I was having a bad morning.

    It all started when, for the first time in my seventeen years of life, I overslept. It was only by a measly twenty five minutes, but it through off my whole routine. I had no time for my morning shower, I had to skip breakfast, and I was completely shocked at the amount of traffic there was on my normally peaceful five minute drive to school. It didn’t help that on my way to school there was suddenly a torrential downpour. I cured to myself as I turned my wipers on the fast level, which still wasn’t good enough.

    Since I got to school so late, the student parking lot was already packed, so I had to settle on a lone spot in the back. It was about a quarter of a mile from the back doors of the school, which normally wasn’t an issue, but the parking lot was already flooding and the rain wasn’t letting up at all. The icing on the cake? My umbrella was missing from the floor on the backseat, which meant one of my sisters must have snatched it out of my car while I was sleeping.

    I took a deep breath, then opened the door and ran across the parking lot as quickly as I could, holding my book bag over my head, even though it was ineffective. By the time I reached the back doors, I was completely soaked. I shivered slightly in the cool, early autumn air as I waited to be buzzed in.

    When I finally was, I was greeted by Mrs. Scott, the office administrator. Since I had volunteered as an office helper my freshman and sophomore year, I had been around her quite a bit. She took her job too seriously, and while she was a bit stiff, she was always pretty nice to me. However, the way her dark brown eyes glared at me as she opened the door, I knew she wasn’t going to give me a break.

    She pushed her glasses up her nose as she sighed heavily, as if me being late was a huge inconvenience to her.  “Take a seat in the office Charlotte, so we can make you as tardy and give you a pass.”

    I walked into the office, sitting down on a chair that was against the wall. I grabbed a tissue off the table next to me, wiping off my face and trying to dry the end of my hair, which was still dripping. Mrs. Scott sat down behind her computer at the front desk, holding a finger up to me before she picked up the phone and started talking softly. A moment later, she hung up and motioned for me to come up to the desk.

    “So, why were you late?”

    I opened my mouth to reply, when suddenly I was speechless. Walking out of the counselor’s office was the gorgeous guy I have ever seen. He was tall, towering over my petite 5’4” frame by at least six inches, and had messy brown hair and these incredibly sexy, smoldering dark brown eyes.

    He looked me over slowly, a smirk appearing on his face and I realized how awful I must look. I automatically raised a hand up, trying to smooth and detangle my dirty blond, chin length hair. He started to walk past me, pausing when he reached me. His eyes were now fixed on mine, and when he started to lean in slightly, my heart started to race. What was he doing?

    “I don’t know how to tell you this, but your shirt is kind of see through,” he said in a whisper. He has a southern accent.

    I barely took in what he said, I was too busy focusing on how cute his accent was, and how his hot breath felt against my face. When his words finally registered, I felt my face flush and I quickly glanced down at my thin, white cotton sweater. Sure enough, now that it was wet, you could make out the light pink flowers on my bra. I looked back up at him, noticing his eyes were no longer on mine.

    “It’s raining out there,” I explained, crossing my arms against my chest, clearly blocking his view since his eyes were back on mine.

    He laughed softly, running a hand through his hair. “I gathered.”

    I was desperately trying to think of how to reply to that when someone cleared their throat loudly. We both looked over and saw Mrs. Scott staring at us impatiently.

    “Charlotte, if you’re done, we need to go over why you were tardy.” The way her voice sounded, I knew I didn’t have any option but to be finished.

    “Right,” I muttered, tearing my eyes away from Mr. Gorgeous. I walked up to the desk, trying to focus on Mrs. Scott as I told her my sob story. I felt a wave of disappointment wash over me as I watched him walk out of the office. Just like that, he was gone, and I was left wondering who he was and when I would see him again.

    

    It turns out I only had to wait until 8th period to find out. It was five minutes into Government, and I was desperately trying not to fall asleep during Mr. Vick’s lecture when the door to the class room opened and Mr. Gorgeous came walking inside. Instantly he had my attention and the attention of every other female in the class.

    “Damn,” my friend Maci muttered from the desk next to, stealing my exact thoughts.

    “What can I do for you?” Mr. Vick said, walking up to Mr. Gorgeous. Mr. Vick was in his 50’s, but always acted like he was in his 90’s.

    “I’m new to this school, and I’ve been assigned to your class.” The second I heard that southern drawl I felt my heart speed up even faster in my chest.

    Mr. Vick burrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “My class? I didn’t get any notifications about this.”

    Mr. Gorgeous reached into the back pocket of his jeans, pulling out a folder piece of paper. He handed it over to Mr. Vick, not noticing, or caring, that all eyes were on him. Mr. Vick grabbed it, and looked it over for a moment, almost as if he was expecting this story to be a lie. Who would volunteer to sit through this class? Finally, Mr. Vick cleared his throat. “Well okay, find an open seat Mr. Williams.”

    “Noah,” he correction him. Noah. What a perfect name.

    Noah glanced around the room, as if he was just now noticing he was in front of a class. His eyes met mine and slowly a smile formed on his face, showing off his perfect teeth. He walked towards me and my heart brimmed with the thought of how his lips would feel against mine. Then, he turned and walked down my isle, taking a seat in the back. I shook my head, trying to focus. When did I get so hormonal?

    I wasn’t too experienced when it came to boys, I only had one boyfriend before and he was the first and only boy I ever kissed. I spent most of my time focused on school and getting into college. I wasn’t blind, I noticed guys all the time, but I wasn’t interested in starting something serious before I went away to college.

    “Are you okay?” Maci whispered, leaning over slightly.

    “Yeah, why?”

    She chuckled, biting the cap of her pen. “You’re all red.”

    “I’m fine,” I insisted, even though I was desperately trying to resist the urge to turn around to look at him.

    In fact, I spent so much energy trying not to think about Noah, and his eyes and smile and accent that when the bell rang, I nearly jumped out of my seat. I stood up, gathering my books and allowed myself a quick glance at him. Our eyes met and he took a step towards me, stopping short when Lexi Hamilton walked up to him, introducing herself with a flirty smile.

    Lexi was one of those girls that always looked so effortlessly put together, had perfectly plucked eyebrows and annoyingly always got what she wanted. It didn’t take a genius to know that what she probably wanted next was Noah. And I wasn’t going to stick around and watch.

    I filed into the hallway with the rest of the class, then made my way towards my locker.  I shoved my books into my locker, grabbing other ones and threw them into my book bag, though my mind was back in the classroom with Noah and Lexi. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and my heart skipped a beat as I turned around, hoping to see Noah standing there.

    It was Carter, my best friend.

    “It’s Thursday.”  

    “So?” I asked, distractedly.

    “So?” He repeated, holding his hand over his heart dramatically. “Thursday is my favorite day of the week. Your mom makes homemade pizza and I get to come over and eat it. It should really be a holiday.”

    I rolled my eyes at him. “I thought Saturday was your favorite day of the week because your parents go out for a date and you can bring girls over to fool around with them.”

    He smirked. “Well… Thursday is my second favorite day.”

    “Right,” I said, laughing. “I’m sure she will be expecting you, so just come on over whenever you want.”

    “Great,” he gave me a wide grin and I watched as two freshmen girls walking past looked at each other and sighed.

    Carter and I have known each other since we were born, thanks to the fact that our moms grew up together, and were best friends. When we were little, everyone kind of expected us to get together at some point, but honestly he was like my brother. Not to say he wasn’t attractive, Carter was probably one of the hottest guys at our school. He had these hazel eyes that were a mixture of blue and green, splashed with some gold. And along with his always messy brown hair, charming smile and charisma oozing out of him, he was the object of many girls desires. But not me.

    I’ve seen him fart, burp, puke, pick his nose and wear the same shirt three days in a row. Not so attractive then. Plus, ever since Carter realized he could get girls to do pretty much whatever he wanted, he has used that to his advantage, as any teenage guy would. He hooked up with girls all the time, but was never serious about anyone.

    “So, I’ll see you there?” He asked, growing impatient waiting for me to say something.

    I nodded, then noticed him giving me a strange look. “What is it?”
    “Nothing… it’s just…You look like shit.”

    I groaned, wondering why of all days, I had to meet Noah today. But looking back at it, maybe it wasn’t such a bad morning.

    

 

2: Sex and the Sister

    Carter arrived at my house a split second after I pulled into the driveway, so I waited by the front door for him so we could walk inside together. I threw my book bag down next to the door, the smell of pizza filling the air. It smelled delicious. We walked into the kitchen to find my mom dancing around the kitchen, grabbing toppings from various bowls and sprinkling them on top of two pizzas sitting in front of her. She had pizza sauce smeared on her check and some flour on her nose, and the sight of it made me smile.

    “Hey mom,” I said, and she looked up at us, not at all embarrassed we caught her dancing. I reached into the fridge and grabbed two cans of Dr. Pepper, handing one to Carter.

    “Hey mom,” he said as well, hopping on to the counter to steal some red peppers out of a bowl. My mom shook her head at him, pieces of blond hair falling free from her bun, but she didn’t say anything to him. She hated when he sat on the counter, and even though he knew that, it never stopped him.

    “Hi guys, how was school? Did anything special happen?” She asked as she bent down to place the pizzas into the oven. I was glad she wasn’t looking at me, cause I was sure I was blushing.

    “Uh, no, not really,” I said softly. I only saw the most gorgeous guy ever.

    “Nothing?” She asked, and for a second I could have sworn she knew. I mean, mom’s always know everything, but there was no way she could know this.

    “Well they actually served a decent lunch, if that counts as special,” Carter chimed in, causing both me and my mom to laugh.

    “Please. You would eat anything.” My sister Harper walks into the room, grabbing an apple off the table.

    “Well hello Repunzel,” he says to her, causing her to roll her eyes at him. He has been calling her that for as long as I could remember, as she has been hating it for just as long. He looks her over, then smirks. “Nice shorts,“ he says sarcastically. He is referring to the bright pink shorts she has on, the pair she wears when she goes jogging. I had to admit, they were a little on the bright side.

    She looks over at me, giving me that ‘I don’t know how you put up with him’ look. Harper is a year younger than me, but most of the time people don’t think she’s sixteen years old. It’s hard for me to admit, but I’ve always been jealous of how stunning she is. She’s about four inches taller than me, has legs for days, and her thin frame has curves that make her look much older. She has these big, light blue eyes and her hair is dirty blond like mine, but full of highlights, and it falls way down her back. She’s always had her hair long, which is where Carter got her nickname from.

    “Are you going jogging sweetie? Should I save you some pizza?” Mom asks Harper, setting the timer.

    She nods, biting into her apple. “I’m going out with Jason later for dinner, so you don’t have to save me any food.”

    “That’s good, more for me,” Carter tells her, stealing some pepperoni and plopping it into his mouth.

    “Free loader,” Harper tells him.

    He grins, clearly enjoying their bickering. “Every chance I get.”

    Harper rolls her eyes at him again, throws away the core of the apple, then hurries out of the room. A moment later the front door shuts and she is gone. Peace has returned to the kitchen. I’m not sure who is more relieved, me or my mom.

    “Well,” mom says, pulling the apron off of her. “I’m going to take a shower before dinner. And Carter? Stop eating or you won’t have an appetite,” she scolds him.

    “Mom, that’s impossible, Carter eats all the time,” I remind her, laughing.

    Carter pretends to look hurt. “Hey, that’s not true. I don’t eat while I’m sleeping, or while I’m in the shower, or when I’m hook… uh…” His sentence trails off as he glances at my mom and blushes, which he rarely does.

    Mom clears her throat. “I’m going to go now,” she shakes her head at Carter, though a small smile is on her face. I think Carter is the son she never had.

 

    
    Later that night, I’m standing in front of my closet, looking over my clothes. I normally didn’t pick out my clothes the night before, well not since I was a kid and my mom made me so she could make sure my outfit matched, but I wanted to make sure the next time Noah saw me, I looked better than I did today. Not that it would matter much. Noah could get girls like Lexi, he probably wouldn’t want a girl that looked like me. Don’t get me wrong, I was pretty, but I was no Lexi or Harper.

    There is a light knocking on my door and I rush over and hop on my bed, embarrassed to be caught obsessing over my closet. That wasn’t the type of thing I did, normally I only obsessed over grades.

    “Come in,” I called out.
    Harper comes walking in slowly. “Hey, can we talk?” She’s playing with her hair, a tell that she’s nervous.

    “Of course,” I tell her, patting the spot on the bed next to me.

    She smiles, then plops down next to me. But instead of talking, she kind of picks at her nail polish. I know something must be up, because Harper usually never stops talking.

    “What is it?”

    She looks over at me. “You can’t tell mom. Or dad. Especially dad.”

    My stomach turns slightly at that statement. Whenever a sentence starts with that, particularly coming from her, it’s never good. “What is it?” I repeat myself.

    “Jason and I had sex today,” she whispered, as if mom could hear her.

    I am taken a back at first, feeling kind of stunned. Also curious. And honestly, a little jealous that she had beat me to it, even though I knew it wasn’t a race at all. “How was it?”

    She pauses, a smile spreading across her lips. “It was nice. It kind of hurt ,but it didn’t last long at all.”

    “He treated you good, right?”

    She nodded. “ I mean, it wasn’t roses and candles, but he was sweet.”

    I reach over and squeeze her arm. I’m happy that she is happy. I also can’t help but wonder how it would be to sleep with Noah. “Good because if he hurts you, he has to deal with me.”

    Harper laughs, her eyes shinning. “Thanks Char. For letting me tell you. I’ve been dying to tell someone.” She looks at herself in the mirror. “Do I look different?”

    “Not really. But maybe to mom…” I tease her.

    She laughs, but has a look of panic on her face. “Don’t say that!” She gives me another smile then starts to leave, before I tell her to wait.

    “Can you help me with something?”

    “You’re not asking me for homework help, are you?”

    I laugh, standing up off the bed. “Hell no. I… there’s this new guy…”

    She grins at me, a knowingly look in her eyes. “And you have a crush on him?” She squealed.

    “No…maybe… I don’t know. I don’t really know anything about him. Well, besides the fact he’s the most gorgeous guy ever.” I sigh to myself as I think about his eyes. “I guess I just want to look good.”

    “You always look good,” she reassures me. It was a nice thought, but I knew it was a white lie. If only she saw me today. She studied me for a minute, as if she could sense what I was getting at. “Be back,” she tells me.

    When she returns, she is holding this dark grey, form fitting sweater with a low V cut. She hands it over to me. “Pair this with tight jeans, and you will look hot. It will totally bring out your grey eyes.”

    There is another knock on the door, and both Harper and I jump a mile into the air. “Come in,” I say.

    The door opens and Emily peers in at us. Her brown hair is pulled into a side braid, and her light blue eyes are full of curiosity. “What are you guys doing in here? I can hear you laughing down the hall. Having a party without me?” She was saying it in a joking way, but I knew there was some hurt in her voice.

    Emily wasn’t too far behind us, she was fourteen, but it was just enough to keep her out of some of our conversations. I’m sure it’s hard for her, being kept out some of the time. Harper and I exchange a glance, and I know she is feeling it too.

    “Actually Ms. Artist Emily, can you help me paint my nails?”

    “Me too,” Harper tells her.

    Emily grins, and we spend the rest of the night talking and painting each others nails. And I didn’t think about Noah. Well, not that much.  

    

 

3: Piggish Tendencies

    “So what did you think about that quiz in Mrs. Stow’s class?” I asked Carter, dipping a fry into the kitchen before popping it into my mouth. She was famous for giving unannounced quizzes on Monday’s.

    Carter, however, wasn’t listening to what I was saying. He was staring at something over my shoulder, this distracted look on his face. I’ve seen this look from him plenty of times, and I knew it meant someone, some girl, has stolen his attention. I glanced over my shoulder, and sure enough, I was right. Kelly Millington was talking to someone at the table next  to ours, leaning over as she did so, giving everyone a good view down her shirt.

    “Really? You’re a pig,” I told him, rolling my eyes.

    He turned his attention back on me, and I knew that was only because Kelly probably stood up. “What?”

    “I’m trying to talk to you but you’re too busy staring down Kelly’s shirt. I’m pretty sure she would be more than willing to give you a private viewing.”

    He grinned at the thought. “I was still listening to you. It’s just… it’s bad enough we are stuck in school all day, do we really gotta talk about it during lunch? Plus… you’re one to talk.”

    “What does that mean?” I narrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

    His hazel eyes had a teasing glint in them and he gave me his know it all smile. “I see you sneaking looks at the bowling alley guy.”

    I tried not to groan out load. I don’t know how Carter seemed to pick that up when he was busy checking out Kelly. He was right, I had spent most of the period stealing glances at Noah, who didn’t seem to notice I was even here. He was busy laughing and talking with some guys, and as far as I’ve seen, he hasn’t looked in my direction once.

    “I am not,” I told him, forcing my eyes to stay on him and not float back over to Noah.

    “Right,” Carter smirked before taking a bite of his pizza. “Then you probably don’t care that Lexi is over there talking to him right now.”

    My eyes shoot over to his table automatically, hoping that Carter is testing me to see if I would look. I felt my heart stop when I saw that Carter was telling the truth. Lexi was stopped at his table, talking wildly with her perfect manicured hands, using the right one to occasionally flip her long, deep red hair over her shoulder.  Noah and his friends were laughing at whatever she was saying, and I was pretty sure she wasn’t being funny. Guys always laughed at whatever a girl that looked like her was saying.

    “Whatever,” I told Carter, popping another fry in my mouth as I could careless.

    “Hey,” Carter said softly, pushing my tray gently to get me to look up at him. “Lexi is a total air head, she’s not girl friend material, she’s only really good for one thing…”

    “Which would be?”

    “Uh, hooking up.” I knew that Carter had the best intentions, but he wasn’t exactly helping. Plus, for all I knew hooking up was exactly what Noah wanted.

    “You would know,” I reminded him. I still couldn’t believe that Carter had hooked up with her. She was almost as annoying to him as she was to me, but I guess when the lights are off with no talking involved and items of clothing are removed, it didn’t matter to him if she got on his nerves or not.

    He pretended to look hurt. “Hey, that was a year ago.” He looked back over my shoulder and right when I was ready to turn around to tell Kelly to stop bending over, he looked back into my eyes. “Speaking of…”

    “Hey Carter,” Lexi said as she walked up to our table, her voice sugary sweet.

    “Hey,” he told her, giving her a nod. Girls always melted when he did that, though I found it to be annoying.  

    “So,” she said, tugging on her short, dark blue skirt. It was several inches above her knee, way past the school enforced length, but she always got a away with it. Her dad was on the school board afterall. “My parents are going away this weekend, so I’m having a party. You should defiantly come. You can even bring your friend.” She was referring to me, but her brown green eyes never left his.

    “It’s Charlotte,” I told her. She didn’t even know my name? We have had classes together for years.

    “I knew that,” she finally looked at me, giving me a fake smile. I couldn’t tell if she was being serious or not. “So you’ll come?” She looked back at Carter.

    He smiled noncommittally. “Probably.”

    “Great,” she gave him a real smile before walking off to another table, probably extending the invite.

    I quickly glanced back over at Noah’s table. Is that what she was doing when she was talking to them? Inviting them to the party? It seemed more likely than not. But the real question was did Noah plan to go? Once again it seemed pretty likely.

    “I think we should go,” I blurted out to Carter.

    “You…do?” He looked at me skeptically. I didn’t blame him, I never wanted to go to parties before, and would even give him crap about going to them so often.

    I shrugged like I wasn’t giving it much though. “It could be fun. And I mean, I should get some experience before you drag me to those college parties.” I was hoping he would buy that. Truth was, I was dying to see Noah outside of school and not while we were at some embarrassing bowling alley surrounded by my family.

    Carter grinned and I wasn’t sure if it was because he was finally getting me to go to a party or if it was because I mentioned college parties. We were both planning to go to Bexley University, the same place our parents went. Our parents have been telling us for as long as I could remember how it was the best years of their lives. We had been to the campus enough times to know that they meant it. It was about two hours away from home, and had great academics, what I cared about, and a cool, city environment with great night life, which was what Carter cared about. We had already applied and were now just waiting to hear back. I was confident that I would get in, though I couldn’t help but hope that Carter had good enough grades to get in.

    I snuck another look at Noah and noticed he had gotten up and made his way to the vending machines. “Do you want me to get you another Dr. Pepper?” I asked Carter, knowing his can was almost empty and he would be wanting another one. He normally went through two cans during lunch.

    “Sure,” he told me, starting on his second piece of pizza.

    I walked up to the vending machines, swearing at myself in my head for always wearing jeans and not little skirts like Lexi did, even in the cool weather. I stood behind Noah, watching him put his money into the machine, then chose a pepsi, which fell down with a thud. He grabbed it and turned around, meeting my eyes. My heart nearly pounded out of my chest when he grinned at me.

    “Hey Charlotte.” I loved the way my name sounded when he said it. It had never sounded better before. “I hope you recovered from the wild weekend we had.”

    I tried not to blush at him referring to us as a we. “I barely did,” I told him which caused him to laugh.

    “That’s good to hear,” he said, running his fingers through his hair. I wanted to reach out and run my fingers through it. “So,” he said, clearing his throat slightly. “I saw Lexi at your table, was she inviting you to the party?”

    My heart soared at his words. He had noticed that? Maybe he was sneaking looks at me too? Either that, or he was just watching her. That seemed more plausible, but I didn’t want to think about that.

    I nodded, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “Well she mainly invited my friend Carter, I got an invite by association.”

    “Are you going?” His brown eyes were locked onto mine and I had to remind myself to breathe.

    “Yeah I think we are. I mean, we are going together but not together together,” I rambled on. I didn’t want him to think that Carter and I were an item, even though I wasn’t even sure if he would care.

    “Good,” he replied, smiling. I had no idea which part was referring to, but it didn’t matter. Either way, he was glad I was going. I mean, he even asked if I was!

    “Yeah, it is,” I smiled back, hoping I sounded flirty.

    “Well, I’ll see ya later,” he told me, giving another grin as he walked past me.

    I turned around and made my way back to the table, sure that I had a goofy grin on my way. I knew that Carter would pick up on it if he didn’t already see us talking, but I didn’t care if he teased me about it. If I had to deal with his piggish tendencies, then he had to deal with me acting like a crazed teenage girl. Then again, I had done my fair share of thinking about Noah in all kinds of ways over the weekend. Not to mention that I was dying to know what his lips felt like, so maybe I was a pig as well. Just a less obvious one.

    I plopped back down in my seat, biting my bottom lip to try to hide my smile. It might have been too late, Carter was staring at me like I was insane. I opened my mouth to start to defend myself, but decided I would take the denial approach.

    “What is it?”

    “You forgot my drink!”

    “Oh,” I said, realizing I was so caught up in Noah that I completely forgot about getting the Dr. Pepper I offered to get for him. “I guess I forgot.”

    Now it was his turn to narrow his eyebrows in confusion. “You guess you forgot? What the hell were you doing up there?”

    “Just losing my mind,” I mumbled before I got back up to get his drink.

    

    

 

4: Space Pizza

    In our house, Friday’s are known as ‘Family Fun Night’, even though it hasn’t really been fun for anyone besides my parents for a few years now. We stick with it because it means a lot to my parents, though we did talk them down from every weekend to twice a month. And honestly, even though I would complain along side of Harper and Emily, I didn’t mind as much because I only have 18 more family nights before I will be leaving for college.

    This particular night we were going bowling, and it wasn’t the decently fun cosmic bowling, where the bright colors glow in the dark because the lights are dimmed and they play decent music. No, we were going to Hank’s Bowling Alley, where half the population is under the age of ten, a clown walks away squeezing his nose at you while making balloon animals, and everything on the menu has the word space in front of it.

    One the bright side, my parents did allow Carter to come, which I thought would somehow ease the pain, even though I was half convinced that Carter would actually love the place. Harper threw a fit at first, but shut up pretty quickly when they said that Jason could come along too- there was no way she would ever bring him to a place like this. “It would basically be like taking him to Chuck E Cheese,” she told me afterwards.

    So here we were, standing in front of the shoe rental desk, barely able to think over the loud Kidz Bop music that was blaring out of every speaker. Yes, they actually played that stuff here even though I don’t think anyone here enjoyed it, not even the kids. My dad looked over at me and smiled, his light blue eyes shinning at me, as if he couldn’t be happier to fork over  $42 on rental shoes.

    “You’ll have fun, just wait and see,” he shouted over the music.

    “I’m sure,” I told him, trying to mask the sarcasm in my voice.

    It was nice to spend time with him though. He is a lawyer and works long hours, even more so now that we are growing up and he has less to miss out on. I liked seeing him like this, laughing and so carefree, he normally is so intense while he is at work, and has been bringing that mood home with him lately.

    “You guys go pick a lane, we’ll take care of the shoes,” dad said, the smile still on his face.

    The four of us decided on the end lane, since it would be more private and wasn’t quite as loud. We plopped down on the white seats, the ones that turn side to side if you just move an inch, and Emily began typing our names into the screen. Carter glanced around, then grinned.

    “I like it here,” he announced. My earlier suspensions were correct.

    “Of course you do,” I told him.
    He pretended to look hurt. “What does that mean?”

    “She means that it’s loud and obnoxious in here, just like you,” Harper cut in, glancing around. I was almost positive she was double checking to make sure no one from school was here. Though the sad thing is, I’m sure if anyone caught wind that Carter was here, the place would suddenly become popular. He’s just that kind of guy.

    “Well, at least you aren’t comparing the smell in here to me,” he pointed out to her.  

    “That’s because this place smells amazing in comparison to you,” she shot back, not even  missing a beat.

    Emily turned around in her seat, finding my gaze, and we rolled our eyes are each other. Carter and Harper always seemed to be going at it, they truly were like brother and sister.

    Dad walked up and sat down next to me, clapping his hands together. “Alright! Let’s get started!”

    “Where’s mom?” I asked as Harper grabbed her neon pink ball.

    “She’s buying a space pizza, space fries and some space drinks for us,” dad said.

    “Daaad,” Emily groaned. “Don’t say that, it’s so embarrassing.”

    Dad shook his head. “You kids are always so concerned with being embarrassed, you don’t know how to have fun anymore.”

    “I agree, Jack. Maybe we should buy some real drinks so these girls will cut loose a little,” Carter said, earning a glare from my father. “Just joking,” he added in as he went up to bowl as Harper sat down. She scored a strike, which wasn’t uncommon for her. Harper hated to bowl, but for whatever reason, she was a natural at it. She never tried, and usually ended up with the best score out of anyone.

    Mom appeared then, taking a seat next to dad. “I got the food ordered, I hope I didn’t miss my turn!” She said, even though she is the worse bowler.

    “Maybe we should get some gutter blockers,” Carter said, gesturing to all the lanes with them as he took a seat. He didn’t seem too happy with his 7, then 2.

    “That would be pretty fun. Maybe we could beat Harper for once then,” I said with a laugh.

    “Char, it’s your turn,” Emily said impatiently as she sat back down.

    I sighed as I jumped up and grabbed my blue ball. I walked up to the lane, trying to get in position. When it came to my skills, I fell somewhere between Mom and Harper. I held the ball in front of my face, then as I swung it backwards, someone at the lane next to us caught my eye, and I let go of the ball. It flew backwards, dropping to the ground with a loud thud. I was vaguely away that people were staring, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that Noah was standing there. And he was looking at me like I was crazy.

    Why the hell was he here? Why did I always have to run into him when I was making a fool of myself and days like yesterday, when I looked hot and wasn’t wet or bowling, he barely looked at me.

    But he was now. Staring at me, really, before he started to walk over. Oh god, he was going to talk to me now? I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, wishing I had worn something sexier than casual jeans and a hoodie from Victoria Secret.

    “Hey,” he said, and I wanted to just close my eyes and sigh at that accent of his. He looked great in a simple black t-shirt and dark jeans that fit just right. “What are you doing here?”

    “Oh you know, this is where everyone comes for a good time,” I told him, equally shocked and pleased at home steady my voice sounded. It might have even been a little flirty.

    He gave me such a big smile that I forgot how to breathe for a second. “Well I’m glad to know that.”

    “What are you doing here?”

    He looked over his shoulder, gesturing at kid sitting there watching us, that looked about eight or so. “I’m here with my little brother. It was his idea to come here, I had no idea he knew what was happening.”

    He is taking his little brother bowling? How adorable is that. For a second I just took in his smile and eyes and I forgot what was happening around me. Fortunately for me, my surroundings decided to remind me.

    “Um,” Harper said, clearing her throat. Noah and I looked over to find her standing next to me. She was glancing between the two of us, a knowing look in her eyes. Then I looked behind her at my family and Carter, who were all staring at me like I was an alien. So what if I happened to drop a ball, then stop to talk to some random guy.

    “This is my sister,” I told Noah, watching his expression closely.

    “Nice to meet you,” he told her in his thick accent. I was happily surprised when he didn’t check her out, or have a flirty tone with her, which was what normally happened when any guy ever saw her or met her.

    “Charlotte, mom was wondering if you were going to take your turn,” Harper said, taking me by my elbow.

    I tried not to groan. Couldn’t I have a conversation with this guy without getting interrupted. Noah laughed, looking back at his brother. “I should get going as well.” His eyes landed back on mine. “You need a better grip on that ball, I could teach you sometime if you want. I’m a pretty good teacher.”

    I tried not to gasp out loud. Was Noah flirting with me? Right in front of my sister? I felt Harper’s nails dig into my arm and I knew I wasn’t imaging this. “I…sure…” I muttered.

    I returned to my seat and everyone’s eyes were still on me. I just hoped my face wasn’t red, even though I was sure it was. My mom opened her mouth, and I cringed at what she was probably about to say, especially since Noah was so close still.

    “Honey… aren’t you going to finish your turn?” She asked as the food was placed on the table.

    I shook my head. My knees were still shaking from talking to him, there was no way I could bowl now. He would be there, watching me. “Can you go for me, I want to eat some, I’m starving.”

    “Sure!” She said, grinning like a little kid.

    I sat at the table and put a piece of pizza on my paper plate, even though I wasn’t sure if I could eat now. My stomach was in knots.

    “So,” Harper whispered, sitting next to me. “Who was that?”

    I tried desperately not to grin. “Just some guy from my class. Noah.” She gave me another look as she piled fries onto her plate.

    Carter took a seat across from Harper and grabbed two pieces of pizza. He raised his eyebrow at me. “Who was that?”

    I groaned. “Am I going to get the 5th degree from everyone? He’s just this guy in my class. His name is Noah. That’s all there is to it.”

    He gave me a mocking grin and I knew he didn’t believe me. “Right. And what made you throw your ball backwards when you saw him?”

    I shrugged. “I just lost my grip. I should lift more weights like you do.” I was hoping by stroking his ego he would lose sight at what we were talking about.

    “Well I’m sure he can teach you,” he told me, bursting out in laughter. Great, he had heard that.

    “Yeah, he’s a pretty good teacher,” Harper chimed in, grinning. Her light blue eyes had a teasing look in them and I knew they weren’t going to let up anytime soon.

    “You guys, shhh,” I said, resisting the urge to look over my shoulder at him. I liked it better when they would go against each other, not team up against me.

    Carter reached over and took a fry off Harper’s plate, causing her to slap his hand. “Geeze Carter, there are more on the tray. Don’t touch my food, I don’t know where that hand has been.”  I silently thanked god for the distraction.

    “I could give you an idea,” he told her, which resulted in her giving me another one of those ‘drop this kid’ looks. I shrugged, looking away. They were both on probation in my book, I wasn’t going to help either of them.

    My dad sat down next to Carter, causing Harper to promptly stand up to go take her turn. He grabbed a slice, taking a few bites. It was killing me, because I knew he was going to say something, and just wanted him to get it over with.

    “You know Char, you could ask them to join us,” he said softly.

    “No that’s okay,” I said quickly, taking a bite of pizza to try to end what he was going to say.

    “Are you sure? You just don’t look like you’re having fun and I…” he paused, looking sad for a second. “I just don’t want you to hate this.”

    My heart squeezed in my chest. “I don’t hate this dad. I’m having fun. I just like this space pizza more than bowling.”

    His eyes soften and a smile appeared again. “Good.”

    Harper sat back down, reaching for her food. “You better not have touched this while I was gone,” she said to Carter.

    He gave her an evil grin. “Oh, I didn’t. But I am going to use your ball now.” He stood up quickly and rushed over, picking up her pink ball.

    “Carter! Do not use my ball! I don’t know where your hands have been!” She got up and chased after him, trying to pull the ball out of his hands.

    That suddenly gave me an idea. I grabbed a paper plate, putting some pizza and fries on it, then walked over to Noah and his brother. They looked up at me, then at the food in my hand as if it was the best thing they had ever saw. I knew my idea was a good one at that moment.

    “Are you guys hungry? We have some extra?”

    “Oh yeah!” Noah’s brother said, grabbing food off the plate before I could even sit it down. He had a heavy accent as well, as well as Noah’s brown eyes and hair.

    “Luke, what do you say?” Noah warned him.

    “Oh yeah. Thanks,” Luke said, his mouth full of food.

    “Thanks Charlotte,” Noah said, and hearing him say my name made me want to melt into the ground. It made this whole night one of the best in a long time.

    

 

5: Pile of Nerves

I hate group projects. I used to love them, since they were an excuse to hang out with your friend on a school night, but that all changed in middle school when I was pegged as the ‘Smart Girl’. Ever since then, the person I would be paired with would feel they wouldn’t have to do any of the work, because I would do it for them and get them a good grade with that. Which of course, I would. It’s not like I wanted to do it, especially since group projects often contained way more work than single assignments, but what could I really do? There was always the option to half ass it, teach them a lesson, but that meant getting a bad grade myself, and that wasn’t worth it.

    This is why when Mr. Vick announced in Government class we would be paired off for a project, I had to stop myself from groaning out loud. Several kids in the class locked their eyes on me, and I could tell they were ready to dart over to my side, begging me to help them get a good grade to bring up their GPA. I picked at my nail polish, pretending I didn’t notice their pleading gazes.

    “You will choose and research a state government issue or law. You will include two different points of views on the issue or law, the pros and cons so to speak, then you will each include your own feelings on it,” he paused, before dropping the bomb. “And I will be assigning your partner.”

    I immediately smiled, wishing I could get up and hug the guy. There were several serious students in the class, and this meant that I could get paired with one of them. Or even Noah, I couldn’t help but think, forcing myself not to turn around to look at him. Instead I stared at Mr. Vick, trying to send him a mental message to pair me with Noah. I could only hope to have such luck.

    He grabbed the class list and started reading off pairs. It appeared he was doing it at random, no real system about it. I started tapping my fingers nervously against my thighs, waiting to hear my name called. Mr. Vick was sure taking his sweet time, pondering over the list and pushing up his glasses before calling out names.

    “Noah Williams…” he called out and my ears perked up. This was it. Please say my name. Please say my name. “With Alex Bloone.”

    My heart dropped as Mr. Vicks paired with him Alex, the Quarterback of our football team. I was disappointed, even though it was a long shot, and I also felt a bit of sympathy for Noah. Alex was an incredible player, but as a student, well, not so much.

    “Chris Stevens…” Another pause. “With Charlotte Jones.”

    If I felt disappointed before, now I was just defeated. Chris Stevens was also on the football team, and I think he had less brain cells than Alex. Not that all jocks weren’t smart, it was just these two pretty much lived and breathed football and nothing else. Teachers gave them acceptable grades and tried to lighten their coursework because the team meant a lot to the school.

    “Uh, Mr. Vick,” Chris said, raising his large arm into the air. Mr. Vick looked over at him, his finger holding a spot on the class list. “Me and Alex have two away games coming up and some evening practices, you had said we could work something out.”

    “Oh, that’s right,” Mr. Vick said, writing down a note on the paper. “I’ll just put you and Alex together so that means Noah and Charlotte can work together.”

    My heart stopped dead and I couldn’t breathe. Was this really happening? It couldn’t be. Things like this never happen in real life. I looked up, and found myself getting a death look from Lexi, which I took as a sign that it had indeed really happened. I let out a shaky breath, trying to calm the butterflies that were filling up my stomach.

    Mr. Vick paired up the rest of the class, but I stopped paying attention. Nothing else mattered, I was already paired up to Noah. And although this was something that I had been hoping for, now that it was happening I felt anxious about it. Working together ensured time alone. What if we had nothing to talk about? What if he wanted me to do all the work? Or…what if he was as perfect as I thought he was? He was already on my mind most of my hours spent awake, how would things be once I actually got to know him?

    The bell rang and I absentmindedly stood up, grabbing my books and walking out the door, still thinking about my upcoming alone time with Noah. A hand landed on my shoulder, so I stopped walking and turned around. I drew in a breath as Noah’s brown eyes burned into mine.

    “So I guess we’re together,” he said with a smile. I tried not to blush at his choice of words.

    “It looks that way,” I told him, trying to keep my voice steady.

    “When did ya want to get together and start working?” His eyes haven’t left mine yet and it was making my heart go crazy. I just hoped he couldn’t hear it pounding.

    “Whenever you’re free.”

    He paused, thinking it over. “How about tomorrow night?”

    “You don’t have plans?” I couldn’t help but feel surprised. He had nothing to do on a Friday night? Like…a date or something.

    “No,” he chuckled. “Should I?”

    “Well… I just know most people don’t want to do school work on a Friday…” I muttered, feeling my checks flush.

    He ran his hand through his messy brown hair. “Yeah, well, as it turns out my little brother made plans without me, so I have an opening.” He said in a flirty tone.

    “Well that’s too bad,” I told him, hoping I sounded just as flirty.

    “What about you? Are you free?”

    “Yes, I’m free,” I told him without even pretending to think it over. Since we had family night last week, we weren’t going to be subjected to it this weekend. “We can work at my house, if you want.”

    He looked relieved and into his pocket, pulling out his phone. “Here, put your number in and I’ll text you mine later.”

    I took his phone, willing my fingers not to tremble as I entered in my phone number. I couldn’t believe we would be spending Friday night Noah. Sure, we would mainly be doing homework, but still I would get to get to know him better. I might be seeing him Saturday at the party, but you can’t really get to know someone in a crowded house with music blaring.

    “See you tomorrow,” he said with a grin before he took off down the hallway.

    Before I even got to my locker Noah had sent me a text, asking for my address and thanking me for having him over. How sweet was that?

 

 

    Noah would be at my house any minute, and I was nervous. Actually, nervous wasn’t the right word. I was one step away from having a nervous breakdown. It was ridiculous how I was acting, I was aware of that, but still I couldn’t help it. The one good thing was my family wasn’t around to witness me transforming from a cool, level headed person to a walking pile of nerves. My parents were at a dinner party at their friends house and wouldn’t be home until late. Emily was at a sleep over and Harper was out with Jason.

    Since Noah and I would be home alone, I decided to set up our little study session in the living room. I decided against my bedroom since that kind of screamed that I wanted to make out with him. Don’t get me wrong, I did want to make out with him, I just needed to get my damn nerves to go away. Did guys have this same problem? I never saw Carter get nervous over any girl. The living room had the big screen and a nice table to work at, plus it was close to the kitchen. If there was one thing I knew about guys is that they loved to eat. I was almost tempted to set out some food, but I thought maybe that looked like I was trying too hard.

    The door bell rang, and I quickly walked up to the front door, wiping my palms against my jeans. I let out a long breath, then pulled opened one of the double doors. There he was. How was it possible he looked even cuter than when I saw him at school today? And when he grinned at me, showing off his perfect teeth, I had to hold on to the door for support.

    I shook my head slightly, remind myself to get a grip. “Come on in,” I told him, moving to the side so he could come in.

    “Thanks,” he said, walking in and glancing around. “Your house is really pretty.”

    “Thanks,” I told him, offering my best smile. “I thought we could work in there,” I gestured towards the living room.

    We walked in and got settled on the floor next to the table. I had lined up these huge, comfy floor pillows next to the table so I wouldn’t be making him sit right on the ground. That would become very uncomfortable after sometime. My nerves seemed to be under control, but then again, I wasn’t really looking at him.

    “Are you excited for the party tomorrow?” He asked as we got our paper work out on the table.

    “Sure,” I told him, trying to sound enthusiastic. “How about you?”

    “Yeah, I haven’t really done anything fun since I’ve got here, so it should be cool.”

    “Well, besides bowling right?” I teased him, causing him to give me another grin.

    “Obviously,” he teased back.

    I wish I was better at flirty so I would know what to do or say next, but I didn’t have a clue. So instead, I decided a more practical approach. “Where did you move from?”

    “Tennessee. It’s really nice here, but I do miss it.” There was a sadness evident in his voice, and it made my heart melt. I had the urge to give him a big hug, so instead I tapped my pen against the table.

    “Why did you move here?” It was a little odd for him to move after the school year had started. It had to be hard moving away during your senior year, but even harder to go to a new school when it had already been in session for weeks.

    He gave me a look and suddenly I became worried I had pushed things. I was asking too much. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry,” I told him.

    “No, no, you’re not,” he reached over and squeezed my arm. Oh my god. Even though I had a long sleeve shirt on, I could feel the warmth of his hand and chills spread all over my body. “You’re just the first person to ask that. Most people were just interested in knowing one thing.”

    He let go of my arm and I was able to breathe again. “What is that?”

    He shook his head sheepishly. “If I have a girlfriend. Which I don’t,” he added, turning and looking at me.

    My face was on fire and I prayed it wasn’t showing. He was single? I was half tempted to push him backwards and start kissing him but instead I played nervously with my pen. I knew that I needed to say something, but I was still at a loss of words. “Is that why you moved?” I joked, finally able to find my voice.

    He laughed softly, but shifted in his seat. There was a vulnerability in his brown eyes and I could almost feel the sadness again. “Naw…” he hesitated for a second. “There was a family issue.”

    I nodded, not pushing it. I didn’t blame him for not sharing everything, he didn’t really know me that well. I wouldn’t tell him my whole life story. Well, maybe if he gave me that grin of his. Instead, I copied his move and reached over, gently squeezing his arm. Wow, I could feel his muscles even through his sweatshirt. I could only hope my touch had the same effect on him, but I was too scared to check his face for signs. I left go, and neither of us said anything. “So, did you have any ideas for the project?”

    He cleared his throat. “What? Oh, yeah. I was thinking we could do something like, should individual states be able to make their own gun control laws, without federal interference?”

    I stared at him. I wasn’t expecting him to say that. That answer seemed as if he had thought about. Like he cared about this project. “What?” He asked, giving me a smile when he noticed I was still staring.

    “Nothing,” I told him, though it was the furthest thing from the true. Noah was open but mysterious. He was gorgeous but also kind and apparently intelligent. He was the kind of guy I could really, really like. Dammit.

 

6: A hoodie and a kiss

“This is a bad idea,” I muttered, pacing around the living room, nervously smoothing down my hair. I had to admit all the work that Harper did to it paid off, it felt like silk in between my fingers.

    “What are you talking about?” Carter asked from his seat on the couch as he shoved some popcorn into his mouth. “It’s just a party.”

    It was easy for him to say that. His brown hair was in it’s normal state, looking as if he just rolled out of bed, and he just had on a simple black t-shirt, yet I knew as soon as we got to the party he would have girls swooning and guys wanting to talk to him. He just made it seem effortless and I wish I could borrow some of that from him.

    “Relax, you look hot,” Harper assured me as she walked into the room, plopping down on the love seat.

    I looked down at the tight, navy blue dress I had on and hoped she meant that, and not just saying that to help me calm down. Plus, I had borrowed the dress from her so she was a little biased about it. A wave of jealously washed over me as I noticed how pretty she looked in short, pink plaid pajama shorts and a black tank top. It was really hard to believe we shared the same genes. I glanced at Carter to try to get his input on the topic, but he was looking over Harper’s outfit as well.

    “You’re not coming?” He asked her, kind of surprised. Unlike me, Harper loved going to parties.

    She sighed a long, dramatic sigh. “No.”

    “Harper failed her drivers test today, so she’s just in the mood to mope and feel sorry for herself,” I explain to Carter.

    “I am not moping,” She corrected me. “I’m just not feeling up to going out.”

    “Rapunzel, you don’t have to give up a night out just because you’re the worlds worst driver,” Carter told her, causing her to roll her eyes.

    “I’m not a bad driver,” she protested, glaring at him. I wasn‘t sure what bothered her more, the fact he insulted her or used the nickname she hates. “My dad sucks at teaching me. He freaks out as soon as I start going fast and always compares me to Charlotte.”

    I couldn’t help but laugh as I have been in the car with her, and I would never tell her this, but she wasn‘t the best driver. “It’s not my fault I was an excellent student.”

    “I could take you out driving sometime,” Carter offered her. She looked over at him, clearly surprised by the fact he was actually being nice to her.

    “Well…” she paused and I knew she was trying to think of some kind of snappy reply before settling on saying “Thanks.”.

    “So why don’t you come out with us?” I asked her. I knew as soon as we got to the party Carter would ditch me to hook up with some girl, and if Harper was there I wouldn’t have to spend the whole night trying not to look like a dork.

    She shook her head, “Jason’s coming over. I need some TLC after my long day.”

    “Well, maybe we should get going. Did you want me to drive so you could drink?” I asked Carter.

    “I’ll drive,” he told me, pulling his keys out of his pockets. “You just worry about having fun with your boyfriend,” he told me with a smirk. I had made the mistake to causally mention to Carter that I was hoping to see Noah there.

    “He’s not my boyfriend,” I told him through clenched teeth. He didn’t need to know that I kind of wished he was.

    

    This was a bad idea.

    We had been at the party for over an hour and a half and I was still waiting to start having fun. So far this experience wasn’t what I was expecting at all- most of the boys, and the girls trying to get with said boys, were gathered around Lexi’s large flat screen TV, watching some football game with beers in their hands. Some of the people not interested in the game were standing around talking and laughing. There were also people coupled off, making out wherever they could find the space to do so.

    Carter was a part of the group that was making out. Kelly Millington, the girl whose boobs he had been staring at in lunch the one day, had found him and they talked for about two seconds before they started making out like there was no tomorrow. They had disappeared out of view, and I was pretty sure he was finally getting that private show.

    As for me, I was sitting on the couch, pretending to watch the football game as I sipped at my cup of beer. The stuff was pretty nasty, I don’t know how people could drink so much of it. Why was I sitting here, acting as if I knew what was going on and even cheering along with everyone instead of talking to the few people I knew here? The simple answer is because of Noah. And he wasn’t even here yet.

    His friends, however, were here and were sitting around the TV, so that’s where I decided to hang out at. I figured once he got here he would immediately head over to his friends and then he would see me sitting here and he would start talking to me. I could wish. I also tried to keep an eye on Lexi. I felt slightly like a stalker, but I knew she would alert me when Noah showed up, as she would probably make a race over to him as soon as he showed up. So, all I had to do was wait.

 

    And wait, and wait and wait, apparently. Forty minutes went by, very slowly I might add, and Noah still wasn’t here. I felt disappointed and even a little embarrassed that I had sat around for two hours, waiting for someone who most likely wasn’t going to show up. It didn’t make any sense, he had seemed so excited about it.

    However, my patience for this party was starting to wear thin. After getting a few drinks in them, most of the boys had become rowdy and obnoxious and this stupid football game was never going to end. I had made a few laps around the first floor of Lexi’s house and had yet to spot Carter. I was ready to go home. I pulled out my phone and called him, then sighed to myself as his voicemail picked up. I should’ve known better than to let him drive. I called Harper next, because even though she couldn’t drive, Jason could. Her phone also went to voicemail. Geeze, couldn’t anyone stop kissing for a second to answer their phone?

    The distance between Lexi’s house and mine was enough that driving would be your first thought, but walking wasn’t completely out of the question. So, I decided that I would just walk home, even though I was pretty sure that the walk in the heels Harper let me borrow would leave me to never be able to walk again. Damn Carter and his hormones. I sent him a text, telling him to call me as soon as he got this, and that I was walking home alone in the dark. Hey, there was nothing wrong with a little guilt trip.

    As I walked down the stone path that lead from the front stairs to the side walk, I glanced down at my shoes, debating if I should just take them off and walk home barefoot. The one thing I was sure about is that I was going to be freezing. I should’ve brought a jacket, but I didn’t know when I was leaving the house that I would be walking home at the end of the night.

    “Hey, where are you going?” The voice had an accent and when I looked up, my eyes met a pair of chocolate ones. Noah.

    “I.. was just going home.” He was showing up now? Now that I was over the night and ready to leave

    “Why would you do that?”

    “I’ve been here for a while and I’m just ready to go. You showed up kind of late…” I didn’t want him to think I had been waiting for him, even if that had been the case.

    He ran his fingers through his dark brown hair. “I had some family things come up.”

    I nodded. “Well, I hope you have fun.” I was surprised when I felt myself start to walk past him.

    “I…can I walk you to your car?”

    I turned back around and shook my head. For a second I thought I saw a flash of disappointment on his face. “Carter drove me here and I can’t find him. So I’m going to walk home.”

    “Oh no, I can’t let you do that,” Noah told me, walking down the path towards me. My heart started to speed up. “It’s late and dark. I’ll drive you home.”

    “But you just got here,” I pointed out.

    He shrugged. “I could always come back. I’m not going to let you walk home.”

    “Okay,” I agreed, trying to stay casual even though my heart was nearly beating out of my chest. “Thank you.”

    As I followed him to his car, I rubbed my arms, trying to warm myself up. He glanced back at me and noticed, and next thing I know he was taking off his hoodie and handing it over to me. “Here ya go.”

    I didn’t even bother to fight the gesture, but I did have to fight the urge to hold it in my hands and smell it, so I quickly slipped it over my head. Turns out, I didn’t have to hold it up to my nose to smell it, because I was instantly inhaling in his scent anyway. It made my knees weak.

    “Thanks,” I told him, getting into his car. It was a nice, dark blue car, though I had the feeling it was his parents and not his. I quickly gave him directions on how to get to my house from hers.

    “So, you couldn’t find Carter?” He asked as he started to drive down the street. .
    
    “Yeah, he was off making out. One of his favorite things to do,” I told him with a laugh.

    Noah glances over and smiles at me. “I can’t blame him on that one.”

    I felt my face flush and tried to stop picturing how it would feel if he kissed me. “I’m sorry you were late to the party, I hope everything is okay with your family.”

    He looked over at me, I mean really looked at me. It was so intense, it almost made me squirm in my seat. “Thank you, I appreciate that.”

    We didn’t talk again until he pulled into my driveway and suddenly I regretted bringing up his family. Why did I have to mention them when we were talking about kissing? He probably thinks I’m insane.

    “Well thanks for the ride,” I told him again, reaching for the handle.

    “Hey,” he said, grabbing my arm to stop me. “You look really pretty tonight.”

    My heart stopped and I was sure I wasn’t breathing. I felt my phone start to vibrate like crazy inside my purse, but I didn’t care. There was no way I was going to answer it, I couldn’t stop looking at Noah, because the way he was looking at me, and my mouth, made me think that maybe he was going to-

    And then his hand touched my cheek, softly rubbing it with his fingers. It was such a soft touch I almost couldn’t even feel it, but goosebumps spread over my skin. Then his hand moved to the back of my head, and he was gently pulling me to him. I closed my eyes a second before I felt his lips on mine. It was a soft, sweet kiss, but I felt it in every inch of my body.

    He pulled away and by the look in his eyes I could tell he didn’t really want it to end. Neither of us talked at first, we just looked at each other, still in the haze from the kiss. Then he moved his hand back to my face and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. I could’ve melted into my seat.

    “Have fun at the party,” I told him, hoping he could hear my. My voice was barely above a whisper.

    “I think I might just go home. There’s no one I really want to see at the party…anymore.”

    I didn’t even try to stop the blush that spread across my cheeks, the same spot he had touched so softly. “Goodnight Noah.”

    “Goodnight,” he told me. Part of me wanted him to kiss me again, but I knew I would never want to get out of the car if he did.

    As I closed the front door behind me, I slide against it, letting out a squeal. Did that really just happen? It was the best first kiss I ever had, not that I had a lot of first kisses, but still, I couldn’t picture any being better than that. I realized I still had his hoodie on, and this time I let myself bring it to my nose.

    I grabbed my phone, seeing I had missed three calls from Carter while I was kissing Noah. I called him back since he didn’t think I was murdered on the walk home that never happened. I just hoped he wouldn’t ask why I didn’t answer, because then I would have to admit I was just as bad as him and Harper- that I was too busy kissing to answer my phone.

 

7: The special things in life

    For the first time that I could remember, I was nervous to go to school. It wasn’t because I forgot to do a homework assignment or that I had a huge test I didn’t study for, and it wasn’t even the fear of speaking in front of the class. No, it wasn’t any of the typical reasons you dread going to school for. I was nervous about seeing Noah. Don’t get me wrong, I was excited to see him, but I didn’t know how to act. I didn’t know how he would act.  I wish I knew what he was thinking when he kissed me, if he was just caught up in the moment or if it had been something he had thought about doing.

    It didn’t help that we haven’t talked since last night when he dropped me off. It can’t be a good sign if a guy kisses you and then doesn’t talk to you the next day right? Then again, it was just a kiss. It wasn’t a promise of any commitment, so it might not mean anything that we haven’t talked. I was driving myself crazy and I knew I had to talk to someone about this, and there were three obvious candidates.

    The first one was Carter, because he was a guy. He knew how the male mind worked, and would offer real advice without trying to sugar coat it. However, Carter was more of a ‘typical male’ and I had a feeling that Noah wasn’t. I didn’t mean that Carter wasn’t a good person, he was my best friend after all, and I knew that underneath his sarcastic outer shell, he was a really caring person. It was just Carter had no problem kissing a girl and then never talking to her again.

    Harper was my next choice. She was great at listening and had this special way of always making me feel better about myself. Plus, Harper has had plenty of experience when it came to guys and kissing. And now even beyond kissing, apparently. The only problem was for some reason I always felt embarrassed admitting how inexperienced with guys to I was her. And Harper wasn’t your average girl- guys never seemed to have a problem expressing their feelings to her. When you look like Harper, guys don’t act mysterious or play hard to get, they chase after you and write you love notes.

    Finally, there was my mom, because, well, she was my mom. She always said exactly what I needed to hear, and has this uncanny way of always being right. I loved how she always listened to me and my sisters, without making us feel uncomfortable or that she was judging us.

    And just like that, I had my answer.

    “Hey mom, can we talk for a second?” I asked as I walked into the kitchen.

    She was standing over a cutting board, slicing up some vegetables for dinner. She paused and put the knife down, smiling at me. “Sure, of course.” She sat down at the table, gesturing for me to join her. “Is everything okay?”

    I sat down across from her. “Yeah, it’s just…well…I…” I stammered, not sure of how to start.

    Suddenly, she had an understanding look in her eyes and gave me a warm smile. Was she really a mind reader? “Honey, is this about your Bexley application? Don’t stress out about it, you will hear back from them soon.”

    “What? No,” I shook my head. It occurred to me at that moment that I haven’t been stressing about my Bexley application. In fact, I didn’t even think about it until she mentioned it to me now. “This… is about a guy.”

    “Ohh,” she said slowly, trying to hide the fact that she was clearly surprised. “So, what about this guy?” She added, without missing a beat.

    I looked down at my hands, feeling strange talking about him when I didn’t really know too much about him. Besides the way he made me feel. “His name is Noah, he just moved here. He was the guy I was talking to at the bowling alley.”

    Her smile grew and I felt myself blush. “He was cute!”

    “I know. We’ve been talking more and more, and it’s just… I like him. I think he might like me back because he kissed me, but-”

    “He kissed you?” She asked, practically squealing herself. “How was it?”

    “Moom,” I groaned. Then, as the kissed flashed back in my mind, I couldn’t help but smile. “It was the best kiss ever.”

    She smiled at me. “So do you think you guys will go out?”

    “I don’t know. He kissed me last night but we haven’t talked since. I think he may like me, but I don’t know how he feels. And I don’t know if I should ask him how he feels.”

    “He probably feels the same way you do. And trust me, most guys don’t want to make a move until they know they won‘t be turned down. You could always just ask him out.” I gasped  and she laughed. “What? I asked your dad out because he was too shy to make the first move.” There was a sparkle in her eyes when she talked about it, as if she was right back in that moment.

    “I’m not asking him out mom! It might have just been a kiss to him. I don’t want to scare him away.”

    She nodded, thinking over what I just said. “Did it feel like just a kiss?”

    I thought back to how gently he touched me, how sweet his kiss was, and how he looked at me afterwards. It was a short kiss, but afterwards everything felt different. I felt different. I was with Kevin, my only ex boyfriend, for about 9 months. We kissed quite a bit during that time, but it never felt like it did when Noah kissed me. Kissing Kevin seemed more like it was happening because it was suppose to. While it was nice, it just felt like a kiss. It didn’t leave me warm or giddy and it most definitely didn’t make me feel different. “No, it didn‘t,” I said honestly.

    My phone buzzed on my lap and I looked down to see a text message from Noah. My heart leaped into my throat. I slide his message open, quickly scanning what he said. He was asking how my day went and if he could call me. I wrote him back, telling him he could call in five minutes. When I looked back up at mom, I knew I had a huge smile on my face.

    “Was it Noah?” She asked, a teasing tone in her voice.

    “Yeah, it was. I’m going to go upstairs, thanks for talking!” I told her in one breath, racing back up to my bedroom.

    I barely got to my door when my phone started buzzing in my hand. He was calling me. Already. My heart started to speed up and I exhaled a few long breaths, yoga style. I reminded myself he was probably just calling to get his hoodie back, there was no reason to be nervous.

    “That wasn’t five minutes,” I told him when I finally answered.

    “It wasn’t? Well, I was never good in math.” I could hear the smile in his voice, and even over the phone it made my knees weak.

    I laughed and started to pace around my room. I realized it was my turn to say something but I started to panic slightly as silence filled the line. Where was my voice?

    Finally Noah gave up on waiting for me to say anything and he cleared his throat. “So, there’s something I want to ask you.”

    “Yeah?”

    “I… I mean, I was just going to ask you tomorrow…but then I didn’t want to…wait.” I smiled to myself as his stumbled over his words, obviously nervous.

    “It’s okay. What is it?” For some reason, the fact that he was nervous was giving me some confidence. He wouldn’t sound this nervous about getting an article of clothing back, would he?

    “I was wondering if you would want to go out with me.” Between him saying it in a rush and his accent, I wasn’t even sure if I heard him right.

    “On a date?” I asked slowly, still not believing this was happening. I was suddenly glad this was occurring over the phone, because I’m pretty sure I looked like I was about to faint.

    “Well, yes, typically that’s what it means,” his voice was calm again and he let out a soft laugh.

    “I… would like that.” That was an understatement for sure.

    There was a pause on his end of the line. “Really?” He asked, if he couldn’t believe that I would say yes to him.

    “Really,” I said with a laugh.

    “Would Friday work for you?”

    I sighed to myself. “I can’t Friday. It’s family fun night.”

    “I certainly can’t complete with Hank’s Bowling Alley,” he started to crack up.

    “Oh god, no,” I joined him in laughing. “I’m free Saturday,” I told him.

    “Saturday is perfect. And I promise my brother and I won’t crash your family night this time.”

    “Well that’s too bad,” I flirted, surprising myself.

    “It is indeed. I…have to go, but I’ll see you tomorrow.” I could tell there was something else he wanted to say, but he didn’t.

    “See you tomorrow,” I repeated, ending the call. Then, I did something I just had to do. I screamed.

    After I got the screaming out of my system I walked down the hall to Harper’s room. The door was open, and they were both sitting on the bed, watching a TV show. Harper was laying on her stomach, and Emily was sitting next to her, pulling Harper’s long hair into a French braid. Carter would have a field day with that one.

    “Hey, I have something to tell you guys,” I said as I walked into the room.

    “Come sit down,” Harper said as Emily grabbed the remote and muted the show.

    I took a seat in front of them, with my back to the TV so I could face them both. “So, I didn’t want to say anything right away, but Noah kissed me last night.”

    “He did?” Emily asked happily, moving her arms in excitement, causing her to yank Harper’s hair.

    “Ow,” Harper said, rubbing her head. “When did this happen?”

    “When I was leaving the party last night. Carter had ditched me to make out with this girl, which actually I suppose I should thank him for doing, and I ran into Noah and he gave me a ride home,” I watched smiles grow on their faces as I gave them the recap of what happened. When I was done, they both sighed happily.

    “I can’t wait for things like that to happen to me,” Emily told me.

    “Seriously! You are so lucky Char,” Harper added in. For the first time ever, I think Harper was jealous of me for once.

    “That’s not all,” I teased, causing Harper to sit up on her knees.

    “There’s more?”

     I nodded. “He called me just before I came in here and asked me out.”

    They squealed and then started to demand the details of the phone call. I went over it, giving them the details they wanted, causing them to conclude they were defiantly jealous. For as long as I could remember, I was jealous of Harper because of her looks and the attention her looks got her, but for the first time I felt like I had something really special in my life.  

    “So, do you guys want to see his hoodie?” I asked them.

    They exchanged a glance, then looked at me with smiles.

    “Are you really asking us this?” Emily asked.

    “Of course we do,” Harper told me.

    As I walked back to my bedroom to grab it, I knew I was wrong about something. Noah wasn’t the first special thing in my life, but he was the first special thing outside of my family, which included Carter. And I couldn’t help but hope that Noah would stay in that place for a long time.

8: When to fold

    When my alarm went off on Monday morning, I opened my eyes and had an actual smile on my face. I know, I’m pathetic.

    What was even more pathetic is what happened next, when I was glancing at my light pink walls, trying to adjust my eyes to the morning sunlight and found myself wondering what Noah’s walls looked like. Were they painted any colors or just plain white? Did he have posters of his favorite movies or bands on the wall or were they bare? Maybe he had them covered in photos of his family and friends that he left behind, the people that knew him better than anyone else.

    I shook my head, trying to shake off this new obsession I seemed to have, and placed my feet on the ground, forcing myself to get out of bed. The thought of spending the entire day in bed thinking of Noah was appealing, but going to school and actually seeing him was even more so. Well, after I get rid of this morning breath that is.

    As I brushed my teeth, I glanced up in the mirror and couldn’t help but wonder what Noah saw in me. I mean, I was pretty but I wasn’t the type that usually attracted people like Noah, unless they were looking for help on homework. My best feature though, had to be my eyes. Growing up I was jealous that Harper and Emily had gotten dad’s piercing, light blue eyes, but as I got older, I have grown to really appreciate having mom’s big grey eyes.  They were an uncommon shade, which has made people look a little closer at them.

    I felt a little shiver run through me as I remembered how Noah had looked into them, so intensely it felt like he was stripping me down to my underwear. I was thankful he didn’t really have that ability, because I had been wearing these awful, plain blue cotton pair, the kind you definitely wouldn’t want the guy you’re crushing over to see on you. Which reminded me, maybe it was time to spruce up my underwear, not because I expected Noah to see them, but perhaps it would give me a little more confidence. Only I wouldn’t buy the little kind that Harper did, because I was sure that would feel like I had a wedgie all day.

    I walked down stairs to the kitchen, following the scent of homemade pancakes, fully expecting to find my mom standing by the oven, flipping them over. Instead I found Carter sitting at the table, piling some pancakes onto his plate. His brown hair was so messy I was sure he didn’t even brush it after he rolled out of bed. He looked up and gave me a nod, as if it was no big deal that he was over at seven in the morning. Well, it wasn’t anything new, I just normally knew a head of time.

    “What are you doing here?”

    “Good morning to you as well,” he said sarcastically.

    “I didn’t mean it like that. You just don’t usually come over before school,” I told him as I placed a pancake onto my own plate.

    “My mom took your mom out for breakfast so I drove over here with her, since I figured your mom would still be making breakfast and mine wouldn’t be,” he laughed, shoving more food into his mouth.

    Carter was an only child and still expected his mom to cook and clean up for him. I had no idea what he was going to do away at college next year. However, I had a pretty strong hunch that he was just going to wear his clothes for as long as he could get away with it before they started to smell, then bring them home on a weekend for his mom to wash them. Either that, or charm girls into doing it for him, and trust me, they would be more than willing.

    “And opening a cereal box is too hard?”

    “You know it,” he said, looking up at me with a mischievous grin. “Plus, if I had stayed home I would’ve missed out on some fascinating gossip.”

    I laughed and rolled my eyes at him. “Really, Carter? You’re gossiping over breakfast? You’re like an 80 year old woman.”

    His grin grew. “You might be interested in this little tidbit. Since it has to do with the fact that you’re going out with Noah on Saturday, on a real date.”

    “How did you find that out?”

    “It was the first thing your mom said to us when we walked in,” he said with a shrug.

    I put my fork down on my plate and stared at him. “Are you serious?”

    He nodded. “You should watch out for it on the action news tonight.”

    I rolled my eyes at him again. “It’s not that big of a deal.” Even though talking about it made it seem all the more real, and it was kind of making me lose my appetite. I pushed my plate away.

    “They were kind of surprised that I didn’t know about it and so was I,” he told me and I immediately felt bad. It wasn’t often that Carter expressed his feelings and this was about as close to it as he got. But I knew him well enough to know that he didn’t like hearing about it through the grapevine.

    “I’m sorry. I was going to mention it, I just didn’t think you would want to talk about it.”

    He laughed and put yet another pancake on his plate. “Trust me, sitting around talking about other guys is not my favorite past time, but I’m sure listening to me talk about my hook ups isn’t yours and you still do it. So, I will too.” It was moments like this that I wish I could explain to Harper about when she shoots me those looks when he is annoying her.

    “Thanks,“ I told him with a smile. “Speaking of which, how was Kelly?”

    “Now this is my kind of breakfast talk,” he told me with a grin before he went into the details.

    

    Unfortunately my good mood from breakfast didn’t last too long, because as I was shoving my books into my locker before homeroom, Lexi Hamilton decided to approach me for the first time ever. She leaned against the locker next to mine, and cleared her throat, as if she didn’t want to bother with a greeting. I looked over at her and she flipped her long hair over her shoulder.

    “Hey Lexi…” She smoothed out her perfectly picked out clothing, causing me to glance down at my own worn out Bexley University long sleeve shirt and faded jeans. I tried really hard not to feel self-conscious next to her.

    “So.. I heard you left my party with Noah,” she said in an accusatory voice, as if I stole her dog or something.

    “Um, yeah, he gave me a ride home,” I told her as I shoved my hands into my jean pockets.

    “That’s cute,” she said sarcastically. Not in the way that Carter is usually sarcastic, this was more harsh. “It’s just… kind of rude for you to hit on him at the party I invited you to, at my house, when you know I like him.”

    It took everything in me not to laugh in her face. Who did she think she was? “Well, you didn’t actually invite me, you invited Carter and I was kind of invited by association. And I wasn’t hitting on him, he gave me a ride home, that’s all.” Not that she deserved an explanation. She wasn’t my friend and my status with Noah was none of her business.

    Her pretty face turned pink, as if she wasn’t used to anyone talking to her in that way. The look in her eyes told me that I would probably be receiving death glares from her for the rest of the year, but so what? A few weeks ago I probably would’ve been extremely intimidated by her, but I found myself not really caring. Maybe it was because I knew that once the year was over, I wouldn’t have to deal with her and her better than everyone attitude.

    Then suddenly the blush vanished from her face and it was replaced by a flirty smile. Her eyes were focused on something behind me so I turned to look and saw Noah walking up to my locker, that sexy little smile on his face. He had on this long sleeved, dark blue shirt that showed off his muscular frame, and I had to resist the urge to sigh out loud at how gorgeous he looked. There was no other word to describe him.

    “Hey Charlotte,” he said, causing me to blush. Would I ever get use to that smile, that accent? “Lexi,” he added in, offering her a friendly smile. He didn’t seem to think it was strange we were talking, but then again he was new and didn’t know her well enough to know what she was really like.

    “I’ll see you later Noah,” she said in a purr like voice before she took off down the hall. I don’t know what she couldn’t stand more, spending more time talking to me, or watching Noah and I interact.

    “Yeah, see ya,” his eyes were still on mine and I felt like I was being stripped again. I was suddenly glad I had ditched that blue cotton underwear.

    “So,” he said, shifting his weight from one foot to another. “I was wondering if I could walk you to homeroom.”

    I bite my lip, trying to stop myself from grinning like a complete idiot. That was cute possibly the cutest thing that anyone had ever said to me. “Seriously?”

    “Of course,” he told me, grabbing the books out of my hands and placed them on top of the books he was already carrying. “What is it?” he asked, noticing the look I was giving him.

    “It’s just… maybe guys in Tennessee do this kind of stuff all the time, but let me tell you, guys here in Ohio do not,” I told him with a laugh. Just looking at him holding my books as we made our way down the hall made my heart do this crazy flutter thing.

    “Well, they should.” I didn’t want to tell him that if they did, this moment wouldn’t be as special.

    “So-” We both started to say at the same time, then laughed at ourselves.

    “Are we already turning into that annoying couple that think and speak the same way?” My heart stopped beating. Couple? Did he just call us a couple? “Anyway, what were you going to say?”

    “I… have your hoodie still,” I blurted out, my mind still wrapping around the fact that he had referred to us as a couple, even if he had been joking.

    He let out a surprised laugh, and shook his head at me slightly. “I’m aware of that.” The smile on his face told me he wasn’t exactly eager to get it back. Which was good because I certainly wasn’t eager to give it back to him.

    “Well, now that that’s settled, what were you going to say?”

    “I mean, it’s not as important as updating the status on a missing hoodie but…” I wanted to laugh, but the way he let his voice trail off told me this might be serious. Oh god, what if he was going to cancel the date? He wouldn’t do that after offering to walk me to class would he? Unless he thought that might make up for it.

    “But?” I asked, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. The silence was too much, I was going crazy.

    He stopped walking and turned to face me, so I did the same. His brown eyes looked so serious, I could hear my heart pounding I was so nervous to hear what he had to say. The last thing I said hung in the air for what felt like hours before he finally opened his mouth to respond.

    “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you or that kiss,” he told me softly, and before I had a chance to fully digest what he had said, his lips were on mine.  

    Even though I had been replaying that kiss over and over in my head, I didn’t quite have the feeling of it pinned down, because wow, this kiss was amazing. I grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer to me as the kiss quickly escaladed from soft and gentle to this deep, urgent kiss. I felt something cold against my back and realized he was gently pushing me up against the locker, and I swear I could feel his heart beating rapidly against my chest. He traced his fingers against my jaw, and my knees almost gave away to my weight.

    Then, he pulled away, his eyes fluttering open. He gave me this shy smile before he bent down to pick up the books he had dropped on the ground. I hadn’t even been aware he dropped them. I was sure my face was flushed, but I wasn’t embarrassed because his was as well. I glanced down the hall and noticed some people staring at us, probably in disbelief.

    Even though I always gave Carter and Harper a hard time for their heavy public make out sessions with people, I suddenly wish they had been around to witness this- they wouldn’t believe it. Hell, I barely believed that I had just shared that kind of passionate kiss, the kind that I wish could have kept going, in front of everyone. But hey, sometimes you just can’t fight it. I was pretty sure that I would always be willing to fold when it came to Noah.

    

 

    

 

9: Stars and Blankets

Once again I found myself pacing around the living room, anxiously waiting for Noah to show up. After four mornings of having Noah walk me to homeroom, minus the day when he was late, three incredible, heart stopping kisses in the hallway, and one tedious family fun night picking apples and going to the pumpkin patch, it was finally Saturday.

    I bite my bottom lip, which thanks to my lip gloss, tasted like strawberry watermelon, and glanced down at my outfit. Noah had the night planned out, not giving me a single detail about it, so I hoped I was dressed appropriate for what he had in mind. The one thing I did know, is that I looked good, borderline on hot even, thanks to Harper allowing me to raid her closet again. I picked a long, white sweater that clung to me in all the right places, and fell over my right shoulder slightly, black leggings and dark purple boots, that were about four inches shy of reaching my knees.

    It’s funny, when I was with Kevin, I usually planned all of our dates, which Carter said was because of my need to always be in control, but in reality it was because I knew Kevin wouldn’t put any effort into it. So, instead of being disappointed time after time, I took the matter into my own hands. But Noah? He just moved here and probably wasn’t even use to the area, yet he had everything planned out for me. No matter what we ended up doing, tonight was already special for me.

    I wish he would’ve agreed to let me meet up with him, so I could already be on my way, but he insisted he had to pick me up. I was just thankful that the house was empty, so I could freak out without my whole family watching me. It wasn’t an easy task to convince my mom and dad that they shouldn‘t stick around when he showed up since they were both excited to meet the infamous Noah, but as luck would have it my dad’s law firm was having an event that they needed to attend.

    Then the doorbell rang, and I had to remind myself to breathe. I slowly walked to the front door and pulled it open, finding him standing there looking unbelievable in this dark blue button up shirt and dark jeans. I opened my mouth to greet him, but then I breathed in the scent of his freshly applied cologne and I lost the ability to think correctly.

    “Wow,” I blurted out, unable to edit myself.

    He grinned that sexy grin of his. “My thoughts exactly.”

    “Thanks,” I told him, not bothering to hide the enormous grin that was spreading across my lips.

    “Are you ready to leave?” He asked, looking over my shoulder as if he expected my parents to show up behind me. If only he knew how close that was to being a reality.

    I nodded. “I’m ready to see where we are going. It better be good.”

    He froze, a slight look of panic falling in his gorgeous eyes. “I.. tried to pick something you would like, but I’m not sure what you are into just yet,” he said in a rush.

    How was it possible he looked even better when he was nervous? I couldn’t help but think of how refreshing it was to be hanging out with a guy that wasn’t afraid to let you know what he is thinking, instead of desperately trying to play it cool all the time.
    
    “Hey,” I told him, reaching out and squeezing his arm. “I was only joking.”

    The look in his eyes didn’t completely disappear, but he looked a bit more relaxed. “I just really want you to have fun,” he reached out and grabbed my hand, gently leading me towards his car which was parked in the driveway.

    He pulled open the passenger side door, moving aside as he gestured for me to get in. I smiled my thanks to him, thinking that the last time a guy opened the door for me was my dad when I was too little to reach the handle myself. The thing was though, Noah’s sweet gestures didn’t seem forced, or as if he was just doing what he thought he should, because he was trying to earn points with me. His acts of chivalry just seemed to be a part of who he was. I didn’t think there were any hot romantics left in the world, but Noah may just be the last of his kind.

    I couldn’t believe how comfortable I felt with Noah, not minding the silence in the car as we started driving to the secret destination. In fact, I was kind of enjoying it as it gave me a chance to steal glances at him, watching as he tapped his thumbs against the steering wheel to the beat of some classic rock song that was on the radio.

    I wasn’t the type of person that quickly became close to someone, my first instinct is to think that when someone is being nice to me they want something, but that feeling was thrown out the window when it came to Noah.  I could almost sense what type of person he was, even though in reality I didn’t know much about him at all, well, besides how his lips felt against mine and how his eyes had the power to make me go speechless. It was my mission to change that tonight.

    “I hope you’re hungry, I should’ve told you not to eat anything,” he said in his thick accent.

    “I’m hungry,” I told him as I glanced over and met his eyes, giving him a smile.

    “Good,” he reached over with his right hand and found mine, giving it a quick squeeze before returning it to the steering wheel. My heart pounded hard in response.

    He turned into a parking lot and I looked out my window, seeing a sign for Oval Park. Oval Park was a movie in the park place, and it was new to the area. Harper and I had been dying to check out, but we haven’t had a chance to go yet. It was a perfect choice and I couldn’t have picked it out better myself.

    After pulling into a parking spot, we got out of the car and Noah grabbed two  blankets from the backseat.  The sky was already turning from blue to bright pink and orange as we made our way across the parking lot, and even though it was halfway into October, the air was pretty warm today, probably one of the last times before winter showed up. However, once the sun fully set I knew there was a good chance we’d be flirting with cooler temperatures and I was thankful that Noah thought of that with the blankets.

    We went into a large white building where you bought your tickets and also had some food options. While they had your typical movie choices like popcorn, nachos and candy, they also had real food like pizza, wraps, stir-fry bowls and salads.

    Noah lead me to the right so we could get in line to buy tickets for the movie that was playing, which was apparently While You Were Sleeping, since tonight was a throw back night. I turned to face Noah with a grin on my face.

    “Seriously? Don’t tell me you are some closet Rom-Com fan.”

    He returned the smile. “No, of course not, but this movie is a classic.”

    “Whatever you say,” I told him as I shoved him gently.

    “Are you saying you don’t like this movie?”

    “I love it, actually,” I admitted. “I’m just surprised you are willing to sit through this.”

    He grinned again and shook his head at me as if I should know better. “I told you, it’s a classic,” he paused for a second before adding, “besides, that’s what you do when you like someone.”

    Oh my god, breathe.

    I wanted to say something back that was as equally sweet as what he said, but all my mind could focus on was what he had just said. I figured he had liked me, you just don’t go around kissing people and asking them on dates if you don’t have feelings for them, but hearing him admit it made it seem much more real.

    After Noah bought our tickets we made our way over to get some food. Noah grabbed a tray and even though he insisted he could carry it all, I stole the blankets out of his arms. Noah went right for the pizza and fries and while I had debated getting a wrap so I wouldn’t seem like a pig, I joined him in his choice. There was no point to put on an act with him, the fact I could chow down two slices of pizza and some fries wouldn’t change his view of me.

    When we walked out the back doors of the building to find a spot to sit, I found my breath being taken away for the second time tonight.

    The back doors lead out to a grassy area where you sat at, and there was a large screen at the end of it. However, lined up along the sides of the grass area were trees, with soft white Christmas lights strung around them, casting this soft, romantic lighting as it slowly became darker out. It was simply gorgeous.

    “Good choice?” Noah asked, smiling softly as he watched my reaction to it.

    “Very good choice.”

    I put a blanket down on the spot we liked, and we both sat down on it, saving the other one incase we got cold later on. Noah put the tray in front of us and as we started to eat our food, the movie started up.

    When we were finished eating, I somehow found my head on Noah’s lap, and he gently stroked his fingers through my hair. At some point he covered me up with the blanket, but in all honesty I didn’t need it. Between the atmosphere of this place, the comfort of being on him, and the feel of his touch, there was a warmth filling me up from the inside.

 

 

    “I had so much fun at the movie, thank you,” I told Noah as we got back into his car.

    “I’m glad,” he reached over and put his hand on my thigh, leaving it there as he started driving again. “But we’re not done yet.”  

    “Oh? Where are we going now?” He sure seemed to have a lot of his sleeve. I wanted to tell him he already gave me the most incredible date and didn’t need to do anything else, but I didn’t want this night to end.

    “Oh, you’ll see,” he teased.

    I laughed at him for being so mysterious. “I’m scared,” I joked.

    “You should be.”

    It turns out, maybe I really should be. After driving for nearly thirty minutes, Noah had just pulled his car over at the side of a graveled road, with nothing but trees surrounding us. When he shut off his headlights, it was almost pitch dark besides for the moon and stars in the sky. As he undid his seatbelt, I felt butterflies in my stomach. What were we doing here?

    “Noah?”

    “Yeah?” He looked over at me, but I could barely see his features.

    “What are we doing?”

    He laughed and reached over, squeezing my hand. “Let’s get out of the car and I’ll show you.”

    We got out of the car and just like before, Noah grabbed the blankets. He took my hand, leading us down a path by the flashlight on his phone. As we walked along the path, I no longer felt nervous. It was so pretty and peaceful that there was no reason to be scared, plus I felt safe with him. I could see a clearing up a head and then Noah stopped walking.

    “Ta-da,” he said, moving a side so I could take in the view. I gasped.

    In front of me was a wooden deck, around twenty feet long, surrounded by a wide lake. The moon and stars glowed in the darkness, and were reflected in the water, which looked almost black.

    “How did you find this place?” I asked him as he was spreading out a blanket on the deck.

    “I stumbled upon in. I like to come here when I need to think.” He took off his shoes and laid down on the blanket, so I followed his lead. We used the second blanket as a pillow and he pulled me close to him. I could feel his heart beating like crazy in his chest.

    “I’m glad you moved here,” I told him.

    He laughed lightly, but there was a sadness in it. I was kind of getting the feeling that the move didn’t happen for a good reason. As much as I wanted to ask about it, I didn’t want him to feel like I was pressing him about it. He would tell me when he wanted to.

    “I’m glad I met you,” he said finally. I was glad he couldn’t see me blush.

    “What colleges have you applied to?” I asked, changing the subject. “Are you thinking about going back to Tennessee?”

    “Naw, I’m probably going to just go somewhere around here. It would be easier.  I haven’t sent in any applications yet though.”

    I smacked him lightly against the chest. “You need to send those in!”

    He laughed. “Yes ma’am.”

    “You should apply to Bexley,” I told him without really thinking about what I was saying. It might have sounded like a simple suggestion, but the underline meaning was so much more. “I’m waiting to hear back from them.”

    “I was looking into that one.” I could tell he was smiling, even though I couldn’t see it without turning my head.  “It must be nerve wrecking waiting, huh?”

    “Well…” To be honest, it probably was, but ever since I met Noah I didn’t think about my grades or the application like I had been before I met him. “I guess so.”

    “Are you a chocolate type of girl?”

    “Oh yeah,” I told him laughing. I decided to play along with his game. “Do you have any siblings besides Luke?”

    “Nope. Favorite color?”

    “Pink,” I said and he laughed. “Favorite movie?”

    “Well… now it’s While You Were Sleeping.” He was so cute, I couldn’t help but grin like an idiot. “Do you like watching sunsets?”

    “I like the early morning, when the sun rises more. It just seems prettier.” Before I could think of another question to ask him, he moved onto his side, kissing my nose.

    “Hey Charlotte?”

    “Yeah?” I asked, sure he could hear my heart pounding.

    “Do you wanna watch the sunrise with me?”

    I laughed in surprise, turning on my side. “Noah, we have hours before that happens.”

    “Do you have a curfew or something?” He ran his fingers across my jaw line.

    “No, but what are we going to do until out here until morning?” I said, still laughing at the idea.
    “I can think of something,” he muttered and then his lips were against mine.

    I could no longer feel the cool air as we wrapped our arms around each other, kissing slow and deep. He brushed my hair away from my face, and I felt myself press against his body in response. He groaned softly, taking out his frustration in his kissing, and it grew more urgent and passionate.

    It was a crazy notion to spend the night out here, but at the same time, there was no way in hell I could leave.

    

    

 

10: Rain Delay

    I slowly walked up to the front door, trying to prevent the jiggle sound of the keys as I unlocked the door. In the silence of the late night, it sounded like fireworks going off. I turned the knob and gently pushed opened the door, glancing back at Noah waiting in his car and gave him a little wave before slipping inside. I know it was probably driving him crazy that I wouldn’t let him walk me to the door, but I didn’t want to add any more noise to my entrance. I held my breath as I shut the door, standing still for a moment, straining to hear any sounds of life.

    I couldn’t believe I was sneaking into the house at nearly 3:30 in the morning. While I didn’t technically have a curfew, my parents always insisted us to be home at a decent time, and I was pretty sure that this wasn’t included in that time frame. And they most definitely wouldn’t like the fact that I was out for half the night with some guy they have never met. I tiptoed up to my room, pausing for a moment every time the floor squeaked under my feet.

    I let out a small sigh of relief when I reached my safe zone and plopped down on my bed, staring at the ceiling, finally allowing myself to play back everything that happened with Noah. I smiled to myself as I thought back to how we had spent a few hours kissing and talking, with some more kissing. Our plan to spend the night out under the stars was cut short when a storm rolled in, unleashing a sheet of rain over us.

    We had held hands as we ran down the trail back towards his car, screaming and laughing as the rain poured down on us from the sky, causing us to become soaking wet. We nearly lost it when we got into his car and realized we had left the blankets behind, though Noah decided they weren’t worth it to go back for. Then he pushed away the wet hair that was sticking to my face and kissed me again, before we agreed we should probably just go home.

    I was both relieved and disappointed as he started the drive back to my house. The night had been so perfect, so romantic, I really didn’t want it to end. I loved pulling back some of his layers, getting to know him better. On the other hand, our kissing had become really hot and heavy, and spending the night next to him would make going further really tempting, and that was something I just wasn’t ready for. Especially not during our first date and while we weren’t even officially together.

    When we didn’t have our lips locked together, I actually learned quite a bit about him. Like, he has never seen snow in person before, so was secretly really excited for winter to approach, though he wasn’t sure about driving in it. He was on the baseball team at his old school, and he hated that he wouldn’t be able to play during his senior year, especially because there had been some scholarship talk.  And, he had embarrassingly admitted he loves to cook and even watches some cooking shows with his mom.

    A soft tapping on my door caused me to sit straight up in my bed. I quickly pulled my feet out of the boots, then shrugged my sweater off. Leaving my leggings on, I pulled back my blankets, then slipped under them. I grabbed the book off the table next to my bed and opened it to a random spot, pretending I had been up here reading all along.

    “Come in,” I called out.

    The door opened slightly and Harper slipped inside my bedroom. She placed a hand on her hip and gave me a mischievous grin. “Did you just get home?”

    For a second I thought about pretending like I had no idea what she was talking about, but I knew that was pointless. I was horrible at lying. “Yeah, how did you know?”

    She walked across the room and climbed onto my bed, stretching out her long legs. “My room faces the driveway. Next time turn the headlights off before you pull up to the house.” She looked over at me expectantly. “How did it go?”

    I sighed, leaning back into my pillow. “It was great. I think I really like him.”

    “Considering what time you’re getting home, I’d say he really likes you too.”

    “I don’t think any guy would turn away the chance to make out,” I pointed out to her, even though I knew that wasn’t what it was with Noah.

    She raised an eyebrow at me, her eyes shinning as she studied me. “Just making out?” I nodded. “He didn’t even, you know, try to get a feel?”

    I laughed, placing my face in my hands. I was used to having these type of conversations with Harper, but normally I was on the other side of the talk. “No. He kept his hands on my face, or in my hair or he held my hand.”

    “Well, I’m officially going to make Noah give Jason some lessons on how a date is suppose to go.”

    “Did mom and dad notice I was out late?”

    She shook her head. “I don’t think so. They got home pretty early and mom had wanted to wait up to see how it went but I told her that’s too embarrassing. So she decided just to go to sleep.”

    “Thanks, I owe you,” I told her with a smile.

    She laughed. “No, I’m still in debt to you.” It was true, I had covered for her many times when she was sneaking in and out of the house.

    I yawned as the adrenaline from the earlier was finally wearing off and it was like my body was finally realizing what time it really was. “I’m going to try to get some sleep,” I told her.

    She gave me a wicked grin as she walked across my room. “Yeah, I’m sure you’re all worn out.”

 

 

    I was having a small heart attack at my locker on Monday morning. I had just remembered that I had a quiz in physics, a quiz that I had somehow forgot to study for over the weekend. I tried to remind myself that I was a great student and probably already knew the information, and one bad grade wouldn’t kill me. However, those thoughts didn’t quite block out the nagging voice in my head, which coincidentally,  sounded a lot like my mom.

    Then, a pair of hands covered my eyes, and I breathed in a now familiar scent. “Guess who?”

    “Hi Noah,” I said, spinning around to face him. The sight of his chocolate brown eyes made me forget all about the physics quiz.

    “How’d ya know it was me?” He asked with a laugh.

    “Your accent gives you away every time.” I didn’t tell him I could also smell his cologne because I was sure that was one of those things that would sound better in your head than when you actually say it out loud.

    “Well damn,” he smiled down at me. “I have something for you,” he told me as he grabbed my hand and placed something small inside of it.

    A Hershey kiss.

    “Thank you,” I told him, pulling back the silver wrapper and popping it into my mouth.

    “I thought you might like a chocolate fix,” he explain, giving me the most adorable, almost shy smile.

    “What about the kissing part?”

    “I think I can help with that as well,” he pulled me to him, giving me a tender kiss. He pulled away slightly, gently kissing my nose. “Did that help?” He asked, his forehead pressed against mine.

    “It did,” I told him as he stood back up straight. “So, I was wondering if you wanted to go out tomorrow night?”

    He turned his head to the side, staring at me. “You’re asking me out?”

    I nodded. “And I’m planning it as well. This time, you get to be the one that is surprised.”

    “You already surprise me,” he muttered, still staring at me. It was the kind of look that I knew I would never get sick of seeing.

    “So it that a yes?”

    “Of course it’s a yes.”

    I turned back to my locker, grabbing the books that I would be needing before I made another trip back. “Did you want to head to homeroom?”

    “I can’t,” he said apologetically. “I actually have an appointment with the guidance counselor to go over some college stuff.”

    “Good luck,” I said as I stood on my toes to kiss his cheek.

    After I watched Noah walk down the hall, I decided to go to Carter’s locker. I knew there was only a 50% chance he would even be at his locker, since we still had a whole ten minutes before homeroom started. I would freak out if I showed up with only ten minutes to spare, but it didn’t phase him, not when he could use those extra minutes to sleep in as much as he possibly could.

    But there he was, standing at his locker talking with Kelly Millington. She was moving her hands around like crazy as she talked, giggling loudly, and he was pretending like he was interested in what she was telling him. I’ve seen him use that look with girls a million times before, and if I knew Carter as well as I thought I did, that meant his little fling with Kelly may be ending soon. She was probably trying to get too close for his comfort.

    “Hey,” I said as I walked up to them. “Do you have a second?”

    “Of course,” Carter told me, shooting me a grateful smile. “See you later Kelly.”

    I looked at Kelly, expecting her to be pissed. She should’ve been pissed at how he just dismissed her. But she wasn’t, she was still staring at him with that love sick look in her eyes. The thing was, girls rarely got upset with Carter because they were too busy trying to get him to feel the same way back. “See you,” she said finally, using an extra sweet voice.

    “So what’s up?” Carter asked as I leaned against the locker next to his.

    “Did you read the study guide for the physics quiz?” Carter stared at me as if I were an alien. I wasn’t sure what surprised him the most; that I didn’t study, or that I was asking him if he had.

    “No, I was expecting you to fill me in…are you saying you didn’t?”

    “No, I kind of forgot.”

    Carter put his hand against my forehead. “You don’t feel warm,” he said, pretending like he was taking my temperature.

    “You’re not a doctor.”
    
    “Yet,” he corrected me.

    The thing most people didn’t know about Carter was that while he didn’t really give a shit about school, he was pretty serious about becoming a doctor one day. I think he had the mentality that once he got to college he would change his study habits, but as I always lectured him, you have to have good grades to get into college.  

    “I’m not sick, I was just busy as you know,” I told him, causing him to give me a knowingly grin. I had spent most of Sunday texting with Carter, letting him know how things with Noah had gone.  “We can just go over it at lunch then.”

    He gave me that look again. “Uh, no. I don’t study at lunch, I eat.”

    “And check out girls right?” I asked as the warning bell went off. I gave him a shove as I started to walk away.  

    “Exactly!”

 

11: Crash Course

    “So how was everyone’s day?” Dad asked, looking up at me and Emily from over his dinner plate. It was one of those rare weekday occasions when my dad was actually home in time for dinner, and he liked to make the most of it.

    “I started a new sculpture in art class, it looks really cool so far,” Emily said as mom piled more mashed potatoes on her plate. She was always trying to get us to eat more.

    Emily was incredibly artistic and was amazing at painting, pottery, sculptures, and sketching- you name it, she could do it.

    “I had a physics quiz,” I told him, not adding in how I had to skip lunch to study in the library.

    Dad smiled warmly at Emily, then looked at me. “How did it go Char?”

    “It went okay,” I told him, seeing the hurt look fall over Emily’s face. I’m sure dad didn’t mean to just glaze over what she had told him, but I know she felt that is what happened.

    “I have a boyfriend,” Emily told us, picking at her yellow nail polish as if what she had said was no big deal.

    The attention was immediately back on her.

    “A boyfriend? Since when?” Mom asked her.

    “Since today,” she said nonchalantly, shrugging.

    Dad chuckled, taking a sip of his water. “Don’t you think fourteen is a bit too young for a boyfriend?”

    “Harper had her first boyfriend at fourteen,” I pointed out, receiving glares from both my parents in the process.

    “Oh, you know how it is, Jack. They hold hands, write notes and go to the movies sometimes, it’s not like a real-”

    “It is real.” Emily’s voice shook slightly, but I knew she was trying to stand her ground.

    “Of course sweetie, that’s not how I meant it,” mom said, her own eyes having a hurt look in them.

    I knew part of the way they were acting was because of Emily’s abrupt approach to spilling the beans on her new guy. The other part was that she will forever be the baby in their eyes, no matter if she liked it or not.

    I reached out and grabbed her arm, giving her a reassuring squeeze. “What’s his name?”

    She shot me a grateful smile, her light blue eyes lighting up again. “Adam.”

    “Well,” dad said after he stared at her for a moment, probably remembering when she was in diapers. “If he is your boyfriend we expect you to bring him over for dinner.”

    Just then Harper walked into the kitchen with Carter right behind her. She wrapped her arms around dad’s neck, kissing the top of his head before grabbing a bread stick off the table. Dad glanced at her short skit, but said nothing about it. He was probably tired of picking battles with his daughters, knowing he was likely going to lose them.  Mom jumped up, quickly walking towards the cabinet, ready to start serving them.

    “Are you guys hungry? Carter, I’m sure you want me to make you a plate.”

    “No thanks, I’m taking Rapunzel here out to practice driving,” Carter told her.

    Dad laughed. “Good luck with that one. You have car insurance right?”

    Carter grinned. “Of course. I even made sure to add the protection in case your car is totaled-”

    “I’m not that bad,” Harper cut him off, rolling her eyes.

    “I can save you a plate,” mom offered, probably feeling uneasy that she wouldn’t be able to feed him. She counted on him to get rid of all of our leftovers.

    Carter shook his head. “You know I love your food, but I have this thing afterwards with this girl, Sophia-”

    “What happened to Kelly?”  I raised an eyebrow at him. It was my turn to cut him off. I could see why Carter always complained he could never get a word in around females.

    “Sophia’s…cool,” he said slowly, glancing at mom. She was like his second mother so he always tried to be respectful around her. He most likely knew that she would lecture him about safe sex, so instead of saying what he wanted to say, that she was a hot chick with nice lips, he settled on cool. “But if Harper doesn’t kill me tonight, I’ll be over Thursday for pizza,” he promised her.

    “I’m really not that bad,” Harper said, snatching Carter’s car keys out of his hands.

    “Should I have brought a helmet?” Carter asked as they started to walk away.

    “Probably,” I told him, remembering the awful time I had gone out with her and dad.

    She had managed to go through a stop sign, cut someone off,  nearly go the wrong direction on a one way street, go up over the curb, and she hit the breaks so often and hard that I actually got car sick. We had all been hoping that by some miracle she would’ve passed her test so we wouldn’t have to deal with helping anymore, but of course fate wasn’t that kind. Though, maybe it was a good thing she wasn’t on the roads by herself yet.

    “Seriously Carter,” she complained, giving him a shove before she practically pulled him out of the kitchen.

    “I think those two might kill each other before Harper does on the road,” Emily said, causing all of us to burst out laughing.

    “Who is ready for dessert?” Mom asked.

 

 

    “Batting cages?” Noah looked over at me from the passengers seat, as I pulled into the parking lot.

    There was a mixture of disbelief and excitement in his eyes, and I felt a surge of pride that I had picked something that was going to make him so happy. We gone to dinner at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants before hand, and it was hard to keep this place a secret while we were eating.

    “You said you missed playing,” I explained. The second that he had told me that he missed it, I thought of this place and I knew I had to bring him here someday.

    “I do, but is this really how you want to spend the evening?”

    “Are you saying I don’t seem like the athletic type?” I teased. He smiled but didn‘t reply, obviously not willing to dig himself into a hole. “Besides, it’s what you do when you like someone,” I told him, stealing his words.

    He grinned. “So you like me, huh?”

    “Just a little bit,” I told him, holding my thumb and pointer finger about an inch apart to emphasize the amount.

    He leaned across the center console and kissed me gently. “Thank you for bringing me here, you are pretty great.”

    I felt my temperature rise several degrees. As strange as it may seem, I still found it strange he was interested in me. “Anytime.”

    When we walked inside the dome shaped building, Noah’s whole demeanor changed almost instantly. He had this smile on his face that was from pure joy, and the look in his eyes reminded me of a kid racing down the stairs on Christmas. As he looked at the batting cages and the practice field, he seemed truly happy and in his element.

    After Noah picked out a bat, which he had to point out wasn’t as good as his, we walked over to one of the cages. I took a seat on a bench safely on the other side of the fence, and he shook out his arms, losing up. He pulled his black sweat shirt, revealing a grey tank top underneath. I bite my lip as I got a good look at his super toned arms, wishing I could trace his muscles with my fingertips.

    He turned and gave me a grin before picking up his bat and getting into position. He seemed so professional, you could tell he knew exactly what he was doing. As the baseballs came flying towards him, he hit each one with ease, sending them flying into the air. I loved the popping sound it made when the ball would connect with the bat, but not nearly as much as I loved watching his naturally flex as he swung his arms. I was beginning to think this had to be the best possible date idea.

    He hit the balls for about thirty minutes, with me cheering him on. Then, he leaned his bat against the fence and walked over towards me, lifting up the bottom of his tank top to wipe the sweat off his forehead.  My eyes fell to his stomach, to his perfect abs, and I swallowed hard.

    When he reached me he grabbed my wrists, gently pulling me off the bench. “Are we leaving already?” I asked, trying to focus on his eyes.

    He laughed. “No, but now it’s your turn.”

    “Oh, no, no, no,” I told him, trying to pull my hands out of his grip. I failed miserably.

    “C’mon, give it a try, you’ll have fun.”

    “I don’t know…” The way those balls came shooting out, I was scared of getting hit by them. With my luck it would hit me in the face, breaking my nose or something. And even if I made it out injury free, I didn’t want Noah to see how uncoordinated I was.

    “I’ll help you,” he said with a grin so sexy there was no way I could say no.

    “Fine.”
    He lead me inside the cage, holding my shoulders gently as he moved me into the right stance. He stood behind me, wrapping his arms around mine. He was warm and his arms were strong and kind of sweaty, and I had to remind myself to think about what was going on and not what I wished was going on. Geeze, I was nearly as bad as Carter right now!

    He held the bat up and I grabbed it, then he positioned my hands so I was holding it correctly. The bat was heavier than I thought it would be and I had no idea how he was able to hold and swing it for so long. That was probably how he got such amazing arms.

    “Don’t try hitting this first ball, just get use to the speed first,” he whispered in my ear, sending chills all over my body.

    “Right,” I muttered.

    The ball came flying towards us and I let out a little scream. My instinct was to move backwards, but Noah was holding me in place. The ball hit the back of the cage, and missed my nose by a good distance.

    “See? Not so scary,” Noah said softly. “This time, let’s connect.”

    I nodded, bracing myself for what was about to happen. The ball shot towards us again, and right when it nearly passed by, Noah swung the bat, and it went sailing through the air.

    “That was perfect! Now you try to do it by yourself,” he told me, taking a step back.

    “Okay,” I told him, immediately missing his warmth and strength.

    The ball came out again and I tried to mimic what Noah had showed me. It wasn’t nearly as perfect, but I managed to hit the ball. I had to admit, it was kind of fun, and it got rid of some stress I didn’t even know I had. As the next few baseballs came out, I hit each one, getting better and better with each swing.

    My arms eventually started screaming at me to take a break, so I leaned the bat against the fence, letting Noah have another turn. As much fun as this was, I still liked watching him do it more than I liked doing it myself. Not to mention I was certain my arms would be killing me tomorrow. Plus, watching him get into it was pretty hypnotic, and I suddenly felt sad that he wasn’t on the team this year, I could tell he really loved it.

    When Noah was finished hitting, we bought some ice cold bottle water and sat on top of the trunk of my car, leaning against the back window. It seemed like we were both exhausted, but neither of us wanted to call it a night yet. He reached over and started tracing his fingers lightly against my arm, and it took ounce of self control I had not to ask him if his skin tingled when we touched, like mine did.

    “You should hang out with Carter and my sisters sometime. I bet they are dying to get to know you.”

    “I’d like that. It would be nice to meet your family,” he looked over at me with a smile.

    “Like… my parents too?” I couldn’t believe he was offering to meet them. I had to practically beg Kevin to come over to my house for dinner.  

    He laughed. “Yes. If you want me to, that is.”

    I shook my head at him, pretending to be disappointed in him. “I was expecting a bit more of a fight out of you. But yeah, I’m sure they’d like that.” I paused, hoping I wasn’t about to bring up a bad subject. “Maybe I could meet your family sometime.”

    He froze, and I knew I hit a nerve. “Yeah, maybe.”

    “You don’t want me to.” I tried to keep the hurt out of my voice, but I don’t think I was doing a good job at it.

    “No, it’s not that,” he reached over and grabbed my hand, giving it a squeeze. “It’s just…” he paused, letting out a deep breath. “My dad was hurt at work and ended up losing his job because he can’t do the labor anymore. My mom’s job couldn’t support us, so we had to move up here to live with my Uncle. It’s not a super big house or anything like yours, Luke and I have to share a room,” he looked up at the sky, clearly embarrassed. “So now my mom is stressed out trying to find a new job, and my dad is blaming himself for this mess, so they are fighting and it’s just… not good right now.”  

    I couldn’t believe he was being so vulnerable and open with me. I could see the hurt all over his face, and it nearly broke my heart. As glad as I was that he was letting me in and I was learning more about who he was, I hated that it was causing him so much pain. I was suddenly very thankful for my family, no matter how crazy they were.

    I leaned my head against his shoulder. “I’m sorry Noah.”

    “You’re the first person that knows the whole story,” he told me, resting his head against mine.

    “I’m glad you told me, you know I’m here if you need me. And whenever you want me to meet them, I will.”

    He kissed the top of my head. “You are something else, Charlotte.”

    “You are too.”  

 

12: Disruptive Behavior

Today was a big day.

    After our amazing date last night, I had invited Noah to sit with me and Carter at lunch. It wasn’t as if we were super selective to who could sit with us; there were no secret handshakes or crazy rules like wearing a certain color on a certain day. Once in a while Carter’s friends would join us, but there was only so much guy talk I could take in a 45 minute time frame. Not to mention Carter’s one friend, Ryan, has this fixation on Harper, and I didn’t exactly enjoy listening to him pointing out the finer aspects to my sister’s anatomy.

    I would have Maci and Robyn sit at the table from time to time, but they usually became so tongue tied around Carter that it turned into an awkward situation. Well, for everyone except for Carter, who seemed to love causing girls to become speechless. Also, just like my limit on the guy talk, Carter had a low threshold for listening to us talk about school work, what books we were reading and what was happening on Scandal.

    So, it wasn’t the fact that I had extended an invite for someone new to sit with us, it was that Noah and Carter would be officially meeting.

    Butterflies fluttered around my stomach as I made my way up to Carter, plopping my tray down across from him. “Hey.”

    He looked up at me, his hazel eyes looking unusually serious. “I have something to ask you.”

    “What is it?” I asked him, as the butterflies seemed to grow in size. It felt like I had birds flying around in there now.

    “Are you going to eat all your fries?” He looked down at my plate, then gestured towards his own plate, which was already half empty.

    “Here,” I muttered, passing him some of my fries. I wanted to smack him for acting so serious about some stupid fries.  

    I scanned the cafeteria and spotted Noah paying for his lunch, which meant he would be walking over here any minute. I could only imagine how anxious Noah must be right now. He knew Carter was a big part of my life and that Carter’s impression of him would probably have some kind of impact on me. I never had to go through anything like before since Carter never really had a girlfriend, but I figured one day it had to happen. I wouldn’t want her to be jealous of me, or threatened of the friendship, but at the same time, I wouldn’t want her to take my place.

    “Hey,” Noah said, snapping me out of my thoughts as he took the seat next to me. He gave me a sweet smile before offering Carter a friendly one. If Noah was nervous, he certainly wasn’t showing it.

    “Hey.” Carter gave him a smile and nod, his typical greeting to another male.

    “Hi,” I said lightly, squeezing his thigh quickly, just in case he needed some reassurance.

    As silence settled over the table, I started to feel uneasy. What if we had nothing to talk about? It didn’t seem possible, I had no trouble talking to either of them and they both were talkative, but what if-

    “Man, it looks like you got ripped off in the fry department as well,” Carter said, nodding at Noah’s plate.

    Noah laughed. “I thought it was only me. I’m positive the one lady hates me because ever since I turned down her special of the day, my food portions seem to be getting smaller and smaller.”

    Carter shook his head at him. “You always have to take the special the first time she offers it to you,” he said as seriously as if we were discussing what to write for our college essays.

    “Noted,” Noah said, nodding his gratitude.  

    “Or do what I do and steal some of Charlotte’s,” Carter suggested.

    Noah turned and looked at me, giving me that charming smile of his. The one that made my knees weak even though I was sitting down. “That’s not fair,” he told me in his thick accent.

    I let out an over exaggerated sigh before I gave Noah some of my fries as well. Between the two of them, I was pretty sure I would never get a full meal again.

    “Thanks,” Noah said in a husky tone, then picked up a fry and offered it to me. Without thinking, I opened my mouth and he popped it in.

    Oh my gosh, did he just feed me? I always thought it was kind of pathetic when couples did that, they were fully capable of feeding themselves after all. However, now that I was an offender of the violation, I didn’t think it was pathetic anymore. It was pretty adorable, actually.

    “So Carter, are you into video games?” Noah asked, and it made me melt a little that Noah was trying so hard with him.

    “Definitely.”

    “He’s practically in a relationship with his playstation 4,” I explained to Noah.

    Carter laughed. “The best kind.”

    “I’m jealous,” Noah told him. “My brother and I are still playing on a playstation 2.”

    I mentally begged Carter not to ask why Noah was playing on such a late model. I knew Carter would mean no harm by it, he didn’t know the situation, but regardless I knew it would be hard for Noah not to be embarrassed or insulted. When we were younger, I was convinced that Carter could actually read my mind. Whenever his mom would ask what we wanted for dinner or what movie we wanted to see, I would mentally send my thoughts to Carter and then he would say what I had been thinking. I was hoping that power was still effective.  

    “That sucks,” Carter said, glancing at me quickly before looking back at Noah. Maybe he still could read my mind. “You should come over to my place and play with me and the guys Friday.”

    “That sounds cool, thanks.” Noah caught my gaze and gave me a huge grin before leaning in towards me. “You didn’t want to do anything Friday, right?” He asked in a whisper, and I got chills when his breath hit my ear.

    “Go have fun,” I told him with a smile.

    “Okay, but Saturday you’re mine,” he told me, still in a whisper. Then, he reached over and grabbed my hand, holding it while he continued to eat. I looked up at Carter, fully expecting him to be rolling his eyes at our little displace of affection, but he glanced at our hands, found my eyes, and gave me a warm smile.

    As they started discussing what games they liked to play and what their stats were, you know, all the important things in life, Noah’s hand never let go of mine. It was then that I knew this didn’t go like I thought it would, it went much better.

 

 

    Since Carter and Noah were busy hanging out Friday night, I decided to have a girl’s night at my house. By girl’s night, that meant having Maci and Kara, Harper’s best friend, sleep over and indulge in a night filled with junk food, gossip, chick flicks and facials. I loved making and giving facials- I even had a binder filled with various recipes, for all different kinds of skin tones, and for what kind of result you would like to see.

    “Ugh, I hate that movie,” Kara said, taking a handful of chips. She was referring to A Walk to Remember, which just ended. “It’s too depressing, they don’t even get to have a real life together. It doesn’t even fit the chick flick qualifications if you ask me.”

    “Yeah, because having everyone end up with a fairy tale ending is much more realistic,” Harper said sarcastically, looking up from behind her phone.

    “Oh, you know what I mean,” Kara told her. “And hey, you better not be talking to Jason, texting boyfriends is not allowed during a girl’s night.”

    “That’s right,” Maci agreed, pointing her pretzel stick at me. “That goes for you with Noah as well.”

    “Noah’s not my boyfriend,” I pointed out. Sure we acted like a couple, but we haven’t had that talk yet on wither we were exclusive and official.

    “Whatever you say,” Harper said, laughing. When Maci and Kara joined in with the giggling, I knew none of them believed me.

    When the laughter stopped, Maci glanced over our DVD collection then picked one up, 13 going on 30. “I pick this one,” she glanced over at Kara. “Does this one fit the qualifications?”

    “Much better,” Kara told her, kneeling down at the coffee table. She flipped her long, black hair over her shoulders before she pulled another slice of pizza on her plate.

    “Can I get a list of these qualifications?” I teased her.

    Kara tilted her head as if she was thinking it over. “Oh, you know, a hot guy that is-”

    “Unbelievably romantic,” Harper filled in for her, causing me and Maci to laugh.

    Kara rolled her brown eyes at her. “Well, I guess so. And he does these super cute, over the top gestures to-”

    “Hey,” Maci said, sitting up on the coach, her deep blue eyes shinning as if a light bulb just went off in her head. “Do you know what we should do?”

    Kara, Harper and I exchanged a glance then looked back at Maci, waiting for her to tell us. “We should go crash their guy’s night!”

    Harper grinned. “I love that idea.”

    “Wait guys, I don’t know…” I wasn’t sure it was the best idea. I didn’t want us to intrude on their night of video games, they take those so seriously, and I definitely didn’t want Noah to think I was some girl that had to come make sure he wasn’t getting into trouble.

    The three of them looked at me as if I had three heads. “Why not?” Harper asked.

    “Please,” Kara said, clasping her hands together for dramatic effect. “Carter is so yummy, I want to go hang out with him.”

    “It’s just… they are having their night and we are having ours. Plus, we didn’t even get to the facials yet.” I realized then how lame I sounded. Was I really picking facials over seeing Noah? Who, I hated to admit, I did miss and wouldn’t mind seeing at all. And let’s be real, it was highly unlikely they would mind spending the night with some girls. “Fine, fine, we can go crash it.”

    They started screaming, obviously happy that I changed my mind.

    “Wait,” Harper said loudly, so she could be heard over the screaming. “We have to change first, we can’t go in our pajama’s.”

    We looked down at ourselves, clearly forgetting we had already changed into pajamas even though the night was still early, because, well, that is what you did on sleep overs. And while I wasn’t big on the idea of having to change into something less comfortable, I defiantly wasn’t going to let Noah see me in my old, worn out plaid short and tank top.

    We went up to Harper’s room to raid her closet, because apparently it wasn’t enough to just go over there but we had to look really good while we were at it. Which meant putting on dresses, even though the temperature was barely in the mid 50’s. I wanted to tell them there was such a thing as trying too hard, but I knew I would be outnumbered. I could always rebel against them and just go throw on something more causal, but I did like the idea of dressing a little sexy for Noah.

    Harper emerged out of her bathroom, smoothing out the tight black dress she had picked out. She looked up and noticed us gawking at her. “What?”

    “It’s so unfair,” Kara complained. “You’re like six feet tall. Everything looks good on you.”

    “I promise you that’s not true. But come on, let’s pick out stuff for you guys.”

    As we made our way up the path leading to Carter’s front stairs, I felt the unsure feeling settling over me again. “Are you sure we don’t look ridiculous?” I glanced down at the silver, wrap around dress I had on.

    “It’s fine, you look great,” Maci assured me, thought it wasn’t too encouraging.

    “Plus,” Kara said softly, glancing back at me. “They don’t know where we are coming from.”

    When we got to the front door they gestured for me to go first, probably because I was the only one that freely walks in and out of his house. We had never knocked on each other’s doors, most likely picking up that habit from our parents, who were the same way. I turned the knob, pushing open the front door, causing them to nearly jump up in the air. When Kara, Harper and Maci walked in behind me, their shocked expressions turned into pleased ones. I finally let myself look at Noah, who was just staring at me with a smile on his face.

    “Well, isn’t this a pleasant surprise,” Carter said, chuckling to himself as he looked over what we had on. “You guys tore yourself away from a night of dancing to come watch us play video games?”

    “We thought you might like some more company,” I told him.

    “Female company,” Kara added in, grinning at Carter.

    Carter quickly glanced around at the guys, then looked back at us, trying to avoid Kara’s gaze. “Make yourself at home,” he said, gesturing around the living room.

    Carter and Ryan were sitting on one of the couches, Marc and Dan on the other couch, Paul was sitting on the floor and Noah was in the reclining chair. I don’t know why they made Paul sit on the floor instead of one of the couches, but guys had this weird thing about sitting too closely to each other. You would see it all the time in the movie theater, when two guys were seeing it together and would leave an empty seat between them.

    “Hey Harper,” Ryan grinned at her, practically undressing her with his eyes.

    “Hey,” she said, giving him a polite smile. She wasn‘t oblivious to the fact he wanted her, but she knew he was to the fact she had a boyfriend.

    “Come sit next to me,” he told her, scooting onto the middle cushion.

    Carter shook his head, slapping his arm against Ryan’s chest, as if he was holding him back. “Don’t think about it,” he gave me a nod, and with a heavy sigh, Ryan took a seat on the floor. I didn’t understand how guys could communicate by nodding. Was there a guide out there?

    Kara took Ryan’s place, sitting so close to Carter she was practically sitting on his lap, and Harper was on the other side of Kara. Maci, with a blush on her face, sat between Marc and Dan. I looked back at Noah, the look on his face telling me he had never looked away. I walked over, planning to sit on the floor next to him, when he grabbed my arm, gently tugging me to join him on the chair.  

    I squeezed in next to him, though I was partly on his lap since it wasn’t that big of a chair. He rested his hand on the area above my knee, rubbing his fingertips softly against my bare skin. I hope he didn’t feel the goosebumps that were spreading across my body.

    “Did you decide to come because of me?” He asked in that low voice, the one that drove me crazy.

    I shook my head, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “No.”

    He gave me a fake pout, one that made him even cuter, if that was possible. “Well, that’s disappointing.”

    “Well, maybe a little bit,” I admitted, even though if I was being honest, he was the entire reason.

    He grinned and kissed my nose, so I leaned my head against his shoulder. I was happily surprised that Noah didn’t mind being affectionate in front of the other guys. I had never been more excited to spend the evening watching people play video games before.

    

 

13: Under the moon

On Saturday, Noah and I enjoyed a romantic dinner at one of my favorite Italian restaurants, then after a not nearly long enough make out session in his car, we met up with Carter, Sophia, Harper and Jason at the Factory of Fear.

    The Factory of Fear had been this old, abandoned warehouse that they converted into a multilevel haunted house. Besides the fact that it was massive in size and had some of the best special effects, it also was supposedly really haunted, which just added to the creepiness. Year after year Carter has tried to talk me into going, but I had always refused since I wasn’t a fan of being scared like that. However, while I still wasn’t too keen on going, the idea of having Noah’s arms wrapped around me was too tempting to pass up.

    Unfortunately, it seemed like everyone else had the idea to go tonight as well, despite the fact it was pretty chill and had been raining off and on. The line was ridiculously long, the sign near us that gave the approximate wait time was at over an hour. Thankfully they had set up this blue tarp to act as a long tent over the line, so everyone waiting wouldn’t be drenched.

    “I can’t believe I’m waiting this long to go inside of a haunted house,” I said when I noticed we had not moved up in line for over fifteen minutes.

    Sophia started to giggle loudly, smoothing down her platinum blond hair. “Isn’t it crazy it’s called a haunted house, when it’s, like, not even a house.”

    I glanced at Harper, knowing she had to be desperately trying not to laugh as well. I would ask Carter what on earth he saw in this girl, but I was pretty sure the answer had to do with how big her chest was.

    “Yeah, it’s like, so hilarious,” Harper said, trying to mimic her voice. “And what’s up with it not being really haunted either?”

    “Like, right?” Sophia agreed, not even realizing that Harper was teasing her.

    Carter shot Harper a look, even though he was obviously thought it was funny. I knew if Sophia was out of ear shot he would be laughing, but since he probably wanted to hook up with her later, he had to play the part of a gentleman. As hard as that would be for him to pull off.

    “Brr…” I said, rubbing my hands together as I bounced up and down, as if that would actually warm me up.

    Noah grabbed my hands and rubbed his over them, helping me warm them up. Little did he know his touch instantly made my temperature rise a little bit. “Can I go get you some hot chocolate?”

    I grinned. “That would be great.”

    He pressed his forehead against mine, then pulled away slightly, giving me a soft, quick kiss. “I’ll be back,” he said, heading over towards the food stands.

    Harper slapped Jason’s arm, causing him to glance up from his phone. “He is making you look bad,” she told him.

    “Oh, are you cold too?” He paused the game he was playing and wrapped his arms around her waist, starting to kiss her neck. “I’ll warm you up.”

    “No,” she said, slipping out of his arms. “No kissing until you bring me some hot chocolate.”

    He let out a light sigh, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket. “Fine, I’ll be back.”

    “We’ll be here,” I muttered as the line moved up an inch.

    “Since when do you prefer hot chocolate over kissing?” Carter asked Harper.

    “I know it’s hard for you to believe, but doing romantic gestures has never killed anyone.”

    “I beg to differ,” he told her.

    She rolled her eyes at him. “Of course you do,” she said, before pausing for a second. “Plus, I happen to love hot chocolate.”

    “I like, hate hot chocolate,” Sophia said, grabbing Carter’s sweatshirt, pulling him down to meet her lips.

     Noah walked up, offering me a white styrofoam cup. “Thank you,” I told him, giving him a sweet smile, which he returned.

    “I hope it helps,” he told me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

    “If not you could always just give me your hoodie,” I teased.

    He laughed. “That, or we could try their approach,” he raised his eyebrows at Carter and Sophia, who were still kissing.

    “Trust me, I wouldn’t recommend taking Carter’s approach on anything,” Harper said, causing me and Noah to laugh.
    Carter pulled away from Sophia, finally coming up for a breath. “Excuse me, I seemed to have taught you a few things the other night,” he gave her a smirk.  

    “Okay, so you happen to be good at driving, I’ll give you that,” Harper told him as Jason walked back up with her cup of hot chocolate. She took it and gave him a playful kiss, before she started sipping at it. His brown eyes were focused on her the entire time.

    “You don’t, like, have your license?” Sophia asked her.

    “You do?” I hope she couldn’t hear the disbelief in my voice.

    She shrugged. “Sure, it was, like, super easy.”

    Noah turned his head, bringing his lips to my ear, and I found myself hoping he would kiss it. “Later you should give me a kiss for every time she said the word like tonight.”

    I covered my mouth with my hand as I started to laugh. “We’ll see,” I told him with a grin.

    Nearly two hours later we finally made it towards the front of the line, and let me just say, it felt a lot longer than two hours. Sophia had said like thirty times, Noah and I had secretly counted. She probably would’ve said it a lot more, but she kept making out with Carter. Harper’s feet started to hurt, so she was currently getting a piggy back ride from Jason. And I was starting to feel anxious, knowing our turn was quickly approaching.

    “Are you scared?” Noah asked, glancing over at me, as if he could read my mind.

    “Maybe slightly,” I admitted, down playing it a bit.

    He grinned as he reached over and held my hand. “Good.”

    “You’re happy I’m scared, just so you could hold my hand? That’s low,” I teased him.  

    He shook his head, giving me that charming smile of his. “Naw, I would’ve held it anyway.”

 

    Later that night, I threw myself onto my bed, breathing a sigh of relief. I was pretty exhausted, so it felt good to just stretch out. The Factory of Fear turned out to be pretty fun, and even though it was as creepy as I thought it would be, the experience wasn’t nearly as bad as I had always pictured. Then again, it did help that I had buried my face into Noah’s chest during most of it.

    Afterwards, Noah drove me home and we hung out in his car for a while so I could give him all the kisses I owed him. It was the best kind of debt ever. Then Noah had insisted on walking me to my front door and since I wasn’t sneaking in during the middle of the night this time, I let him. He gave me a sweet, tender kiss and even though it seemed like there was something more he wanted to say, he told me goodnight and headed to his car.

    I had just shifted into a more comfortable position and closed my eyes when my phone went off, alerting me I had received a new text. I reached over and grabbed my phone off the small table next to my bed, seeing the text was from Noah. I smiled to myself as I slide the message open.

    Can you meet me outside?

    My heart started to race, a mixture of nerves and excitement. What was he doing here? I threw my pink robe over my pajama’s and raced down the stairs as quickly as I could without tripping over my slippers. I took a deep breath, then pulled open the front door slightly, closing it behind me as I walked into the cool air.

    He was standing at the bottom of the front stairs, looking adorable under the moon light. It made me wish I had thrown on some real clothes, and I was defiantly regretting this fluffy robe. He looked up at me, grinning, and shoved his hands into his front pockets.

    “Is everything okay?” I asked, taking a seat on one of the steps.

    “Yeah, why?” He asked, a little too quickly. Something was defiantly up.  

    I laughed and patted the spot next to me, hinting for him to join me. “Because you went home, came back, and told me to meet you outside?”

    He sat down next to me, leaning in towards me so our arms were resting against each others. “I never went home,” he admitted softly.

    “You’ve been out here this entire time?” It had been about forty minutes since he had dropped me off.

    “No. I drove around for awhile before I came back,” he chuckled. “There was something I had wanted to say earlier, but then I chickened out. On my way home I got mad at myself for not saying it, so I just drove around, working up the courage to come back.”

    “What would you have done if I was sleeping?”

    He laughed at himself, as if he hadn’t considered that. “That would’ve sucked.”

    I could see the nervousness in his deep brown eyes, so I reached over and grabbed his hand, giving it a squeeze. “What is it?”

    “This isn’t how I wanted to… I was just wondering… hoping…” he paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts. “If you wanted to be my girlfriend?”

    My heart stopped dead in my chest, and for a moment I forgot how to speak. I fought the urge to pinch myself to make sure I hadn’t actually fallen asleep and this was just an extremely realistic, amazing dream.

    “I… you came all the way back to ask me that?”

    He looked down, clearly embarrassed. “I know, it was pretty crazy, you probably think I’m-”

    He stopped talking when I leaned over and kissed his cheek. “I think you’re ridiculously adorable. And I‘d love to be.”  

    “Ridiculously adorable, huh? I can work with that,” he said, leaning in for a more passionate kiss.

    “I have some bad news for you though,” I told him when we broke apart from each other.

    He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “And what would that be?”

    “Now you really have to meet my parents.”

    He grinned, giving me another kiss. “That’s not such bad news.”

    I laughed and gave him a small shove. “Go home and get some sleep Romeo.”

    “Yes ma’am,” he told me, kissing the top of my head as he stood up.

    I stood up as well, watching him get into his car and leave. I was pretty sure the smile I had on my face would be there permanently.  

    I went back inside my house, and as I turned around from shutting and locking the front door, I saw my dad making his way into the living room, a glass of milk in his hand. He glanced at my outfit, a confused look filling his light blue eyes. “I thought you were already home?”

    “I was just sitting outside, Noah wanted to talk.”

    “At this hour?” He asked, glancing down at his watch.

    “It was important…. we are officially a couple now,” I said, feeling my smile grow wider.

    He smiled softly. “You could have brought him in to talk, it’s cold out there.” I knew that was his way of saying he was happy for me, although he probably wasn’t  too excited to have all his daughters taken. I could only imagine how he will feel when we start to get married.

    “Thanks dad,” I walked up and gave him a hug. “What are you doing up anyway?” Sometimes mom and dad liked to cuddle on the couch, watching old movies together, but rarely did he stay up this late without her.

    “I’m going over files for a new case, it’s a stressful one” he gestured towards the living room, where papers covered the table. Usually he worked in his office, but sometimes he opted for the living room, since the couch was more comfortable than the stiff chair he had in there.

    I nodded. “Good luck,” I told him, walking back to the staircase.

    “Hey Char?” Dad called from behind me.

    I turned around and gave him a smile. “I know dad, I already invited him over.”