Page 83 of Sidelined Love

“But you've only just woken up,” I reply.

“And I've been wanting to do it since I cracked my eyes open.”

I can't help but laugh at him. “Well, I'm glad you finally did. And I'm glad we finally did this,” I say, gesturing between the two of us.

“Me too. You know what the next step in taking this one step at a time is?”

“What's that?” I ask as I'm wondering where this is going.

“Ordering breakfast to be delivered. Let me grab my phone,” he says as he reaches for the device that either he or I must have put on the kitchen counter when we got back last night.

“So is this what boyfriends do?”

Levi pauses, his hand hovering over his phone on the counter. A slow smile spreads across his face.

“Boyfriend, huh?” He licks his lips. “I like the sound of that.”

Heat rises in my cheeks. I meant it casually, testing the word out, but it hits me that I just took a running leap over the ledge into relationship territory.

Levi grins but doesn't try to save me from myself. In fact, he continues staring at his phone, searching for some place we can order from.

“I mean, we don't have to put a label on it yet if you don't want to,” I backtrack quickly, wondering if I took a step too far. Hell, I only threw it out there to see how I liked the sound of it and didn't think before I said it.

“You know,” he pauses as he looks up for his phone, “every time I think I've got you figured out, you surprise me in the best possible way.”

Levi steps closer, puts his phone down in front of me, but gently cradles my face in his hands. “It's okay. I'm all in on this, Hailey. One hundred percent. And yeah, boyfriend does sound nice.”

My heart flutters hearing him say it outright like that. I try to play it cool, shrugging my shoulders.

“Oh, alright then. Boyfriend it is.”

Levi laughs, drawing me in for another long kiss. When we finally break apart, he keeps his arms wrapped loosely around my waist.

“As your new boyfriend, it's my duty to make sure you're fed. Pick what you want and I'm going to run to the bathroom real quick.”

“Sounds good to me,” I say as I grab his phone and he leaves the room. As I'm scanning the menu, Levi receives a text message from a group chat called Ice Kings and it doesn't stop going off. Part of me knows I shouldn't do it, but I click the notification anyway.

Group Chat: Ice Kings

Wilder: Morning, guys! Cap, you alive after last night?

Knox: Dude, let him breathe. Probably still sleeping.

Wilder: True, but you know, just checking in.

Blaise: Are you though?

Asher: Actually, Levi’s fine. Made sure he got home okay.

Wilder: Oh? And how do you know that?

Asher: Because I was there. Hailey was too.

Knox: Hailey? Barista Hailey?

Wilder: Wait, back up. Hailey was at your place?

Asher: Yep. She helped Levi get home because I wasn't in any condition to.

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