Out of My League

Chapter 18 (Noah)

I shouldn't be surprised that the news finally broke.

If I'm being honest, I'd expected it to break earlier, but then again, we hadn't really been seen outside of our date night last night.

Bella, I guess, hadn't considered that after last night, we might finally be made public.

Her text comes at about nine o'clock the next morning when, I assume, she wakes up.

Did you see the news??!

I decide to just call her; it'll save us both time and energy.

She answers immediately, leading with the same words she'd used in her text, "Did you see the news?"

"Yes, I saw it as soon as I woke up this morning," I say with a small laugh at her frantic voice, "Are you upset?"

"Not upset, just shocked, I guess. I never realized they'd break it so soon. We've only been together for two weeks."

"To tell you the truth, I'm surprised that it took as long as it did."

"Really? How do you manage to keep Vivi and Allison out of the spotlight, then?"

"You don't mind, do you?" I ask, slightly worried that she'll tell me that she does, "That you're in the spotlight now?"

"Not at all," he says without a second's hesitation, "I just wonder how you've managed to protect them all these years."

"It's not easy," I admit, "And there's been one too many times where I thought that they'd caught us, but we always manage to avoid it.

"I think, honestly," I continue, "That day in the parking lot, you were the first person to ever catch us back there. It's why I was so surprised that you had no interest in telling anybody anything because you easily could've."

"What would I have gained by exploiting you?" She asks and then answers her own question, "Probably a lot more than I'd think."

"And now the irony is that you've been exploited."

She laughs, "Yes, I have been."

"And you're sure that you're not mad?"

"Of course I'm sure," comes her immediate response, "My mom wasn't faithful to much, but she always watched the news. I hope she watches and flips out when she realizes what her daughter has pulled."

"What her daughter has pulled?" I laugh, loud and hard, "That's a very strange way of putting it."

"It's all I could think of at the time," she laughs a little, "If I had to pause, it wouldn't have meant as much."

"I don't think that's true."

"Eh," I can practically see her shrugging on the other side of the phone, "Sure it is."

All I do is laugh.

***

The sun is incredibly bright in the sky today - bright enough that I've squinted the majority of the day and will probably continue to squint until it finally sets.

I love the Los Angeles sun the majority of the time, but when I'm playing baseball and it's beating me in the face, I can get frustrated.

It's officially been a week of Bella and I being out to the public and honestly, I'd expected more of a reaction than the two of us had gotten.

Nobody in the dug-out, Coach Russell included, had been surprised at all.

In fact, Maverick, our third baseman, slapped me on the back when I walked into practice the day after the announcement, telling me that it was about time I admit to my obvious feelings.