Isabella & Levi | ✓

seven

"Levi," she whined, running a hand up and down his arm.

He bit down sharply on his lip, trying to muster all the self control he could, but it proved to be a difficult task when Isabella's soft yet icy hands danced on his arms.

"I'm not telling you where we're going," he said, straining his voice to make it somewhat calm.

She huffed and placed her arms across her chest. "Fine."

As the entirety of their conversation had been her begging for the exact location and him struggling to not tell her, a silence crept into the space between them.

Levi tried concentrating on the road, staring at the white lines up ahead and taking a little more time in staring at the signs just so that his mind would be occupied.

As Levi's mouth opened to comment on the weather or some other trivial topic, Isabella's phone rang and Britney Spears' Oops! I Did It Again resonated throughout his small car.

She blushed slightly and ignored it. "We were young and pretty stupid when Jessica chose that song as her ringtone," she said with a light laugh.

Levi knew her purpose in saying this was for him not to judge her admittedly poor taste in music, but he focused on the fact that she ignored Jessica Landon's call. This was the same Jessica Landon who wreaked havoc on anyone who hurt her best friend, the same Jessica Landon who wore matching best friends necklaces with Isabella.

He knew Isabella was well aware of the abnormality of her not answering, for she quickly threw out a lie followed by a feigned smile, "I'll call her later."

"Okay," he responded, causing her to soften.

His Camry rumbled to a halt in front of the small elementary school his mother worked at, and Isabella nearly leapt out of her seat.

"Do you not like it?" He asked, again hating how pathetic he sounded. Ace's jibes were beginning to ring true.

"Jesus Christ, Levi," Ace said earlier that day that resembled cries of exasperation Levi heard many times before, "you're the worst kind of whipped, the kind that doesn't even have the girl."

He loathed the fact that he was so pathetic, that his like for Isabella was so pathetic, that what Ace said was actually true.

"Levi," Isabella called as her hand entered and exited his range of vision, "I said I really like it. Can we go in now?"

With a swift nod, and another shake of the head as to shake away his trance, he began walking into the building with her.

"Just so you know," he felt the need to say, "these kids aren't exactly normal. They're all disabled, in one way or another, and if that- if you don't want to go-"

"Hey," she nudged him on his arm, again making all of his hairs stand up as though he was electrocuted, "my sister's autistic; it's fine."

And thus a smile formed on Levi's face as he opened the door to his mother's classroom.

Isabella's eyes sparkled as she looked around the room and for once Levi felt relaxed. She immediately befriended a girl in the corner who Levi spent ages trying to get to talk to him.

Her pleasant aura wasn't just felt by him as he watched the girl talk animatedly with Isabella.

Levi was so enwrapped with her and her sparkling eyes and her dazzling smile that he didn't notice his mother eyeing him until she placed her hands on his shoulders.

"That's her?" his mother asked pointing at the girl moving about the room so smoothly that it seemed as though she was dancing ballet.

He nodded, and his mother tightened her grip on him as though she was afraid of letting him go.

"She's pretty," she observed, "but does she know-"

Levi shook his head, not exactly wanting to revisit the emotions of uncertainty that came with his feelings of Isabella.

He watched her build tall castles with Michael, laugh as he tore them down, and soon joined in, where for the first time since he met her, he felt confident about his future with her.