Page 69 of Remember Us This Way

Pulling up at the party, my stomach swirls with butterflies at the idea of getting to see him again, though it’s ridiculous. It’s not as though I’m actually going to spend time with him. It’ll be another night of stolen glances across the room, pretending my stomach doesn’t do all kinds of flip-flops whenever he looks my way.

I don’t know what he was thinking by offering to pick me up. Was he planning to kick me out halfway down the street and then pretend we didn’t arrive together? I wouldn’t have argued if he wanted to just skip the party altogether and just keep driving.

Abby slips her arm through mine as we make our way up to the party, dodging the people lingering out front. “Whose place is this?” I ask, looking up at the massive home, which is definitely far too big for any of the students at East View. “I don’t think I’ve been here before.”

“Lucas Maxwell’s,” Abby beams as a crack of thunder booms through the sky, making us all jump and then immediately break into laughter at the way it frightened us. “His dad is loaded, and he’s never here, so Lucas throws parties all the time. How did you not know that?”

I shrug my shoulders, but Tarni throws a response in before I get a chance. “Probably because Zoey is allergic to fun,” she laughs, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the front door as the first few drops of rain fall. “Come on, we’ve gotta get you drunk before you realize what’s happening and decide to leave.”

Rolling my eyes, I let her drag me in through the door, but I have no desire to get drunk. I’m definitely okay to have one or two, but I drank so much at the last party that I couldn’t even fight off the asshole who thought it was okay to get handsy with me. If Noah hadn’t been there . . . I don’t want to think about it.

We make our way through the foyer, and I’m gaping before we even reach the living room. It’s insane. This place is huge, but it makes me wonder why the hell Lucas isn’t enrolled in some fancy private school.

Tarni drags me through the house as if knowing exactly where to go, and considering they’ve partied here a million times before, I shouldn’t be surprised. Within minutes, there’s a drink in my hand, and I make a show of taking tiny sips to keep the girls off my back. We all sink into the music, and I start swaying my hips, feeling the mood of the night sweep through me.

For the first time in weeks, I feel comfortable with the girls, like I’m not an outcast, and it’s more than I could have asked for. Tarni quickly annihilates her first drink and is coming back with more when I notice the way she’s scanning the people around us, her brows furrowed. “What’s up?” I call over the music.

“Have you seen Noah yet?” she asks, having to lean in and shout right into my ear. “I don’t think he’s here.”

He’s not. I would have felt it the second he walked through the door.

I shrug my shoulders, feigning indifference. “Don’t think so,” I say. “I haven’t seen him.”

“His car wasn’t outside,” Cora shouts toward us.

I glance at Tarni. “Why? What does it matter?”

She presses her lips into a hard line before glancing at the girls as if she wants to say whatever she’s thinking, but when she looks back at me, she forces a smile across her face. “Okay, so like . . . don’t get weird about this,” she starts, immediately putting me on edge. “But tonight is the night. I’m going to screw Noah.”

I try not to blanch, but I am only able to cover my discomfort because I know that’s never going to happen. Noah would never. He couldn’t stand her when we were kids. He hated her from the second she showed up in my life, and he has gone out of his way to pretend that he doesn’t have a clue who she is since coming to East View. She doesn’t stand a chance in hell, but the idea of her throwing herself at him . . . I don’t know. It makes me feel sick.

“Oh,” I say, trying to force an encouraging smile. “Good luck, but are you sure? I thought he was all over Shannan.”

“Wait. You haven’t heard? Have you been living under a rock?” Tarni blanches. “Whatever you said to him at that first football game has forced Shannan into hiding.”

“What did you say to him?” Abby asks. “The whole school has been dying to find out.”

“Nothing,” I say, shrugging my shoulders. “You know how much he cares about Hazel, and she was upset after what Shannan said to her in the stands. Noah promised her that he’d fix it, and I guess he did.”

“Oh, is that it?” Tarni questions as if she were looking for something juicy to be able to spread around the school, but that’s when I feel it. Feel him. “Oh shit,” Tarni squawks, gaping toward the foyer over my shoulder. “He’s here.”

My heart pounds, and I slowly turn back, peering through the party guests as the world seems to fade around me. His eyes are already on me, those dark pits of history holding so many of our cherished secrets.

It’s like an electrical storm, lightning blasting right through my chest and filling my veins with the most intense power. His gaze lingers as people crowd around him, but it’s as though he doesn’t even see them. Only me.

A smile pulls at my lips, and as the most beautiful one graces his, Tarni grips my arm in a death hold, her nails digging into my skin and making me gasp. “HOLY SHIT!” she screeches, stealing my attention away. “Did you see that? Noah Ryan just smiled right at me!”

Abby and Cora squeal right along with her, and I bite my tongue harder than I ever have before, angry that she’s stolen this moment away from me, making it all about her as usual.

“Oh, crap,” she starts to panic, lifting her drink to her lips and swallowing everything that’s left inside it. “He’s coming over here.”

“What?” I grunt, my eyes bugging out of my head.

“Be fucking cool,” she says, slathering a seductive smile across her face as I glance back to see those intense eyes locked right on mine. “I can’t believe this is actually happening. Holy fuck. I’m going to pass out.”

Noah continues making his way through the overcrowded room, only shifting his eyes off mine when it becomes far too obvious who has his attention. His gaze is somewhere behind me, but he’s all too aware of me, just as I am of him, and then he moves right into me, his hands discreetly brushing across my waist, his body right up against mine as he passes behind me. He’s so close that I feel his breath across my skin, and good God, it’s everything.

His hands fall away as he takes a step past me, but Tarni shoots around us, forcing herself right in front of Noah, bringing him to a stop. She all but thrusts herself at him, and as he backs up to put space between them, he steps right into me again, his fingers discreetly clutching mine behind his back.

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