly starts.
“Did Levi spend the night?” asks Meg, shushing Seth’s Arsenio Hall impression in the background.
“Not yet. But he has carried me home. Twice.”
“Wait, you two haven’t—”
Lifting the duvet and seeing her underwear, Thessaly replies, “Nope. But Meg, I feel incredible when I’m with him.”
“Yes, and think how incredible it will feel when he’s in you.”
“Meg!” Thessaly screeches. “But I know, right?” she adds.
“Sleep in, go to that meeting in TriBeCa, and then relax. I’ll put Seth to work – he responds very well to the favor system.”
“Thanks – I’ll check in with you two lovebirds later.”
“Gross.”
Ending the call, Thessaly turns back on her side and powers on her portable Bose speaker. Choosing a soothing playlist from Spotify, she scrolls through the photo album on her phone, hoping to find clues from her night with Levi.
A pitcher of sangria.
A littered sidewalk.
A black blob.
A blurry cab.
She deletes the four random pictures and then pauses on a great photo of them together. Opening the candid shot in Instagram, she’s unable to find a filter better than the natural tincture – the true mark of a great picture. Zooming in on the background, she suddenly remembers the conversation she started about never being on a yacht.
“Oh, crap,” she groans.
It’s all coming back to her now . . . She had bitched about Mason and his new girlfriends, and she had whined about wanting to be the exotic beauty on a boat. Thessaly had revealed too much, and she had unpacked her relationship baggage.
But instead of freaking out, Levi suggested, “Let’s find ourselves a yacht.”
They skipped to the pier with ice cream cones, and then Levi paid a security guard fifty bucks to board an expensive yacht and take their picture. But what she doesn’t remember, or rather, what Thessaly doesn’t realize, is that Levi posted the photo on Instagram seconds after it was taken.
Hot chicks of Instagram.
#wildflower #realmenharvestcrops
Feeling refreshed and rested after a long shower followed by a few hours of baking, Thessaly heads out of her apartment with a Thermos and a collapsible picnic basket of food. Waving to the lazy doorman, she spills out into the humid, urban bubble, and then makes a sharp left.