Page 48 of The Luck of Finding You
“I realized I hadn’t checked in at all with her, and while Grandma Marsha was never much of a worrier, I am. I completely went into ‘she’s going to kill me’ mode and took off running. About twenty seconds later I realized I was a complete idiot, so I turned around, but you were already gone.” Noah’s gaze makes me warm all over. “I’ve regretted running like that every single day after because I thought I’d lost you forever.”
“Why would you be worried about that?” The words come out as a whisper because Iamterrified to know the answer.
Noah laughs like what he’s about to say next is completely insane. “I fell in love with you. That probably sounds crazy; you can’t fall in love with someone in a single afternoon, but I did.”
I did too.
I’m about to tell him this when Olivia appears in the doorway. “There’s a woman here claiming that after she donated a box of books, we promised not to shelve them for a few weeks in case she changed her mind. I don’t recognize her. Did you tell anyone that?”
I go over the past few weeks in my mind. “Nope, did you?”
Noah shakes his head.
“I think she said she dropped the books off at the end of August,” Olivia tells us. “He wasn’t even here yet.”
“I’ll see if I can help her.” I stand and follow Olivia out. A woman I know I’ve never seen before is waiting for us at the counter.
Ten minutes later she leaves, yelling about how she’ll never do business with us again because we lost her books, even though the titles she mentioned are pretty rare, and I would have remembered seeing them in our system. She definitely didn’t come here.
“Do you want to drive to St. George together?”
I jump out of my skin at the sound of Noah’s voice.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,” he says, and I turn to face him.
For a split second I think I’ve imagined it. It’s completely one hundred percent something that my brain would come up with. We’re both going to the Simone event, so it’d make sense for my brain to imagine Noah asking me that. In fact, I’m pretty sure I dreamed about it the other night before our kiss.
“Tally?”
I blink. I look up from my shoes to meet Noah’s gaze. “Huh?” I know my face is pink again.
“I asked if you’d want to drive to St. George together since we’re going to the same event.”
Yup. Didn’t actually dream that just now. That was completely real, and now I’m mortified that it seems like I zoned out and said "huh" like an idiot.
“Why would we drive together?” My brain can’t seem to catch up, and I regret the question as soon as it’s out of my mouth.
Noah’s lips turn down. I look at his eyes because looking at his lips always makes me imagine kissing him. “You’re joking, right?”
“Uh, no?” I say, but it comes out more like a question. Why do we keep doing this? Swinging from heartfelt conversations that never get proper closure to these awkward ones where I feel like I can’t ever say the right thing.
“We’re both going down there. Olivia already said she could cover the store on Saturday. I thought we could leave after we close on Friday,” he says, and for a split second I’m filled with panic.
“I, uh…” I swallow. I can do this. I’m Tally Nelson, I am a mature adult who can communicate what I’m feeling. “But I’m meeting that guy at the event.”
Noah’s face doesn’t change. “That’s fine, it’s just a car share. I meant what I said in the text, we can be friends.”
THEN WHAT WAS THE POINT OF OUR CONVERSATION TEN MINUTES AGO!?I want to scream. I don’t though. I keep my cool.
I swallow again. It’s just a car share. And friendship. Even though I kind of want more than friendship and I know he does too.
“Uh, right. Sure, then,” I say, because how can I say no after that? Even though it’s going to be the most awkward four hours of my entire life.
“Great. We’ll leave Friday at like eight?” Noah asks cheerfully. How is he not feeling as weird about this as I am?
“Sounds good,” I say, grateful that my voice sounds normal. As if I’m a normal human being who’s not completely freaking out about the fact that not only am I going to meet my online friend of two years this weekend, but I also have to be in the same car for four hours (eight, if you count the drive home) with my real-life crush. The one that I’m trying really hard not to crush on.
I’m trying really hard not to crush on him, but if he keeps smiling at me like he’s doing right now, I’m toast. If I were completely honest with myself…nope. Not even going to go there tonight. I can’t handle any more feelings today.
