Page 148 of Fraternizing with the Enemy
“So you’re still avoiding him?”
“I’m here to talk to you.”
Noah looked at me for a moment expressionless, and there was nothing but the roar of the espresso machine in the air. For a moment, I thought he was about to send me packing. “You’ll have to wait,” he said instead. “Until the rush is over.”
I technically didn’t have to be back to the school until five-forty-five, since our away game was only the next town over. “Okay.”
Without ordering anything, I walked over to the booth nearest to the bathrooms, away from the windows and prying eyes.
It was strange being in Expresso’s without Logan at my side. The last time I’d been in here, we’d stumbled upon Maisie and Connor—they totallywerehere on a date, those little liars. That night honestly felt like a lifetime ago, and, weirdly, as did everything with Logan.
After I’d found out he was from Jefferson, I’d been heartbroken—not over the loss ofhim, but over the loss of potential It Couple status. I could admit that now. I’d been hurt, but it’d been more of my pride than my heart.
I could physically feel the difference now. I could feel it in the hollow ache in my chest, the way my body still leaned toward the door as if he might walk through it at any second. Now, there was no idea of popularity to mourn. Only the loss of him.
And I didn’t know if I was brave enough to try to get him back.
I traced the edge of the table with my nail, feelinglike the world’s biggest coward. But this—I could at least do this.
I didn’t know how much time passed before Noah came up to the booth, carrying a small iced drink. He set it down in front of me.
I looked up in surprise. “You know my order?”
“I saw Logan make it enough to remember. No offense, but it’s pretty basic.”
A corner of my mouth tugged up as I caught the straw between my teeth. “Thanks.”
“I’m assuming this is about the deal Logan made with your friend?” Noah settled back into his seat and folded his arms across his chest, arching a languid eyebrow. “You want me to tell you what I know? Because I do know everything—I was there.”
It hadn’t been what I’d come there for, but his words made me falter. “You were there?”
“When Jade came into Expresso’s and threatened him.”
I closed my eyes. I’d wondered how their paths had crossed in the beginning, and having even just a glimpse into the mental image hurt. I set the iced coffee back down on the table, forcing myself to look him in the eye and not cower. “I’m not here about Logan,” I told Noah finally, one of my legs bouncing underneath the table. “I’m here to apologize.”
Now his other eyebrow lifted. “To me? For what?”
“For what the Top Tier did to you. For what my friends did to you.” I cringed a little. “Or, ex friends. I know it’s not nearly the same, but I’m here to apologize.”
Noah scratched the side of his neck a little awkwardly, and he looked so much like Logan in thatmoment that it was a little strange. “You already apologized. At the bonfire.”
“I wanted to do it again.” I leaned onto the table. “And I wanted to offer to help bring it to light. We can take it to my mom. She’s the principal at Brentwood. She’d be ready to fight for you, even if it meant the football team would get in trouble.”
Mom had been busy this past week. While I was wasting away in my bedroom, she was collecting evidence. She’d taken screenshots from the Madison Exposé webpage, downloaded all of the pictures and videos, and was trying to figure out how to trace it all back to Ashton and Kyle and Riley and Jade. With Brentwood’s “No Bullying” policy, she’d be able to nail them—if she could prove it was them. Which she hadn’t been able to do just yet.
I was okay with letting it go, to be honest. I didn’t need to bring them down, and I didn’t feel the need to prove my innocence. The students at Brentwood could think what they wanted. Walking into the cafeteria had shown me that—it hadn’t been nearly as terrifying as I’d built it up to be. People had looked, sure, but most of them just went back to their food and their friends. The world hadn’t stopped spinning because of me.
And that was another interesting thing about the life post Top Tier status—to realize there truly was more to life than popularity status in high school.
“Brentwood films every game,” I told Noah now. “We can pull the footage from last year’s game, and?—”
Noah lifted his palm, and I cut myself off. “Why are you doing this? Because you feel guilty?”
“Because what happened to you wasn’t right. And itshouldn’t be swept under the rug.” I scanned his expression. “Not if you don’t want it to be.”
And that applied to a lot of things. Landon had gone up to Hudson and offered to go to my mom together, to come clean about what really happened freshman year when the Top Tier boys had targeted him. Hudson had declined, though, saying that he didn’t care what the school thought about him—that he knew the truth. He and I were a lot alike in that regard.
Noah had such a steady gaze as he watched me, so remote that it was hard to tell what he was thinking until he spoke. “I don’t mind if it is. Swept under the rug, I mean.” He tipped his head to the side. “Bringing it back up isn’t going to make me be able to play again.” Underneath the table, he tapped his leg.
