Page 47 of Because of Me

“Even if it starts at two, we have time.” Noah interrupts. He glances between Ella and me before settling his gaze on me. “Do you want to get changed?”

Ella huffs, crossing her arms and storming away. “If I’m late I am going to tell my mother it was your fault, Noah.”

“I’m okay with that,” he calls back.

I spin to face him, making his fingers trace a line across my chest. Goosebumps erupt over my skin and something like static electricity begins to ring in my ears. I’m waiting for the zap that’s sure to bring me back to Earth, but it never comes. Noah draws a line over my collarbone, then up my neck, eventually tucking a piece of hair behind my ear.

“You look beautiful.”

“Thank you,” I whisper. Glancing over my shoulder at the mirror, I shimmy my hips to make the skirt swoosh out around me. “I do really like it.”

Noah leans down, kissing behind my ear. “Then to hell with your dad.”

“You can’t say that!” I gasp with playful shock. “He might actually have a heart attack seeing me in this and you’ve just condemned him to an eternity of torture.”

Frowning, Noah rears back. “Do you actually believe that?”

“I don’t, but he might.” I cup Noah’s cheeks and pull him towards me. With our lips so close I can feel his breath, I hesitate. “Just don’t say anything like that around him, just in case.”

“My lips are sealed.”

And he does just that; seals his lips. Over mine. It’s one of the few times we’ve kissed just because we can. I wasn’t expecting it to fill my chest with warmth or make my knees weak, but it does. There’s no sexual urgency, no raging endorphins, no onlooking cousin. It’s just me. And Noah. And this kiss.

My lips part on a sigh and Noah takes it for the chance it is. His tongue traces along my lips and mine darts out to meet it. We don’t rush, we savour. Noah’s hand is gentle on my neck, and he wraps his other arm around my back to hold me close. Keeping me from running away even though I know I won’t. Not this time. At least, not right now.

Ella’s voice is at least three octaves higher than usual as she calls for us to hurry up. “Let’s go!”

“Why doesn’t she get as much shit for being single as you do?” Noah asks when our lips finally break apart. Though there’s no judgement in his tone, the question still stings. I’d give anything for my father to be less strung out on ‘tradition’ than he is.

“She’s younger,” I reply with a shrug. “And her parents are a lot less conservative than mine. After they moved back to Melbourne and she stayed in Adelaide to study, I think they were blissfully ignorant. It might not be as bad for her, but I’m sure the pressure will hit her soon enough.”

“And when it does? Do you think she’ll be okay?”

“With her sass and independence? I think she’ll be fine.” I grab a thin scarf off the hook behind my door. The colour doesn’t quite match the shade of my dress, but it will do if my father’s scorn proves too much to handle. “And if not, she’ll have me to stick up for her.”

Noah follows me out the door, tugging on my arm to hold me back. “She’ll have us.”

Sadik’s wedding is nothing like Kaya’s was. Although the space is huge, it feels intimate and homely. The botanical gardens are bright with flowers and the heritage cottage is historic and timely without feeling old. On the veranda, ivy climbs along the building, creating a beautifully simple backdrop for Sadik and his new wife to say their vows. If only there were half as many people, it would be the perfect evening.

The crowd is almost as big as the space. There’s no way my cousin will make his way around to every guest. The benefit though, is that my parents have been pulled in so many directions by extended family and friends that they didn’t have the chance to interrogate me before the ceremony started. Hardwood floors click under dress shoes as we make our way into the reception hall. Noah squeezes my hand when I hesitate just inside the room.

He follows my gaze to where my parents are standing by a table, looking through the crowd of family. My mother clings to my father’s arm, straining her neck as she searches. Presumably for me.

“We have to say hi to them at some point,” Noah says. “We might as well get it over with.”

“I need two glasses of wine and a full stomach first. Thank God we aren’t seated at the same table.”

Sadik, it appears, had the foresight to seat all his cousins as far away from their parents as possible. Noah and I find our table on the edge of the room, and Ella skitters off to her spot nearby.

“You look beautiful,” Noah reminds me as he peels my wrap off my shoulders to drape it over my chair. “Don’t let your fear over what others might think stop you from owning your own beauty.”

I swallow down my uncertainty, leaning into his touch. “Are you sure it’s okay?”

Noah places his hands on my shoulders and traces my collarbones with his thumbs. His lip twitches before he speaks. “You trust me?”

“Always.”

“Then believe me.”

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