Broken Promises

9 | blake

"I wasn't staring!" I'm quick to exclaim.

Raising her eyebrows, Jess questions, "Who said anything about staring?"

My face flames. Embarrassed, I try to inhale a collective breath. It feels as if I'm the one smoking, because I can't seem to get any air to my lungs.

"What's your interest in Noah Reed?" Jess asks me after a moment. "Besides the obvious, that is."

"What's the obvious?"

Jess snorts, risking a quick glance at Noah before saying, "The boy is, like, really hot. He even makes smoking look sexy, even though it's actually, like, totally disgusting."

I purse my lips to contain my laughter, though I can't disagree. My dad used to be a smoker, and I can still hardly stand the sight of a cigarette. Everything about them is truly gross: the smell, the addiction, how a stick of tobacco can turn your lungs black.

However, Noah Reed makes the action of slowly killing yourself look like something beautiful.

The boy is truly nothing but a nightmare dressed as a daydream. Everything about him seems to scream troublemaker. One glance at Noah, and you should be able to comprehend that you should steer clear. I know better than most how deceiving looks can be. Enter his life, and you won't leave without permanently staining your soul. It's like making a deal with the devil.

The thing about making deals with the devil is that they are everything Noah Reed is—tempting, irresistible, and trouble wearing a mask of beauty. You simply can't help yourself. And before you know it, you've entered a hell that looks nothing short of heaven.

"I think I'm going to go say hi to him," I say in a moment of bliss. I feel like I'm Alice and Noah Reed is my very own Wonderland.

"Are you serious?" Jess chides, pulling me down as I try rising to my feet, breaking me out of my trance. "Why?"

"Because," I start, still determined to talk to Noah—for whatever reason. "He's just standing there, all by himself," I continue, turning soft on the inside. I've always been one to be friendly to people who feel excluding, considering myself a welcoming presence. I don't like seeing people look miserable. "Besides, his father and mine are best friends. I feel like I should at least try and befriend him, you know? I kind of owe him that."

Jess looks at me like I'm crazy. Maybe I am.

"Fine," Jess mutters as she releases her grip on me. "But it's your suicide mission."

I roll my eyes at Jess's dramatization, rising from my seat with my eyes trained on Noah. I begin to walk toward his direction just as I notice Mason approaching me from the corner of my eye. Not in the mood to deal with him, I keep a steady pace and continue heading for Noah. I know that Mason won't follow me. Instead, he'll watch as I approach the boy with the cigarette. He'll wonder what may be going on between the two of us. He'll stare for a moment, trying to figure out what Noah is to me. Then he'll move on to question Jess about the scene until he gets an answer that suits him. After school, Mason will corner me just to make sure I'm still single.

Because if he can't have me, no one else can, right?

Noah's gaze seems to follow ever step I take as I approach him. He watches unblinkingly, taking another drag from his cigarette, expression unreadable. His dark blue eyes gleam brightly as they take me in and size me up.

I don't stop moving until I'm standing directly in front of him, meeting his gaze and offering a smile. "Hi."

Noah studies me for a moment, as if I seem familiar and he's trying to remember where he's seen me before. He then raises his eyebrows, eyes on mine. He removes the cigarette from between his lips, sending gray smoke spiraling into the air.