Isabella & Levi | ✓

five

"Levi Schultz!" his mother yelled, banging her fist on the bathroom door. "We're eating dinner, and you will eat with us. I don't care who the hell you're on the phone with, Levi. Get out now," she hissed.

Even though her cries were both high pitched and vociferous, his heart was beating so quickly that he could hear nothing but an irregular drum beat. His hands were shaky and sweaty all at the same time, and his whole body felt as though someone had set him on fire.

It wasn't his mother's shrill screams or her threats of no more technology; it was a missed phone call, from Isabella. The missed phone call that made Levi spring from his seat and dash right into the bathroom.

He splashed a few handfuls of cold water on his burning face and calmed himself long enough to press redial.

He counted the rings and paced around, taking deep breaths in and out.

"Hello?" her groggy voice called into the receiver.

"Isabella," he breathed softly, as though he was talking to her right under his nose. "You called?"

Static silence answered Levi's redundant question, so he tried again.

"Isabella? Are you there?"

Silence, again.

He hated how pathetic his voice sounded, how fragile, how desperate. He hated how in just a few words, if anyone listened carefully, they would've known and gotten to see all of his emotions.

"Yeah," she answered in a hoarse voice, "-yeah sorry. It's just-" her voice again died off into the silence of the call.

"-Logan," she cried as her voice broke.

Even though it was just one word, with no explanation following, Levi understood and felt every single painful feeling that came with the name.

That explained why she didn't sit next to him, or really talk to him, or look at him with that same fondness he wished she'd look at him with.

Logan Cremins called it quits. To say Levi was surprised was quite the understatement. Although Levi had strong feelings for Isabella, he knew it was and would always be unrequited. He, and the rest of the student body, knew Isabella and Logan's relationship was the kind that would last, the kind that others wished they had.

"I'm sorry," he returned.

He heard some shuffling on her end and some sniffling. "It's okay, Levi, really. I should've known," she muttered sardonically. "I really," she laughed humorlessly as some sort of an attempt to cover up embarrassment, "don't know why I called. I just needed to get it off my chest."

"It's really no problem," he said dismissively as he tried to find somewhere to block off any sound from his mother's mouth. "You could call me anytime you need to talk," he added.

"Could we do something?" she asked. "I just- I've spent the beginning of this week staying home, then even when I go to school, I go straight home. Do you want to do something after school?"

It was a joke, he thought, no, he swore it was some kind of a sick joke. There was no way this was real.

"Levi?" she called uncertainly after moments of silence.

"Yeah," he nodded, "sure." He thanked his vocal cords for maintaining some sort of stability as he answered and murmured a quick goodbye.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she said as the line went dead.

Levi tried not questioning it, why Isabella, the girl with friends who in third grade became blood sisters and have been ever since, would ask him out of all people, but he couldn't help but be skeptical.

Yes, he was thrilled, over the moon, but he knew the happier he became, the harder and higher the drop would be. Falling from Isabella's pedestal would be painful, Levi thought.

And despite this, despite knowing of all the possibilities that were anything but in his favor, he unlocked the bathroom door, ate his now cold dinner, and went to bed where after thinking of Isabella for a good twenty minutes, finally dozed off.