Page 70 of One Little Kiss
I swallow hard. Oddly enough, I’ll happily take a jaded, irritated Elijah over the too-polite one I’d spent the evening with.
“I don’t want to ruin our friendship,” I say.
Too late, a little voice whispers.
I try to shush it but I swear Elijah hears it too because there’s a sadness to his gaze. A resignation that makes my heart topple and fall.
“Yeah, sure,” he finally murmurs, his smile strained. “It was worth a shot, right?”
“Yeah. Totally,” I lie.
Was it worth it to mess up what we have?
What wehad?
The thought makes my eyes sting and I reach for the door handle. “Thanks for a great dinner, Elijah.”
“Anytime. ‘Night, Noelle.”
“Good night.”
I practically run into my house and I race up to my bedroom so I don’t have to talk to my parents.
I’m out of breath as I shut the door behind me. I fall back against it with a little sob.
Scrubbing a hand over my face, I no doubt smear my makeup as I try to pull it together. But I’ve been holding back tears all night…maybe all day. And now there’s no stopping this stream of anguish as I cry for the friendship I fear is gone.
“We ruined everything,” I whisper to the empty room.
But the worst part is, right now there’s only one person I want to turn to for comfort. If these were any other circumstances I’d be running to Elijah’s house right now to tell him all about my horrible date. It’d be his arms I’d throw myself into so he could comfort me while I cry over the friendship I’d broken with a stupid kiss.
But I can’t go to Elijah, obviously, so I kick off my heels and climb onto my bed. And that’s when I see the driver’s ed manuals he’d left for me.
The tears I’d been trying to stop come harder and faster until I’m all out sobbing on my bed.
I miss my friend. And I don’t know if I’ll ever get him back.
EIGHTEEN
Elijah
There’sa party going on around me, but I’m lost in my own world of misery.
“Dude, what’s up with you?” Ryan falls onto the couch beside me in the rec room, and I shake my head to try and snap out of it.
“What?”
Ryan’s not a subtle guy. He’s giving me a look that says I’ve lost it. Which…I have.
The rest of our friends, including most of the football team and all of their girlfriends are enjoying the perks that come with being an only child with too much guilt money on his hands.
But Noelle’s not here, and I am an idiot for thinking she’d show.
We parted ways last weekend being all, ‘yeah, great, we’ll just go back to being friends.’
But did either of us actually believe that?
“Seriously, man, you’re bringingmedown with this whole brooding routine,” Ryan says, clapping a hand on my shoulder to get my attention. “And don’t get me started on the girls. If you don’t talk to me, you’re gonna get an intervention from Mara and Celia. They’ll probably FaceTime Addie in…” He arches his brows. “It’ll be a whole thing.”
