Eunoia; beautiful thinking; a well mind.
C H A P T E R T H I R T Y - T H R E E
I definitely started crying after that statement of his, if I wasn't already. My roommate rushed into the empty classroom that contained me and my silent tears after Matt had left. The way her feet worked briskly to reach me, I knew she had heard my conversation with him. She didn't say a word and put her arms around me and the speed at which my tears made their way out increased two folds. She sighed as my tears gave way to the dampness that now resided on the shoulder region of her black colored blouse.
She brought me to the cafe, and I knew that at this time, most of the people I had come to call my friends didn't have classes. I despairingly hoped that the green-eyed boy who stole most of my time wouldn't be there. Mainly because of two reasons, my face looked like a more significant waste than my life was and let's not even talk about the hair. And two, because if he came to know what happened, Matt probably would end up on a hospital bed.
But the moment I stepped in, I heard the bodacious sound of his laughter as I saw him slap Chase on the shoulder jokingly. Ally was the first one to notice us, and I closed my eyes because I had a pretty great idea about the kind of reactions that were about to follow. She ran towards us.
"What happened to you?" Ally asked, her voice was hyped up.
I put off the task of answering her as my eyes were transfixed on a particular boy. The moment Noah heard her and turned around, the beautiful smile on his face ceased. The emotion on his face drained quickly as he locked his still gleaming green eyes with my lowering with tears hazel ones. He left his seat and caught his position by my side.
Well, shit.
"S, what's wrong?" he caught my forearms gently and turned his vision to Scarlett the next moment, hopeful for an answer. "Scar, why is she crying? What the hell happened?"
"She talked to Matt," Scar sighed deeply as she looked at her cousin.
"And it did not go well," I scoffed faintly and Noah turned to me.
I saw his jaw clench. "Damn and I was here thinking he's gonna enter any minute now to pop a bottle of champagne to celebrate the initiation of our relationship," he directed his sarcasm towards me.
Jay smacked him on the head. "Don't be an asshole."
Noah exhaled his breath from his mouth profoundly. "I'm sorry. But precious, I told you to take me along," he said, genuinely meaning his apology.
"Oh trust me, after what I heard you did not want to be there," Scar gave out a short laugh.
"Can you stop building up suspense and tell us what the hell he said?" Ally said, a little annoyed.
Everyone grabbed a chair; eagerness was very evident on their somewhat worried faces. I opted to keep quiet and let Scarlett do the honors. She didn't leave anything out, like, not a single time. It's almost as if she repeated Matt's words. I did not care about anyone else's reaction as much as Noah's. There's no way I could talk to him in front of everyone. As soon as Scar finished, I caught Noah's hand, and he looked enraged.
"Noah, you mind walking me to my next class?" I asked him with a slight smile.
"What?" he said, barely getting any time to react.
I saw Scar give me an understanding nod. "Would you just go with her?"
I pulled him along with me as I exited the cafe. He looked at me, waiting for me to speak because he knew I hadn't gotten him out of there for the sole purpose of walking me to class.
"Okay, I know you're really mad right now," my voice came out low.
"Mad? Mad? You think I'm mad right now?" he halted for a second, almost as if I was supposed to answer his rhetorical question. "He indirectly called me a hoe and told you to break up with me. I wanna staple that son of a bitch to the cheap dartboard at Marley's and aim at him or a thousand things from the mental list I've kept prepared," he yelled in the middle of the corridor causing a few lingering stares.
With Noah, lingering stares came hand in hand. It was still new to me, but for him, it was a habit. He didn't care one bit what people thought of him, yet he always has that specific kind of effect on people. People either want to adorn him with flowers or wanna pull their hair out for what a significant asshole he is, there's no in-between with Noah.
I let out a chuckle at his statement, incapable of holding in it because it was funny how angry he was yet when he spoke like that, the cuteness tagged along. "Noah, tell me you wouldn't have reacted the same the way if the roles were reversed," I told him.
"Don't take his side, please. That's the last thing I need right now."
"I'm not taking his side. His words were unquestionably not justified; I'm just saying maybe we should offer him another chance," I flinched lightly because I sensed his reaction.
"After he made you cry that bad? No way, he can go fuck himself for all I care," he said, being blunt as ever. His arm looped around my shoulder as he saw a crowd of people coming towards us.
"Would you give up so quickly if it was Jay or Tiffany?"
"Your comparison is way off. Jay is my best friend. I've known the guy my whole life. And Tiffany, though she doesn't look it, is like an elder sibling I never had. You and Winston are not half that close," he remarked, offended that I compared Matt to the people he had come to be closest with.
"Yes, okay, you're right. But still, Noah, he's my friend. I have to give it at least another try," I desperately hoped he would understand.
"It's not like you'll stop if I tell you to, but I'm gonna make this clear, don't expect me to apologize to him after I punch his loser face in case he shows up in front of me," Noah replied, being absolutely serious about his warning.
I walked further to enter my class, and he pulled me back to him, gripping my wrist. The expression on his face was completely different than what it was a few moments prior. A smile made its way to his face as his lips curled upwards, the smile softly reaching his eyes as they shone at me. His fingers quietly traced my knuckles.
"All that anger aside, I seriously appreciate you jumping to my defense like that. You don't know how glad I am you did that because even though the guy looks like and is a major loser, for the most part, I know he means a lot to you. And I understand how much it must suck to argue with him like that, so thank you, S. I mean it," his confession melted my heart into a puddle.
How could anyone ever hate this boy?
"Oh! So, we're saying thank you to each other now?" I asked, appalled that he would feel the need to say that. He chuckled at my reply, and I continued. "I didn't do anything out of the ordinary, N. I said what I truly feel, you don't have to thank me for it," I said, giving him a genuine smile.
"Boy, am I glad I met you or what," he rasped.
He closed his eyes for a moment, and his hands caught my cheeks as his lips met mine. The kiss was slow and passionate, almost as if he was trying to describe how grateful he was to me. I reciprocated the intensity and fervour of his kiss wanting to send the same message back. I lost an account of all my senses as his tongue entered my mouth and didn't care if he got my metaphorical message or not.
I broke the kiss because I knew it would escalate to something we won't be able to finish and his minty breath fanned my face. "I'll see you after class, beautiful."
I made my way out of the class with Caleb. "So, I take it Matthew was not thrilled at the idea of making amends?" he said, balancing all the books in his hand. I told him what happened when I talked to Matt yesterday.
"Nope. Far from it," I answered.
"I tried to talk to him, and he instantly turned me down," he frowned and continued. "So, what are you going to do now?"
"I don't know. Let him cool off and then try talking to him again, maybe?"
"You really want to talk to him after he was that narky with you?" he asked, surprised by my response.
"Well, I can't not try."
"You know, I'd say I was rooting for you and Matthew but to be honest, you and Noah look very dishy together," he said, and a smile made its way to my face.
A second later, he bumped his shoulder with mine. "Hey, you did not ask me what dishy means! Or any of the other British slang I used, which is extremely unusual."
I nodded. "My brother, Chris went to London for a year for his football coaching and he picked up on the accent and the UK slang, and when he got back, he just wouldn't stop, so I'm familiar with a lot of it," I elaborated.
He opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by a new presence. "Hiii babe," a hand looped around Caleb's broad shoulders, and a grin quickly took its place on his face. The voice wasn't feminine at all.
I turned around and saw the same guy pecking Caleb's cheek. "Hey back," Caleb replied. So I wasn't wrong about him being gay!
I recognized the guy to be one of the players on Noah's team. Caleb stopped at an empty corner and pointed at the guy, who I could only expect to be his boyfriend.
"Sydney, this is Tyler, my boyfriend. He spends most of his time frowning because my hair looks way better than his," I chuckled and accepted Tyler's hand for a shake.
"Tyler, this is--"
Tyler looked at me and beamed. "I know. I know. You're Noah's girl, right?"
"Yes, but I prefer to be known as Sydney," I half-joked.
"She likes to spend most of her time adoring my British slang, unlike some unappreciative people here," Caleb completed my introduction.
Tyler smacked him on the head facetiously. "Give it two more days and even she'll wanna run away from you and your 'blimey' and 'bollocks,'" Tyler said, trying his best to say the words in a British accent but obviously failed.
"Bloody hell, Ty! Even my non-existent dog does the accent better than you. You're with me all the time, how can you not say two simple words? Catch up, Ty!" Caleb rolled his eyes. "And the British accent is way better than your American 'bro' and 'dude.' Back me up on this, Sydney."
It was extremely amusing to see how they can go from all lovey-dovey to killing each other's accents. Their banter could make anyone laugh.
"Sorry, Tyler! But Caleb's right. Nothing can stand out in front of a British accent," I agreed with Caleb as he mouthed a Thank you to me and turned to give Tyler a look.
"Come on, people! How did we lose all the patriotism?" Tyler exclaimed, making me chuckle.
"Blame Donald Trump," Caleb held his hands up in defense.
Both of them stopped in front of a class, and Tyler spoke up. "This is us," he pointed at the class. "We'll see you later, Syd," he waved, and Caleb hugged me and ran to catch up with his boyfriend.
I pulled my phone out of my bag and quickly turned off the silent mode as I exited the library on the twenty-four-hour open signboard rested. I saw eight missed calls from Noah and three from Scarlett. My eyes went wide, and I quickly turned my wrist to check the time. It was 2'o clock. Holy shit! I knew it was late, but I didn't realize it was past midnight because I was working on my Econ project. I was supposed to do it with Matt, but since he had taken an oath to avoid me, my work had increased ten folds. This project was a pain in the ass, okay, all projects are, but it was the only way to secure my internship, and there was no way I was screwing that up.
I decided not to call anyone back right now, because I could bet my life that Scarlett was probably getting ready for her wedding with Ian Somerhalder in her dream and as for Noah, he did look pretty tired after practice, so naturally, I assumed he was asleep too.
The street was pretty dark, obviously Syd, it two at night. Were you expecting the sun shining on your head? I knew it was safe around campus, but you can't blame a girl for being freaked out. I kept looking behind me, well because I had heard enough of Chris' dumb horror stories. I jumped up in fear as my phone rang and quickly relaxed when I saw the caller ID. It was Noah.
"Hello?" I muttered, the volume of my voice being meager.
"Why are you talking like you're starring in a horror movie?" he muttered right back. "And where the hell were you from the past four hours?" he whisper-shouted on the phone.
"I was in the library. Getting information for the Econ project," I replied.
"Are you crazy? Do you not look at your watch at all? What is wrong with you?" he said, still whispering.
"Okay, but Noah, why are you whispering?"
He cleared his throat on the call. "Come over."
"What? It's two in the morning, Noah. I'm really, really tired. I want to do nothing but close my eyes and hug my bed very tightly for a few hours," I complained.
"Yes, I know, but I also know you haven't eaten one single thing from the past six or seven hours and I'm too exhausted to argue right now, so you're coming over. This is not up for discussion. Bye, see you in a few," and he cut the call on my face before I could say anything.
His apartment wasn't far away, so I hurried and thanked all that was holy on reaching his building. I went up and knocked lightly because I know Jay was asleep. I saw Noah get up from the couch as soon as I entered.
"Why the hell are you up so late?" I asked.
"Why the hell are you wearing your coat inside out?" he asked, his voice coming out extremely groggy. I noticed that he was right, and I felt stupid for not realizing that earlier. He came up behind me and took off my coat.
"Go freshen up. We've some lasagna, I'm gonna heat it up for you," Noah said, taking my bag and keeping it all together with my coat.
"Okay, mom," I rolled my eyes at him and ruffled his hair as he tried to swat my hand away.
I caught his face with my hand and pecked his cheek. "You're really cute, you know?"
"Nothing new there. It all Noah Parker," he smirked. I shook my head at him and headed towards the washroom.
I loved how playful he could be, even in the middle of the night. I almost Noah would be one of those boys, who would act all macho on being called cute and deny it but he didn't. He gracefully accepted the compliment. Noah didn't fish for compliments, but he also didn't leave any unaccepted.
"Noah, can I have something to change into, please?" I asked from the washroom.
"Pick whatever you like from my closet," he yelled back from the kitchen.
I picked out his grey NASA hoodie with shorts that I could fit another Sydney into and ran out. I saw him arranging two plates on the dining table and sighed. He didn't eat either because we decided we were gonna have dinner together today. Crap!
"I'm sorry, it completely slipped my mind that we were supposed to eat together," I told him as I sneaked up behind him.
He turned around and gave me a sweet smile. I expected him to accept my apology, but the smile faded away. "You should be. You're taking me out to dinner and not to Marley's. To some other nice restaurant where I won't have to look at girls from our university."
He inhaled a sharp breath, and a simper came along as he contemplated what I was wearing. In one swift motion, he pulled me to himself by my waist. His lips, instead of meeting with mine, went to my jaw. He placed feathery kisses, and each grail of my skin ignited. I drew my head back, giving him more access. His lips halted as they reached the part of my skin where my neck merged with my collar bone, and I let out a soft moan. His lips lingered in that area for longer than I expected, and my inner self was experiencing such joy, I didn't care about anything else in the world.
Right then, the microwave timer went off. "Damn it! Ringers have got to stop cockblocking us," Noah went up to get the lasagna out.
We started eating because, in all honesty, the lasagna looked too hard to resist. Noah broke the comfortable silence.
"So, what took you so long at the library?"
"I told you. I was researching for an Econ project," I answered.
"Were you researching for your project or the whole class'?" he exclaimed.
"Well, it's a 120-page project, and Matt is my partner, but he's currently in the I-don't-like-Sydney zone so," I shrugged.
"Wait? You were doing that project? The internship one? S, even with the partner, people still take help from their seniors and people copy most of the project! How can you just do it alone? How much did you cover?"
"About sixty pages. I have another sixty left. It's due day after," I nodded my head and put another forkful of lasagna in my mouth.
"We'll call Tiffany, and I'll help as well. We'll finish by tomorrow. And, before you say anything, don't worry, we won't copy, but the little advice that you get from seniors help a lot. Tiff is awesome at all this," he said, and I nodded at him with a smile, thinking out how amazing it was to have someone worry and care for you like that. I mouthed a thank you to him and he shrugged it off.
We finished dinner and shifted to the couch. I laid my head lightly on Noah's chest and pulled the thin comforter over us as my body settled into his parted legs.
"I can't believe I am saying this, but I don't feel like sleeping. At all," I said, surprising myself in the process.
"Yeah, me neither," Noah added as his fingers played with the short strands of my hair.
My mind was filled with thoughts of how much my life had changed after coming to college, and even though there were never-ending troubles to worry about, I felt content.
Noah's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. "If I ask you something, will you answer honestly?"
I turned and placed my chin on his chest, my eyes meeting with his green one. They contained an unusual sentiment which I recognized to be fear.
"I don't have any reason not to," I gave him an assuring smile.
But his question wasn't what I foresaw in a million years. It hit me like a goddamn wave and swept me right off the shore.
"Did it ever occur to you, even for a split second that whatever Winston said about me could be true?"
Author's Note:
Yikes! I would say I'm sorry for such a long chapter, but honestly, I am not.
For those who don't know, dishy basically means hot or good-looking.
So, British boys or our own Noah Parker?
As always, be expressive. Vote and comment, please fam! If you're still reading despite my hazardous update schedule, you indeed, are the best, and I love you all!
Alright, I'm out! See you at the next chapter!
Keep eating, F x