A Little Excerpt

It was Saturday morning, on August 20th, 2016. It was around 10:30 am, and Levi Cranston was still sleeping in, of course. Jack Andrews and Asad Prejesh, two of Levi's best friends, were sitting in the common area, watching sports on TV, while eating some leftover Chinese food from the night before. Mackenzie Burbanks, Levi's girlfriend, was sitting in the common area with them, but she had some cinnamon toast about an hour ago. Jack and Asad were really quiet when watching TV because they wanted to see what was going on.

Levi, Mackenzie, Jack, and Asad moved into a place in downtown Valparaiso last month. They decided to split the rent four ways, and life would be golden. They don't have any pets living with them, it's just the four kids. Except Levi has a couple small frogs named Don Luigi and Don Francesco, but that is it. They wanted to make it simple for the first time that they actually called some place their own.

Well, actually, Jack lived in Merrillville with his sister in her apartment for a short while. She was desperate for another roommate, as her previous one had suddenly moved out. And Jack had a job not too far away from there. It was part-time that eventually turned into a full-time gig, and he was able to make it work. That was October 2014, and six months later, he moved back to his parent's house on the west side of Valparaiso. 

Jack graduated from a university in Angola, Indiana in May 2014. Levi and Mackenzie went to the same university, but they graduated from there a year later. Levi added a minor in communications, and Mackenzie also added a minor. Asad studied elsewhere, and now he works for a communications firm. So being able to "adult" now worked perfectly for all four of them.

Mackenzie broke away from what Jack and Asad were doing and decided to walk into her and Levi's room to see if he was still sleeping. She saw that he was lying comfortably on his stomach, with his comforter on top of him. His box fan was going at full blast, and the activity of the fan forced Levi's hair to move around a bit. He was wearing his clothes that he had worn the day before, consisting of a black t-shirt with his favorite rock band's name on it, his khaki shorts, and his ankle brace that he has to wear on his left ankle when he sleeps. He was clearly too comfortable to wake up and get out of bed. 

Levi's girlfriend slowly got on the bed with Levi. She really did not see a need to wake him up. But she really wanted to stroke his messy dark brown mop top hair. He was still lying on his stomach, with his arms wrapped around his body pillow, but he probably didn't care about Mackenzie stroking his hair. In fact, he would most likely prefer that.

Levi's hair felt like silk to Mackenzie's fingers. Consistent strokes of his hair made her feel much warmer inside. Levi drew in a deep breath and turned on the side, with his front facing the window. He probably knew that his girlfriend was making him even more comfortable. And Mackenzie was feeling more comfortable herself. 

Most of his face was buried in his head pillow, and his back was to Mackenzie. She put her left arm under his arm and wrapped her arm around his chest. Mackenzie could feel Levi's steady breathing against her arm. And she could also feel his heart pulsing against her arm, very steady and somewhat fast. In his subconscious, he knew that Mackenzie was there with him. 

Mackenzie could feel her eyes drooping, meaning that she wanted to fall back asleep with him. But she wasn't sure if she could let herself. There was still some more unpacking to do, but not much left. And, unlike Levi and Jack, who stayed up until 3:30 in the morning, she fell asleep at 1:30, and Asad at midnight. There was a lot to get done today.

She had no idea when Levi would wake up, most likely around noon. Mackenzie leaned over and kissed Levi on the cheek and got off the bed. The memory foam on the bed would most likely make anyone want to stay in bed for the whole day. She gave him a quick massage and then left the room. In order to keep things quiet, she slowly closed the bedroom door behind her and heated up a bowl of lo mein noodles for Levi when he'd decide to wake up.