Noah
My conversation with Jayden runs through my mind on my drive home. I'm on my motorcycle, since I didn't drive Elle today. Driving my motorcycle used to help me unwind, feeling the wind in my face and the speed of my bike beneath me, but I don't feel any better after the drive home today. Riding isn't the same without Elle's arms wrapped around me, giggling in my ear. Really nothing has been the same these last few days without her around. Once I get home, I stop by the kitchen to say hi to Mom. I grab a Gatorade from the fridge as she asks about my day. I notice her slight frown at my attitude, I know she can tell that things have been off with me lately, but she doesn't say anything about it. I don't know how she does it, but even though I don't tell her a lot about what is going on with me these days, she always seems to know what I'm feeling.
As I leave the kitchen to go back up to my room, I hear the commotion in the backyard. Looking out the window, I see Lee and his friends in the pool. I find myself automatically looking around for Elle, but it looks like it's just a bunch of guys. Once I realize our place is Elle free, I glance down at my phone, something I find myself doing far too often. I've gotten too used to the texts from Elle that were so common up until all communication stopped a few days ago. I think about reaching out to her now, but decide I'm not quite ready. Despite Jayden thinking this fight was all my fault, I don't feel like I'm in the wrong. She is the one who picked her best friend over her boyfriend. The ball is in her court on this one. She knows how I feel and until she's willing to talk to Lee, there really isn't anything for us to talk about.
I go straight to my room and decide to work on homework before supper. Although it's a Friday night, I have no desire to be around anyone else today. It's been a long week and I want nothing more than to be miserable by myself. I hear the doorbell ring and a few minutes later, my mom yells that pizza is here. As I make my way down to an empty kitchen, I realize the pizza is out by the pool where Lee and his friends are already digging in. I don't feel like seeing them, but I'm hungry, so I make my way outside anyway. As soon as I open the sliding glass door, I'm stopped in my tracks when I hear a familiar voice. I'm not sure when Elle showed up, she must have been here for awhile, though. She's in her bikini and she's obviously been in the pool. I'm not sure how long I'm staring at her before I finally make myself move forward before someone notices me creeping around out here.
I'm hoping maybe I can grab my pizza and go without Elle noticing I'm here. She's talking to a girl I don't recognize. I grab a few pieces of pizza without even paying attention to what kind it is and turn to run back into the house when one of Elle and Lee's friends, Dixon, comes up next to me and starts talking. We've always gotten along so I don't want to be rude to him and I decide that maybe I can at least get some information from him, so I know what this crew is up to for the night. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to hang out with them and give Elle a chance to talk to me, if she wants. Of course, she most likely won't do that with Lee around.
Before taking a bite of my pizza, I ask Dixon, "Who's the girl hanging around Elle?"
"Allie? She a Junior and plays soccer with Elle. I have a couple classes with her but don't really know her. I guess she and Elle have been inseparable lately. Why, you interested?"
Interesting, Elle's been spending time with a friend besides Lee. I go to respond to Dixon when Elle looks in our direction and our eyes lock. Elle's face breaks into a smile, until she looks away from me too quickly. My mind goes blank and I completely lose my train of thought. Did Dixon ask me a question? I decided to ignore whatever he said and questioned, "So, what are you guys up to tonight?"
"I think we're just going to take it easy and hang out by the pool tonight. We're planning to go to Greg's party tomorrow night."
"Everyone is?"
"Yeah, are you going?" I shrugged my shoulders. "You should come with us, it's supposed to be a good one."
"I wasn't planning on it, but maybe I'll make an appearance." Dixon grinned. Despite my initial plan to grab my food and run back inside to avoid Elle, I sat down beside the pool and shot the shit with Dixon while we ate. Absentmindedly listening to him talk about the upcoming party, but mostly keeping my eyes on the brunette on the other side of the pool.
I finished eating and was about to go inside, when there was a commotion at the other end of the pool. I watched Warren put his arms around Elle and throw her into the pool.
A second later, Elle's head emerged from the water coughing and sputtering, "You asshole, I wasn't ready for that!" She glared at Warren as she made her way out of the pool, continuing to cough and try to catch her breath.
I feel my body tense and I want to throw Warren into the pool, that twerp has always annoyed me. Instead, I grab a towel from the cupboard next to where I'm sitting and walk towards Elle as she steps out of the pool. I don't know exactly when it started, this feeling I get, this need to protect Elle and hurt anyone who does anything to her. She was so small when we were younger, she always looked like she needed protection. Then when she got older and I knew that she could take care of herself, that feeling was still there and I couldn't help the need I felt to protect her. I know she doesn't like my fighting but I don't know if she realizes just how much of it started because of her.
"Thanks, Noah." Elle says quietly as she takes the towel from me, her features instantly turning softer as she looks at me. I stand there for a minute watching her towel herself off. I feel such a strong urge to pull her into me and kiss her that I make myself take a step back as she looks at me again. "Hey, can we talk?" Elle asks even quieter this time, before looking around to make sure none of her friends were paying attention and continuing, "I've been trying to find you the last couple days."
I've been so mad at her since our fight, but now I'm mad at myself because as soon as I'm in her presence, I want to forget about the fight. "We can't talk, Shelly, someone might see us," I answered sarcastically.
"We could go inside?" I want nothing more than to steal Elle away inside the house and up to my room. We both glance again at the rest of the group, who seem to be making their way back into the pool. Lee is looking around, probably for Elle, when I notice Elle's new friend Allie get his attention, keeping him turned away from us. I'm guessing that Elle finally told someone about us and I'm hopeful that puts us a step closer to telling everyone.
At that point something inside me snaps and my frustration with the whole situation hits a new level. I try to keep my voice from raising enough for the others to hear me as I answer, "You mean sneak away from all your friends? Or maybe come up with a big lie we could tell Lee, so we could have some time together? I can't do it anymore, Shell."
Elle's beautiful blue eyes get a little teary as she stares back at me and I almost change my tone, I hate to see her looking at me so sad. Just then, Lee yells out to Elle to jump in. "One second, Lee!" She yells, turning to look at him with a smile I'm sure she doesn't feel plastered on her face. When she turns back to me, I watch that smile fade a bit. "Please, Noah, don't be mad. Just let me know when you're ready to talk. I miss you."
I suck in my breath and hold it for a second before mumbling, "I have to go," as I turn to go back inside. I should have stayed to talk to her, but I'm still not ready to have this conversation. I know I still feel the same way about her, but I'm worried that it doesn't change anything and I'm not ready to have a conversation where we decide to break up for good.
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When I wake up the next morning, I go through an internal debate deciding whether or not to go to Elle's soccer game. It's the first game of the season and I know how excited she is for it. I really want to watch her but I'm not sure what she'll think about me being there. Especially since I blew her off last night. I'm sure Lee and his friends will be there, so I think about tagging along with them, but after everything that went on with Elle over Lee, I don't feel like spending anymore time with my brother than I have to. I'm already dreading our family trip coming up soon during Spring Break, there will be no getting away from him then. Instead, I convinced Jayden to go with me.
Girls soccer wasn't as big as football at our school, so the games weren't near as well attended, but this was a big game with a rival team so there were quite a few sitting in the student's section. Most of them seemed to have notice my arrival and many of them stopped me to say hi as we made our way to our seats, especially the girls. Eventually we found good seats.
From the moment Elle walks on the field, I can't take my eyes off her. Jayden even hits me a couple times when I've been staring at her for too long, either to get my attention or to make it less apparent that I'm only here to watch one person. Elle is amazing out on the field and I'm in awe of her. I know she's been working her ass off this season so I'm really happy for her that it's obviously paid off. I noticed Lee and the gang sit down not long after I got here and I'm glad they aren't sitting anywhere near me because I can't help the cheering I'm doing for Elle and I don't need Lee questioning why I'm her new biggest fan. I know I'm still upset with her and have no idea how things are going to end up between us but that doesn't stop me from making some noise when she scores the first goal of the game.
A few minutes later, I watch as Elle gets knocked down by another player. Without thinking, I jumped to my feet as if I was going to go down and check on her, or do something to the other player. Jayden laughed at me as he put a hand on my shoulder, pushing me back to my seat. "Calm down, Flynn. She's a big girl. She can take care of herself."
Elle's team ends up winning 4 – 1 and she's obviously pumped about it. I want to go up and congratulate her but even if things were good between us, I'm sure she wouldn't want me to say anything to her in public. Especially, since her Dad is probably here also. Instead, Jayden and I make our way down the bleachers, planning to head directly to the parking lot.
"Your girl kicked ass today."
"She did." I can't keep the pride out of my voice and I notice Jayden smirking. Before we can get out of the stadium, we're stopped by another one of my fans.
"Noah!" I hear Elle's little brother Brad yelling as he runs my way. I look around to see Mr. Evans walking towards Elle on the sidelines and motioning to Brad to come back so they can congratulate her.
"Hey, buddy, how are ya?" I fist bumped Brad before palming my hand on the top of his head and using that to steer him back towards his Dad. Mr. Evans nods his head towards me once he sees that I'm bringing Brad back to him and continues making his way towards Elle.
"I'm good! Are you here to see Elle? Did you see how good she played? Wasn't it great when she scored that goal?"
As Brad starts his twenty questions to me, I watch as Elle notices her Dad and start making her way towards him. We both get to him about the same time, so I respond to Brad, knowing that Elle could hear my answer. "I'm here to watch the whole team, but Elle was awesome." I look at Elle and find myself trying not to make my feelings for her obvious to me everyone around us. When she smiles at me, I pretty much forget about everyone around us, until her Dad speaks to me.
Elle's Dad looks at me with raised eyebrows as he addresses me. "Hi, Noah. I didn't know you were a soccer fan."
"Hi, Mike. I'm, uh, here with some friends." Elle's Dad makes me a little nervous and I can't tell how Elle feels about me being here, so I decide it's time to make my exit. "Shelly, you played a great game!" I gave her a brief smile before turning towards Brad. "Brad, I have to go, I bet I'll see you tomorrow at lunch and we can finish our talk then." I wave to everyone as I turn to make my way back towards Jayden and out to my car. I know I need to man up and talk to Elle. Sounds like she'll be at the party tonight, so I'll have to go and see if she's still ready to talk.
A/N – I've read a couple of really good books lately that have given me an idea I really want to write about for the 6 year break Elle and Noah had at the end of TKB3. I feel like starting my 3rd story with these characters is a little much but I love these two and I don't think there can be too much fanfiction for them. I'm probably a little ways off from having anything ready to post and I'm trying to figure out how to handle writing both stories – if I should wait to start the new book until I finish this one or if I can start posting the new one in between chapters of this story. I'll let you know when I have a little better idea of when I'll have something ready!