Page 84 of The Secret Of Us

The party is way bigger than I expected. We can hear the music before we even see the house. Once we make it up the long driveway, I resign myself to the fact that this isn’t going to be as quiet a night as I expected. Noah hasn’t let go of my hand since he took it, and I don’t want him to, especially now when there’s so many people crowded around.

Once we get out of the taxi—Noah paying for it even though we insisted he didn’t have to and we could all split it—we go around the side of the house to the back garden.

People are scattered around everywhere in small clusters, having loud conversations over the music blaring from speakers set up around the garden and inside the house. The girls disappear somewhere, finding some others from the hockey team, but I stay with Noah.

I sneak a glance at him to see how he’s feeling. I told him it wouldn’t be that busy so I’m worried he’s regretting coming here. Looking around, I know that a lot of the people here took part in spreading rumours about him when he first joined. Even though it’s died down now, I still resent them all for doing it in the first place.

“You okay?” I ask him, giving his hand a gentle squeeze.

“Yeah, just wasn’t expecting so many people,” he says, staring straight ahead at all the students enjoying themselves.

“We can leave if you want.” I don’t want him to feel uncomfortable, especially because I’m the only reason he’s here in the first place.

“Let’s see how it goes,” is all he says before he leads me toward the house.

It’s completely open, leading into the kitchen, with sliding glass doors pulled all the way back so the kitchen and garden flow into one. The island in the middle is loaded up with various drinks, and someone seems to be playing bartender, taking requests for mixes that sound like a nightmare.

“Do you want a drink?” Noah asks, dipping his head closer to mine so that he can speak directly into my ear. The music is louder here in the enclosed space, so I turn my head to do the same to him.

“Just water.”

He goes to his full height again, manoeuvring us through the crowd. My hand is wrapped tightly in his as I follow closely behind him. He leans over a few people to get two bottles of water from an ice bucket in the middle of the island, balancing them in one hand. Then, he turns so we face each other and hands me one of the bottles. I take it from him before I push my way through the crowd to get back out, but more people have arrived, and it’s difficult to see an exit point.

Noah drops his water bottle into the front pocket of his hoodie that I’m wearing, and then he locks his arm around my stomach. I step backward so I’m closer to him, and then we move like we’re one person. Noah manages to shoulder his way through the crowd, and somehow, we get out of it with not a single person bumping into me. He doesn’t let go of me until we find a quiet spot in the garden with only a few people lingering around.

“We need to treat these like they’re the last two bottles of water on earth,” I joke, and it makes Noah laugh loudly, his eyes crinkling at the corners. I like it when he laughs like this, completely unguarded. He never does it when we’re around other people, and I like to think he saves it just for me

“Let me know when you want to leave,” I tell him, wanting to make sure he knows that we can go whenever he wants.

“I think we can at least make it to the countdown,” he says, and my mind immediately races toward the thought of kissing him at midnight.

I press the brakes as soon as I remember that he’s never kissed anyone. He deserves to have his first kiss with someone better than me, with someone he actually loves.

“Izzy!” I hear Chloe before I see her. She hurries toward me and grabs onto my arm. “Let’s dance!”

I look at Noah, wanting him to ask me to stay, but he lets go of my hand instead.

“Go have fun. I’ll wait here.”

“Are you sure?”

He nods, and that’s all Chloe needs to see before she’s dragging me away and into a crowd of people. All the hockey team is here, so I loosen up and start dancing with them, hopping when they jump because I’m still worried about hurting my ankle again. I want to hug whoever is in charge of the playlist because all our favourite songs play and I’m having the time of my life.

Every time I look at Noah, he’s staring straight at me, a small smile on his face. Josh stands next to him, his focus on us, too. I see Josh’s mouth move as he speaks, but I can tell Noah isn’t paying attention to him. I definitely don’t care about anything that’s happening around me right now.

“Five minutes!” someone yells, and everyone cheers.

I excuse myself from the girls and go over to Noah. I only want to be with him when the clock starts counting down. When I reach the two of them, Josh and Noah do some kind of bro handshake and then he leaves us alone.

“Did you have fun?” he asks when I’m in front of him, and I reach over to take his hand in mine.

“I did. I hope Josh didn’t annoy you too much.”

“I think I annoyed him more trying to get the story of how he fell in the pond. He still hasn’t told me.” Noah feigns annoyance and he looks adorable.

He smiles down at me, his head tilted to the side slightly, and he looks so pretty.

Noah holds out the water bottle in his hand to me, and I don’t even remember losing mine. I take it from him and drink down half of it before handing it back to him. He takes a sip, his lips pressed against the same spot mine were just mere seconds ago. I watch the movement of his throat as he swallows it down, and I don’t know why it has me so flustered.

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