An Excerpt from a Writing Project

From The Magic Video Game 4: The Upbringing of a New Comedian

Levi and Mackenzie were sitting on a bench at the newest park in downtown Valparaiso. They had explored for about an hour and now wanted some time to just sit somewhere and think about life in general. Levi sat with his arms wrapped around Mackenzie. She sat close to him with her head on his shoulder. They didn't really want to converse right now. They were just in the mood for enjoying each other's company without having to say very much. Surprisingly enough, there weren't that many people at the park. It was not that bad of a day, so this was odd.

It was actually a nice day. A lot nicer of a day than a lot of people might give it credit for.

For Levi and Mackenzie, this might have made it a lot more romantic. The only other people at the park were a mom and her baby girl. Well, she isn't really a baby, more or less a toddler. This toddler, probably about three or four years old, was enjoying herself at the park. Her mother was probably hoping for a girls’ night out with a friend of hers. And Levi and Mackenzie were hoping that this mom and her child didn't mind them just sitting on the bench. In fact, the mom and kid would probably consider that boring. But Levi and Mackenzie didn't. They were having the time of their lives.

Right now, they just needed a break from it all.

Before they decided to sit on a bench at the park, they had gotten ice cream from their favorite ice cream parlor on Morgan and Lincolnway. Afterwards, they just wanted to walk around downtown. After all, Levi lives on the west side of downtown. And, even though Mackenzie lives closer to the high school, she was able to ride her bike to Levi's house. It was such a nice day to do so. And Levi and Mackenzie could walk from Levi's house on Elmhurst Avenue toward the city center. It isn't that far of a walk, so they were willing to do that anyway.

Levi and Mackenzie were still sitting on the bench. They still said nothing and enjoyed each other's company a little more. Who cared what the mom and kid thought?

"You having a good time?" Mackenzie asked Levi as she gently nudged him.
"Oh, absolutely," Levi replied.
"You are way too cute for your own good. I hope you know that."
"What else can I say?"
"Right. What else can you say?" Mackenzie teased.
"I can say a lot of things, but I can't think of anything at the moment," Levi answered.
"Are you having a brain freeze from that ice cream?"
"I never really thought about that. It was so good though."
"Yes, it was. You got horchata again, right?"
"Yes, my favorite. You got cake batter, right?"
"Yes, my favorite."

Levi and Mackenzie couldn't stop laughing at their own cheesy jokes. At least they both have a really good sense of humor. And everyone has thought that Levi and Jack are bad. And they have also thought that Levi and Rhody are worse. But Levi and Mackenzie could also make others laugh. And that is really all that would matter.

The two kids still sat on the bench, unsure of when they would continue their excursion. They might resume their excursion in thirty seconds. Or they might resume their excursion in thirty minutes. They had no idea what might be in store for them in that amount of time.

"What would you like to do now?" Levi asked his girlfriend of almost nine years.
"Anything," Mackenzie replied with a smile.
"Well, what exactly does that mean?"
"I'm open to anything. We could hit up that Spanish restaurant up the street and get some sangria."
"That sounds like a great idea," Levi remarked, taking Mackenzie's hand.
"My brothers love that stuff," Mackenzie replied.
"You once said that your oldest brother will come down to Valpo just to get this sangria?"
"No, not exactly the only reason. What I said was that this is the only place that he gets sangria."
"Oh, I must've heard wrong."
"It's okay."

Once Levi and Mackenzie were holding each other's hand, there was a warm feeling from this. Mackenzie could also feel Levi's pulse through his hand. All this meant was that Levi is alive and well, and that would always be the case. The lady and her daughter left the park, and it was just Levi and Mackenzie there. This was a nice feeling because they could both sit at the park together at night, and this is what they've always wanted.

They didn't want to just sit here though. They wanted to explore a little more. All in all, this was more or less their "break time" from exploring downtown Valpo. They didn't say much for another ten minutes or so. And they were ready to go back on their adventure.

Levi and Mackenzie got up from the bench and headed east on Lincolnway toward Washington Street. Mackenzie was in the mood for sangria. Levi was in the mood for tapas and sangria. At least they had a mutual interest tonight. As long as they both had their sangria fix, that would be all that mattered to them tonight.

Levi was walking with his hands in his jeans pockets. Mackenzie was walking with her hand clutching her purse. Levi nudged Mackenzie on the arm with his arm, and Mackenzie reciprocated. It was more or less a game between the two of them. And there would be absolutely nothing wrong with that.

"So, Vicky and I played tennis earlier today, and something really funny happened," Levi remarked.
"What happened?" Mackenzie asked.
"You know how the courts are surrounded by that fence?"
"Yeah."
"A ball got stuck in the fence," Levi said.
"Whoa! How does that happen?" Mackenzie replied.
"Magic, I guess."
"Yeah, really."
"In my time of playing tennis, I have never had anything like that happen to me."
"No kidding!"

And Levi was absolutely right. He has never had something goofy like that happen to him before. However, a lot of his friends have experienced that. Now, it was his turn. And it was also Victoria's turn. Who knew that she could pull off something like that? Especially in her smaller experience in tennis. One would think that Levi would pull off something like that because he plays tennis all the time. But he has laughed at his friends who have pulled that off. It has always been funny to see a tennis ball stuck in a fence.

"Were you able to get the ball out of the fence?" Mackenzie asked.
"Well, we did eventually. But Vicky was, of course, taking pictures of it before I took it out," Levi replied.
"Was it hard to take it out of the fence?"
"Nah, not really. I just had to pull it out."
"And I didn't know Vicky was that good at tennis," Mackenzie stated.
"Actually, she is good. She played tennis for a year in high school and then she quit," Levi said.
"That was the same thing with my brother, Andrew. He played tennis in high school until he was a junior. He wanted to play for fun."
"I honestly love the competition."
"It's fun to watch you play."
"It's fun to play."

Levi and Mackenzie walked around the square for a bit. They didn't want sangria yet. They wanted to see what might be going on at night. Then, they would get their sangria fix. And they would also get their tapas fix. They walked side by side, with Mackenzie's right arm wrapped around Levi's left arm. They went back to not saying much. They went back to just enjoying each other's company. This was all they needed for now. And they were perfectly fine with this.

It was the perfect summer night to go out. There was a nice breeze. It wasn't too hot outside. It wasn't too cool either. It was around 70 degrees outside. There weren't a lot of people out, strangely enough. They were probably at the bars or eating at restaurants. Which meant that Levi and Mackenzie could take downtown Valparaiso at their leisure. They walked back around the new park. However, they didn't actually go back there.

"Levi?" Mackenzie got her boyfriend's attention after a while of not saying very much.
"Yeah?" Levi replied.
"I want to go to the mall soon."
"That would be great."
"I want a pair of those water show speakers like you have," Mackenzie remarked.
"I love those speakers," Levi said.
"I want a pair, and Andrew wants a pair."
"Strangely enough, I got that one pair on the same day as the accident."
"Oh, the one with you and Vicky involved?"
"Yes. But the speakers are still pretty great."

At least the water show speakers would serve Levi well. Even if they reminded him of a pretty scary time. The car accident wasn't even that bad. It was just a matter of a car getting rear-ended at most. But going to the mall is always fun, especially when looking for water show speakers. And going to another store to get t-shirts from their favorite rock bands and video games. And going to the food court to get food. Overall, the mall has always been a great hang-out place. And Levi and Mackenzie would definitely have gone tonight. But the mall would most likely close within an hour and a half.

With that in mind, Levi and Mackenzie decided not to go to the mall tonight. They still had their hearts set on getting sangria. Just because they were in the mood for it. The two kids walked toward the Spanish restaurant. To their surprise, they saw two people that they know very well. They were not coming out of the Spanish restaurant. They were just walking around and eating ice cream. They probably went to the same ice cream place as Levi and Mackenzie did. These two kids that Levi and Mackenzie know we're walking in the opposite direction as they were. Levi and Mackenzie ran into Victoria and her now-boyfriend, David Wolff.

"Fancy seeing you here," Levi remarked to his older sister of three years.
"I know. Small world, I guess," Victoria replied.
"What are you up to?"
"Just out and about with David."
"You got horchata ice cream, too?" Levi asked.
"Of course! My favorite," Victoria said.
"Great choice."
"I convinced David to get the horchata ice cream as well."
"Where are you headed now?"
"David's brother's garage band is practicing, and we want to hear them perform. Where are you off to?"
"We are getting sangria."
"Great!"

Enough small talk for now. Victoria and her boyfriend, David, went off to his brother's garage band's practice. Levi and Mackenzie briefly thought about going to that as well. However, they don't know David's family too well. And, also, they were most definitely in the mood for sangria and tapas. Going to a garage band practice could wait for now. Levi and Mackenzie wanted to have some time to themselves, and they believed that sharing sangria would be ideal for them at the moment.

​"Vicky’s known David since high school," Levi remarked as he and Mackenzie continued to walk toward the Spanish restaurant to get their sangria fix.
"I think my brother knows him," Mackenzie stated.
"Cool guy, but I don’t really know him. Vicky has always liked him."
"Yeah, didn't she have him over quite a few times back in the day?"
"I think she did," Levi replied.
"Yeah. I remember him. Is he also in a rock band?" Mackenzie asked.
"He's not, but his triplet brother is."
"What are his brothers' names?"
"Daniel and Derek."
"Do they look anything alike?"
"No, not really."