Page 34 of One Little Kiss
This morning in particular, I need to see her smiley, optimistic face. Her bright grin helps me breathe easier. And while I love seeing her and Vince together, I’m grateful to have her alone this morning.
“You okay, Noelle?” She tips her head to the side.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
She doesn’t say anything. She just hits me with her kind smile and compassionate gaze. And Elijah pops into my head because I find myself remembering our joke about our Addie kryptonite. A second after that, it’s all pouring out of me. All of it.
Well, not the part about the almost kiss with Elijah, because honestly…I’m still not entirely sure what happened there. One second he was holding me. The next there was this thick tension between us that made my heart trip and my belly start to flutter, and…
I think maybe he was leaning in to kiss me?
“He said what?” Addie’s basically screeching so it’s no surprise when her step-siblings burst in to see what the commotion is. She shoos them away with promises to be down to join them for breakfast soon.
“What a creep,” she mutters as soon as they’ve left.
I smile because…creepis so not a strong enough word for what Brad is. But from Addie, it’s saying a lot.
“Is that why things are weird between you and Elijah?”
Her question gives me a start. Things are a little weird with me and Elijah, but I never told Addie about that. I never mentioned it to anyone, and it felt like Elijah and I were both doing our best to not act weird around our friends.
But the fact that I knew that he was trying not to be weird…
Well, that meant we probablywereacting weird. Probably weirder than we realized.
I wince and rub my temples. “Where’d you hear things are weird between us?”
A guilty wince flashes across her face. “Celia may have mentioned that you two seemed different ever since that playoff game and…I don’t know. She wasn’t gossiping, just worried about you. Both of you.”
I nod. “Look, do me a favor. Don’t tell Celia or Mara about Brad or what happened okay?”
“Worried they’ll go ballistic?”
“Definitely.”
“I would be too.”
We laugh as we hypothesize who’d do the most damage. Mara can be kinda terrifying when she goes into Mama Bear mode, but Celia can be downright devious. I could totally see her hacking his computer to get him in trouble or something.
“I kinda just want to let the whole night be forgotten, you know? I don’t want to make things any weirder than they already are.”
She nods. “I get it, it’s just…” She purses her lips.
“What?”
“I don’t know,” she hesitates. “It’s just…sometimes change is unavoidable. But it doesn’t have to be bad.”
“Mmm.” I make a noncommittal sound because I know where she’s coming from. She’d been miserable when she first transferred to a new school and started living in a new home with a new family. And in her case, all that change had led to this great new transformation.
But for me…?
I keep thinking about Elijah. About that glint in his eyes when he’d leaned down toward me. The way he’d been the same but new.
Honestly, it wasn’t the first time I’d felt that way around him. That day in the parking lot when I’d teased him…
Regret flared along with embarrassment.
“Anyway, none of this is why I called.” I force a bright smile. “Tell me everything that’s been going on with you.”
