Page 15 of Under the Mistletoe

“Noelle, what is the matter?” Kelsey cried as we walked through the mall on our last shopping date before Christmas.

“It’s nothing.” I sighed.

Kelsey had warned me to be careful the night I was at the bar, before Bentley and I had gotten involved. I’d never thought about taking her words of warning seriously. I should have, and that was the one thing I regretted about the entire situation.

“You’ve been on a high lately and now this. This isn’t the Noelle I know. What is going on?”

I looked at my best friend and then quickly diverted my attention to an item outside a store in the mall. “Look at this! Isn’t this cute?” I said, hoping to turn her attention from me and onto some stupid little item.

“Yes, it’s lovely, but I’m…worried about you,” Kelsey said, grabbing hold of my arms and turning me toward her.

She slipped the item I couldn’t care less about from my hand and looked me directly in the eyes. I felt the wall I’d worked so hard to build over the last few days begin to crumble. My throat was tight. It actually hurt, to be honest. I couldn’t swallow, and my chest ached.

“What is going on with you?” she quietly asked as a crowd of kids walked by.

I nodded over to the empty table that sat outside of the mall coffee shop, and we both went and sat down. I dropped my purse to the floor and rested my face in my hands, taking a moment to calm myself down.

I’d spent most of this week, and some of this morning in tears. The couple of hours I’d spent with Kelsey this morning had been the first that I hadn’t shed a tear. I’d of course remained tight-lipped about Bentley and me, but now I wished I hadn’t. I wished I’d told her the truth so that I’d have at least had her to call when he ended things with me. Instead, I only had myself.

“You remember the night I got a flat when my parents were gone?”

“Yes, the night you stood me up at the party. How could I forget?”

I gave her an annoyed look.

“Okay, sorry.”

“I’ve fallen in love with someone I can’t have,” I muttered.

“Okay…that’s all you’re going to say?”

I nodded. “What else is there to say?” I sighed.

“Why can’t you have him?” Kelsey questioned, looking at me.

“Kelsey, don’t play stupid. You know where I went that night, and I firmly believe you know why. It’s Bentley, my father’s best friend. That is why I can’t have him. My parents would never approve or understand.”

Kelsey let out a laugh and shook her head. “You know, Noelle, you’ve crushed on this man forever. If you want the man, then there is nothing stopping you from being together.”

“Say’s you. Besides, we have already been together.”

Kelsey’s jaw dropped open, and she stared at me in disbelief. “Come on?”

“I’m serious. We hooked up that night and again the day of my party in my bedroom and nearly every night thereafter, until four days ago when he told me there was no way we could be together any longer and we were over.”

“Is that why you made Trent leave the bar that night and eat at Joe’s Burger Palace instead of eating one of Bentley’s delicious homemade cheeseburgers?”

I nodded, still feeling horrible about pulling Trent away from that meal. I looked over at my best friend, tears in my eyes, remembering the words Bentley had spoken and the warning she gave.

She sat there studying me for a few moments. “Noelle, if you really love him and he really loves you, then you already know that nothing should stand in your way, unless he has hurt you like Rick did to me.”

“That is easy for you to say. It’s not your father’s best friend…and no, aside from telling me we can’t be together, he hasn’t hurt me.”

“Bentley and your dad are going to have to have some words. There is no doubt about that, but if he truly feels the same about you as you do him, he’ll suck it up and have that awkward conversation.”

“What about what everyone else will think? What about what you will think and everyone at school? I’ll be an outcast!”

“What about them? Noelle, who the hell cares about what everyone else thinks? It’s your last year in college and we areall adults. Besides, all that matters is that the pair of you are together and happy.”

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