Undercover As Geek

The Rejection

I don't know where I'm going, I just run wherever my feet take me. Streets, people, and cars all pass by in a blur that I don't bother to clear. The fury is still blazing inside my limbs, but as I dash past the buildings it starts to die down, leaving an awful, cold ache in its stead. To distract myself I pump my arms and legs harder and harder, flying through two familiar buildings until I skid to a stop, my breathing frenzied and chaotic.

A second later I dare to survey my surroundings and discover that my feet have taken me inside the alley. The amateur mural on the walls peer down at me quietly as I spin to take them in. Once my breaths have become more shallow, I am able to hear resonating thumps from farther down the concrete. The noise is comforting and I find myself stumbling towards the source like an animal to water.

When I see him, my brain shuts down and I stand there, helpless. It takes him a moment to notice me, but when he does, the basketball slips from his hands like a deadweight.

"Kennedy," Noah breathes, seeing my forlorn expression. He jogs to me, the sport forgotten, and searches my pale face. "What happened?" He reaches a strong hand to my cheek and brushes it.

The question and touch are so delicate, so sincere, that I crack. All of the emotions that had built up in me from the reckless sprint from Fat Freddy's pours out of me as I start to cry. The sobs are loud and feverish, but they come out anyway. Noah blinks initially in surprise, and then he gathers me in his arms, pressing my head into his shoulder. The fit is perfect, and I leak every salty tear that remains in my body onto his sleeve.

He doesn't seem to mind that I'm slobbering all over his shirt, he just cradles me gently, whispering "there, there," into my hair. The wrenching feelings that have been pulsing through myself in the past month-- betraying the club, Asher's mother's stroke, the decision, Asher's betrayal, and even the breathtaking tenderness that Noah is expressing right now is exploding from within me, a blockage in my veins that I didn't know existed until Asher's scam had come to light.

After an eternity, the tears slow until I'm only breathing heavily into Noah's soaked shirt, my spine occasionally shuddering with fatigue. Somehow we have ended up sitting against the wall, my body practically curled in a ball on his lap. When I realize this, I scoot back onto the unyielding ground but keep my face tucked into his shoulder. My breaths are the only noise in the alley, and I force them to become smaller and smaller until they are silent and almost normal again.

Before I'm ready, Noah lifts my head away from his chest. My face is red and splotchy from crying, but he ignores it and just looks into my eyes with his deep brown ones, exploring them. "Now," he says firmly. "You'll tell me what's going on."

Sniffing, I begin to explain how I met Asher in the library those months ago. When I come to the part when he asked me out, Noah interrupts. "You just said 'yes'?" he asks incredulously. "Just like that?"

I pull away from him defensively. "You-- you don't know what it was like," I say. "to be so lonely. To need someone like that. You'll do anything."

The expression he gives me is much too wise. "Yes, I do," he says softly. I remember how he'd had to leave his life of basketball and start again in a no-account town with absolutely no reputation and no friends. The fact that someone understands what I've felt ignites a new, pleasant sensation within me.

"Oh," I say and pause. Then I continue with my story. "Well, we began to date. But it was a secret. In school we kept living our normal, single lives. He never looked or pretended to see me besides in the library, so in turn I did the same. I thought that eventually he would accept me and let the school know that we were together. But then I saw... " My eyes water and I look desperately at Noah, who waits patiently for me. "Oh, Noah. I went to where he worked today and saw... Asher was kissing another girl behind the building. He's been cheating on me. And who knows how many other girls he's been with. The worst part of it is... I trusted him."