Tear In My Heart ✔️

XXXIII. Tear In My Heart (edited)

My leg was bouncing nervously as we drew closer and closer to our destination. "Babe, relax," Madison coolly said as he gave my hand a slight squeeze. "You're making me nervous."

"Sorry," I quickly said as I instantly stopped causing him to chuckle.

"I was kidding, but I can't blame you. You seriously need to relax though. I'm getting stressed out just by looking at you," he joked as my school came into view. Today was my first day back since everything that had happened. My school had been informed of the circumstances and had accepted the work I'd sent back with Connor, and even gave me another week off which I spent with Madison and my Nonna. Now it was time for me to go back.

I'd posted the pictures I'd taken with Madison, and made us official. I was done hiding Madison from my peers at school. I'd gotten a lot of likes and support, and though there were some negative comments, I didn't really mind. Plus, after everything we'd gone through, a few stares and mean words were nothing.

Madison pulled up in front of the school and stopped. I instantly felt outside eyes on me. He gave my hand a squeeze. "It's okay, Noah. Just breathe." I nodded and took a deep breath and looked at him.

"I'm going to miss you," I softly admitted. "Today's gonna be the longest we've been apart in God knows how long."

"I know. It's going to kill me," he said as he ran his thumb over my knuckles. "But luckily, that'll make it that much better when you get home." Home. With him. I really liked the sound of that.

"Okay," I smiled before I unbuckled my seatbelt and leaned over the middle console to kiss him.

"Wait, Noah. Someone might–" he started but was interrupted by my lips meeting his. He smiled against my lips and gently gripped the back of my head and held me there until I pulled away.

"I don't care who sees."

He smiled before he gave me another quick, gentle kiss. "Now go before I don't let you," he said as he grabbed my bag from the backseat.

"Alright, alright," I relented as I saw Connor and Abbi approaching the car hand in hand. "I love you."

"I love you too, Noah," he said. "I'll be less than ten minutes away if you need me." I offered him a thanks before I opened the door and climbed out. I felt the heat of several gazes on me, but I ignored them as I approached Connor and Abbi.

"Hey man," Connor greeted as he momentarily let go of Abbi's hand and hugged me. "Long time, no see."

"Yeah," I said as I hugged him back. "I just needed to take a step back for a bit, you know?"

"Yeah," he said as he hug broke and his hand was instantly in Abbi's again.

"He's just playing it cool. He was worried sick about you," Abbi said, poking at Connor.

I laughed as Connor let out a childish "Abbi" before we all headed into the school. Connor started filling me in on everything I'd missed out on with Abbi chiming in when he forgot something. I had to admit that they were perfect for each other, two weird peas in a pod. It wasn't long until we entered the lunchroom and my heart instantly sped up as I eyed my friend group at their usual table laughing and talking. Some of the seats were empty since some of my ex-teammates had sat with us. I wondered what they were doing.

We made our way over there and as I approached, the conversations became quiet and all eyes were on me. I wanted to run away. But instead, I swallowed and awkwardly waved as I took my usual seat. "Hey. It's been a while, huh?"

"Yeah," Max said.

"Dude, why didn't you tell us what was going on?" Another guy, Duke, blurted, skipping past the small talk.