Out of My League

Chapter 12 (Noah)

I'm worried about Izzy.

It's clear that she'd tried to hide the fact that she was exhausted and, of course, the exhaustion hadn't made her look any less beautiful, but I'm worried about her well-being.

The moment we get onto the bus, Coach Russell barely has time to make sure everybody who was supposed to come actually showed up before she begins to nod off.

By the time we hit the highway, she's out like a light against my shoulder.

I wish there was something, anything that I could do for her.

"Bro," Connor hits me in the shoulder, the shoulder that Izzy isn't asleep against, "What's wrong with her? She doesn't look good."

I almost shrug before I realize that might wake her up.

"Not sure," I whisper, "But I really want to find out."

"And pardon me for eavesdropping," Connor quirks a single, bushy, red eyebrow, "But did I hear you talking about your kiss with her?"

I glance back to see if anybody else had heard him, but most of the team looks identical to Izzy right now: asleep.

Not that it would matter if anybody did hear. We're not, exactly, trying to be private and, more than that, we're not officially together.

It was a kiss.

So, what?

But I'd be fooling myself if I tried thinking that way.

It was the best kiss of my life.

And the plot twist she'd thrown me about that being her first?

I was beyond shocked, had sat in the parking lot for minutes afterward trying to wrap my head around the fact.

Not just that she was twenty years old and had never kissed anyone, but that she had trusted me enough to be her first.

It seemed really sweet.

"Yes," I whisper, "But don't tell anyone."

"Why's it a secret?"

"It's not, I guess," I reply, "But I don't want her to get worked up about it if people start questioning her."

"That's fair."

"Don't tell anyone."

He makes the universal gesture of zipping his lips shut.

I'm not, truly, worried that he'll tell anyone. Connor is the best secret-keeper that I know.

He's never told a soul, that I know of, about Vivi and Allison and he's known about them since Allison's first ultrasound - the one where I told her that the baby was a girl.

I hadn't really known, of course, but had always wanted to have a daughter, so I was overjoyed that my guess was correct.

I'm living the dream raising that little girl.

For two hours, I scroll through my social media accounts.

Connor had fallen asleep shortly after our conversation and Izzy had yet to wake back up, so I'd been forced to take the trip alone.

Finally, with about an hour left in the trip, just as my tailbone had begun to go completely numb, Izzy begins to wake up, taking a deep breath in through her nose, her eyelashes fluttering slightly.

For a long couple of seconds, her eyes don't open, but when they do, she sits up and stretches.

"Morning," I say when she looks at me, "Sleep good?"