Страница 26 из 67
What I didn’t expect were the dozens of students assembled to watch this train wreck unfold.
And what sent a piercing scream through my spine was the sight of Noah, centered in a halo of admirers, male and female.
At that moment, the magnitude of A
Oh, A
All eyes were on me. My move. If I played.
My eyes sca
“Looking for this?” she chirped i
I reached for it but she snatched it away. “You crotch-pheasant,” I said through gritted teeth.
A
Aiden smiled on cue. He must have snatched it from my bag.
“Actually, he stole it.”
“I’m afraid not, Mara. You must have carelessly misplaced it,” she said, and tsked.
Now that she had set the stage, A
Defeat bloomed in my cheeks, staining my throat and my collarbone. I could do nothing but suffer through the emotional ski
And collect my sketchbook when she was finished. Because it was mine, and I would get it back.
I didn’t want to see Noah’s face when A
“Noah?” she cooed.
“A
She flipped from page to page and I could hear the whispers rise into a murmur and could hear a ringing laugh somewhere from the far side of the tiki hut, but it died down. A
“This looks so much like you,” she said to Noah, pressing her body against his.
“My girl is talented,” Noah said.
My heart stopped beating.
A
Everyone’s heart stopped beating. The buzzing of a solitary gnat would have sounded obscene in the stillness.
“Bullshit,” A
Noah shrugged. “I’m a vain bastard, and Mara indulges me.” After a pause, he added, “I’m just glad you didn’t get your greedy little claws on the other sketchbook. That would have been embarrassing.” His lips curved into a sly smile as he slid from the picnic table he’d been sitting on. “Now, get the fuck off me,” he said calmly to a dumbfounded, speechless A
And walked over to me.
“Let’s go,” Noah ordered gently, once he was at my side. His body brushed the line of my shoulder and arm protectively. And then he held out his hand.
I wanted to take it and I wanted to spit in A
And just like that, I was completely, utterly, and entirely,
His.
Neither of us spoke until we were out of earshot and out of sight of the shocked and awed student body. We were standing next to a bench by the basketball court when Noah stopped, finally letting go of my hand. It felt empty, but I barely had time to process the loss.
“Are you all right?” he asked softly.
I nodded, staring past him. My tongue felt numb.
“Are you sure?”
I nodded again.
“Are you positive?”
I glared at him. “I’m fine,” I said.
“That’s my girl.”
“I am not your girl,” I said, with more venom than I intended.
“Right, then,” Noah said, and looked at me with a curious stare. He raised an eyebrow. “About that.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing.
“You like me,” he finally said. “You like me, like me.” He was trying not to smile.
“No. I hate you,” I said, hoping that saying it would make it so.
“And yet, you draw me.” Noah was still smug, completely undeterred by my declaration.
This was torture; worse somehow than what just happened, even though it was only the two of us. Or because it was only the two of us.
“Why?” he asked.
“Why what?” What could I say? Noah, despite you being an asshole, or maybe because of it, I’d like to rip off your clothes and have your babies. Don’t tell.
“Why everything,” he continued. “Start with why you hate me. And then continue until you get to the part about the drawings.”
“I don’t really hate you,” I said in defeat.
“I know.”
“Then why are you asking?”
“Because I wanted you to admit it,” he said, gri
“Done,” I said, feeling hopeless. “Are we finished?”
“You’re the most ungrateful person alive,” he mused.
“You’re right,” I said, my voice flat. “Thanks for the save. I should go.” I started to walk away.
“Not so fast.” Noah reached for my good wrist. He took it gently and I turned around. My heart was sickeningly aflutter. “We still have a problem.”
I looked at him, uncomprehending. He was still holding my wrist and the contact interfered with my cerebral functioning.
“Everyone thinks we’re together,” Noah said.
Oh. Noah needed a way out. Of course he did; we weren’t, in fact, together. I was just—I don’t know what I was to him. I looked at the ground, digging the toe of my sneaker into the paved walkway like a sullen child while I thought about what to say.
“Tell your friends you dumped me on Monday,” I said finally.
Noah let go of my wrist, and looked genuinely confused. “What?”
“If you tell them that you broke up with me over the weekend, everyone will forget about this eventually. Tell them I was too needy or something,” I said.
Noah arched his eyebrows slightly. “That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.”
“Fine,” I said, confused myself. “I’ll go along with whatever you want, okay?”
“Sunday.”
“Excuse me?”
“I want Sunday. My parents are having a thing on Saturday, but Sunday I’m free.”
I didn’t understand. “And?”
“And you’re going to spend the day with me.”