Talk Disney to Me

Newsies

Chapter Fourteen

Newsies

Noah’s hand stayed buried in mine throughout the whole bus tour and it was distracting my serious deep thinking. After that realization came crashing down on me like a freight train, I pulled away hurriedly and practically ran onto the bus. Noah followed after me, after he had explained to the driver that the crazy redhead that stormed on the bus like a hellhound was bounding after her was indeed with him and also did indeed have a ticket. So, I was not kicked off the bus by a frazzled bus driver and onto the cold streets of New York. I should be thankful to Noah for that.

      I knew know that the butterflies in my stomach and the crazy urge to do ridiculous and say crazy things around Noah was what people called … love. It was weird. I mean, I love Becky and I loved my mom. I might even love Cherry on some level, considering she’s been my friend for around ten years. I wasn’t sure if my love for Noah was that kind of love though. It’s not like I can’t love Noah non-romantically, right?

     So, I had come to the decision that my love for Noah had nothing to do with the romanticness that couples shared nor the lustfulness and it was simply like the love one could have for a brother. I found myself content with that decision.

     But, if I were to be completely honest with myself, I would have to admit that more than anything I’m scared. I’m scared that if anything happened between Noah and I and we ended up losing each other, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to handle that. As much as I liked to pretend that Noah annoyed the living hell out of me (and he kind of does) he meant more to me than I was willing to show and I’m too much of a coward to risk losing him.

     “You alright there, Wendy?” Noah’s voice sounded and I whipped my head up to meet with his worried eyes.

     I swallowed and planted what I hoped to be a reassuring smile on my face. “Just peachy.”

     He narrowed his baby blues and studied my face a bit more before tightening his arm around me and pulling me closer. I turned to gaze out the window again and felt the burn of Noah’s gaze rest on the side of my face. The snow outside continued to fall heavily, covering the ground and rooftops. It looked like a beautiful winter wonderland and I loved it. The bright lights that covered the city made the darkened cloud covered sky seem brighter.

     The bus slowly moved its way out of the Times Square area and into streets that seemed slightly less populated. We toured the Upper East Side and around China Town and into Little Italy, which was a lot littler than I was expecting. I wanted to stop for Gelato but Noah refused, saying we only had time for one stop and Little Italy was not that stop. I turned to face the window again with a pout.

     Noah poked my side after a while and I turned to face him with a raised brow. “What?”

     He smiled a bright smile and his eyes lit up with a childish glow. “We’re here.”

     Noah grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the seat before I had a chance to look out the window. He dragged me along with him and slid his hand down so our hands interlocked with each other. We stepped off the bus and the cold hit me instantly, causing me to shiver and lean further into Noah.

     “Central park?” I asked, “This is where you wanted to go?”

     Noah nodded happily and tugged me forward. He tilted his head down towards me as we walked, our boots crunching in the lightly layered snow. “I hope you know how to skate, Carly Ann.”

  

     I do know how to skate, thankfully. I don’t think Noah would’ve slowed down even if I didn’t. The second his feet touched the ice he was off, zooming his way through the herds of people and leaving me behind. I slid across the bumpy ice, trying to steady myself on my shaky legs. I hadn’t skated in about two years and obviously my legs were falling a little behind in the memory zone.