Page 41 of It Was Always You

I read over the message I sent him again and realized that it could be taken either way. So I hurried and sent another text.

Me:On the air mattress in my closet. Not my bed.

His message came an instant later.

Noah:Ok

I sighed, relieved that he was at least letting me help him a little.

Me:Just park your car down the street so my dad doesn't know. Text me when you're back and I'll open my window.

I tried not to panic too much when I heard the swoosh telling me that my message had gone through.

I was just about to make my dad's worst nightmare come true and have a boy spend the night in my room.

I pacedmy room for the next couple of minutes as I waited for Noah to text me back. If anyone knew what we were about to do, I'd be so dead. So, so dead.

But I just couldn't think about that too much right now. I really didn't need anything else to stress me out.

My phone vibrated in my hand, and I almost jumped out of my skin.

Noah:I'm here.

My heart pounded in my ears as I unlocked my window and pushed against it to open it up.

The glass was so cold. But when I tried to slide it open, it didn't budge.

I tried again. It still wouldn’t move.

This wasn’t good. I couldn't help Noah stay warm tonight if I couldn't even get him into my room.

I pulled out my phone, my fingers shaking as I typed my message out.

Me:I can't open my window. I think it's frozen shut.

Through the frosty glass, I saw him hovering outside. He checked his phone.

Noah:What if I helped slide it?

It was worth a shot, so I stepped closer to the window and nodded.

His hands moved to the glass. I positioned mine withone hand on the frame and the other on the glass, and then pushed.

But it still didn't budge. Why did my dad have to be so cheap that he couldn't update the windows in our home?

My phone vibrated again.

Noah:What do you want me to do? Should I just go back to my car?

I looked at him again. He was just looking back at me through the window. I couldn't read the expression on his face since it was so dark outside, but his silhouette showed a sagging posture that told me how badly he wanted me to figure out something else.

Me:Let me see if my dad is in his room. Maybe I can figure something else out.

I pushed my phone into my back pocket and creaked my door open slowly. The hall was dark.

This was looking promising.

I peeked my head through the crack and swiveled my head to get a view of my dad's room.

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