Isabella & Levi | ✓

nineteen

"Isabella!" he called over the roaring waves and the obnoxious seagulls. Tears streamed down her face as she took one quick look back at him, and he ran towards her, stopping her right as her foot touched the water.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, cheeks red and flustered. "God, Levi, I'm sorry."

He was quite sure what exactly she was apologizing for, but he decided to let it go. The distant forlorn look made him realize it probably wasn't meant for him, despite the addition of his name.

"You wanna go swim?" He asked then added as she nodded. "I have a pair of swim trunks in the car."

He ran to his car, awkwardly tore off his wet jeans, and put on the mint green swim trunks.

When he got back onto the beach, she was already knee deep in water. Her face was less flushed than before, and her tears seemed to stop too.

"Tell me about yourself," she urged as she sat down.

Levi, awkward as ever, shrugged. If there was one question he hated the most, it had to be that one. What were you supposed to answer with, he internally groaned each time.

"Levi?" Isabella called with a light, breezy laugh. "Tell me about your family."

"Well uh," he began, clearing his throat, "it's pretty small. It's just my mom, my little brother, and I."

She nodded in response and directed her gaze away from him. "What do you like to do? You know, besides save damsels in distress?"

He smirked at this comment of hers and decided to continue playing along. "Oh you know, volunteer at homeless shelters, rescue kittens out of trees, help old ladies across the street, the usual."

Her flirty grin grew as she leaned in, "I never pegged you as such a bad boy."

"Oh yeah," Levi returned in his deepest voice. "I'm quite the rebel." As the playful conversation continued between the two, the distance lessened, and soon, he could feel Isabella's breaths fanning his nose.

Her lips were swollen; her hair was a half wet- half dry mess, but she was still stunning. The sun glistened off of her body, and her smile was still the same. She kept leaning in, occasionally lifting her eyelids up to meet his own.

Levi could hear his heart beat; heck, he was sure people in Alaska could hear his heart beat. Their lips were millimeters apart, and the distance was only diminishing.

Right as her lips landed on his, just enough for him to taste the saltiness, just enough for him to feel the softness, she pulled away and stood up.

"Fuck, I can't do this," she cried.

Levi followed suit, trying to ignore the stinging rejection and the stinging embarrassment. "What?" he asked.

"I can't keep using you like-" she cut herself short, and a flicker of anger and hurt sparked in her eyes.

"What?" he asked, a hundred times more aggressive and more demanding than before. "Using me?"

Whether she heard him or not, he didn't know, but she continued on a whole other path.

"You don't get it, Levi. You don't fucking get how much it hurts, how much I want the pain to go away.

I loved Logan," she cried.

"He promised me forever, he promised me always. I'm the idiot here," she groaned.

His legs struggled to keep up with her as she kept drifting farther and farther into the ocean.

"You don't understand how it feels, Levi. I watch him, every day, in love with my best friend. I watch him promise her the same things he promised me; I watch her kiss the lips I used to."

She stopped in her tracks and sunk down so that the water would barely touch her neck.

"You don't know how much it hurts to be in love with someone, to be in love with someone who doesn't love you back," she breathed.

"Too well," he mumbled as he copied her position.

For the first time in her emotional monologue, she made eye contact with him. "What?" she asked.

Deciding it was about time to face the facts, he repeated his two words.

With that, a look of realization flickered through her auburn eyes and she whispered, "You don't."

With a nod, he answered, "But, Isabella, I do."