Skye opened the front door and walked inside, Levi right behind her. "Dad, I'm home!"

"I'm in the kitchen!" Skye's dad yelled out, and just by hearing his voice, Levi was scared shitless.

"Come on." She said to Levi, tugging on his sleeve a little.

"I don't know, man." He replied anxiously.

"I said come on!" Skye exclaimed, tugging on his sleeve harder. "Geez, you get tackled by beefy dudes as a hobby, stop being scared."

"But that's-" before Levi could even speak another word, Skye grabbed Levi's sleeve and pulled him into the kitchen like she was lugging a lazy dog. Of course, he had no choice but to follow her though, so he pouted as they made their way into the kitchen, even going to great lengths to crouch a little to seem hidden. That plan quickly failed as Skye let go of his sleeve so she could greet her dad, who was busy at the stove.

"Yo!" She exclaimed, patting her dad on the shoulder, and grinning at him. "Whatcha cooking?"

"My famous pork chops for your little boyfriend." Scott, Skye's dad, chuckled. He had been waiting for the day to play those kind of jokes with his daughter, like a universal dad thing, so of course, he was ecstatic to invite Levi over to their home.

"Dad," Skye whined. "He's not my boyfriend. We just have classes together, that's all."

"Fine, your little friend." He said, emphasis on the word friend. "Levi, was it?"

"Hello, uh, yes, that is me. Levi. Mhm. Yup." Levi stumbled, trying so hard to keep his cool, but of course, miserably failing. There really wasn't anything to worry about, but Levi wanted to make a good impression so badly.

"He's nervous." Skye teased, causing Levi to become flustered.

"W-what? Am not!"

"Pack it up, scaredy-cat. We have a lab report to complete." She rolled her eyes, grabbing his hand and dragging him through the kitchen so they could go to the living room and get to work.

"B-but-"

"We'll be in the living room, okay?" Skye yelled out to her dad.

"I'll call for you two when dinners ready!" He yelled back. "Don't do any funny business!"

Skye didn't bother replying with anything, mostly because it was just so embarrassing to have her dad say that to them. Levi didn't take his comment seriously, thinking of it as a bit of banter, and it definitely wasn't the first time he heard that kind of stuff from some girls dad, but Skye wasn't just some girl.

"Don't mind him, he's just, ya know, acting like a classic dad." She sighed.

"Ha, yeah." He laughed a little. "So, lab report?"

"Right. Um," Skye set her backpack on the ground and sat down, followed by Levi doing the same. She pulled out her laptop and opened it up, putting it on both of their laps so they could both see the screen. "I created a shared document and emailed it to you so we can work on the lab report together at the same time."

"Woah, you really got your shit together, huh?" Levi questioned, pretty impressed. There were far too many kids who could barely do a slide on a PowerPoint, but not Skye, no way.

"Well, yeah." She shrugged. "As lazy as I can be, I didn't get into AP classes by doing nothing."

"My dad would probably kick my ass if I didn't get the best grades." He chuckled, trying to put it off as a joke, but really he wasn't joking. Well, his dad wouldn't actually kick his ass, but he would get yelled at for sure.

"Oh really? My dad is pretty lenient when it comes to grades because he knows it's stressful but definitely wants the best for me." Skye replied.

"Can we trade families?" Levi asked jokingly.

"Nope." She said with a sneaky grin. "Better get working if you want no ass whooping from your pops."

"Man, you are something else." He rolled his eyes playfully.

•••

Skye's dad called for Skye and Levi once the dinner table was set, and the two immediately rushed towards the dining room as they were practically ravenous at that point. Scott laughed as they hurried and sat down, finally sitting down himself after putting in the work to prepare the meal.

"Finish your lab report?" Her dad asked. The answer was most definitely yes, but Skye wasn't going to go into details about how the two got it done. Believe it or not, Levi knew how to get shit done.

"Yup." She replied, then immediately grabbed her knife and fork and prepared to dig in. "Man, I'm starving!"

"Wow, this looks really good." Levi complimented, being more patient, unlike Skye who was already cutting up her food.

"Eat up then!" Scott exclaimed. "You're built like a noodle."

Skye snorted at her dad's comments, and Levi immediately eyed her as she continued to laugh her ass off. "What are you laughing at?"

"You are built like a noodle." She said hysterically.

"Sir, your daughter is always so mean to me." Levi turned, whining to Skye's dad.

"Who do you think taught her?" He replied, then he and his daughter shared a high five and laughed together, meaning Levi wasn't going to win this little argument.

"I know that's right!"

"Come on, let's dig in before the food gets cold," Scott said.

"Don't gotta tell me twice." Skye giggled, going back to devouring her meal.

Levi cut into his food and took a bite, and his eyes immediately widened as the food hit his tastebuds. Never had this man ever tasted food that tasty in his life. "Oh my god. This is like the best food I've ever tasted."

"I don't doubt it." Skye's dad chuckled as he went to sip his drink.

"Skye, I envy that you live like this. I love my mom but she cannot cook."

"Okay, so I'm never coming over for dinner." She said.

"Well, I don't mind another face at the dinner table." Scott shrugged, basically giving Levi an offer to come over whenever he wanted. "It's always just me and Skye these days. Except for Nikki sometimes-"

"Who's Nikki?" Levi interrupted. Yeah, this wasn't going to end well at all. Nikki was still a very sensitive topic and having her be brought up with both Levi and her dad in each other's presence, it was like Skye's worst nightmare.

"Not important!" She blurted, which made her dad get mad.

"Skye!" He yelled.

"Can we just eat?" Skye snapped. "Please?"

After a few mumbled words from Levi and her dad, they had the rest of dinner in silence with only the awkwardness and weird sounds of them chewing filling the room. Skye felt bad for having to kill the mood, and it made her fear that Levi would like her less. While that wasn't the case, she didn't know that, hence the fear.

Skye let out a sigh and looked down, finishing up her food, then trying to clean up her mess and get back to the living room as quietly as possible. When she did go into the living room, she could hear Levi and her dad talking, but she couldn't quite hear what they were saying and she didn't want to bother eavesdropping.

•••

An hour after dinner, Levi got a text from his mom asking for him to come home before it got too dark outside. It was getting fairly dark, so Levi couldn't disobey and stay too long. Skye showed him the way out, walking outside with him to have one last conversation with him before he drove himself home.

Hands behind her back, Skye walked side by side with Levi, apologizing to him about what happened during their meal. "I'm sorry I ruined dinner."

"Hey, you didn't ruin it!" He exclaimed, trying to make her feel less bad, but it wasn't working.

"Come on, I totally did." She rolled her eyes.

"Well, um, if you don't mind me asking between just the two of us, who's Nikki?" Levi asked. Of course, he was aware that it seemed like a sensitive subject, but he wanted to know what was up and then never bring it up again unless she wanted to talk about it.

"My ex-best friend." Skye sighed. "We had a fight back in August and haven't talked since."

"Damn, that sucks. I got dumped in August actually." He replied, referring to his breakup with Megan that Skye became more aware of thanks to Xavier.

"I know." She said, then widened her eyes as she realized she just dropped the bomb that she knew. "I mean, damn-"

"How did you know?" Levi asked.

"Uh, Xavier kind of mentioned it earlier," Skye replied.

"Of course he did." He chuckled. "Can't get mad though. As much as I miss her, I think I'm starting to move on. Just gotta take it one day at a time."

Levi was actually starting to move on. Obviously, he wasn't going to get over it overnight, but he was starting to move along. It was kind of freeing actually, and like Xavier told Skye, she was the one that helped him get out of his funk.

But when it came to Skye and moving on, it was impossible. Losing a best friend hurts way more than losing a boyfriend or girlfriend. Levi had only known Megan for a couple of years, Skye had known Nikki for over a decade. Levi getting dumped by Megan was like getting stung by a bee, but Skye losing Nikki as a best friend was like getting hit by a bus and then some.

"Well, I can't move on from Nikki." She said, almost having to hold back tears that wanted to come out just by the thought of what happened.

"Fix things with her then." Levi proposed, but what he didn't know that it was going to be basically impossible to do that. Skye might as well let nature take its course.

"No, no way." Skye shook her head. "Not with that trash boyfriend of hers."

Ah, yes, Nikki's boyfriend. Like said before, Skye didn't like him at all. "Who's her boyfriend?"

"His name's Victor." She replied, and Levi's face immediately lit up just by hearing his first name because he knew exactly who Skye was talking about.

"Not Hernandez!" He gasped.

"Yes!" Skye said.

"He sucks!" Levi exclaimed.

"I know!" She replied. See, now it felt like Skye was talking to Levi like how she would talk to Nikki; like best friends. Now things felt natural between them, despite Skye putting on a front every time Levi teased her and whatnot.

"You guys stopped being friends over her boyfriend?" He asked.

"Unfortunately, yes." Skye crossed her arms.

"Screw him," Levi said.

"Facts." She giggled a little. "Man, I just hope she comes to her senses."

"She will eventually, but for now you're stuck with me." He replied, wrapping his arm around Skye, which made her tense up for a brief moment as it was sudden.

"How thrilling." She cringed.

"I'm gonna be the best temporary best friend there is." Levi beamed, pulling Skye even closer to his side.

"Come on, you got the guys." Although Levi was trying to be nice, it felt like he was just doing out of pity, but he wasn't. Levi liked being in Skye's presence, even if she didn't always feel the same, but he saw them being really good friends, that is if she let him into her life for real.

"Well, this guy needs a best gal!" He exclaimed.

Skye gently pushed him away, in which Levi proceeded to move his arm away from her to talk to her face to face. "You're so weird."

"No, you're so weird for not being so excited about being stuck with me." Levi pouted.

"Whatever." She scoffed. "You better get going before your parents think you're dead."

"Awe, already pushing me away." He teased. "You sure know how to break my heart."

"Better get used to it."

"This is quite an interesting relationship we have, isn't it?" Levi smirked, sneakily eyeing her with a bit of a flirtatious/teasing look, which Skye accepted no parts of.

"Go," Skye demanded, glaring at him.

"Ah, you're not denying it!"

"Now I am! Let's get a move on now, alright?" She said, now physically pushing Levi towards his car.

"I'm moving, I'm moving!" He yelled, shuffling his feet as Skye pushed him.

Skye stopped, and then Levi walked around to get to the driver's side of his car while Skye stood from the passenger's side. He leaned his elbow against the top, holding his face with his left hand. "I will see you tomorrow. Fingers crossed on that A."

"Fingers crossed on anything below that," Skye said with her fingers crossed, literally.

"Yeah." Levi chuckled. "Bye, Skye. Ha, that rhymed."

"Bye." She laughed.

Levi got into his car and started the engine, not hesitating to wave goodbye to Skye. She crouched a little to be able to see him and waved back, then watched him drive away. Once his car was no longer in seeing distance, she walked back inside the house, locking the door behind her. What she wasn't aware of what that her dad had been watching from the dining room window this whole time, and he was definitely going to scare her a bit.

"You should date him," Scott said out of nowhere.

"Dad!" She jumped and turned around to see him, placing her hand over her heart as it began to race from the jump-scare. "Not happening!"

As Skye began to go up to her room, her dad quickly stood up and stopped her in her tracks so he could question her about Nikki. She just didn't have the heart to tell him what went down. "Hey, wait. Everything okay with you and Nikki?"

"Why wouldn't they be?" She lied, and she wasn't going to tell the truth anytime soon, or even ever.

"Just checking." He shrugged. "You should invite her over."

"Yeah, um, I'll see," Skye said. "Although she's busy with-"

"Her boyfriend." Her dad interrupted and nodded. "I remember."

"Yeah." She sighed.

"I'll leave you be..." he paused. "for now."

"Of course." Skye playfully rolled her eyes. "Love you."

"Love you too." After that, Skye walked up the stairs into her room and shut the door behind her, then sat down at her desk to write more to her future self once again, getting comfortable with the habit of doing so.

•••

Dear Future Me,

I guess Levi's friends aren't so bad. Well, they're quite the, uh, characters, but they're nice enough. I don't know about Hunter though, but Xavier and Danny are pretty nice and aren't all too suspicious.

Earlier Xavier told me that I helped Levi out of his "funk" after his ex-girlfriend dumped him. To be honest I wasn't expecting that at all. I didn't even really consider Levi a friend, but I think I'm going to follow Xavier's advice and give him a chance. Crazy, Future Me, I know, but Xavier's words changed my perspective a little. Plus, Levi managed to do his other half of the lab report when he was at my house.

Speaking of that, Levi meeting dad was SO awkward. I can't believe he thought Levi was my boyfriend! As if! Dad can be so nosy sometimes, and he loves jumping to conclusions too. News flash, dad, but boys and girls can be just friends. I can't even imagine if Levi ever met my mom. Good thing he never has to. The thought of it brings a chill down my spine, literally. Too bad I ruined dinner though. Whoops.

At least I know Levi isn't the worst lab partner in the world. If I had to deal with doing all of the work one more school year I was going to probably scream my head off.

Man, I seriously hope I don't lose this bet. Football is gross.

Sincerely,

Past Me.

•••

MARIA TALKS!

okay wow this chapter is long

idk about y'all, but skye and levi's little chat in the end got me SCREAMING

god they're just so... WOW

i literally love them to death they're like my children now 🥰

btw happy holidays!! it's christmas eve right now so basically my gift to you is this update?  i plan on posting a special bonus chapter for my other story christmas and chill as tomorrow will be one year since it ended. it's gonna be cute so check that story out for some festivity 😌

lol anyways up next: will skye be forced to go to levi's first football game? stay tuned xx