“Looks like the movie is starting. It was nice seeing you both. Have a good night.”
There wasn’t much they could do at that point but leave. We watched them walk away. Isabella put her head on my arm.
“Well, that was fun.”
I pressed a kiss into her hair and sighed.
“I’m sorry about calling you Bella. I didn’t know it was a Marco thing. You should have said something.”
She lifted her head and looked at me.
“No. I like it. I’m done letting him own things. For so long, he wouldn’t let people call me Bella. He insisted it be our thing. I’m happy to take it back and give it to you.”
I smiled at her.
“You know, if we were on a real date, I would kiss you right now.”
Beaming up at me, she whispered, “Obviously. That was totally kiss-worthy.”
We laughed and settled back to watch the movie. I won’t lie, I didn’t pay any attention to it. My thoughts kept wandering to Isabella and Marco. Of course, I had only just met him, but I couldn’t imagine them together. It was hard for me to imagine her with anyone, actually. If only we had that spark. I knew we’d be good for each other. I would cherish her friendship, but when her heart mended and she started to actually date someone else, I’d be jealous if it wasn’t me.
I squeezed her hand again; she looked to me with a smile. Her long lashes fluttered at me. I reached out and laid my palm against her cheek. My thumb glided over it. I knew there must have been a sadness in my eyes because I could see it reflected in hers. She raised her hand to cover mine and blinked back a tear. Isabella’s soft voice sounded through the air.
“I know the feeling.”
We just stared at each other for a long time before a smile came to her lips and she pressed a kiss into my hand.
“How about this? We both agree not to really date anyone else until we are convinced that we have thoroughly tried.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
Isabella turned her attention back to the movie, and I glanced over to Marco, wanting to puke. He and Gina had moved to the back seat. She was straddling him, her skirt just barely covering her, with Marco’s hands cupping her bottom. They were making out and not in that hot kind of way. In that gross exaggerated sloppy way. Who in their right mind would give Isabella up for that?
I heard Isabella gasp and realized she had followed my gaze. Her jaw tensed and pain flashed through her eyes. It was enough for me to know that the next time I came face-to-face with Marco, he was going to get punched.
She snapped her head back to the movie. I would have given anything I had to drive away with her and never look back. Sparks be damned.
The cost of taking the pain out of Isabella’s eyes: anything she asked for.
Chapter 13
Week3–Wednesday
Liam
I walked into my room and sighed. Every single piece of furniture I had was rearranged. How had she even managed that?
“What did you do?”
I placed dinner on the table. We had made a meatloaf tonight, but while I started focusing on the side dishes, Isabella had snuck into my room. I now realized why. She was blushing prettily at me.
“Well, you see… I sleep on a couch. Every night. It’s not like one of the fluffy couches either. It sucks. And you have this huuuuuuuuggggge bed. So, I’m demanding on our Wednesday Netflix nights, we get to watch television snuggled in your heavenly bed.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“You want to snuggle up with me in bed?”
