We Have A Lot In Common: I'm Hot, You're Hot-Let's Date!

Chapter 5: Satisfaction

Chapter 5: Satisfaction

Beep

I don’t want to get up

Beep

I just want sleep.

Beep

“ARRRGH!”

I smack my alarm clock with the palm of my hand. I force my eyes to flicker open and stare at the blinking 6:15 teasing me. Whose brilliant idea was it to start school this early in the morning? I roll out of bed and got ready for school. My dad already left for work and my mom won’t be getting up for another few hours or so, so the house is comfortably quiet.

I check myself out in the mirror as I always do before I leave the house. My hair is straightened again today, but it still looked shiny do to the new shampoo I bought. I decide to go with faded tight skinny jeans this morning rather than another skirt. Don’t want to overwork the skirts too much on the first week of school. I’m wearing a light purple boyfriend tank with a thin paisley cropped top over it. The white color of the shirt makes my arms and chest look extra tan. I finish off my outfit with a silver chain necklace and add my makeup.

With everything taken care of, Kale will find me irresistible. I smile at myself in the mirror and head into the kitchen. The clock on the stove lets me know that Carly and Maddy should be hear any minute to pick me up.

ding-dong

That’s odd, normally Carly just honks. I shrug and lift up my book bag and make my way to my front door. I open it and to my surprise, instead of greeting Carly or Maddy, it’s Noah.

“Good morning,” he greets me.

“Why are you here?”

“Well,” he touched his hand to the back of his head nervously, “I guess I just felt bad about yesterday and you never answered my text, so I texted Carly and told her I’d pick you up this morning.”

Oh. No harm in that.

“If you really feel bad then you won’t mind carrying my bag?” I tease, holding it out for him.

He takes it, relieved that I’m not one to hold a grudge, and we walked to his car. Once I get in, I fix his rearview mirror to face me and I start picking at my hair to make it look better.

“Liv, you look beautiful,” Noah says, adjusting the mirror back.

I sigh and pout. There’s no point in arguing with him. I stare out the window while we leave for school. The music is mere background noise, making room for awkward silence.

“So,” Noah hums, “I saw you leaving school with Kale yesterday.”

Double sigh and pout.

“Yes,” I say, “he was a gentleman and offered me a ride. He even opened my door for me.”

Noah just exhales as if to say “low blow.” I know I shouldn’t have directed that at him. I murmur that I’m sorry, but I can’t tell whether or not he heard me because he doesn’t tell. In response to the silence, I turn up the volume on the radio to find that the new Jason Mraz song “Lucky” is playing. It’s not the upbeat song I had been hoping for, but I don’t feel like changing the station.

I switch my attention back to the window and watch the passing buildings and people the entire drive to school. Noah occasionally runs his hand through his hair as if trying to think of something to say. I feel sort of responsible so I decide to make small talk.

“Thanks for saving my ass in math yesterday,” I joke to lighten the mood.

“It’s no problem, it’s all summer review, anyways. Plus you looked sort of upset yesterday.”

“Yeah,” I chuckle, “over nothing, really.”

“You sure? I was concerned for you, that’s why I wanted to make sure you were okay yesterday.”

“You’re too sweet,” I tussle his hair playfully. “But I’m fine now.”

“That’s good.”

With that, we pull into the school parking lot. Noah parks the car and jogs over to the passenger seat of the car, beating me to opening the door. He smiles, jokingly and I laugh. He offers to carry my bag again but I decline.

“Oh, heels again?” he whistles as I step out.

“Oh, yeah.” I make a face.

We walk into school together and on the way there I notice Kale stepping out of his car. And might I say—he looks hot. He’s wearing a dark pair of jeans and a navy blue top. He’s wearing mirrored aviator sunglasses, and his book bag hangs casually over his right shoulder. Noah notices me checking him out and moves closer to me.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to carry your bag?” he asks.

“No, I’m alright.”

He shoves his hands in his pocket.

“Alright,” he says in an admitting-defeat sort of way.

Once we arrive at the school doors, Carly and Maddy are quick to gather around. We exchange our hello’s and Carly tugs my arm, pulling me away from Noah. Noah reaches out, as if to stop me, but then just waves.

“Details, girl, details!” Carly pushes.

“About what?” I begin walking towards me locker.

“Yesterday, duh!”

“Oh yeah.”

Just then, Ty Flynn came towards us at a half-jogging, half-walking pace. He throws his hand up in the air to get my attention.

“Hey! Ty!” I give him a hug. “What’s up?”

“I took care of the Chloe McKinnon girl for you,” he whispers in my ear.

“Thanks, you’re a doll.”

“Anytime, babe.” He kisses me on the cheek and looks at Carly and Maddy. “You guys coming Friday, too?”

“Yeah!”

“Of course!”

“Great, great. See ya there then.”

The first bell rings, cutting off our conversation and Ty heads off in another direction. I tell Carly and Maddy that I’ll give them the details later and I leave for the bathroom to check myself out in the mirror one last time before class. As I walk in, I catch a conversation. I freeze and listen before walking in to make sure I’m not interrupting anything.

“-annoying because it’s one thing if I’m not invited, but he went completely out of his way to make sure I knew it.” It sounds to me like Chloe was on the verge of tears.

“He’s a jerk, Chloe, and everybody knows it. Don’t worry about what he says,” someone answers.

“It’s not like it matters,” she replies. “I have plans this entire weekend anyways with my boyfriend—”

I turn on my heel and leave the bathroom before listening to any more, with a smirk on my face. I just learned two good things—Chloe is definitely not coming to the party and she has a boyfriend. Kale is so mine.