Page 31 of One Little Kiss
I know her.
This is no stranger, it’s…my Noelle. Which is why, despite the fact that the only light in this kitchen is the moonlight coming through the windows, and despite the fact that she’s wearing her best poker face…I see it.
“You’re not okay,” I say.
Her eyes round in surprise. She didn’t expect that. I normally go along with her lies, fall in with her jokes…
But I can’t tonight.
The adrenaline is fading, and now I just feel…raw. I can’t pretend right now. And maybe it’s the drinks talking, but I don’t want to.
I stop when I’m right beside her at the kitchen island and we both lean against it. “What did he say to you?”
She shakes her head. “Doesn’t matter.”
I straighten, my heart slamming against my chest. “Noelle, did he…touch you? Did he—”
“No!” She straightens too, so now we’re both standing and facing each other. “He didn’t. He wouldn’t.”
“He would,” I argue. “The way he was looking at you—”
“Yeah, well, I can protect myself.”
I open my mouth to argue, but then close it. My emotions are too close to the surface, and her comment made me bizarrely angry.
And she doesn’t need my anger right now.
She doesn’t need me to point out that maybe sometimes she does need help. Maybe it’s okay to accept it. I scrub a hand over my eyes and try to regroup. “What do you need?”
“I don’t need anything,” she says, her tone lighter and more like her usual self.
It makes me feel heavier. Tired. I don’t want to do this. I want to be real with her, and I want the same in return. “Stay the night,” I say.
“What?”
I drop my hand to look right at her. “Stay. You shouldn’t be alone.”
“My parents are at home, and it’s…it’s fine. Really.”
But it’s not, because she can’t fool me. Her poker face is on point, but when I look into her eyes, I can see the pain, and I’d do anything to take it away.
My own heart aches at the sight of it, like her pain is mine. And I wish it were. I wish I could do that for her. “If I could take your pain, I would.”
Once again…didn’t mean to say that aloud.
Crap. This is why I don’t drink.
Her brows knit together. “What?”
“Just…” I run a hand through my hair. “I don’t want you to hurt. That’s all.”
She blinks at me like she’s never seen me before. Like I’ve grown a second head. I know that in the cold light of day, I’m gonna regret I ever said this stuff. I’m gonna wince when I think of how she’s looking at me right now.
But at this particular moment, it’s tough to care. All that matters is that I make her feel better. That I take away her pain.
And I have no idea how to do that.
I reach for her before I can stop myself.
