Unbearably Broken

Chapter Seventeen

 Noah backed away from me and I already missed his lips on mine. We had been making out in my car for the past ten minutes.

"Can I stay for dinner?" he asked. Noah and I had been together for the whole night so far. We had become very clingy, not ready to leave each other's sides. Now we were in front of my house, I kind of planned him staying for dinner. That's why I didn't drop him off at his house.

I nodded and leaned in for another kiss. Then my phone went off. Noah groaned and sat back in his seat.

There was a new text from Ashley; When you're finished making out with your boyfriend you can come inside.

I held it up for Noah to read and he laughed. "At least she missed me," he said.

I leaned in and kissed him again.

Then we got out of the car and walked up to the house. As soon as the door opened Connor saw Noah. He ran up to my boyfriend - I think we're a couple again. "You're back!" Connor yelled as he jumped up and down.

Noah smiled. "I am, if that okay with you?"

Connor stopped bouncing, stunned that decision was up to him. I laughed and buried my face in Noah's shoulder.

"Of course!" Connor yelled after another second. "You wanna play Mario Kart? I get to be Bowser though."

Noah laughed and let my little brother drag him off to play his video game.

I walked up to Ashley who was busy making dinner. I began cutting up the vegetable for her. "So he's back?" she asked me, her eyes focused on browning the meat.

I smiled to myself. "I guess." My smile brightened. Noah was back. He was really back in my life. It felt great just to say it.

"You do realize I can see your car from here?" she asked. My face flushed with embarrassment. I buried my face in my hands.

"I can't believe you saw that. Please tell me you weren't watching the whole time?"

Ashley laughed and shook her head. "Trust me, I don't want to watch it the whole time." She glance up at me, a huge smile on her face. "I haven't seen you this happy...ever."

"I know."

***

"Dinner everyone!" Ashley yelled as I put the salad bowl on the table. We were having spaghetti for dinner, one of Connor's favorite.

I quickly grabbed my serving and so did Ashley. We wanted to get out of the way of the boy. I sat down at my spot that looked out the window.

Noah found his place next to me. Dad sat at the head of the table with Ashley to his right. Connor naturally sat next to Noah. He was still bragging about how he won against Noah and Dad five times.

I contained an eye roll, knowing that Noah just purposely tanked the game. Dad just sucked at Mario Kart. A cat could beat him.

Noah grabbed my hand from underneath the table. I smiled and glanced at him. Dad and Noah were in a deep discussion about the college Noah was going to.

Yep, I thought to myself, he's back.

"So Noah, are you excited for the wedding?" Ashley asked Noah before blowing on her noodles to cool them down.

"What?" Noah asked, a little confused. Shoot, I screamed to myself. After everything that happened today, I'd forgotten to ask Noah to the wedding.

Dad raised his eyebrow at me. "I forgot," I confessed to everyone. Dad chuckled.

Noah looked at me. "Forgot what?" he asked.

I smiled at him. "Will you come to the wedding with me?" I asked. Then I added, "And please don't dump me in front of my family."

Noah laughed. "Of course I'll go."

"Kiss," my dad demanded. I rolled my eyes and pecked Noah on the lips.

"Ew, cooties," Connor complained. He shook his head at Noah. "I thought you were better than that."

I put my hand over my heart. "I thought I didn't have cooties?" I asked, challenging

him.

Connor sighed, upset that he had to explain this all again. "You have cooties, you just can't give them to me. But now you've given them to Noah."

I nodded. "Oh, that makes so much more sense.

***

"I'll have a tall frappuccino," I told the Starbucks lady. I paid her the money before grabbing my drink. Then I met Lily at our table.

"Thank you so much for doing this," she said. I waved her off and grabbed her

phone.

After dialing the number I took a long sip from my drink.

"Hello," Billy answered. I saw Lily exhale. He answered that means that he didn't totally hate Lily's guts.

"Hi, Billy. It's Elana," I said.

Billy sighed. I could practically see him rubbing his forehead out of stress. "Of course, I should have known that Lily wouldn't have the guts to call me herself."

"Well Lily asked me to call you so shut up," I said. During these phone calls you had to be direct. You were saving a relationship here.

The phone was silent. "I'm listening."

"My dad's getting married in two months. I've invited Lily. She wants you to be her date. Are you in?"

The phone was silent for another second. "Lily's next to you isn't she?"

"Yes."

"Put her on."

I handed the phone over to Lily. She took a deep breath and began to speak. "Billy I'm so sorry. I f'd up. I miss and I'm not ready to throw what we have down the drain."

I drank my coffee in silence. She glanced over at me. "It was Elana. She went through a really rough breakup. But they realized how much they truly need each other...Yeah, they're back together."

Lily listened for a few seconds. Then she handed the phone back to me. "Thank you," Billy's voice said. "Will you go on a double date with us? So Lily and I can work

through this."

"Of course," I said into the phone. "If Lily and Billy don't make it to forever then what chance do the rest of us have."

Billy laughed. "Bye Elana. And, again, thank you."

"No problem. Bye."