I sat in the bleachers, Noah's letterman jacket wrapped around my shoulders, as I watched him warm-up for the game. He looked into the crowd and smiled when he found me. He raised his hand to wave, watching as I hesitated to wave back.
Things were a little tense between the two of us right now. We've been best friends since second grade and now, senior year, he was moving to LA to start acting.
Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely proud of him. But, is it wrong not to want your best friend to fulfill his dream if it means sending him away?
Maybe it wasn't so much him moving away that caused the tension and more my confession. I probably shouldn't have told him I was in love with him right before the game.
~•~
I walked into the boys' locker room, not caring that I wasn't supposed to be there. All I cared about was talking to Noah before the game. Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe it was the right thing to do. Either way, I knew it was something I had to do.
I had to tell him before he left.
"Y/N?" Noah looked around the locker room before looking at me. "What are you doing in here?"
"I need to talk to you," I stuttered.
"Now?" He laughed. "The game is about to start and. . . Y/N, you aren't even allowed to be in here. Is everything okay?"
His smile dropped when he saw the look on my face. He grabbed my hand and led me back into the hallway. Noah turned around, still holding my hand.
"What's wrong? Are you okay?"
"I need to talk to you," I said slowly, trying to gather my courage.
"Okay," he said slowly. He let go of my hand and crossed his arms over his chest. "Y/N? What's going on? You're acting really weird."
"I love you."
I have been thinking about how I would tell him the truth ever since he told me he was moving. All the times I've rehearsed it in my head, debating how to say it, I definitely didn't plan on blurting it out like I just did.
"I know that," he laughed. He stopped when he saw the look on my face.
"That's not what I meant," I said softly. "I'm in love with you."
"What. . ." He stuttered. His eyes widened a little when he realized what I meant. "You're. . . What do you want me to say?"
"Nothing," I said barely audible. I turned on my heel and started quickly walking away.
"Y/N!" Noah called after me. I walked faster, nervous that he would chase after me. I glanced over my shoulder at him, Noah still standing where I left him.
"Y/N?"
~•~
I know I ran away from him, but I couldn't hear him turn me down. I couldn't handle him rejecting me. He's been my best friend since we were little. I couldn't lose him.
I bit my lip as the game started, unable to tear my eyes away from Noah. As the game went on, my heart pumped harder and harder against my chest. I'm usually nervous during his games, worried he'll get hurt, but all I could think about right now was my confession and the likely possibility of losing him.
At half-time, he looked up at me. His eyes softened when he saw me already staring at him. He pointed at the fence, gesturing for me to meet him there. I shook my head, my eyes beginning to water.
"Please?" He mouthed.
I looked away, looking down at my fingers. I could feel his eyes on me, but it took everything in me not to look up at him. I let out a sigh of relief when the ref blew the whistle. I slowly looked up to see Noah walking onto the field.
I bit my lip when he looked over his shoulder at me. Our eyes meeting made everything around us freeze. No matter how much I wanted to, I couldn't look away.
"Centineo! Get your ass on the field!"
Noah sighed before listening to his coach and looking away from me, jogging towards his team. Other people would've seen the quarterback running onto the field, but that's not what I saw.
I saw him running away from me.
And I couldn't handle it. I stood up and quickly walked around people, needing to get away. I couldn't look back at Noah as I tried to leave. If I had, I would've seen him freeze. I would've seen him hesitate to throw the ball. I would've seen him hand the ball to his teammate and walk off the field, tossing his helmet to someone on the bench. I would've seen him jogging towards the crowd. I would've seen him skipping steps.
"Y/N."
I gasped when I looked up and finally saw Noah standing in front of me. I looked behind him to see everyone staring at us. "What are you. . . What are you doing?"
"Don't leave again. Please. Don't walk away from me."
"You're missing the game," I said slowly.
"I don't care," he laughed. Suddenly, his smile dropped. "I care more about missing you."
He walked up a few more steps until he was on the stair right below me. He reached down and grabbed my hands. "Can we please go somewhere and talk about this? About us?"
"What about the game?" I stuttered.
"I don't care about the game. It's just a game. You're more important to me. Please, Y/N. Can we go somewhere and talk?"
I bit my lip before nodding. He let out a sigh of relief before intertwining our fingers and leading me down the bleachers. We heard the game start back up as we got to the parking lot.
"Where do you want to go?" I asked, my hand burning from his touch. I gasped when he suddenly stopped walking, causing me to stop too. I turned to see him looking strangely at me.
"You never gave me a chance to answer."
"What?" I stuttered.
"When you told me you loved me. Before the game. You ran off before I could say anything." His signature smile slowly returned.
"You asked me what I wanted you to say," I said slowly.
"I know," he sighed. "It's not that I didn't have anything to say."
"Then why did you say it?" My voice broke. Noah sighed as he took a step closer to me, taking my other hand and intertwining our fingers.
"Because I was shocked. When you told me you were in love with me. . . Y/N, I froze. I know things are complicated right now since I'm leaving soon, but I can't leave home, I can't leave you, without clearing some things up."
"What things?" I asked slowly.
"This," he whispered as he stepped closer to me, reached up and grabbed my face before leaning down, pressing his lips to mine. I instantly started moving my lips against his.
Noah was the first to pull away. I struggled to catch my breath as he leaned back, still smiling down at me. He reached up and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear.
"I'm in love with you too, Y/N. I've been in love with you for a long time."
I smiled, but it instantly fell when I remembered what was going to happen not too far from now. "I'm so happy to hear you say that, Noah." My voice broke. "You have no idea how happy that makes me but it doesn't change the fact that you're leaving."
I took a step back, our hands dropping back to our sides. "It does change things," he said quickly. "We're in love," he laughed.
"But you're leaving, Noah." Tears started streaming down my cheeks as I took a step back. "You're leaving and it kills me."
He stepped towards me and cupped my cheeks in his hands. "Just because I'm leaving doesn't mean we can't be together," he said earnestly.
"Noah," I sighed. I reached up and gently grabbed his wrists, not pulling his hands away. "You leave in a month. I can't go with you. I have to finish school."
"You can visit me. Then I can visit you. You can help me move in and spend all winter break with me. I'll come back and visit you during your midterms and finals. I can help you study. Y/N, we can do this. We can be together. It'll be long-distance, but we can do this."
I bit my lip, hesitating. "It won't be easy," I whispered.
"We'll make it work."
"Do you really think we can do it?" I asked, my voice breaking. "You really think we can do a long-distance relationship?"
"I know we can," he lowered his voice.
"How?"
He leaned down and pressed his lips to mine. I started moving my lips against his as he wrapped his arms around my waist. I reached up, running my fingers through his hair as our lips moved faster and faster against each other.
This time, I was the first to pull away, gasping for air. "I know," Noah said between breaths, "because I love you. And I will do whatever it takes to make it work. You in?"
"I'm in."