“She does?” I asked dryly, staring at the alien that’d replaced my boyfriend. “AndEmmacan speak for herself.”
Noah sent me a chastened look, but the resolve in his eyes didn’t waver. “You have that fundraiser with Teresa’s soccer team.”
Oh. Right.
“Teresa? Who’s Teresa?” Julian asked with interest as his gaze darted back and forth between us.
“My roommate at school,” I said, wondering if I’d be a bad friend if I tried to get out of going. I was much more interested in learning more about Noah’s friendship with this guy, especially when Noah was so quick to kick him out.
“Your roommate,” Julian echoed, nodding along slowly. “At Westcroft, I’m guessing?”
I nodded as well, curious what sort of information he was fishing for. “That’s where Noah and I met.”
“And what year are you, Emma?”
I shifted against Noah’s side and hoped this wasn’t a trick question. “I’m a freshman.”
“A freshman.” Julian’s eyes settled on Noah as his lips twisted into a shit-eating grin. “And you know my boy here is twenty-three, right? I’m a much more youthful twenty-two.”
“Julian.” Noah sent him a sharp look.
Julian chuckled and held his hands up in surrender as he backed away. “Don’t worry, I’m leaving. Have fun, you two. And it was nice to meet you, Emma.”
“You too,” I said, though I had my doubts if I meant it.
I could feel the room breathe after the door clicked shut behind Julian, but Noah’s arm weighed heavily on my shoulders.
“So.” I glanced up at him. I wasn’t sure whose jaw was clenched tighter—his or mine—but I unglued mine to state the obvious. “That was one of your infamous friends.”
Noah’s nostrils flared as he watched the closed door. “Yes, that was Julian.”
My eyes wandered back to the door, and I frowned.
So, Operation Side Chick had been a complete bust, which was good news for me since I wanted to be the only apple of Noah’s eye. But I hadn’t expected to discover I was his dirty little secret tonight, either. To my horror, tears welled in my eyes as the truth of that sank in. I kept my gaze firmly averted from Noah’s, putting every ounce of focus into stopping even a single tear from escaping.
Noah resumed the panda documentary and sat stiff as a board next to me without another word. I had so many questions to ask him, but I couldn’t get them past my tight throat.
I tried to focus on the good news, like how Noah had standing weekly dinners with a good friend. But part of me—the part that was used to being unwanted in my own home—wondered if there would ever be room for me at those dinners, too.
CHAPTER31
A Moment
It took allmy willpower not to bombard Noah with questions.
I thought I’d held out pretty well for the rest of the evening at Noah’s place—including an unfortunate first experience cooking together where Noah discovered my embarrassing lack of culinary skills.
Dinner was the definition of a disaster. I’d been so focused on keeping my emotions in check—plus I already had difficulty doing something as simple as boiling water—that I somehow used sugar instead of salt in the recipe and I burned the spaghetti noodles.
But a quiet dinner consisting of eating around the minefield of charred noodles followed by a car ride spent defending my lack of cooking skills to Noah did wonders to distract from the seed of insecurity growing in my stomach.
It wasn’t until Noah was walking me down the hallway to my dorm that the little sproutling was overwhelmingly insistent, and I caved. “So… I’ve met one of your friends.”
Noah glanced at me before focusing ahead. “Yes. Julian.”
I waited till we passed the last few doors before mine, but he didn’t say anything more.
“That’s it? Nothing else to say?” I asked, starting to question my own sanity.
