Isabella & Levi | ✓

eighteen

The sunlight peered into her pink bedroom, and Levi rubbed his eyes. His head was throbbing, spinning, and the only emotion he felt was death.

He had no sense of space, of time, of anything, really. He struggled to lift his heavy eyes and skimmed the room. He quickly spotted the array of clothes on the wooden floor, and his heart sank. His floors were covered in layers of carpet.

He slowly pulled the blanket off of his body and cursed immediately. His only article of clothing was a pair of boxers, worn the wrong way.

"Shit, shit, shit," he mumbled as he dizzily got up. He caught sight of a body next to him, face covered. The only sign of life between Levi's still heart and the lump to his right was the steady rise and fall of her chest.

Levi stumbled to his feet and scrambled to pick his clothes up off the floor. He shimmied on his pants, then his shirt, and took one last look at her.

There was light shifting, and Georgia fluttered her eyes open.

"Levi?" She called, voice raspy yet light.

"Georgia," he breathed, not really expecting to see her, or really talk to her. He took in a deep breath and decided that it was time to face up, to everyone, starting with, by default, Georgia.

She rolled onto her side and seemed so unphased from the countless cups she drank last night.

"We didn't do anything, right?" he asked.

She shook her head. "You kind of fell asleep on me," she admitted.

Levi let out a shaky breath. He was so grateful, so so grateful.

"Georgia," he began the same speech he started at the restaurant, "before today, or perhaps last night, I wasn't that sure about my feelings. I kept telling myself that if I spent more time with you I could," he paused, "maybe like you and get over Isabella. I tried, Georgia, truly, but I can't help the way I feel. I hate that you've heard it before, because I know it's not pleasant to hear, but Georgia, I love Isabella."

He finally looked up and noticed the stream of tears on her face, the mascara stains. In that moment, he finally saw all the imperfections he wished to see, but it was too late. He always thought Georgia wore her heart on her sleeve, but it wasn't until today, until right now, that he saw how she truly felt.

She didn't say anything; she just cried in his arms, and soon, he had to leave. As he walked to the door, she mumbled, "me too, Levi. I also thought that if you spent more time with me you'd get over her, but we- I was wrong."

He pulled his phone out of his pocket for the first time in half a day, and a missed call appeared- Isabella.

"Crap," he moaned as he realized he promised he'd meet her at eleven and it was a bit past noon.

He drove the few hundred yards down to Isabella's house where she sat on the hood of her car.

"Levi," she greeted, "you have a little something on your face, and your shirt is kinda askew."

Her voice was off putting, and her face scrunched up as she put two and two together.

"You came from Georgia's?" she asked as she glanced two houses down.

He nodded.

"Unbelievable," she groaned, storming off towards the beach.

Despite his raging headache and his lack of balance, he ran after her. "Isabella! Stop!"

None of this was making sense to him. Her anger was so unjustified, and in his unbalanced physical and mental state, he felt angry too.

She ran out onto the yellow sands and let the wind blow her wherever.

"What is it?" he yelled.

She shook her head and blew strands of unruly hair up. "You really don't get it, Levi?"

"Obviously not," he answered in exasperation.

"I'm jealous," she finished, before tossing her shorts and shirt into a pile and walking straight into the ocean.