Present Perfect(24)

“Thank you.”

As I passed him going back toward the door I felt the hem of my dress rise up behind me. I quickly stepped to the side, out of his reach. “Dammit, Noah! Stop it! I can’t defend myself with these bottles in my hands.”

Holding his hands up in surrender, he said, “I thought you had a speck of something on your dress. I was just trying to help is all.” I narrowed my eyes at him before heading back into the house.





I passed on dessert, even though chocolate cake was my all-time favorite. I excused myself from the table, saying I needed to work on a paper, and went back to my room away from the glaring eyes of parents and the roaming hands and lips of my best friend.

As I sat on my bed remembering how his hands and lips felt on my skin, I could feel the heat building up inside of me. What the hell is wrong with me? I’m was just sitting there thinking about him and getting all hot and bothered. The knock on my door brought me back to the here and now. “Yeah?” My voice sounded raspy.

The door cracked open and all I saw was a floating plate with a piece of chocolate cake on it. I smiled. Then I saw my favorite pair of light blue eyes.

“I brought you some dessert.”

Noah stepped in and closed the door behind him, tapping it with his foot. He placed the cake down on my bedside table and sat across from me on the bed. He held up the fork, which was already loaded with chocolate frosting. I was still feeling the effects of dinner as I stared at my two favorite things in the entire world. I parted my lips letting out a slight sigh. We never took our eyes off of one another. He handed me the fork.

Bringing it to my mouth, I slowly slid the fork between my lips. The tip of his tongue darted out of his mouth and ran across his lower lip. He watched the movement of my lips as they curled around the fork. I heard him swallow hard as I slid the fork out of my mouth. He took it from me and as he reached over to place the fork back on the plate, his lips almost grazed my cheek.

He moved in closer and whispered, “You have a little frosting in the corner of your mouth.”

I stayed still. My eyes were completely focused on him as he hovered for a few seconds no more than a half inch away from my mouth. The temperature of my body shot up a hundred degrees. What the hell was I doing? I needed to stop this. I was so weak and stupid for allowing this to happen. Besides, both our parents were at the other end of the house. Thoughts of losing Noah sprinted across my mind. I started to panic. I could feel my chest tightening. I felt dizzy and smothered. I leaned away from him.

He pulled back and stared at me. I didn’t want to see the look in his eyes, but I forced myself to face him. He needed to understand how serious I was when I said these words.

“We can’t do this. I can’t be your girlfriend.” He stared at me for a few more seconds before turning away, staying seated on the edge of the bed with his elbows on his knees, and his head down.

“Why?” he asked in a raspy voice.

“I’m afraid if something happened to cause it to end, then it might f*ck things up so badly you wouldn’t want to have anything to do with me after that.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“No it’s not. You remember Tyler Evans? He and Emily were close friends. Not as close as we are, but very close. They decided to cross that line and date. It lasted six months and ended badly. They couldn’t even stay friends. Emily and I saw him at the mall over the summer and he was so ugly toward her. I can’t have that happen with us.”

“We’re not them.”

“I know, but Emily does everything perfectly. If she couldn’t make it work, I sure as hell can’t. I have to have you in my life. I won’t cross that line with you. It’s too risky and I won’t chance it, not with us. I’m sorry about tonight. I never should have let things go that far.”

“I’m not sorry about what happened between us in here. Except that you won’t be with me.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to. I can’t. Besides, you deserve better than me, Noah.”

“There isn’t anyone better than you for me,” he said, looking at me over his shoulder.

“These feelings will fade away and things will get back to normal. Our bodies are going through a lot of changes. Hormones are flying all over the place. We just need to control ourselves and ride it out.” I was trying to hold back my tears. He sat up and turned to me, showing me how crushed he felt. It was impossible not to let a few tears escape. “I can’t lose you, Noah.”

“You’d never lose me, Tweet. I’ll always be here if you need me.” He raised his hand, bringing it to my face. The tips of his fingers grazed down my jaw to my chin.

I shook my head, leaning away from him slightly. “Please Noah, I can’t,” I whispered.

In one fluid movement, his hand dropped, he stood, and walked to the door. His hand grabbed the doorknob.

“I’ll see you in the morning when Mom and I pick you up for school, right?” I asked, my voice caught in my throat.

He didn’t turn around to look at me. “I don’t need a ride tomorrow. Coach called a meeting for the team before classes. Travis is going to give me a ride.”

When he didn’t turn and look at me the nerves took over my body. My voice got shaky. “I’ll see you at school then.”