Micah
I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter
Dancing through the fire
{‘Roar’ -Katie Perry}
I smell him. I smell the salt in the ocean. My soul is connected to his right now and there is nowhere that I would rather be.
As the song comes to an end, he slowly lets me go and runs his hand down my arm to connect our hands. We lace our fingers together and begin to walk.
There is right at two months left of school. Then it’s off to college for all of us. We’ve all made plans to attend the community college that is almost two hours away.
I’ve been worried lately about how I am going to handle it. Kelly and Macy have talked to me several times about how things will be fine and I will be completely safe as long as they are around.
For the first semester, we are staying in the dorms. Kelly and I are sharing a room. Macy is getting a roommate but, we are all in the same suite. We’ve toured the college and know that there are three rooms per suite with two beds in each room. I’m curious to know who the other three girls will be and I keep praying that they are decent.
Zant and I find the others down the beach a little ways and join them. “What are we all doing?” I ask.
“We were waiting on you love birds.” Chance says with a smirk. My face takes on a deep shade of red I’m sure. Chance laughs at me.
“Well here we are. Now what? What time is it?” Zant says like it’s no big deal and checks his watch. “It’s almost 9. Are y’all ready to head back to the hotel?”
He wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me to him. “Don’t let him make you blush. That’s all for me.” He says where only I can hear and I feel my face turn a deeper red. I feel him chuckle as he keeps his face in my hair.
Everybody gathers the stuff and we make our way back to the van.
The next morning, I wake to a knock on the door. Macy gets up and swings the door open so the guys can enter our room.
“Ugh. We were supposed to sleep late. What time is in anyway?” Kelly says with her face hovering over her pillow and her eyes closed.
Chance jumps on her bed and she screams as she bounces. Levi takes the chair that goes to the desk and Zant comes around the bed and lies down beside me. Now I’m in the middle of him and Macy.
I look over to him and his eyes are a bright green this morning. “Hey.”
“Hey.” He says with a cute little smile.
“Where are we eating?”
“Waffle House.”
He went for it. He knows my weakness.
“Oh really? Are you trying to score brownie points for something?”
“I don’t need brownie points. I just know what my girl wants.” He winks and I let out a little giggle.
Raisin bread, people. Raisin bread.
I jump out of bed and run to the bathroom to get dressed. For raisin bread and apple butter. No shame. That stuff is pure heaven.
Kelly decides to stay behind and says she will grab something for brunch. She isn’t ready to get moving just yet.
Once our breakfast has been ordered and the waitress has brought our drinks, we start to plan the day.
“We need to go souvenir shopping before we spend all of our money on food.” I say as I sip my coffee. It’s good but it isn’t my coffee. I doctor mine up so that it’s more sugar and creamer than coffee and my coffee is pretty mild. I love it.
“Yeah, I need to get my mom and sister something.” Macy says while looking at her phone.
“Ok then. Are y’all coming too?” I look at Levi while he looks at Chance and he looks at Zant. I turn my eyes to Z to collide with his. “Well?”
“I don’t know babe. I’m not really into shopping. Do you and Macy want to go ahead and get that done while the guys and I go look around for some activities for us to do later?”
My heart stops. He isn’t coming with me? He must notice the look of confusion and terror on my face because he grabs me and pulls me to his lap so that he can put his lips to my ear. “Micah, you can do this. I want you to do this. I know you can and I think you know you can. This is a test babe and I have all the confidence in the world that you will pass.”
As he’s talking to me my eyes are on Levi’s. I see shock pass through them first, then anger, and finally understanding. He knows what Z is trying to do for me.
I nod my head to Levi and Zant feels it. He kisses the side of my head and puts me back in my seat. “I love you and you’ve got this. You’re my brave little butterfly.” He says before he fully lets me go.
I steady myself and take a couple deep breaths to steady myself. I’ve got this. I can do this. “Ok Macy. We can do that? I saw a souvenir store a couple buildings down. We can go there.” I turn to Zant. “Y’all can pick us up there in an hour.” I can only do an hour and I hope that I don’t have a panic attack in the meantime.
“We will be there.” He says as our food comes.
We eat our food and then prepare to go our separate ways once we get outside. Zant kisses me on the forehead before getting into the van with the guys. Macy and I make our way down the sidewalk to the souvenir shop. She grabs my hand and we walk like we have no cares in the world. I try really hard to make that thought my reality.