Christian
I sit on the couch across from Nova now as Cgc gets up and leads his friends toward the front door. It's been about fifteen minutes since he told them to leave and finally, their cab was waiting outside.
Despite the fact that they were supposed to stay here for a week, well, I don't think that's happening anymore. Cgc walks back into the living room a couple of seconds later, running his fingers through his raven hair.
He looks toward the startled red head on the couch in front of me. He sits down next to her and rests his hand on her thigh. I furrow my brows slightly at this. "I'm sorry about that. I didn't realize giving them a little alcohol would turn them into assholes." Cgc sighs.
Nova shakes her head quickly. She looks a bit defeated and I can't blame her. "It's not your fault, C," she places her hand on top of his now "this is exactly why I didn't stay in touch." She chuckles, but it's not a happy one.
My gaze stays on their touching hands. Can he find another way to comfort her that doesn't involve..that? "I guess they're still as immature as they were in high school. I didn't think Kaiden and Camila would back them up though." Novalee laughs at this, rolling her eyes slightly.
She pulls her hand away from his.
That's my girl.
"Oh, come on, Cgc. All of you have probably been rooting for them since before I even got to East Grove." She argues. Cgc furrows his brows and leans back a bit. "I wasn't and neither was Kaiden. We'd always give him shit about liking her so much. It was embarrassing." He shakes his head. He means that. I know when he's lying.
"I swear." He adds, rubbing her shoulder. Seriously? She seemed tense again before his touch. She breathes out and plays with her fingernails. "I didn't deserve that. No matter how long he had liked her for. And twice?! Oh my god, I'm an idiot."
Cgc shakes his head. "They're the idiots. Not you." Novalee smiles before throwing her arms around his neck. I can see he's a bit taken aback by her actions, but he melts into her hug after a couple of seconds. I get up quickly and walk over to them. "Okay!" I place my hand on her shoulder, pulling her back from him.
"Let me take you home, it's getting late." I interrupt. Nova nods up at me and hugs Cgc again for a couple of seconds. I don't pull her away from him this time. She says bye to him and I wait for her by the front door with her backpack.
She grabs it from me and we both walk outside to my car. I feel a bit uneasy after that whole debacle from earlier. I had no idea about all the drama that had unfolded between Novalee and her friends when she went to school in Louisiana. We've been friends again for a while now but she hasn't really spoken much about her junior and senior year of high school.
It's been a while since then and her 'friends' still seem bitter about the whole cheating ordeal. It wasn't even Nova's fault she got cheated on but that's how they were painting it out. No wonder she didn't stay in touch.
I'm sure she didn't talk about it because she was embarrassed. I rarely see her get flushed and her face was heating up during the whole thing. From embarrassment or anger? That I don't know.
Her body language is still the same as it was back at the house. I swear if she pushes up against the car door anymore, she'll plop it open and fall out. The thought creeps into my head. "What do you have against the door that you're crushing it to death?" She hasn't said a word since we left the house. Her eyes flick towards me quickly. Her cheeks flush again and she moves her body more to the middle of the seat.
"Sorry," she apologizes. I feel bad. She looks sad. What the fuck do I do now?
"Did you want me to take you back to school? We can hang out for a bit if you're down for that." I'm sure she'll turn me down but its worth a try. She looks at me again but doesn't say anything. We're already close to school as it's not far from mine and the guys townhouse.
"At my dorm?"
"Yeah, if that's where you want to go."
She nods her head, and looks out the window again.
We make it up to her dorm a while later. We ran into one of the girls who lives on her floor. Her eyes almost popped out of their sockets when she saw me and Nova. She didn't even try to hide the wink she threw at Nova from me. At least it made her crack a small smile.
Now, she sits on her twin bed, fidgeting with her fingers. She hasn't really made eye contact with me this whole time. "Nova," I try to get her attention. It takes a second, but she looks up from her fingers at me. "Yeah?" Her voice comes out softer than usual.
"Are you okay?" I ask. Surprisingly, she doesn't look away from me this time. She nods her head. "Yeah, why?" She lies. If she was okay, she couldn't be acting like this. I narrow my eyes and stand up, walking over to her side. I grab both her hands in mine to stop them from fidgeting. She's on edge still.
She looks down at our hands and then back up at me. She sighs. "I promise I'm fine," she starts. "It's just situations like that get me all riled up and I get mad which causes me to be so fidgety." She moves her hands away from mine and I conceal the frown that appears on my face momentarily. She did the same to Cgc earlier.
"Is this because you don't take your medication?"
"What? I don't take it for specific reasons. I can handle my emotions perfectly fine."
"I know, but is it why you're so fidgety?"
She rolls her eyes. "I'm fine." She dodges my question, but I know the answer already. I know more about this than she thinks. I'm just trying to help her out, but I'm not going to push anything either.
"Is this why you never mentioned your last two years of high school with me?" I ask. I know I should probably not talk about the thing making her this uneasy but sometimes words come out of my mouth before I even realize they do. I just want to know more about her.
"What so you can judge me just as much as they did tonight?" She scoffs, shaking her head lightly. I jump onto the bed and lay down, propping myself up with my elbow. "Why would I judge you for getting cheated on? If anything, I wanted to punch that guy every time he opened his mouth." I admit.
What was his name? Darren? Devin? Oh wait no it's, Devon. With an O not an I.
"Who? Devon?" She says. I nod, rolling my eyes. "Yeah. What the hell is that dudes problem?" Defending yourself for cheating on a girl? Not cool. I guess I'm not any better since I broke Novalee's heart once too. Fuck.
"I don't know," she shrugs. "He wasn't that big of a douche when I dated him, I swear." She shakes her head and then covers her face with both hands. "I just hate that they're not entirely wrong though."
I furrow my brows. "What do you mean?" I ask curiously. Not one single person besides Cgc and Novalee were right tonight. "I knew Devon liked Tyra, not when I first started liking him though, like a little bit afterward. I found out through Camila and I decided to continue pursuing him because Tyra was dating someone at the time so I didn't think she was into him, you know?"
I nod my head. She talks pretty fast but the stories not too hard to pick up. "Well, yeah. I'm not gonna lie, it looked like he wasn't all that into me at first, but that changed one day when something happened between us. Like we had a moment. Then after that, I knew he liked me, I just knew it. He didn't say it but I could see it in his eyes, so," she pauses and fidgets with her fingers again.
"So?" I say.
"I kissed him," she shrugs. "He kissed me back, before you ask. Then after that we just sort of started dating and it was good for a couple of weeks. Tyra ended up breaking up with her boyfriend but the thought about Devon liking her had fled my fucked up brain by this point. I would talk to her and McKenna all the time about how much I liked him. I mean, they seemed happy for me." She sighs, tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear.
"McKenna and Tyra were cheerleaders and they all went on an out of town basketball tournament. Of course Cgc, Devon, and Kaiden played basketball so they all went. I stayed home because I wasn't apart of a club and I didn't want to make the three hour drive to see them play for a couple of days. Anyway, I regret it now because that's when Devon cheated. Tyra and him were in his room alone for I don't even fucking know what reason to this day and well, they made out."
Shit. "And why'd you think it was a good idea to get back together with him?" I ask. I don't want to sound mean, but I mean, come on.
She groans. "Because I was a stupid little girl who believed that he was sorry for cheating on me with my best friend, Christian. And I had never liked anyone as much as I liked him. I thought he'd be better the second time-"
"Obviously you were wrong," I cut in. She glares at me, not saying anything for a beat. "Obviously." She says through clenched teeth.
I hold up my hands in defense. "I'm on your side." I remind her before she decides to shoot lasers through me with her eyes. She relaxes again. "It's like I did everything for this guy, you don't even know, Christian. I was there for him when he tore some stupid ligament in his knee even though he was being the biggest ass of the century the whole time. I was there for him when his father cheated on his mother. And I was there when they lost that stupid championship game. Ugh."
The frustration in her voice is evident. After all these years, she still feels very strongly about this. I guess that's what love does to you. I wouldn't know. I've never allowed myself to feel that for a girl. Fucking hell, for this very reason. I couldn't imagine the person I love hurting me.
"He's a piece of shit. Obviously a stupid piece of shit. Also, also, the biggest piece of shit."
Nova stares at me for a second and then bursts out in giggles. I can't help but smile. She covers her face with both hands again as she laughs. "What?" I chuckle. She removes her hands, uncovering her pretty face. She's still laughing.
"You said piece of shit three times, I swear I lost you for a second there." She laughs. Her laugh makes me laugh. "I don't like cussing in front of you, so I just kept repeating myself I guess." She tilts her head to the side. "You cuss in front of me all the time, liar." She throws one of her small throw pillows my way, but I catch it.
"Alright fine, I just didn't know what insult to use then." At least it made her laugh. I might have sounded stupid, but it made her happy. Maybe just for a bit. She shakes her head.
"Look. I promise if anything embarrassing ever happens to you like it did earlier, I'll say some stupid shit like I did just now so that all the embarrassment will be thrown at me. Yeah?" I say, sticking out my pinky.
She looks at my pinky for a second before latching hers around it.
"Deal."