Rare - Cazzie

Chapter 21: "White lies."

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"What was that about?" Izzie asked softly, as I walked back inside the changing rooms, everybody seems to have already changed and left. Leaving Izzie and I, although I still needed to get changed.

"Uh..." I felt anxious of telling Izzie what coach had proposed to me. I didn't want to hurt Izzie, so I resorted to telling the truth but withholding some information. "She was just-Uh-telling me how important these next few games where." I mumbled, pulling my clothes out of my bag.

"Oh, but she already told us that before?" Izzie puzzled out loud, she sat down on the bench opposite me, and I felt my anxiousness return.

"I dunno." I mumbled lamely, and kept my eyes downcast as I began to change to change the subject. "Can you grab me a water babe I'm dehydrated." She replaced her confused frown with a soft smile and retrieved a water bottle from her bag.

"You can have mine." She passed her bottle to me, and as I looked up to her warm brown eyes I felt a guilty pang in my chest, and had to avert my gaze.

"Thanks." I whispered and turned away from those caring, gentle eyes.

"Are you okay?" She asked, noticing my strange behaviour. I took a few gulps of the water, and admittedly felt much better and level headed when I handed it back to her.

"I'm great." I smiled, and leaned in to press a gentle kiss to her soft lips. I felt her smile against mine, and momentarily forgot what I'd been worrying about. When she pulled away and smiled at me, I felt a guilt ridden twist in my heart, but forced myself to smile back.

"You should get changed, but I can't make any promises I won't perv on you." She kissed my lips once more, causing me to chuckle easily.

"I always knew you were a little creep." I teased, and heard her giggle cutely.

"Whatever Newton." She rolled her eyes, and sat back down on the opposing bench.

I got changed relatively quickly, catching Izzie's lingering eyes on a handful of occasions. It didn't bother me in the slightest.

——

A few days passed, and the guilt of my predicament weighed on my shoulders. I couldn't just take Izzie's position away from her, but maybe I should be thinking about my future. It hurt that Coach had referred to my relationship with Izzie as a 'silly high school crush' when what we have is so much more than that.

My mind was picking itself to pieces so much I hadn't even realised someone had been calling my name.

"Yo Gardener open your ears." Lauren called after me, and when she caught up to me I smiled.

"Sorry, I was... deep in thought I guess." I shrugged, and only now noticed Billie and Normani by her side. "Hey guys." I greeted politely, and saw them both look up and greet me in a similar manner.

"What's got C-bear all up in the clouds?" Lauren asked sympathetically, as she leaned her head against my shoulder in comfort.

"Ew don't call me that." I pushed her head away, and she seemed to catch onto my somber mood and switched up her approach.

"You good?" She asked me, and pulled me away from the other two who seemed to be in a heated argument over wether you can class Pluto as a planet.

"Dude! Poor little Pluto is always left out, how would you feel if your existence was denied just because you aren't as big as the other planets?? Huh? Yeah that's what I thought-"