Page 36 of Fall From Grace

“You’re not taking her anywhere, Noah.”

“I’m going to let him drive me home, Dustin,” I told him quickly before walking off, childishly leaving Noah with my boyfriend to deal with. I heard Dustin mutter and swear under his breath as I stepped away.

Sara and Tiffany were standing off of the field waiting for me, I was sure. They were both smiling but I wasn’t. “Did you guys know he played for them this entire time and never told me?”

They both looked guilty. “He wasn’t playing until last year,” Tiffany stated.

“That’s an entire year.”

“Why do you think I wanted you here tonight?” Sara asked.

I threw my hands up. “That doesn’t even make sense when you could have just told me and I would have come.”

“It was your mom, Grace… She asked us not to tell you,” Tiffany finally admitted.

“What?” That caught me off guard. “But she’s the one that wanted me here tonight… So, this was why?” I thought back to how insistent she had been about me joining the team again.

Sara shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe she changed her mind.”

“Besides, Dustin also asked us to keep it a secret… I’m sorry, you know we have a soft spot for his mean ass.”

“Unbelievable,” I muttered, walking off.

“Grace, we’re sorry.” They both started whining the entire time I was walking away. “Besides, Noah could have gotten in touch himself…”

I stopped walking. They spoke of the devil and he ran up to me. “Are you going to let me take you home?” he asked again.

I crossed my arms and looked ahead. “Yeah, let’s go,” I mumbled like my stomach wasn’t a big bowl of happiness to see him again. “I’ll talk to you guys later,” I told the girls while they gave me big wide cheesy smiles as they looked back and forth between us.

I turned my head back when he wasn’t following. He smirked. “This way.” He pointed his head in the opposite direction that I was walking. “I parked on the other side.”

I turned around. “Well, why didn’t you say so?” I was a bit nervous being this close to him as we walked. I slid my gaze up his body as he moved. He was tugging at his shoulder pads. His arms… His chest… His legs, everything was so muchmore.I took a deep breath and shook my head as if it would dispel the heat flash I was having. “You could have changed, ya know,” I told him.

He dropped his hand from his shoulder and smiled. “And risk you leaving with someone else?” I felt his eyes on me as I stared at the ground. “You aren’t going to ask about your boyfriend?”

I looked up. “I’m kinda ticked at everyone right now for not telling me that they saw you last year,” I told him. “But most of all, I’m hurt that you are playing football and going on with life without a care that I’ve been waiting to hear from you.”

“I called the school the week after I was put into my foster home and spoke to your mom,” he said, and my mouth dropped. “All I could think about was getting your house number so that I could hear your voice and feel stable again, but your mom wouldn’t give it to me.”

My stomach sank. How could Mom do that? She watched me cry for him every night and I even asked her to find out what school he was switched to! “My mom did?”

“Don’t look hurt,” he said, poking my cheek. “I was hurt at first, too but after a while, her words made sense, and I knew I had my own self-worth that I wanted to prove, to her, and anyone else that wanted to decide the way I felt for me.”

“What did she say?”

We passed the gate and he stopped at a black beat-up looking Jeep. “This is the one,” he told me.

“Is this yours?” I asked, and he nodded.

“Yep,” he said, tapping the top of it with his knuckles. “The couple I’m staying with gave it to me in return that I work at their garage a few days a week in between school and practice.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “That sounds like you.” He smiled at me and I focused on the gravel instead. “Are they good people? Your foster parents?”

He nodded again, smiling. “They’re great. They’re an older couple that started fostering when both their sons joined the army.”

I sighed in relief. “I’m glad.”

He grabbed my wrist and pulled me in. He enveloped me within the confines of his arms, I didn’t care that he was sweaty, it was the sweetest I’d felt in a long time. “Been wanting to wrap you up in my arms since the moment I saw you tonight.” He released me and tugged me to the passenger side. “Here,” he said, opening the door for me. I climbed in and he slammed it shut. It was a little messy but it smelled like Noah. All Noah. It felt a little too good to be surrounded by his scent again. He ran back over to the driver’s side and opened the door. He opened his Nike bag up and pulled out a shirt then he stood outside his door taking off his jersey. My entire body flushed with heat as I looked away then looked right back.

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