Page 27 of Our Hearts Knew Better

Like everything else in this town, it had a story, one he didn’t elaborate on.

But I knew who would.

My arms and legs pumped me higher above the surface with the sparked energy of havingplans.

Head Over Feet

I set those plans into motion the next time I could steal Levi.

He was so enthusiastic about accompanying me to the fire tower. He saw Rosalee Bay like a museum, eager to show and tell.

And I was eager for knowledge, about him and about the place I could see as home when I was with him.

My heart was kickstarted with a fluttery beat each new night I laid my eyes on him. I wondered if his heart had the same reaction to seeing me. I imagined—hoped—it did.

We biked to the location, then it was a bit of a hike, the breeze decreasing in temperature the higher we climbed, giving my bare arms and legs a shock, but it wasn’t cooled down enough for a one-night wardrobe change.

Since my night at the bay with Adam, I upgraded my outing clothes to actual clothes. I’d change back into my pajamas once I got back to my bed. I had on a pair of jean shorts and a red shirt.

The red was only half purposeful. My eyes landed and lingered on this one and a purple one, then I blinked and was holding the red.

Levi did eye the shirt for too many seconds to suggest he didn’t notice. And I’d even spied his dimple, that he’d angled away with some color in his cheeks, as we’d mounted his bike.

Cha-ching!

“It’s one of the oldest but one of the coolest,” he told me as we came upon the tower, aglow this high directly beneath the moon.

The moon was full, and so was my lungs, expanding and stilling as I took in the structure, my feet carrying me forward,feeling so drawn in. And I couldn’t say exactly why this connection was there, just as it was with the bridge.

The tower stood tall, in all its bruised and battered pieces. Like I wanted to. Unafraid in abandonment. Like I wanted to be.

I stopped just as I reached the stairs, gesturing to the next climb with a glance back at Levi. “Can we?”

He looked up at the tower with that adoration on his face as he breathed a laugh. “We’re not supposed to, but everyone else does.”

I shimmied like this was the best news ever, and his smile dipped back down, stretching as he watched me, right before I twirled around to take my first step.

I stopped again as it creaked under my shoe, my body braced like we were about to be caught. The sound was similar to the floors in my house. These creaks I’d heard all the time weren’t attached to my sneaking, but I froze like my dad was around the corner up ahead.

“What happened?” Levi asked through a half whisper, like he automatically knew to go low from the loud, concern in his voice. I’d only stopped for a second. Or maybe it only felt like a second.

“It sounded like my floors.”

He shifted behind me. “Step here,” he said, showing me the side to climb to avoid the creaks, and we were back on a quieter move.

“You come here a lot,” I concluded with a smile.

“I’m everybody else.”

I could feel his returned smile in the words, but they made me slow my pace, drawing him closer to my back as I murmured over my shoulder, “You’re not at all.”

I hoped he understood my meaning, that he was uniquely Levi and no one besides he and Adam had ever done for me what they have.

And I got my confirmation as I grabbed hold of the railing, turning for the next flight of stairs, when his hand slid up to mine, his thumb gliding along the side of my palm, tickling against my skin.

As we continued the climb, Levi told me everything about the tower. It was the town’s prized landmark, and one of the couple dozen still standing in North Carolina. The room at the top was called a cab, and watchers would be stationed inside, spying for smoke or full blown fires they would report through phones or radios or some other ways.

Windows ran along all sides and I immediately peeked inside once we reached the top. It was empty but for a few random pieces of old furniture littered around.

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