I was lying in bed, unable to sleep because one consistent thought kept going through my mind.
Why didn't Noah Archer kiss me?
I know. Something was severely wrong with me. The usual Skyler Fox would have been more troubled if he had kissed me. Now, here I was, tossing and turning in bed, unable to pass out, because when he dropped me off tonight and I'd closed my eyes... the only thing he'd kissed was my forehead.
Yeah, I made no sense, even to myself. It was just that... I thought on Tuesday we'd gotten over the whole kissing hurdle. The big step in the kissing direction had been made. And so I guess I kind of expected there to have been more kissing since.
Which had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Noah Archer was a mindblowing kisser. None at all.
Was kisser even a word?
I was spiralling. There was only one person I could blame for that. One person and his deadly, kissable lips, that had left mine very unkissed.
Grabbing my pillow, I pressed it against my face and screamed.
Maybe I could ask him about it. Right. How the hell was I going to ask him that?
"Hey, does my breath stink? If not, then why did you not kiss me last night?"
No. No way in hell. Besides, I should probably have counted my blessings that he hadn't done it. There was no point in getting used to having those lips on mine, considering this make believe relationship would be ending soon anyway.
There was a stab in my chest at the thought. Sleep deprivation taking it's toll, surely.
Groaning one last time, I put my favorite true crime podcast on my phone and hoped to pass out soon.
"Hi, I'm Evelyn Hartz and you're listening to the Evel In Them podcast, or maybe you're watching it on Youtube and wondering how I did this fabulous Elizabeth Bathory inspired make-up. I know, sick right? You can find a tutorial on my makeup channel Hartz Eyes. Now let's get down to the dark, gritty and... evil. Today's case is–"
I had no idea when I had finally managed to pass out, but when I woke up it felt like I'd barely slept at all. And it was all Noah Archer's fault.
Grabbing my phone, I was determine to send him a message blaming his for the huge, black under eyes I surely had, when I saw a text message from him was already waiting.
Noah
i'm sorry, Skyler. Not going to school today, please ask Melissa to drive you. Sorry.
Skyler
okay, no problem, is everything okay?
Noah
yeah, sorry, can't talk right now. Sorry.
That was a lot of sorries in one exchange. A frown creased my forehead. I'd seen him just yesterday, and everything had been fine. More than fine, we had a great night, or at least that's what I thought. What could have changed in between then and now? I was about to send another message but stopped myself before I could.
I'd been down that road with him before. If he said he couldn't talk, he wouldn't reply. And then I would just stress myself out checking my messages and growing more resentful. No. I wouldn't do that to myself again. He was clearly not as reliable as he made himself out to be. I snorted, rolled my eyes and called up Melissa.
"Wow, my bestie remembered I existed before seeing me in school," Melissa picked up on the second ring, humor in her voice.
"Noah bailed on me. Can I bum a ride to school?"
"Oh. Trouble in paradise?" There was shuffling on the other side of the line, and her voice was muffled.
"We were never in paradise," I sighed, jumping out of bed and rummaging through my closet.
"Sure could have fooled me," Melissa hummed, overly amused by the situation when I was anything but.
"So can you pick me up?" I asked, slightly impatiently.
"Girl, don't ask dumb questions. See ya soon," she said and hung up.
That was as much of a yes as I would get from her. I rushed around my room getting ready, all the while trying to ignore the uncomfortable feeling in my stomach.
School was weird without Noah there. Melissa on the other hand was enjoying a day where she could constantly casually mention Tara and what they'd been texting about. I didn't mind. It kept my mind off thing where Noah was, and why he wasn't in school.
What had changed in one night?
His friends, with the exception of yelling an extremely loud hello at lunch and trying to get me to sit with them, seemed like their normal selves.
Whatever had happened with Noah, wasn't something he had shared with them. Or if he had shared it with them, they were good at acting like nothing was wrong. The day passed painfully slow, and the more I tried to keep my mind off him, the more he became the only thing I could think about.
Tomorrow. I would talk to him tomorrow and ask him about this. I wouldn't pry, but I would tell him I was concerned and maybe... maybe he would open up to me. Not that I really deserved that, if I actually thought about it.
What a mess.
When nighttime came and there was still no word from Noah, I decided it was time for a follow up.
Skyler
You coming to school tomorrow? 👀
It took him a while to get back to me and when he did my stomach dropped further.
Noah
no, not yet
Noah
I'm really sorry Sky
Skyler
You don't have to keep apologizing... are you okay?
The little bubbles that signified he was replying popped up, and then disappeared. This repeated a few times, as if he didn't know what to say – or maybe he didn't have an answer to my question at all. I didn't know which option was worse.
All the negative thoughts kept coming into my head, each worst than the last.
Was he sick? Was he dying? Was that why he was in a hurry to find someone?
Another mostly sleepless night passed, and this time even school felt more somber. Melissa was quiet for once, glancing at me every few seconds like she wanted to ask me something, but couldn't find the courage to. Very not Melissa-like.
"Just say it," I mumbled during lunch, letting out a sigh after she stared at me and looked away for the 100th time that day.
"Say what?" She asked, seemingly surprised I'd spoken up.
"Whatever has been bugging you the whole day."
"Oh." She pursed her lips and took a deep breath. "I just–You seem really worried, Sky. I haven't seem you look like that since Lily..."
She didn't have to finish that. Since Lily had left. The last time I had the kind of sleepless nights like the ones I'd just had.
"Of course, I'd be worried if anyone I knew just randomly missed school with no explanation," I said, pushing around the food on my plate. I didn't really have much of an appetite.
"Sure," Melissa nodded, but I could tell she didn't believe my words. I wasn't sure I believed them either. "Do you... want me to ask Tara what's wrong? She's seemed off too the last 2 days, maybe she knows something."
I instantly shook my head. "No, don't get her involved. You have your relationship. Me and Noah have–" A fake one.
That was probably the thing that bothered me the most. The fact that I was as worried as I was when he shouldn't have meant anything to me. When I clearly didn't mean anything to him, since he was keeping me out of the loop. The reason he was out of school seemed to be on a need-to-know basis, and I clearly didn't need to know.
Sighing, I set down my utensils, losing the will to even play with my food.
"Then why don't you text Noah." Melissa said and I stared at her, blinking. "I mean, you're his girlfriend, Sky. You're allowed to check in on him."
She was right. Technically I was his girlfriend. It was normal for a girlfriend to be worried about their boyfriend when he didn't show up at school. So it should have been normal if the girlfriend then sent a text asking the boyfriend what was wrong.
Was it really that simple?
Why had that thought never occurred to me?
I'd kept looking at this from my perspective, instead of his. What Noah had been looking for, was a girlfriend. In that case, I should've done what any girlfriend would have done at that moment. It was time I took the initiative.
"I'm texting him," I proclaimed, already tapping on my phone while Melissa did a little supportive clap.
Skyler
Noah... are you okay? what's going on?
Skyler
I'm sorry for butting in but I'm worried about you
Skyler
I feel like I should know what's wrong with you when you miss school for 2 days
Skyler
I mean I'm your girlfriend
Skyler
right?
I'd started out so strong but by the end of my little texting rant most of my confidence had depleted. Though as soon as I sent that last messaged I wished I could just unsend it.
Suddenly scared of his reaction to my texts, I put my phone on the table face down. My heartbeat started steadily increasing. Fingers tingling with nerves. This was a mistake. I had made a huge mistake, and overstepped my bounds.
Who did I think I was? Why think he would tell me anything? What did I expect him to–
The repeated vibrations of the text messages stopped my spiral into self-loating.
I just sat there, breathing. Minutes ticked away. Melissa stared at me as if I'd grown a second head.
"Well?! What did he say?" she said, finally, unable to bear my scared silence anymore.
Taking a deep, steadying breath, I flipped my phone, unlocked the screen and clicked into the messages.
Noah
you're... right
Noah
I'm sorry for worrying you
Noah
there is something you need to know
Noah
can you come over tomorrow?
Skyler
ofc, I'll come after lunch!
And then he sent me his home address. A different one from the place the party had been held but close by it.
"I'm seeing him tomorrow," I said, exhaling with relief and Melissa grinned at me, offering a quick high five.
A small amount of weight had been lifted from my chest, just by knowing I would get some answers tomorrow and my over active brain could stop filling in the blanks by itself.
Now, the only problem was how to make it until tomorrow without dying from curiosity.
Hi loves! ❤️
This chapter is a tiny bit shorter than usual (even though it's 2 days technically)... but there's no Noah so I'm just going to assume y'all don't mind it being shorter, hehe.
NEXT CHAPTER, we find out his secret! I'm trying to condense the chapters as I write and kick out all the filler stuff since I'm trying to finish the whole book by Friday. We have the secret reveal in the next chapter, and then... oh-oh, some trouble comes. It doesn't look good for our two love birds for two chapters, in fact it looks really bad... but then, in typical me fashion, we'll have a cliche happy ending. TA-DA! ✨❤️
Just so you can mentally prepare yourselves for what's coming. There's gonna be a lot in just a few chapters so I don't want you all to be left shocked and hanging while waiting for new updates. ❤️
ALSO FUN FACT. EVELYN HARTZ, is actually the main character for a book I'm writing in 2023, called Makeup, Murder and Mimosas. She's badass, and the book is a romance murder mystery and I'm hella excited about it even though I'm only starting it in a year, it's gonna take some serious planning to make sure y'all little sleuths don't figure out stuff immediately so I'm already thinking/writting down ideas for it (for those of you that like true crime stuff and would read this! there will be heavy romance with a genius detective tho so... teehee)✨✨✨
I love tossing in little tidbits from future books into current books... is that weird?
Anyhoot, I'm gonna go write the next chapter now. It's a lot of... a lot, so I don't know if i can have it up tonight but tomorrow first thing? YES. jhgsfqwygduhbinjwer
Love ya, stay strong, stay safe! ❤️