Page 8 of Anything (Mayberry University #1)

CHAPTER SEVEN

Two days later I discover a foreign object on my desk—a brownie encased in clear wrapping and a pristine bow.

I kick off my flats and grab for the thrilling present.

Inside the attached envelope is a note on thick white card stock with an embossed border and monogram.

My thumb brushes over the indent of “LCW” at the bottom.

Of course it’s Levi’s. His style even extends to paper products.

I rub my forehead, trying to read the boy cursive objectively.

Kit,

Hope to see you there, friend. Bring anyone along .

—Levi

I bite my lip. It’s Sunday, but Praise and Prayer is canceled for Labor Day weekend.

Open Dorms hours on weekends are the only allowance for students to hang out on floors with the opposite sex.

Rules to spare at this conservative Christian school.

I haven’t been to Flooders yet. Open Dorms on Sundays are only till ten, so we’d have a reason to bail right after the movie.

I make the mistake of showing the note to Sophie, who half-drags Mia and me out of our building at quarter to eight.

Doubt drags at my feet as we cross the field.

I should turn back. What am I doing walking to the lions’ den?

My feet stop mid-field as my mind spins, but Sophie tugs me forward, deciding for me.

Stepping onto the third floor of Albert Hall, I’m hit with the smell of burnt popcorn and faintly sweaty boy. The A/C is cranked up, and goosebumps line my arms. Someone’s singing an unrecognizable song. Another guy joins in, passionately off key. We’re spotted and greeted in seconds.

“Levi invited us,” Sophie says, as if they’re bouncers with a list.

Mia snorts.

One of the Flooders chuckles, like Yeah, sure . The other introduces himself, a smile growing.

I forget his name already because … this hallway.

Someone yells “fore!” before hitting a bean bag down the hall with a golf club.

Another guy catches it with a baseball mitt and no shirt.

One wanders toward us with his hand in a bag of chips.

I could swear I saw someone riding a unicycle at the far end of the hall.

I crack a smile, despite myself. My brothers would love this place.

“Where does movie night happen around here?” Mia asks.

Flooders 1 and 2 lead us through the chaotic cinderblock hallway, past the “Light Lounge” and into the “Dark Lounge,” a jet-black room with a giant orange Flooders logo.

Third-hand couches rest on homemade lofts providing stadium seating.

A projector on the black ceiling shines the Netflix menu onto a screen on the front wall.

“Jeeves!” Flooder 1 bellows down the hallway .

I jump.

“You have visitors!”

I follow along as my friends chat with a group of freshmen Sophie knows.

I only recognize Leo, the guy who rides an electric scooter everywhere on our postage stamp of a campus.

Barely anyone my own age is in my classes because I earned so much college credit in high school.

It’s making for a weird start to freshman year.

Austin appears and beelines to us. We’ve been in class together for a month but we’ve barely spoken. That makes him friend material like nothing else could.

“Great spot for movie night,” I say to him.

“Thanks. It kinda gives ‘nightclub in the daytime,’ huh?”

I forgot he has a Texan accent.

“Yeah,” I say. “Meets vintage store.”

He chuckles. “You mean garage sale.”

Levi strolls in. I summon superhuman strength to focus on Austin.

“…we play FIFA in here too, and Madden. It’s Kit, right?”

Confirm my name. Look friendly.

“Austin.” Helpful that he doesn’t try to shake my hand.

Levi joins us. “You made it.”

Austin turns to Levi with an unreadable expression worth a thousand words in best-friend language. After two pats on Levi’s back, Austin combs through short, dark curls and turns to Sophie and Mia.

“I was bribed,” I say to Levi. Warmth spreads through my chest at his resulting grin. I glance away, keeping my guard up.

“Open to bribery. Good to know.”

He points to a couch, and my skin chills. Fear tightens in my chest. My pulse thunders in my ears, as memories flicker.

“Here, you three can have the good seats,” he says.

Oh. Oh, good. I let out my breath.

He squints at me. I deserve that. I’m being so weird.

Levi lowers next to a guy whose lanky frame is already spread onto an adjacent couch.

He’s holding a remote, and red hair pokes out of his ratty baseball cap.

“Fixin’ to start, y’all.” His focus turns to me, and my split-second first impression of country bumpkin was way off.

His peaceful eyes betray a contentedness and a certain wisdom, more than he should have from his short life.

He is king of Zen, like Baloo from Jungle Book .

Levi’s body language says that Austin and Mr. Zen are his close friends.

“Tucker,” he introduces himself with a raised hand. “But e’rbody calls me Haymitch.”

That’s his floor name? I’ve read and reread The Hunger Games trilogy. I wonder why he was named that.

“Kit,” I say.

Weird that Dangerous Guy has such sweet friends. Aiden’s were just like him.

The Flooders lounge is like a living room full of my brothers’ crew, and I miss Mav and Grey more than ever.

The guys “participate” in the movie by shouting things at the screen and teasing each other.

They even include me in their banter, pass their snacks around to share. This is the way to watch a movie.

Levi asks to walk me back to my building after.

I look to my friends for an excuse, but Sophie shoos me forward.

Seriously? I need bouncers, not wingwomen.

Is he being polite since he invited me? Or is this a “loop walk” that girls keep mentioning?

His gentle half smile draws me along, one rebellious foot after the other, until I’m following him down the stairs.

He opens the stairwell door, and a wave of heat smacks me. Even at night, Texas is a furnace. Crickets chirp in the dark as I struggle to make out my building across the field. I rub my eyes, exhaustion tugging at me. Dark images from my nightmares flicker in my mind.

Dropping my hands, I startle. Oh right. Levi’s here, glancing at me with amusement.

“Your floor is really fun.” My words slur as I stifle a yawn.

“The feeling is clearly mutual. ”

A bug corpse the size of a golf ball makes a nasty crunch under my sandaled foot. Gross.

“What’s with the dead bugs everywhere? Are those the ones that made all that noise a couple weeks ago?”

He confirms with a chuckle. “Cicadas. Texas is a weird place, but the view doesn’t get old.” He points to the cloudless sky.

I’m never out this late. Not anymore. I’d forgotten how beautiful the night sky can be, even here where the stars fight through the haze. My arm brushes something solid, and I instinctively yank back—just a gold wristwatch.

“It was my grandfather’s.” Levi holds it up. Embedded diamonds mark the hours on its green face. “He left it to me when he died.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.” I motion to his wrist. “I love it—it’s timeless.

I’ve never seen diamonds on a man’s watch before.

” My eyes linger too long. Why is someone with a watch worth more than a car hanging out with the Flooders?

And why is he interested in me? My pulse quickens, lightheadedness creeping in. Was I right about him all along?

When I finally look up, he’s giving me some serious side-eye, his thumb drumming against his fingers. That’s a reaction. But he says nothing as we near my building.

“Thank you for inviting us,” I say, trying to ease the awkwardness. “And for the brownie. And your, um, beautiful note.”

He nods once, as fancy and guarded as James Bond. Is that nod an East Coast thing or a Levi thing? What does it mean?

“Good night.”

“Good night, Kit.”