Page 71 of One Little Kiss
“Your point?” My tone is less than gracious. But I’m really not in the mood for Ryan’s upbeat attitude right now. I was doing just fine brooding on my own.
“Dude. Whatever went down between you and Noelle—”
“What’d she say?” My head snaps up and I look over to see him staring at me with wide eyes.
“Whoa. Uh…” He shakes his head, his expression softening with a wince. “Sorry, man. She didn’t say anything. Not to me. Not to Mara or Celia either, so far as I know.”
I swallow hard and go back to staring at the TV, which is…
Blank.
There’s absolutely nothing playing on the screen right now, and I don’t know how long I’ve been sitting here staring at it.
I scrub a hand over my face. Jeez. No wonder my friends are worried.
“Look, it doesn’t take a genius to see that something happened between you two,” Ryan continues. “I’m not exactly observant when it comes to this stuff, and even I could sense the weirdness between you and Noelle at the dance.”
I glower at him. “Are you trying to help right now? Because this doesn’t feel like helping.”
Ryan sinks back into the couch with a sigh. “We gave you two space all week, man.”
I roll my eyes, but I know he’s right. All week Noelle and I have been walking on eggshells around each other. If we’re even in the same room.
I swear, Noelle has made a freakin’ art out of avoiding me. I don’t know where she’s been hiding or running off to between classes and throughout lunch, but she’s really missed her calling as a magician. Houdini’s got nothing on her.
“Wanna tell me what’s going on?” Ryan gives me a pointed look.
I reply with a side eye glare, and he has the good grace to flinch.
“Yeah, okay. I know talking about this stuff isn’t really our thing,” he starts.
“But Mara put you up to it,” I finish.
His grin is a little sheepish as he shrugs. “She’s worried.” After a beat, he gives me a shove and adds, “We all are. You and Noelle, you’re like…”
I glance over when he pauses. His face is screwed up as though he’s searching for the right words.
“You two are like the hub of our friend group, you know?”
I give a snort of amusement. “If by that you mean, I’m the one who hosts our parties and Noelle’s the one who makes them fun—”
“No, man.” Ryan looks a little offended and I glance away. “That’s not what I’m saying.”
I hadn’t meant for that to sound so jaded, but there’s some truth to it and we all know it. I love my friends, and I know they care about me. But would we all hang out so much if I wasn’t the one with the ‘fun’ parents who let us do whatever we wanted?
Doubt it.
And Noelle might not talk about it, but I know she wonders at times if she’d be so popular if she wasn’t a freakin’ supermodel in the making.
So yeah, maybe I’m feeling a little jaded right now, and I don’t feel guilty enough to take it back.
Ryan and I fall into a tense silence.
“Look, dude,” Ryan finally says with an exasperated huff. “We care about you both. If you two got into a fight—”
“We didn’t.” He waits me out until finally I clear my throat. “I kissed her.”
“What?” Mara’s voice on my other side has me stiffening.
