Emma: Ha. Ha. Very Funny.
* * *
Sunday arrived with sunny skies and a gentle breeze. A perfect day to be out lounging on the quad or to take a group down to the beach. Yet here I was, beyond thrilled to be cooped up in a sweaty, overcrowded basketball stadium with my new boo.
Noah stopped by my dorm in the early afternoon, and after a quick chat with Teresa—where I surprisingly only put my foot in my mouth one time—we found ourselves strolling through campus on our way to the big game. Teresa told me this was an exhibition game against our rivals, which was apparently a big deal. She also gave me a brief refresher on how basketball worked so I wouldn’t make a fool of myself when talking about the game.
Only time would tell if it worked.
“I like what you’ve done with your hair,” Noah said. He gave my french braid a light tug.
Teresa had helped me weave red and gold ribbons through it, and I was quite proud of the end result considering the half hour we’d spent wrestling with my hair.
I grinned as my fingers ghosted over the braid. “Thanks. School spirit and all. I brought some face paint in case we wanted to get crazy.”
Noah’s gaze dropped to the ground, but I had a feeling he was hiding a smile as he looked away. He’d already commented on the golden glitter I’d put around my eyes, and I’d even pulled out the green knee-high socks and a gold Westcroft hoodie I’d gotten during Freshman orientation.
I was so ready for this.
Noah had stuck to his nice slacks with a button-down shirt, but the blazer was conveniently missing.
“Let’s see how it goes first without the paint,” he said. “If Westcroft is down by twenty points in the second half, we can reconsider.”
“I think that’s a valid proposal,” I said as we trudged up the stadium steps. The lobby was packed with excited students and alumni, and Noah’s hand reached for mine as we squeezed through the crowd.
He nodded toward the concession stand across from the doors. “Have you eaten lunch?”
“Kind of, but I could definitely go for a pretzel and cheese right now, as long as they have one without salt.” I redirected us to the stand, despite having eaten four Pop-Tarts before Noah picked me up.
“Anything to drink?” Noah asked as we got in line behind a freshman. He let go of my hand to retrieve his wallet and pull out cash.
“I’m not too thirsty. We could just share one?” I looked over the menu board. “I’m down for whatever you like.”
Both of Noah’s eyebrows rose.
“I mean, as long as you don’t have mono or anything,” I backtracked in case he had a thing about germs or something. “Because I don’t.”
“Nor do I,” Noah said slowly. He glanced at the one person in front of us with a frown.
“And I promise I don’t have herpes of the mouth, either, or anything like that,” I said, in case he was jumping to conclusions. “Or herpes anywhere else, just to be clear. I mean, I’mclean. Totally STD-free. No diseases have ever been sexually transmitted to me… or nonsexually, of course. Well, unless you count the chicken pox, because I had that once. It was awful. I couldn’t stop scratching, and my mother ended up giving me two of her Valium every eight hours until I passed out in her hydrangeas… You know what,never mind. That’s not important. The point is, I’m clean as a whistle. I promise.”
I sucked in my traitorous lips, mentally gluing them shut as heat rose to my cheeks.
I couldn’t even blame Noah for just staring back at me.
“That’s… good to know,” he finally said. He turned toward the concession stand attendant, who was staring at me, and I belatedly realized we were now first in line. “We’ll have one pretzel with cheese—no salt—a medium popcorn, and a large Coke, please. Two straws.”
Kill me now.
“And a paper bag that would fit over my head, if you have one,” I added quietly. I hoped my face wasn’t as red as it felt.
“Um, no paper bags,” the attendant said. She spared another wide-eyed look toward me before turning to the popcorn machine. I made a new hobby out of studying my tie-dyed Keds.
The weight of my braid disappeared from my back, and it took a moment to realize Noah was holding it. He cleared his throat as his fingers slid down the braid until he was placing it over my shoulder. When the braid brushed against my neck, a shiver ignited as he let go. “I’ve never had the chicken pox… or any other diseases.”
I groaned, fighting the overwhelming urge to make a run for it. “Is it too early to leave? I think there’s been enough witnesses to my humiliation.”
Noah’s lips twitched. His hand brushed down my arm, which did a great job of splitting my focus from my embarrassment. “The game hasn’t even begun yet.”
