Page 4 of Between the Flames

Noah, on the other hand, wasn’t your typical guy, and that’s what made him so appealing to literally everyone. Despite his looks, Noah wasn’t cocky or an asshole; he didn’t chase every girl who looked his direction, and he really wasn’t a huge partier. Add that all together and it equaled him being a total god to the girls at Shadow Hills High. The best part? He had no idea! He was so content in being in this little bubble with me, completely oblivious to everyone else, that he didn’t try to change himself into one of the jocks to “fit in”. Noah was a social butterfly who could hang with every group in this school, and he did. The nerds, the goths, the jocks, me. Lucky for me, he preferred the latter. I could always count on him to find me in a crowded room.

Choosing to ignore his comment about Ryder, I removed my arm from his waist and instead looped my arm through his as we continued to move through campus. My mind drifted back to a memory of us as children as I let his body guide mine toward the cafeteria.

Trotting down the white aisle littered with scattered rose petals, he wore a tuxedo, and they had dressed me in a fluffy white tutu dress. He carried a pillow that held two shiny rings on top, secured with a dainty silk ribbon. Throwing crimson rose petals in front of me with a forced smile plastered on my face, the sounds of ‘oh how cute’ and ‘aww’ urged me to keep going. Everything had to be perfect. I couldn’t trip, couldn’t let the smile falter. Noah’s older brother was finally getting married, and they had forced us to participate. Ring bearer and flower girl. I should have loved it; being girly, wearing a pretty dress, and having people admire me, but all I really wanted to do was go run around in the field next to it and tumble through the grass. A game of cops and robbers was calling me, and I was itching to take this giant dress off. I was a tomboy through and through, and this was just plain torture. After the ceremony and what seemed like a hundred million pictures, Noah and I were finally dismissed, free to go run and play. I wasted no time tackling Noah to the ground and shoved my pointer finger into his ribs, pretending it was a gun.

“All right buddy, you’re going to jail,” I said, between a fit of laughter. “Give me your wrists. I’m going to put your handcuffs on.”

Noah shoved his hands behind his back so I could cuff him, but his smile didn’t reach his eyes.

I faltered, dropping his hands. “What, do you not want to play?” I questioned. He was really making this game not fun.

He looked down at the ground, a hint of sadness in his tone as he asked me, “Elle, do you wanna get married someday?”

My brows furrowed and my lips pursed as I thought about his question. “Uh…like married, married?!” We were only eleven.

“Yeah, like Tucker and Molly just did. I want to get married. Do you want to marry me, Elle?”

“I mean, I guess so, but not right now. I just want to play and pretend to take you to jail.” Why was he asking me these things? Gross.

“Well, not right now, but when we’re older like Tucker. Let’s make a plan to get married when we’re like 26 or something, I dunno.”

I considered his words for half a second, then agreed. Anything to get him playing again. “Okay,” I said, “but what if we married someone else already?”

“I guess if we married someone else, then we can’t marry each other, but if we don’t marry someone else, then we will. Deal?” he said, almost so quietly that I had to strain to hear him.

Why was he acting like this? Why did he seem so sad?

“Okay,” I chuckled. “Deal, but only if I get to take you to jail now.”

With his sideways grin that always made me laugh, he smiled and said, “Okay policeman” before handing me his wrists to pretend to handcuff him.

Loud voices lifted me from the memory as Noah held open one of the double doors for me to enter the cafeteria. Scanning the room, I spotted a table by the window and led the way. As soon as Noah and I slumped into our chairs, I glanced down at my watch.

We had about five minutes before the warning bell rang and fifth period started—English Lit with Mrs. Saunders, which was usually just time spent scrolling through Instagram. Mrs. Saunders was retiring at the end of the year and had reached the point where she just didn’t care, so every class was spent reading or watching a movie adaptation of a book. Today we were watching A MidsummerNight’s Dream, and I had planned to pass the time by brainstorming my way through the article I needed to finish tonight.

Once the movie was playing and the lights were off, I pulled out the mess of papers that I’d shoved into my backpack. I immediately regretted my decision to push them in haphazardly and cringed as I tried to smooth the wrinkles out. Falling into a daze, I held the paper against my chest when suddenly inspiration struck. I quickly pulled out my favorite pen and my notebook and let the words flow out of me.

* * *

I jumpedwhen the lights turned back on in the classroom. Finally, lifting my head to find everyone around me was yawning and stretching after being brought back to life after their fifty-minute nap. A huge smile pulled across my face and mentally I high-five myself for lifting the writer’s block that had been plaguing me as I looked back down at the notebook in front of me. Not only had I drafted the article about our upcoming big game, but I had revised and completed a second draft that was now ready to be typed and completed.

Gathering all of my belongings, I placed them into my backpack more carefully this time, before standing up to leave. Looking around the room, I laughed when I found Noah still asleep in the next row over. I walked over to him and stood above him at his desk.

“Noah, get up. Time for you to go to Art,” I whispered, gently pushing his shoulder to wake him. He shot up straight with a grumble, yawning before rubbing his eyes. I took that as my sign that he would be all right and hurried toward the door, the minute warning bell ringing loudly overhead. I hardly made it two steps before choking on a gasp of air as my eyes connected with my favorite shade of green again.

Ryder.

He was leaning against the lockers directly across from where I stood with his arms crossed over his body, looking relaxed while my heart plummeted into my stomach. My palms began to sweat as his eyes burned directly into mine, setting a fire that coursed through my veins while my whole body came alight under his stare. I bit down on my lower lip, refusing to let him see how he affected me. I had slid under his radar for this long, I didn’t dare get on it now. But this was twice in one day. Why was he here?

He smirked, and I felt that smirk all the way to my core.

I couldn’t do this.

I couldn’t breathe.

I wasn’t this confident.

I wasn’t this girl.

The last bell rang, breaking me out of my trance and reminding me where I was. I narrowed my eyes at him and walked away, leaving him standing there, but leaving me wondering if he finally had noticed me.

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