Page 47 of Finding Noah

“Nothing, dude. It's just …” He chuckled as he dunked a nugget into some barbecue sauce and popped it into his mouth.

“Just what?”

“You know,” he said, shrugging, “just … the way you guys are. Like, you have no shame. You're just like, Yeah, we have wild animal sex. Like, whatever.”

Giselle looked up at him, her face contorted with hurt and betrayal. “What? Are you saying we don't have good sex?”

“I didn't say that,” he replied.

“But you wish we had the kinda sex they have? Right? That's what you're saying.”

His mouth fell open as he turned to me, his hands lifted in a frozen shrug. “Did I fucking say that? I didn't say that!”

Giselle looked at Ash and thrust her hand toward Jay. “Did he not just talk about you and Noah like-like-like he was jealous or something?”

Ash shrugged one shoulder, so cool in every movement she made. “I mean, I think he definitely insinuated.”

“Oh my God!” Jay cried, pushing to his feet. “I'm out of here if you guys are gonna gang up on me. I didn't say shit, okay? Holy crap.”

He grabbed his empty box of nuggets and left the three of us sitting at the base of statue of William Fuller—local Revolutionary War hero—in the middle of River Canyon Park.

“Is he for real right now?” Giselle exclaimed, hurrying to stand and run over to catch up with Jay, who was now walking toward his parked car.

“They are definitely fucking in his car tonight,” Ash muttered, resting her chin on my knee as she watched her friend grab Jay by the hand.

“Probably.”

Though I couldn't see Jay being that adventurous. When I had told him Ash had gone down on me behind the library my mom worked at in broad daylight, he’d damn near had a coronary.

She stood up to perch herself on my thigh, looping her arms around my neck. “And what about us?”

“What about us?” I asked, wrapping my arm around her waist.

“Where are we fucking tonight?”

I exhaled, leaning back against William Fuller's stony legs. “I dunno. I mean, we're running out of places.”

“Well, I can think of one place,” she said, moving in to press her lips to my neck, kissing her way up to just behind my ear. “You've never shown me your room.”

I shook my head and pulled back out of her reach. “No. No fucking way.”

She sat up and huffed an annoyed sigh. “Why the hell not?”

“Because my parents and little brother are home.”

“So?”

“So?” An incredulous laugh barked from my lips. “Ash, they have no fucking clue what I'm doing with you. The last thing I need is for them to find out by listening to us …” I threw a hand toward the sky in lieu of finishing the sentence.

“You think your parents don't know you're fucking me?”

She snorted and gave me that look, like she thought I was the cutest, dumbest thing to ever breathe. It was the same look she gave me whenever she introduced me to something new. Alcohol. Sex. Drugs. Pick your poison, and there was Ash, looking at me like I was a dumb, lost puppy.

“God, Noah. Don't be stupid.”

I sucked in a deep breath through my nose and let it out, taking my time and picking my words carefully. “Even if … even if they know we do that, they don't know we're—”

“What? Getting high? Having fun?” Her fingers toyed with my collar. “They were young once. You think they weren't doing what we're doing right now when they were our age?”