Page 83 of Remember Us This Way

The second hand makes its way right to the top, and on cue, the bell sounds through the school. My classmates quickly pack their things and file out of the room, all of them buzzing with excitement over the weekend and a woods party tonight. I’m not surprised to find I’m one of the last ones through the door. I just don’t have the energy or the enthusiasm over the epic party everyone can’t stop talking about. It sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. How many horror films have started with a party in the woods? I’ll pass.

Making my way to my locker, I stop to get my things when a big body falls in beside me, his familiar scent hitting me first. Noah grabs me, pulls me away from my open locker, and presses me into the next one. As his body pins me there, his arms cage me in, and before I can even smile up at him, his lips are on mine.

He kisses me deeply before his lips trail down my neck. “You ready to get out of here?” he murmurs between kisses.

“Mm-hmm,” I groan.

His lips come back to mine, kissing me once more before allowing me a second to finish getting my things and closing my locker. Noah immediately takes my books out of my arms, holding them for me as he slings his other arm over my shoulder, pulling me right into his side.

As we head toward the student parking lot, we pass Tarni, who glances up at the last moment and glares. I look away, not letting her hate affect the rest of my afternoon. As Noah always reminds me, I’ve already spent too many hours broken over her, and she sure as hell doesn’t deserve any more of my time. Besides, it’s been at least eight months. It’s time for her to move on.

We get into Noah’s car, and as he’s reversing out of his spot, he glances at me. “What do you wanna do?” he questions. “Hungry?”

“Ummmm—”

“Park? Lake?” he says, throwing around options. “We could take Hazel to see that movie she keeps bugging you about.”

“Nah, I think she said something about having a sleepover at a friend’s place tonight, so I doubt we’ll see her all weekend,” I tell him before letting out a heavy sigh. “I’m kinda tired though. Some guy wouldn’t quit talking my ear off all night.”

“Some guy, huh? Do I have something to worry about?”

“Oh, yeah. This guy is . . .” I hold my hand up, mimicking a chef’s kiss. “Little rough around the edges, hot as sin, and definitely has a mean streak, but I have it on good authority that when he really kisses a girl, she crumbles in his arms.”

“Hmmm,” he says, a smirk playing on his delicious lips. “Sounds like a loser.”

“Massive loser,” I tease.

Noah rolls his eyes and glances across at me, his hand bypassing the gearshift and dropping to my thigh, giving a gentle squeeze just as he always does. “You wanna just chill at my place?”

“Yeah, unless you wanna eat,” I say. “I could sit at a table and pretend not to fall asleep while you scarf your food down like a pig.”

“I don’t scarf my food like a pig.”

“No, you’re right,” I say. “You just inhale it.”

Noah grins. He knows I’m right, but nonetheless, he takes the turn to head back toward his place. He hands me his phone to give me full control of the music, and before I know it, he’s pulling to a stop outside his home.

I go to grab my things and reach for my door when I glance back and realize he’s not making a move to leave. He hasn’t even cut the engine, and I settle back into my seat. “What’s wrong?” I ask, watching how his usual carefree expression becomes almost fearful.

“I, umm . . .” he looks back at me, taking a deep breath and reconsidering. He nods toward his home. “Come on, we’ll talk inside.”

My brows furrow, and I go through the motions of getting out of the car and walking up the path toward the front door. He holds my hand, but this Noah isn’t the one I was with at the end of school, this one is unsure, and I’ve never known him to be that way.

“Is something wrong?” I ask in a small tone, my mind running wild with endless possibilities that could potentially destroy my world.

“Stop,” he murmurs, squeezing my hand as he unlocks the front door and leads me inside. “You’re overthinking it.”

“What else was I supposed to do?” I mutter. “You look at me like you’re about to be sick and then say we’ll talk inside. The end of the world is literally happening inside my head. If this is the big I’m going to college soon and want to explore my options talk, you could have at least told me at my place so I could have kicked you out, but now I’m gonna be stranded here and forced to ask for a ride home in the middle of my sob fest.”

Noah groans and stops in the hallway before turning back to me and pressing a kiss to my forehead. “You’re insufferable. You know that, right?”

I roll my eyes, and he drags me down the hall, past Linc’s bedroom and into his. He drops onto his bed with his back against the headboard and reaches for me, pulling me straight onto his lap until I’m straddled over him. “I’m not breaking up with you, Zo,” he says as I fidget with the material of his shirt, a nervous habit we’ve both become accustomed to. “I’m not sure if you’ve been around these past eight months, but I’m shamelessly in love with you.”

“Then what is it?” I ask, needing to be put out of my misery. “Hit me with it. Have you been recruited for some secret mission that requires you to fly to space for the next ten years? Only ten years in space is going to be like . . . a million here, and when you get back, you’ll be more interested in my great, great, great, great granddaughter.”

His mouth pops open, feigning offense. “Hold up a second,” he says. “You mean to tell me that if I got sent to space for some highly dangerous mission, which I’m sure would have something to do with saving the whole human race, you’d be down here, shacking up with some guy and having babies?”

“I mean, it depends. Was this space mission optional? Did they come to you like, we think you’d be good for this job, but if you’re too busy, the dude down the street has some time, or were they holding a knife to your throat, threatening that if you don’t go, they’ll destroy everything you love?”

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