Oaks Creek has always been a small town. Established in 1783, the traditions and cultures are old and set in stone, passed from child to child for over two centuries. Mostly known for its Fall Harvest Festival, Apple Picking Event, and it's cows, Oak Creek has always been the kind of place people wanted to escape from. Unless you were direct descendants of the town founders or a wealthy family looking for a country vacation house, it wasn't a place to climb the social ladder. Corn fields, cow fields, hay fields, horse pastures. With not a lot to do, it's not hard to imagine what kind of trouble the younger locals get into. With a population of less than 3,000 everyone knows everyone; three police officers, two grocery stories, a handful of mills, and a downtown that consist of a handful of blocks. New people are exposed and sometimes obsessed over, the trouble makers scrutinized, and nothing is ever a secret.
Lately things have shifted. With the economy slowly crashing, big corporation trying to take over the meat and corn industry in Oaks Creek, some families are starting to become hungrier than others. The poorer are getting poorer while the rich get richer. The towns people and the farmers are becoming hostile towards each other and city hall has become a site of brawls and arguments. With houses become foreclosed left and right, businesses struggling to stay afloat, it is starting to seem like the future of Oaks Creek depends on a generation who could careless about adulting and more about drinking in a barn on a Friday night.
x.x.x.x.x
Private 1x1 between Syd and Mint-toothpaste. Caution: May contain stuff that is smutty.
Levi hated driving in the rain.
His sight always grew hindered by the oversized droplets that only seemed to frequent Oak Creek and Oak Creek alone. The dirt roads became slick with mud, usually sending a truck or unlucky car right into a ditch to get stuck until whatever storm eventually passed. The rain made the old leather seats of his truck grow damp and the torrential downpours collided on the roof in a loud, unruly tempo that not even the five radio stations available could drown out.
It was also raining when his father died.
He hated the rain so much that until he was seventeen, Levi refused to drive during a storm. Getting his license a year earlier had already been a hurdle within itself, but no matter how light or heavy the rain came down, Levi still would not get behind the wheel. Even now, at twenty-two, he hasn’t driven at night during a storm.
His mouth quirked up ever so slightly hearing Olivia’s confirmation about her home. The Hudson home was magnificent, glorious, beautiful -- he has heard it all. The fact that a girl with the world in the palm of her hand didn’t seem too inclined to return to her estate was humorous to him, uncanny, even.
“Confinement can’t be too bad in a big ol’ house like that,” he said softly, the southern twang his voice held creeping in. Levi’s eyes were transfixed on the blurry road before them. Even with his wipers going, he still had trouble seeing through the water. With his knuckles gripping the steering wheel tightly, he pulled onto the main road that ran through town.
After a minute or so of steady driving, Levi dared a glance at Olive and his face immediately hardened. “Put your seatbelt on,” he snapped harshly, slowing down for a moment so he could reach over and pull it around her, clicking it into place. His eyes lifted to meet hers for only a moment before he peeled away and focused back on the road, a little stiffer than before. A muscle in his jaw ticked. He knew that he shouldn’t be so bitter to the Hudson girl, she had been nothing but polite to him in high school -- when they rarely talked. She was usually being flirted with by the wealthy boys, the ones that had something going for them, who would be able to escape the clutches that Oak Creek often held on its lower-class citizens. He stayed out of her way and she stayed out of his.
Until now, that was.
But still, no one rode in his truck without a seatbelt.
With the awkward silence that hung in the air for a couple of miles, Levi had almost forgotten Olivia was in the truck with him. Her body was shielded by his large guitar case and if it weren’t for her head popping out from behind, he might have forgotten to turn right and down Old English road towards her place.
He glanced at her, his hands loosening ever so slightly on the steering wheel as the rain lightened up. Levi’s shoulder’s relaxed and he leaned back into the leather seat with a sigh. “You’re welcome, Hudson,” Levi started. “And don’t worry, there’s still four miles to go. I could take back my offer.” A playful glint swarmed his eyes as he passed a smirk to her. As the girl went on about her overbearing mother, Levi scoffed and shook his head, damp hair falling in his eyes. “Is this taking place before or after solitary confinement? Just getting my story straight to tell the police.” It felt off, cracking jokes with someone who was practically a stranger to him, especially since he was nothing short of rude to her earlier. Sure, he knew of her story, of her family, of her wealth, but other than her name and her delinquent tendencies, Levi knew next to nothing about her.
As she continued to ramble on, he couldn’t help but to arch a brow at her. Her assumptions about him made his chest tighten slightly, his lips pressing together -- debating on whether to say his piece or not. It wasn’t that Levi was dreading teaching the girl guitar, it was mostly the fact that he didn’t like abandoning his familial duties. Levi enjoyed spending his time at crazy home and, even though he would be getting paid, teaching Olive would take away from his time trying to figure out how to keep the James household afloat.
“It’s not that I don’t have zero interest,” Levi started, licking his lips and trying to figure out how to not make an ass out of himself any more than he already had. “It’s just that I have a lot going on. I’m busy enough as it is…” His words trailed off, thinking about her last words as they hung through the air.
I hate having to be in the same room with myself…
As much as it puzzled him, Levi wasn’t able to respond because as he pulled up into the grand driveway of the Hudson home, a frantic looking woman flew out of the front door. Mrs. Hudson, actually. It was still drizzling and Levi slowed the truck to a stop, the engine still running a little too loudly. “Your castle awaits,” he muttered.
He was slightly surprised by Mrs. Hudson’s outbursts. Did she not recognize him? While the Hudson’s weren’t known to associate themselves with the James’s, or any of the other poorer townsfolk at that, Levi was still put off -- considering she has met him countless of times and had even made a generous donation at his father’s funeral.
Blinded by money, so it seems.
Staring straight ahead as the woman rattled on and on to poor Olivia, Levi gritted his teeth, knowing damn well he might definitely regret what he was about to do. All it took was one final glance at Olive’s shaken expression to have him backing up out of the driveway.
“Looks like you’re not getting murdered today, Hudson,” he uttered under his breath. Rolling down the window, Levi popped his head out and plastered on a fake and charming smile, like a true southern gentleman. “Evening Mrs. Hudson! Just me, Levi James. We were just stopping by to ask if it was alright for Olivia to join us for dinner at my place?” Seeing her sharp and angular face turn slightly softer at the sight of the tousled-haired and golden-eyed boy, Levi took that as all the permission he needed. Within seconds, he was turning back onto the winding country road and headed towards the other side of town.
“Hope you like homemade pizza and cherry pie.” He thrummed his fingers against the steering wheel as he took the winding road towards his home. This drive was filled with far more crops than before. Rotting fences, larger fields, smaller homes. Even the air seemed to take a sigh of relief as the clouds overhead opened up, revealing a golden sky riddled with streaks of crimson, a sign of on the oncoming sunset.
He couldn’t believe he was doing this. Levi could already see Layla’s knowing little grin in his mind, red lips and all. It’s not every day he invites a girl into his home, let alone a Hudson at that.
“Forewarning… My house is a little, uh, chaotic.”
As if on cue, the small, yellow home came into view. A shield of trees covered some parts of the porch, but Levi could already see a familiar mop of brown hair and large red rainboots hanging off the stairs. Parking the truck on the side of the house under a large oak tree, Levi hopped out of the car, guitar on his back, and started towards his younger brother Lucas, who had a look on his face that often meant Levi was going to end the night with a headache and a beer.
“I know that face,” Levi stated, pointing an accusatory finger at the young boy. “What did you do?”
Lucas bounced off the wooden stairs and rushed towards Levi, puddles splashing in his wake and grazing the bottom of his shorts. He was wearing a shirt that was two sizes too big for him and streaks of dirt riddled his freckled cheeks. Without a second thought, Lucas held up a very large frog, the animal nearly touching Levi. A chorus of ‘ribbets’ also echoed from inside Lucas’s pockets and the boy’s eyes darted around the lawn innocently.
“Lucas, but Obi back. And Padme… and Darth.” As much as Levi tried to make his voice sound authoritative, an effortless laugh crept through his words. He ruffled his younger’s brothers head and strode towards the house.
“They didn’t like the rain!” Lucas called to Levi, holding Obi close to his chest.
“They’re frogs, Lucas.” Levi waved him off before turning over his shoulder to Olivia. Chewing the inside of his cheek, he shoved his hands in his pockets sheepishly as he jutted his chin to Lucas, the boy darting back to the creek that ran behind their house. “That’s my younger brother, Lucas. He’s harmless -- most of the time.”