19
Hypothesis; If I, Noah Bennett break this code of conduct, it'll be free fall.
From; Mom
I'm out of money, Noah.
I frowned at the screen of my phone before placing it face down on the counter and facing the cashier. If I ignored my mother's texts, maybe they'd stop coming.
Dammit if ignorance made a dent in my raging mind. No matter how much I tried, my mom's demands fought for first place in my string of thoughts. I'd already almost exhausted the money Chanelle had deposited. There was the cost of fixing my car-which was useless now-and the money I'd given to mom two weeks ago for her habits and there was my daily upkeep. So far, out of the initial five grand, I was left with less than one thousand five hundred dollars.
Heeding to mom's request for money would mean resorting to hunger for the rest of the semester. I wasn't even sure that Chanelle's offer was still on the table, considering I'd torn my chances apart on Wednesday. Sooner or later, I'd have to get a job.
"That'll be twelve dollars," the cashier said with a flat expression. He'd wrapped up my groceries-which mainly consisted of fruit juice, gummy bears and a some bananas-in a bag.
After making my payment, I took my phone from the counter, tucking it into my back pocket and headed out of the store, walking to my hostel.
My car was gone for good, God bless her soul. Too bad I'd spent so much money on fixing her up all for nothing. With how much money I spent in a week on just college survival, I was going to have to ask Ali and Manu for job suggestions soon.
To an extent, it felt like life had slowed down ever since the almost kiss with Daniel. At first, he'd tried texting me and being the bad person I was, I focused on leaving him on read. The last time he'd texted me was last night, after his game. And it was just one statement.
I miss you.
Even now, remembering the text, my heart still clenched like it did after I read it. If I was being frank, I missed him too. I missed our banter. The sadness that overwhelmed me was the strangest unexplainable thing especially since initially, the plan was for him to be the sad one. The emotions weren't supposed to leak onto me.
Then there were the texts from Ali and Manu that sent the exact same message.
From; Ali
friday, 6:38 PM
Furman's team just drew with the opposition. That has never happened before. Noah...?!
From; Manu
friday, 6:39 PM
I've never seen Daniel this distracted, Noah.
I knew it was wrong for them to attribute his distraction fully to me. But one small part of my heart still wondered if they were right. If he was affected by my reaction on Wednesday and it cost the team a winning spot. That thought only made the guilt brewing in my stomach to double. If he was reacting this way now, how would he react when I actually broke his heart like Chanelle wanted me to? Would I be able to live with myself?
As I walked down the fairly busy street to the hostel, I battled with my own mind. But it got an upper hand when I spotted a familiar high ponytail across the street.
I paused in my tracks and squinted. Blinking, I rubbed my eyes with the gist of my free hand and squinted again.
Yhup. That was definitely Daniel.
Leaned against the hood of his shiny black Toyota and grinning at a girl that wasn't me. With her hand squeezing his bicep and a wide smile on her lips. I scoffed in my brain. I had to give it to her though, she was better at seducing Daniel than I was. Wonder why Chanelle didn't give her the contract instead of me. So much for missing me.
I scoffed in my mind.
Turning away from the duo like nothing happened with a dull stabbing ache in my chest that I failed to suppress, I quickened my pace to the hostel. Daniel hadn't seen me-thank goodness for that. It would have been awkward locking gazes with someone who I'd practically ran away from three days ago.
The girls' hostel lobby was not as busy as it normally was, considering this was a Saturday. People were probably in their rooms our out for the weekend. Carol and Cherry had gone out to watch a movie which meant my room was free. And it would stay that way for the next two hours.
Pure bliss, I tell you.
I waved at the new porter at the desk and she waved back. Mrs Smith had taken the weekend off to visit her grandkids and this younger woman had replaced her. Though, I was way friendlier with Mrs Smith, the new porter wasn't too bad. She mostly kept to herself.
A few moments of mounting stairs and unlocking the door later, I was within the four walls of my room. Alone. I let out a breath and dumped everything on me onto my bed, including my phone, and headed straight for the closet.
I changed out of my jeans and tank top into an oversized tee, leaving just my underwear to cover everything else that was important. I stepped out of the closet wrapping up my braids so they stood in a messy bundle on my head. Then I snatched up the remote from Cherry's bed and plopped down onto mine, turning on the TV to reveal a SpongeBob SquarePants scene.
Set in place for my hours of tranquility, I reached for the packets of gummy bears I'd bought and snorted when SpongeBob and Patrick displayed their cute stupidity.
In that moment, nothing in the entirety of America would have prepared me for what came next. And I meant that in the most mind-wracking way possible. When the door knob turned and the door opened by a crack, my lips parted in mild surprise. Cherry and Carol weren't supposed to be back for another one and half hours or so.
But when the door opened fully and I saw Daniel standing there in all his basketball player glory, my jaw downright dropped. And it wasn't just because I'd been caught watching SpongeBob or because I was wearing nothing but a loose tee shirt. No.
Simply because Daniel Brighton was casually walking into my room and shutting the door behind him like he did this everyday.
After shutting the door and casting a single glance around, that familiar hot gaze found its way to my form. In just a matter of seconds, he practically drank me in with his eyes, taking his time to rake over my body with them. Finally, his stare met mine.
"You weren't replying my texts."
As much as I hated to admit it, a silly part of me was excited to see him. However, the other part of me had only one thing in my mind.
I wasn't putting on a bra.
My throat went dry, so when I tried to speak, I ended up coughing to clear it up first. "How are you here?" Eyes wide, grip on the remote tighter than ever and a half chewed gummy bear in between my teeth, I stared at Daniel.
He advanced towards me, gaze levelled, steps calculated. Like a man on a mission. As if in sync, I sprung out of bed and closed the distance between us with a matching vigor only coming to a stop when we were toe to toe. "How did you get here?" I asked again.
"I followed you," he replied with a deep voice that had goosebumps rising on my thighs. Or it was probably just the air conditioning.
So he'd spotted me. Shit on a stick.
He licked his lips and let out a frustrated sound from the back of his throat. "You left me no choice. You're not answering my texts and you ran away from me on Wednesday after we barely even got the chance to talk."
Oh, I knew where that conversation was going to end. I didn't feel ready for it so I scrammed. Sue me. And I got his messages-all thirty-eight of them.
"There's nothing to talk about. And you seemed to be doing just fine a few moments ago, Daniel." The venom in my tone did little to shock me but it did make his expression morph into confusion. Though, he didn't break our staring contest. At this rate, one of us was either going to incinerate the other or look away but I wasn't going to cave first. "You need to leave." Chanelle could walk in any second now.
Maybe I should shut the door.
"Not until I've said what I needs to be said," he replied in a sharp tone that had me zipping up my lips and waiting. Letting out a breath, he continued. "I'm sorry for whatever you think is going on between Natalia and I but I can assure you that there's nothing there. I'd never do that to Asher." The crease between my brows eased slightly and I fought the urge to let out a long 'oh'. So that was Asher's Natalia?
Daniel paused to study my reaction, before continuing. "I'm also sorry for pushing you too hard on Wednesday. I was being an asshole. But in my defense, it felt good to finally get you to open up to me without your spine going rod-straight. So when you shut yourself away again, I guess I got desperate."
My throat went dry again, sealing up like someone had it in their fist. I wasn't thinking when I'd spilled my life's story to Daniel. Hell, I wasn't even myself. I was so focused on him not realizing the attraction I was beginning to feel towards him that I went and broke a major rule of seduction; Never share your life story with the subject.
The fact that he was interested in knowing more about me had my heart flapping around in my chest.
Be still, you absolute fool. You'll ruin everything!
But it did the exact opposite of what I was asking when Daniel lifted a hand to my cheek. The traitor skipped a few beats before launching into a full blown assault. Just like that fateful Wednesday afternoon, Daniel's eyes flickered to my lips and he visibly swallowed.
Like a dumbo, I licked them, peering up at him from hooded eyes. "You got desperate for what?"
As Daniel's gaze locked onto mine and that familiar overwhelming feeling of the ground being swept from under my feet overtook me, I knew. I knew it before he said it.
Daniel had fallen for me. And he'd taken me down with him.
"I want to kiss you."
Who knew five words could be so brain-numbing?
It was probably the gummy bear I'd swallowed without chewing properly that was giving me this sugar rush. Maybe it was the fact that I couldn't concentrate on anything rather than this man standing in front of me. Maybe it was the electricity bubbling all the way from where his hand delicately met my cheek reaching my brain. But I broke the heartbreak hypothesis.
I reached up to the tips of my toes, shut my eyes, and pressed my lips to his.
Well, that escalated quickly:)))))
If you've come thus far, the you so much for ignoring the 158294572 typos in this book. Thank you for giving me some of your time.
Be sure to vote if you want to save Noah from the embarrassment that chases her. (evil laughter)