Isabella & Levi | ✓

fifteen

"Levi!" Logan called, standing up and out of his seat to give him some sort of a handshake.

Pushing his troubles aside, Levi plastered on a smile that nearly matched Logan's. "Hey," he greeted, as cool and nonchalant as Levi Schultz could.

"How's your cousin?" He asked as his eyes wandered after the teacher.

"She's good," he answered after missing a beat. I'm kind of ignoring her, he wished to say. I'm kind of in love with her, he wished to add.

After a few moments of silent, Logan turned over to face him and stared intently. It was that same gaze from before mixed with some insecurity.

"Does she," he paused, twirling his thumbs in an un-Logan like fashion, "-does she talk about me?"

"Yes," Levi answered honestly. He might not have told Isabella about Logan, but he at least had to tell Logan about her. If Isabella truly loved him, if she felt the same way about Logan that he felt about her, he at least owed that to the both of them.

His body flinched and he questioned, "bad things, I assume?"

"We really don't talk that often," Levi felt obligated to say to ease the pain in his chest. He hated having to hide his feelings, having to hide from Logan, from Isabella.

Levi Schultz was tired of being pathetic, of being whipped, of loving, but damn it, he couldn't help it.

He couldn't fucking help it. He was going to tell her, he vowed, within the month, he'd tell her.

Logan opened his mouth again but quickly closed in, instead choosing to whip out his phone and watch a football game.

Levi was, for once, thankful to be left alone with his thoughts if the alternative was to talk with Logan.

"Students," the ailing man croaked, "you're free."

Following the crowd of people, Levi squeezed through the door and walked to his car.

"Levi," sounded flustered out of breath Isabella. "Haven't seen you in a while," she said with a smile.

"Yeah," he answered, rubbing the back of his neck, "I've been busy."

She rubbed her right arm with her other hand and swung herself onto the hood of his car. "Too busy to do something tomorrow?" She asked, sounding more and more like the confident Isabella he liked.

"Nope," he answered instinctively.

As she walked away, hips swaying and all, he buried his head into his hands because not too long ago, a conversation between Georgia and himself sounded a lot like this:

"Georgia!" he called, voice filled with excitement.

"Well hey there, Lee," she greeted with a bright smile.

His expression soon mirrored hers as he continued talking with her, and he asked, "do you want to do something tomorrow?"

"Yeah," she agreed, like he figured stable Georgia would.

Levi knew he shouldn't have done this, especially not to Georgia or Isabella, but he was weak. And the two were both enticing in their own ways. Georgia was the shore, stable, safe, but dry, and Isabella was the sea, adventurous, exciting, but also risky.

And Levi, well, Levi was that one boat that kept getting pushed out to sea, then blown back to shore.