"Hi," I say sheepishly.
She walks up to me and drags me by my arm to my room.
"Talk, right now," she says with a grin.
"Um, I don't know. We just did shots, and we were joking with each other and then yeah." I cringed.
"Why? What?" She asks excitedly.
"Well, I think he was a little tipsy, but he was trying to prove something to me, and we ended up like that." I shrug blushing.
"Do you like him?" She asks, quirking a brow.
"No! Of course not," I exclaim, she gives me a look. "Well, I don't know. Maybe?"
I am still confused with my feelings.
"I can't like him. Nick would kill me, or Noah. I can't do that to them," I speak seriously, but for some reason it feels like a lie.
"Oh girl, you're on your own for this mess," she teases.
"I know, I feel bad too because of Bennett being here. What if he walked in and not you?" I say worriedly.
"Yeah, he's a big boy though. Don't worry about that," she assures.
"Thank you," I smile softly.
"On the other hand, Noah likes you," she deadpans.
"What? No, he doesn't, he was just saying how I was lucky he was there and messed with my head a little while being his cocky self. We are just friends and have been for a while," I ramble, not making much sense to myself.
"Whatever you say. But friends don't flirt with each other every second they get," she was cut off by the door opening.
"Unless you're me, wassup sexy babes?" Cassie prods with the rest of the girls behind her.
Willow and I laughed then proceeded to fill them in. We finally all left my room and went back to doing our own things. I remain inside the house preparing a few snacks before I go outside. Since I barely played more than a few games earlier, it's my time to shine.
"You guys were talking about me for a while," Noah teases, popping up next to me.
"What makes you say we were talking about you?" I ask with furrowed brows.
He gives me a look, a very cute one at that.
"Only for a little bit since they thought- they read the situation wrong. Then we were talking about other random stuff," I excuse.
"Hm," he hums.
I nod and grab my board with snacks and take it outside to set in on the table.
I spent the time until dark playing games and watching the drinks disappear. Once I felt a slight buzz I stopped. I played corn hole against Noah and got super lucky and won the first round. We were doing best two out of three.
"Yes! Suck it." I clapped my hands and stuck my tongue out at him.
He smiled looking down and shaking his head. "I can still win, you know?"
"But you won't," I grin.
After a few more throws he won the second round.
"I'm sorry, who's winning?" He teases with the cutest smile ever.
"You haven't won yet." I laugh.
We threw a few more bean bags and in his last one that was about to go in I used my foot to push it away.
"Yay! I won!" I throw my hands up and high five the girls.
"No, you didn't! You cheated," he yells while laughing.
"You got proof of that?" I hold back my laugh and raise my brow at him.
Steam comes out of his ears as he strides toward me.
"No!" I scream and start running away.
Willow laughed at me when I bolted by her. I scurried inside and tried to shut the door, but he caught it.
"Oh shit." I continue to run all around the house and finally find myself in Nick's room.
"You can't escape me," he laughs as I try to keep the door closed.
Eventually he let up and the door shut. I exhaled and locked the door. Phew. I sat there trying to catch my breath and deciding when I should go back out. I turn around and immediately yelp. Noah immediately cages me in against the doors.
"Nowhere to run now."
"How did you get in here?" I ask, completely bewildered.
"Same way Nick used to sneak out." He gestures with his head towards the open window.
"Oh no," I deadpan. "Look I'll give you anything," I say worriedly.
"What do you think I'm gonna do? Hurt you?" He chuckles.
"Yes," I say with a straight face, but my mouth betrays me, and one side turns up.
He grins. "Oh please. I would never hurt you, Ana." His eyes are locked on mine making me feel shy but oddly safe.
We are just playing with each other, but for some unknown reason his words tug on my heartstrings. My heart aches and leaps out of my chest. Those words were all I ever wanted to hear, and I didn't even know it till now. Not only would he never hurt me, but I know he would never let anyone else hurt me. My chest continues to rise and fall as he looks at me with the familiar shine in his eyes. Why am I so emotional? Maybe it's because I'm all alone right now, no one to support me or love me.
I quickly wrap my arms around his waist, hard too. I felt his arms immediately wrap and lock around me tightly, almost twice because of how small I am next to him. I tried to control my breathing so I wouldn't cry. Stupid hormones.
"And you never have," I say, responding to him.
"What's this for?" He asks cautiously.
"You're the only one who hasn't left me," I admit.
His grip on me tightens. "I don't plan on doing so anytime soon."
Man, what alcohol does, I want to think. But I know. I know the buzz went away a long time ago and Noah has had that water bottle with him since we first set up beer pong, vinegar beer pong I should say. We are sober ducks. I lay in his arms tightly and secured in comfortable silence. I inhale his clean scent over and over until I am calm and collected, which doesn't take long.
"Thank you," I mumble and back away.
"Aren't I the best?" He gave me a teasing smile.
I laugh. "Yes, you are," I speak seriously and smile up at him.
His own smile faltered a little. "Let's get back before they start asking questions," he says, scratching the back of his neck.
I blush and nod.
An hour or so later we all decide to watch a movie to end the day.
"I'm thinking IT," Allen wiggles his brows.
"No," Maya says flatly.
"IT it is," Liam grins and finds the movie.
We originally all ran to the couch, but Liam was the one who got lucky and sat on the controller, so we agreed he'd choose. Yay! Isn't this so exciting?! Note the sarcasm.
Maya and Allen sat next to each other, then Rosey and Liam, Cassie and Bennett, Willow and I, then Noah on the other side of me. We took up all the cushions, so it is a little squished but nothing terrible. The movie starts playing and Willow and I both give each other that 'here we go' look. She pulls her knees up to her chest and I laugh a little.
"You scared?" Noah whispers in my ear.
A chill runs down my spine. "I don't know yet. Never seen this movie," I admit.
"Really? No wonder you didn't fight it turning on," he says, resulting in me looking at him.
"What do you mean?" I whisper.
"Nothing, it's not bad," he assures and pats my knee.
I roll my eyes and focus on the movie. Once we got past the part of all their fears being revealed I was left with a clenched fist and teeth. I always get tense during scary movies; I rely on comfortability and that is not how I would define a scary movie.
"Relax," Noah murmurs into my ear.
He grabbed my tightly closed fist and opened it to interlock his furthest hand with mine. He held our hands in his lap and traced the lines on my palm. I blushed but relaxed a little, nonetheless. I looked around and saw everyone invested in the movie. I mean it made sense since Noah and I were blocked by Willow's knees.
When the bullies were carving the kid's stomach, I tensed up cringing at the blood. I flinched a little when I felt Noah's warm hand envelope my thigh. He gave me a reassuring smile because of how obviously uncomfortable I was feeling. My heart was racing but now it's racing for a different reason. His thumb moved softly back and forth on my thigh causing my breath to hitch. My heart felt so warm and all I wanted to do was cuddle with Noah and have him hold me. I could barely focus on the movie because of his hand. He kept squeezing my thigh when I seemed tense about the movie. I was a blushing mess but also thankful for his comfort. I kept getting rushed of guilt though, what about Nick? Nick, Nick, Nick. No, this is innocent, nothing's going on, it's fine. It's all in my head. Noah is just being nice. Very nice. How did I let myself fall? I never saw it coming, not for a second when we all hung out more because of The Corner.
When the movie ended, we kicked all the boys out of the house. Even Noah who was pleading, saying he would stay in Nick's room.
"You know that's not gonna happen," I cross my arms.
He looked shocked at my bluntness as his cheeks-tinged red. "Fine."
We say bye and I can't help but smile the whole time talking to him. I was sad to see him go but it is strictly girls now.
"The attentions on you Anastasia," Rosey clarifies when I walk into the living room.
"Why? What?" I ask, playing dumb.
"Don't play dumb with us." Maya's laugh echoes throughout the house.
"Okay okay. Like I said earlier though. I don't know what is going on between us either." I play with my hands and sit down next to Willow. "Since Nick has left, he's been there for me for a few things. He's been nice and caring and funny and has made me feel really good when I am around him." I shrug bashfully.
Looks and giggles were exchanged between the girls. Typical.
"So, you really do like him?" Cassie asks with a smirk.
I bite my lip with a nod. "A lot," I pause. "He's so fine too."
They all laugh.
"Yeah, we know," Willow says.
I laugh with them. We continued talking and about more than just boys. Soon enough we were watching a funny movie with popcorn and falling asleep.