Ok so before I jet off to Europe, here's something to tide you over... I hope. Aly's gonna hurt me; this breaks all the rules but here anyway.
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Isabella had to go somewhere to be alone. She couldn’t stop thinking about James, about the way he looked at her when he thought she wasn’t looking, the way he flirted with her constantly, but most importantly about the way she felt when his skin accidentally brushed hers. She had to be alone and decipher what everything meant.
After class was over on Wednesday, she ran her Prada messenger bag up to her dorm and dashed off without bothering to change out of her school uniform to find a place to be alone. The library wouldn’t work because everyone went there to study after school, the lounge was definitely a no, her room was bound to have at least one of her four sisters there, and it was nice enough weather outside that everyone hung out on the grounds before the weather turned cold.
She decided to wander around the building in search of a place where she could sit for a while and think about what she should do. Izzy started on the fifth floor and walked up and down the hallways, finding nothing. She worked her way down to the first floor in an hour, clueless on where to go. Randomly, her feet carried her out to the PE barn and found no one in there. She decided it would have to do and found a bale of hay to sit on in the loft where they hung punching bags and kept all of their practice equipment, so she sat down and thought about her situation.
Izzy had dated a few guys back in England, if a few meant all of the date-worthy guys between the ages of thirteen and sixteen within a fifty mile radius of her house and school in London. But she had never really felt like she couldn’t live without one certain guy before. To her they were just people that put a few butterflies in her stomach and were smart enough to attempt to flirt back when she initiated it but nothing more than that.
James was different. Whenever Izzy saw him, her heart sped up to ten times its normal speed, her stomach flipped and was attacked by hordes of butterflies, she forgot what she had been saying or thinking, and her limbs turned to jello. He could flirt as well as her, which was a talent all in its own. But for some reason, she couldn’t get herself to ask him out. She couldn’t take the risk, because she knew he didn’t like her. There was no way he did.
Just when she was starting to feel the need to see him again just as she did whenever she thought about him, which was always, the barn door opened. Up in the loft, Izzy wasn’t visible from below. She slowly stood up and peeked down to see who it was.
James.
James shut the wood door behind him and started walking up the stairs to the loft. Izzy’s heart jumped up to her brain and dropped back down to her feet. She couldn’t hide, and she didn’t want to, although her main reason for coming here was to be alone and think about him when her mind wasn’t blurry from him being in the room. He reached the top step and looked up, startled to see her there.
Izzy was frozen where she stood in front of the hay bale. Her face was frozen in half shock, half joy.
“Hey,” he said, causing her brain to work again as it processed his words – er, word.
“Hi,” she said back. James took off his navy blue coat and laid it on the hay bale next to where she was standing.
“What are you doing here?” He asked.
“
Thinking about how in love with you I am,” Izzy thought. “Oh, just thinking.” She actually said. He nodded.
“Yeah, me too, pretty much. Practicing for PE is my excuse though. I think better when I’m focused,” James explained. Izzy realized she hadn’t moved from where she stood, and he was still right next to her where he’d laid his jacket down. She looked around the room uneasily. She really wanted to stay but his presence was making her head go fuzzy again. He was so hot and so nice and so awesome and so…
“So what were you going to think about?” Izzy asked, sitting down primly on the hay bale. James realized he hadn’t moved and cleared his throat, walking over to one of the punching bags.
“Oh, you know, stuff. About school and… people in school,” he said awkwardly. Izzy raised an eyebrow and smiled, somehow managing to remember her sassiness despite her muddled thoughts. She watched him get a few practice punches at the bag.
Look at him! Oh my god is he hot! She noted his muscular arms and his inability to concentrate on what he was supposed to be doing. It was as if he wanted to look at her and had to struggle to stare at the red bag instead.
No, she admonished herself.
He doesn’t like you like that.
“Oh really? So people like… Victoria?” Izzy asked. He shrugged.
“Not exactly. Close though.”
“Ashleigh?”
“Definitely not,” he said shaking his head.
“Veronica?” Izzy hedged.
“A little less psychotic from what I can tell,” James answered with a smile.
“I’m out of guesses. Do I get a hint?” She asked smiling sweetly at him. Once she started talking to him, it got easier. Her body just had to get used to it and remember to think, move, breathe….
“She’s a girl; you guessed that right.” James said. He stopped hitting the bag and walked over to her, sitting on the hay bale beside her after a second hesitation.
“That narrows it down to a couple hundred. Describe this girl.” Izzy pushed. She wanted to know who her competition was that James was so intently thinking about.
“Well, this girl is absolutely beautiful,” he began. He looked at her when he spoke. “She could wear anything, wear no or tons of makeup but no matter what could never look anything less than gorgeous. She’s smart, funny, flirty… everything a guy could ever ask for. The only problem is…,” he trailed looking down.
“What?” Izzy asked quietly. She wanted this girl to be her, wanted so badly for her to be the one he was pining for but she knew she wasn’t. Pretty much all guys liked her but when they did they showed their affection blatantly. They were obsessed and never left her alone. They admitted their undying love for her. James wasn’t anywhere near that crazy but he still hadn’t asked her out or anything. He appeared to be interested in someone else, which made Izzy’s heart drop to the floor again.
“She doesn’t know I like her,” James said in an almost whisper looking back up into her eyes. Izzy soon realized that they had both leaned forward and were inches away from each other’s faces. She could taste his breath on her lips, feeling the heat radiating off his skin, see the colors in his soft but steely grey-blue eyes. If she leaned a fraction of an inch closer, she could kiss him.
So close, just lean forward. Kiss him! A voice in her head shouted. James leaned closer to her and Izzy closed her eyes because she was feeling faint this close to him. Suddenly, the barn door opened and they both snapped their heads to see who it was.
“Yo, James! You in here?” Will’s voice called out. James leaned away from Izzy and she dropped her eyes to the ground, unable to look at him. He cleared his throat.
“Yeah, up in the loft,” he replied. He stood up and walked back over to the punching bag just as Will reached the top of the stairs.
“Hey, I-,” he cut off, noticing Izzy sitting on the hay bale, awkwardly looking around at anything but James. “Did I… did I interrupt something? Sorry, I can leave….”
“No, you’re not interrupting anything. I should go. Let you guys practice or whatever,” Izzy said before she could convince herself otherwise. She stood up and brushed past Will and down the stairs unable to even glance at James.
“Bye,” she mumbled as she shut the barn door behind her.
“Thanks a lot,” James said angrily to Will once he heard the door shut.
“Ow! Hey! Hit the bag, not me. Ow!” Will said blocking James’ punches which were luckily very light compared to what either of the boys was capable of.
“You said you wanted to practice, so let’s practice. I’m offense, you’re defense,” he replied. Will nodded and blocked the kicks and punches James threw at him.
“So, what happened?” He asked curiously.
“Nothing at all because you walked in right when I was this close to kissing her,” James said, stopping his unblocked fist a centimeter from Will’s face.
“Wow. That’s close,” he said moving the fist to the side and away from his nose which probably would have broke if James hadn’t stopped his hand. “For my safety, let’s switch. I’ll be offense, you be defense.”
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Have you read that? I hope not. This is all I have new. All my other new stuff is for my other book about vampires. Sorry. I'll post pics of Europe when I get back.
Love to all and I know you'll miss me :D
~Isabella Morrigan
