TKB - The Time Apart

Chapter 23 - Noah and Lee

Noah POV

2nd year of Law School is pretty monotonous.  Lots of hard classes, lots of time at my internship, not too much time for extra-curricular activities - including dating.  But, that's a good thing, because, quite honestly, between the breakup with Addison, and my conflicting feelings that are still there for Elle, and all of my work, I just don't think I would contribute too much to a relationship.  

That doesn't mean that girls haven't tried though.  

With the whole Addison/Rachel friendship, it was a little awkward for me to go to Brown while Lee is here on the East Coast.  So, he came to spend a weekend with me, which happened to fall after a really rough exam - so I could finally let loose for a few days.  It was nice to see him - I can just tell how happy he is with Rachel - well, I can see it, but there's also the fact that he just doesn't stop talking about her!  

Saturday night we decided to head to a local bar after dinner.  Lee was filling me in on some stories from his job at the arcade at the local mall.  I know its just a temporary thing for him, but I'm glad he's doing something that he enjoys.  Pretty sure he gets on that dance machine every chance he gets.  Soon enough, I know he'll be back in LA, probably working at some major architecture firm or something. I don't think Lee gets half of the pressure that I get from our dad.  Lucky him.

Anyway...we're out at this bar sitting at a table, and I'm dying with laughter at Lee's story of how a guy tried bringing a monkey into the arcade, saying it was his service animal.  And when they asked him to leave with it, the monkey started swinging around the arcade.  As he's telling me how the monkey tried stealing a slice of Lee's pizza from the break room and trying to eat it over Lee's head, I had the unfortunate luck of taking a sip of my beer - that ended up splurting out my beer all over some poor girl who just happened to walk by at the worst possible time.  

Obviously, I felt terrible about the situation, and I offered to cover the bill to have her dress cleaned - after all, I'm still a gentleman.  I gave her my number, and told her to shoot me a text with the bill, so I could meet up with her to pay her back.  I know, I know, I'm naive - I should have realized that she'd read into it, but I wasn't really trying to hit on her or try to ask her out.  I genuinely wanted to pay for my terrible, albeit hysterical, mistake.  However, when I did show up  at her door a few days later to give her the $20, she was dressed to the 9's, and insisted that I have dinner with her and her roommate.  I realized I should have just handed her the $20 in the bar that night, and I could have saved myself an evening of being hit on.  Poor girls, they tried so hard - but I was caught off guard, and so not interested.  They were nice enough, but too self-absorbed and self-involved to be my type.  I really don't need someone who just wants to fawn all over me - sure, it sounds nice, but I really want to have a relationship (down the road) with someone independent, who can take care of themselves, and doesn't take themselves too seriously.  I've had enough girls come after me for my looks, and I'd rather someone be interested in me for my brains as well.

Back to my weekend with Lee though - after the monkey story.  We did have a nice little heart to heart, well, Lee's heart anyway.  I know things are pretty serious with Rachel, but I asked him where he sees them going after her graduation, which is coming up in just a month or so.  As I expected, their plan is to head back to the West Coast, where Rachel has been applying for research jobs in pharmaceutical research.  She's hoping to have something lined up for January, as she's in the 3rd round for 2 different positions.  Lee has been floating his resume around too, and is keeping his fingers crossed.  They are apparently hoping to get an apartment together, rather than moving back home, but that is dependent on them both having jobs.

I didn't want to push too hard, but after the apartment comment, I decided to just come out and ask Lee what his thoughts were on proposing to Rachel.  This time, it was water instead of beer, and it came flying out of Lee's mouth.  Apparently, he didn't expect me to ask this, which is surprising, given all of the plans he shared.  Eventually, he said that it definitely is in the back of his mind, and it is his ultimate goal, but he doesn't want to push Rachel too hard like he did after their high school graduation. So, he's going to wait a bit.

As I put him on the bus back to Brown, my mind wandered to the future, specifically to a possible Lee/Rachel wedding.  There would be no avoiding Elle at that point.  She is basically as much Lee's family as I am.  Maybe this can be my target.  Either fix things with Elle before the wedding, whenever that may be, and if not, I'll know it's time to move on.  I'm not dating now anyway, so it's not like I'm missing out on anything or putting my life on hold for her, but then I'll have a somewhat firm time line to figure out my feelings.

And to think.... We actually did go a whole weekend without really talking about her.  I did see her name pop up on Lee's phone a few times, which he tried to hide, unsuccessfully.  Once he's back in LA, I'll talk to him about my thoughts.  I'm not doing anything now anyway, so what's the rush?

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Lee POV

Well, I don't think I expected to be sitting here on the bus trying to think about proposing to Rachel. As much as I'd like to, I know how much I stressed her out with pushing too hard before.  Instead, I'm definitely going to wait.  I am, right?

I called Elle on my ride back to fill her in on my weekend.  I know she's still a little ticked at me over that breakfast a year ago... But, I know that's only because she still secretly loves Noah.  Ugh, why???  Whatever the reason, I'll always feel a little guilty for trying to keep them apart, and for making their last summer together so much about me that it drove a wedge between them.  And c'mon, she knew I was coming here, and still she texted me nearly all weekend anyway.  I thought being here while she was away with my mom would keep her distracted, but I guessed wrong.  At least I wasn't lying when I told her that Noah appears to be as celibate as a monk.   

I can't figure her out though...One minute, she's pissed at me for inviting him to breakfast, and later, she's snooping on my visit with him. Maybe she doesn't even know what she wants, and I hope she figures it out before its too late for both of them.  I'm certainly not trying to be in the middle of them, but maybe once I'm back home after the new year, I'll be able to get a good read on her.  Maybe these two will be less mopey if they actually get back together.

Its been great being with Rachel here, but I definitely can't see myself living on the East Coast permanently.  I know that Berkeley was colder than LA, but its only November in Rhode Island, and its already freezing.  I was not built for cold weather and snow.  I give Rachel credit for being here for over 4 years already, but I'm excited to go back home in a month.  In my down time, I've been looking for apartments online, and I've had my mom scope out a few of the more promising ones.  I don't want to stress Rachel out about it while she finishes up school, so I am trying to do the heavy lifting for now.  However, we did talk about it, and we set a budget (which I may or may not have gone over - oops), and what each of us was looking for.   We'd like to be close to our family, have room for both of us to have a small office space - ideally separately, and a nice kitchen, so we can work on our cooking skills (of which I don't really have any).  I'd really prefer a garden style complex instead of a high rise, but they seem harder to come by.  And honestly, I'd kinda like to be near Elle's apartment if I can too - but that's not as high on my list.  

My mom is in heaven though, because she gets to use her Realtor skills to help the family AND she is thrilled about Rachel and I.  She has FaceTimed me a few times so I could see some options, and I think I've narrowed it down.  I figure I can show these top 2 to Rachel, and she will hopefully like one of them, and I can work on the contract.  Rachel just nailed a 3rd interview, so I'm sure she'll have her job all set by the time we get home.  

If my mom would only stop bugging me about proposing.  I've told her a million times that I want to wait.  So hopefully, she'll back off and not push Rachel over the edge when we get home.  That's the last thing that I need.  Why can't she work on Noah and Elle instead?  Oooh, now there's an idea!

A/N:  I'm trying really hard to get this wrapped up.  I have a few more chapters plotted out, and I promise to get to the reunion!  Thanks for sticking it out with me.  The comments have been motivating me to continue writing.  Thank you so much for your feedback!