Love, Kat

I'm Obligated to Know

Noahs voice only matches mine. "Is he your boyfriend?"

"Does it matter?"

"No, but Kai's my best friend I'm obligated to know."

"No, you aren't, but to answer your question, no Luke isn't my boyfriend."

The tension in his shoulders visibly deflates. Pulling an apple from the bag he sets it down on the table, and then reaches his hand in again to pull out a veggie sandwich.

"I didn't think you bought a lunch so I stopped by the cafeteria and grabbed those for you." Sliding down in the chair next to me, he pulls his jacket off and sets it on the back of mine. His hands are wet from the rain, but the water droplets give his tan a nice look. In order to keep my blusher under control I look away from the way his arms flex when he pulls out the Spanish textbook and down at the food placed in front of me.

Noah is cute, but I can't be crushing.

"You didn't have to. Get me lunch, I mean." Gripping the apple, I toss it up and catch it again.

He looks up from searching in his back. "Yes, I did. I have yet to see you eat."

The way he says it is so stern and straight forward it makes me feel guilty. I don't think I've eaten anything real since two nights ago.

"Was it a goal of yours, to see me eat?" I try to lighten the seriousness of the mood this topic has brought, but my joke comes out flat.

"It's a goal to see you healthy." His grey eyes glance down at the apple in my hand and back up to me.

At this moment I want nothing more than to devour both the sandwich and the apple in one bite, but that would be unladylike. As if on cue, I can feel my stomach getting ready to growl, so I take a bite of the apple. He watches me eat for a millisecond, suppressing the smile on his face as he does so.

"Happy?" I say between swallowing and taking another bite.

"Estatic."

"Just go to page 165, we have twenty five more minutes." I roll my eyes.

Twenty Minutes Later

"Are you going to the game tonight?" Noah asks as we pack everything up. We finish our session with five minutes to spare, and he's made the point for some small talk. An apple cork and a half eaten sandwich sit on the table waiting to be thrown away.

"No, football games aren't my go to crowd now-a-days." Pulling on my coat, I glance at the clock; three minutes before the bell rings.

"They haven't been for the past three years." He smiles. He has that type of smile that lights up his entire his face. The kind that makes his eyes shine and the dimple in left cheek pop out.

"How would you know?"

"We don't have the biggest school population, Kat, it's not hard to tell who's there and who's not, and trust me, I would notice if you weren't." And with that, he throws his backpack on his shoulder and walks away, leaving me to register what just happened.

Noah is right; I haven't been to a football game in the past three years. While every teen in this town attends the Westfield Academy games, I've stayed in snuggled up in the safety of my bed, a good book and my cat named, Dog, in my lap. I went to one of Kai's freshman year, and that's it. I just don't understand them, and it isn't some life goal of mine to do so. Plus, why go if you just sit there by yourself. Luke is mostly with his basketball friends on a Friday night, and Jenny just hates football.

Tonight is different though. While sitting here, The 5th Wave , in my lap and Dog lying beside me, my mind can't stop wondering back to the game. It's only 7 which means Varsity would start any minute now, and if I go I could get there by the end of the first quarter. That is, if I go.