Someday The Waves ✔ *Wattys15 Winner*

Chapter Twenty Three

Letting the bunting hang off the doorframe whilst she inspected the stitches that held each piece together, she asked if we had any plans for dinner.

"All depends on this." Noah replied, gently waving the envelope.

"Oh. That time already is it?" Poppy exclaimed, catching my eye as I tapped my foot on the wooden panels, to stop my legs from shaking. She knew just how torn up I was about Noah's impending acceptance letter and had also been an unexpected shoulder to confide on when I needed it.

"Yup."

"Well don't let me interrupt you. I hope it says what you want it too."

"Still deciding exactly what that is." Noah sighed.

"Right, well I'll leave you to get on with it. There's some juice and pancakes in the kitchen if you want any. I made them because I couldn't stand to look at that damn sewing machine for any minute longer."

"Thanks." I said, watching as the rain picked up and threatened to creep up to the porch steps.

As Poppy disappeared back inside, I felt Noah shift in the seat next to me as his hand slowly rose up to my cheek. Softly he stroked it and asked if I was ok.

"Still deciding." I mumbled back.

Casting his gaze out to the rain soaked yard, Noah sighed heavily and said. "I wish I had a way of making this all ok. You know when you said you wish you could bottle moments up so they last forever or so that you could let them spill out again to re-live or feel them? Well this is a moment I really don't want to keep, because I know that either way, whatever happens or whatever this stupid letter says one of us is going to be disappointed and hurt."

There was no denying Noah was right, and we both knew it even if I wasn't fully admitting to it. What I couldn't quite bring myself to confess was that for every letter of acceptance he received, it made all my own failings and lack of action for my own future all the more clear. I really didn't want to become the one who was left behind yet it was starting to feel like that was to be the obvious outcome.

Fighting against every fibre of resistance, I told him it was ok and that we'd figure out what to do next. "Just open it."

"Okay but I want you to know something first." he said seriously, turning to face me.

"What's that?"

"I want you to know, without any doubt just how completely and utterly crazy I am about you."

Letting the words linger and sink in, I bought my mouth close to his and let my arms squeeze him so that all my feelings could be felt. So that he knew exactly how much hearing that meant to me, and why at the same time it had given my eyes reason to blur, from the watery tears that formed in the corners.

And if any words could sum up just how I felt about him, it was only one.

"Ditto."

"I love the way you say that." Noah grinned.

Twisting his hand in mine and taking the envelope in the other, Noah kissed the tip of my nose, as his thumb slowly tore through to pull out the letter. As the stark white paper unfolded and he'd cleared his throat, I thought about all the time that had passed, leading up to this moment. Flashbacks of the first time he held my hand to lift me up from falling off my bicycle to the paper flower he'd made during our first night at the Diner came flooding back. Although most of it seemed ancient now, like they were someone else's memories and I'd imagined them to be my own Noah's eyes on me reminded me otherwise, until the words slipping from his mouth slowly decided our new fate.

And when I heard them, spoken with a faint sound of elation as he repeated the words they said yes, I remembered, all too late that nothing, really ever turns out the way you planned.

"They've accepted me, Scarlett." Noah said again, in disbelief.

"That's amazing. Wonderful. You deserved to get in. It's really great news."

Sometimes life just changes, in ways you can never be ready for no matter how hard you try to hold onto the best parts of it.

Frowning slightly, Noah quietly asked. "Is it really though?"

"Well of course it is, but yes I guess in an ideal, sliding doors world I wish it would say 'Congratulations Mr Taylor, here's a million dollars so you and your girlfriend - sorry I mean me, Scarlett - never have to worry about college or jobs or working ever again. But that's not the reality we live in. Unfortunately." I rambled, conscious that I sounded breathless and shaky.

"I know, I wish it said that too."

"I'll keep wishing."

"Also - of course your my girlfriend Scarlett, what else would you be? Don't think a bit of paper is going to change that either because after all you came hurtling, quite literally into my life way before I'd even thought about this or college." Noah smiled, waving his acceptance. "You don't need to worry."

Cradling his arm close, I let his words sink in. The feeling of happiness at knowing just how much I meant to him for a moment masking any other feeling, until reality hit again. Resting my head against his, as we watched the downpour continue and the clouds block the hazy sunlight, I quietly whispered, fearful of just how easy it was to say, but how hard it was to answer.

"So what happens now?"

. . .