Page 43 of Catching My Dreams

“Oh, okay.”

He sounded disappointed, and Ella hated herself a little bit more. She’d been trying to distance herself from him so that she wasn’t so much of a burden, but she’d taken things too far. She’d become an even worse friend if possible.

“We’ll meet up this week. I promise.” Just as soon as she was able to drive again. “Tell Riley I said hi.”

“I will.” Ella could hear the smile in his voice. Just hearing his girlfriend’s name probably had him grinning like a love-sick maniac.

She ended the call and let out a groan. She could have asked Asher to lend her the money for an Uber, of course, but that would have led to questions about why her account was practically empty. And Ella did not feel like explaining how her mother had punished her after she’d begged her and her dad to come home.

She didn’t want his pity any more than she wanted to ruin his day with her drama.

With a sigh, Ella scrolled through her contact list, searching for another option. Becca’s name caught her eye, but both she and Jasmine lived on campus and didn’t have cars. Ben, on the other hand, did have a car, but he didn’t pick up when she reluctantly called him. After her calls had gone to his voicemail for the third time, she realized she would have to miss the quiz.

Unless…

Ella scrolled down to his name, the letters staring back at her in a simultaneous tempting and fear-inducing dare. He was probably the last person who’d want to help her, and she was under no illusion that he would be happy to get a call from her, especially one asking for a favor. But he was also her only remaining option.

She was sure she was making a mistake as she tapped at the screen, but, much to her annoyance, butterflies began flying around in her stomach as soon as the first ring sounded in her ear. She was truly pathetic.

Sitting on the couch in her pajamas, her back unnaturally straight and the nerves and muscles in her neck feeling like they’d been trampled on by elephants, Ella prayed that Noah would answer his phone while also hoping he didn’t.

14

“Brady, please tell my idiot friend that he’s wrong.”

“Sorry, but I’m afraid I agree with Chris on this one,” his traitorous teammate said from the backseat of Noah’s black Jeep.

“How can you possibly think that Star Wars is better than Lord of the Rings?” Noah demanded to know as he slowed to a stop at a red light.

“One word, my man,” Chris said from the passenger seat. “Lightsabers.”

Noah narrowed his eyes. “Isn’t that two words?”

Chris gasped dramatically. “Noah Warner, what the hell are they teaching you in those art classes?”

Noah sent his friend a dry look. “Art, Chris. They’re teaching me about art in my art classes.”

“What use is learning about Da Vinci when you don’t even know that ‘lightsaber’ is one word?”

Brady laughed, and Noah let out an amused huff of his own.

“I’m not really sure what one has to do with the other, honestly,” Noah replied as he rolled through the now-green light.

“I can assure you—”

Noah’s phone started ringing, cutting off the Post Malone song that had provided the background music to their ridiculous debate.

“Uh, why is Ella calling you?” Chris asked when her name appeared on the screen on the dashboard.

It was a great question. Noah’s stomach dropped. There was only one reason he could think of for Ella calling him.

“Goddamned Bluetooth,” he muttered as he grabbed his phone from the center console with shaking hands.

He disconnected his phone from the car to make sure the others wouldn’t overhear and answered the call.

“Ella? What’s wrong?”

There was no reply, and Noah’s mind conjured up possibilities that had his fear spiking and his hand on the steering wheel tightening. What if Brett had gotten to her? What if he’d hurt her? What if she’d called Noah for help, but it was too late?

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