Page 158 of Echoes of Us

I made my way to Ezra, who greeted me with a smile. Istayed talking to him and his friend, and soon Colin joined. He looked confused seeing me without Noah but didn’t comment. An hour went by, and I wasn’t getting any calmer. Colin asked me to go to the terrace with him. When we walked out, the first thing I noticed was Noah.

I stopped cold.

He was leaning against a wall, talking to a guy, his hand half-tucked into his jean pocket, looking up and smiling easily. The guy was smiling down at him, and Noah’s free hand was on his shirt.

“Um,” Colin said next to me, clearly uncomfortable.

“Sorry, Col.” I handed him my drink and pushed my way over to them.

Noah spotted me first, and the smile didn’t slip from his face.

I turned towards the guy. “I’m sorry to interrupt, I just need to ask him something,” I told him and turned to Noah.

He crossed his arms and smirked at me.

“What the fuck are you playing at?” I asked Noah angrily.

Noah glanced past me to the guy, still standing there. “Sorry, my boyfriend gets a little jealous,” he said with a shrug.

“Fuck you, Noah,” I told him and turned to walk away.

The guy tried to call out an apology, then Noah’s hand was on my arm, pulling me back.

“Atty, calm down, come back.”

I turned to look at him, pressing my lips together. “Really?”

“It sure feels like a big deal when it’s something you care about, right?” he asked.

I closed my eyes, trying to calm down. “Is this you trying to teach me a lesson, Noah? Flirting with some guy, actively trying to hurt me because I said I couldn’t go on a trip with you? What the hell is the matter with you?” I was failing to keep my temper down.

The smile slipped from his face. “You know why it’s important to me. It’s not just a trip. Don’t put it like that,” he defended.

“And that makes it all right? As if you even asked why I couldn’t come? I got called into my advisor’s office today, Noah, because I’m falling behind and skipping classes. You know I’m on a scholarship. Do you know what that means? If I keep falling behind, they’re going to take it from me, and I’m going to have to quit volleyball and go to a state school in Miami. Now, do you get why this is a big fucking deal to me?”

His eyes grew for a second before the defiance returned. “If you lost your scholarship, I could just pay for your tuition.”

I froze, his words felt like a slap to the face. “I can’t be around you right now.” I turned to walk away from him.

He pulled on my arm again. “Atty, stop.”

“No, I need a minute. Let me go,” I insisted.

“I’m serious. It’s not like I can’t solve it.”

I tried to shrug his arm off. “Noah, let me go,” I warned.

His grasp tightened on my arm. “You’re the one that wanted to talk about it in the first place,” he accused.

I lost it. I turned towards him in the middle of the terrace, filled with people.

“You can’t just throw your money at every problem, Noah. I worked for this fucking scholarship. Iearnedit. Do you have any idea how disrespectful it is for you to just tell me you can pay for it if I lose it? Like the last four years of my life didn’t fucking matter?” I snapped at him loudly.

People started turning to look at us. Noah’s jaw was set, his eyes wide. Still, no apology.

“I’m wrecking my brain trying to keep you happy and help you with what you’re going through, and you couldn’t fucking care less about me, could you? Everything is about you, what you want, what you need, where you want to go,and when, one day, for one night, I ask for something for me, this is your response? Flirting with some guy and disregarding what’s important to me. How can you be so selfish?”

I kept going. I knew I was taking out the frustrations of the day on him, but it was just so fucking unfair. “I asked you for a minute. I’m going to take a walk to calm down. Can you at least give me that?” I asked angrily.

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