Page 40 of The Stalker Snafu

The corner of his mouth twitched.

That was a good sign.

“I’ve even prepared a song as a testament of my remorse,” I continued solemnly, then cleared my throat while a student groaned. Noah didn’t move except to slide his hands into his pockets, but I could swear he was fighting a smile as he watched me.

I lowered the megaphone, wringing it in my hands as I took a deep breath.

“Hazel eyes,” I attempted to croon, swaying from side to side. If the singing failed, I hoped to try a modified version of snake charming as a backup plan. “Shining like the staaaars so bright. A mix of brown and greeeen delight. Turning greener in the sun, and darker in the night—those lovely hazel eyes.”

My voice cracked on the last word.

I felt utterly ridiculous as a student walking past yelled “Shut up!” and gave me the finger while others snickered, but Noah was smiling now, and that was exactly what I’d wanted.

I launched into a second round—because why not?—before ending my serenade with a shaky curtsy. Luckily, I didn’t lose my balance and face-plant onto the concrete.

Progress.

When the show was over, Noah slowly closed the distance to my bench until he was right in front of me. “That was quite the performance.”

I swallowed, gesturing at the poster covering my front and declaring me his girlfriend. “Teresa helped me.”

His smile widened. “Did she now? And did she also contribute to the songwriting?”

I winced, already fully regretting that. “Nope, that was all me.”

“Good.” He offered me a hand, which I quickly took and hopped down to the sidewalk—teetering awkwardly thanks to the bulky poster boards. Noah squeezed my hand before letting go. “I just need to know two things.”

“Name them.” I was tempted to give up even Mr. Elephant’s secrets if it meant Noah was talking to me again.

His eyes didn’t waver from mine. “Why didn’t you want your mother to know about me?”

I… should’ve expected him to ask that. Why hadn’t I expected it? I’d asked the same thing about Julian. My lips twisted, but I stifled the urge to lie. This was something I could be truthful about. “My parents are strict, and she doesn’t think I should be dating. Piano comes first. Always. She just… wouldn’t understand.”

Noah nodded slowly, rubbing his jaw as he thought it over. “All right. You’re a grown woman, but it’s not my place to understand how your family works.”

I swallowed. He didn’t know the half of it. “Do you forgive me? Because I let the Julian thing go, remember? And that sketchy phone call you had. So, again, I don’t want to say this is completely hypocritical, but it’s at least a little hypocritical.”

He chuckled softly, before his gaze grew serious. “That’s the second thing I need to know. That you’ll forgive me for avoiding you.”

“Yeah, what was up with that?” I scrunched my nose. “You ignored all my calls. And texts. Not cool.”

Noah didn’t answer immediately. He watched me with pretty unnerving focus—the kind where if I didn’t find him so attractive, I might’ve run in the opposite direction.

Until he let out a breath and ran a hand through his hair, making my eyes widen when some strands went askew. Noah never messed with his hair.

“Maybe you haven’t noticed, but I lose all sense of logic when it comes to you. I thought you were ashamed of me when your mother called, and it messed with my head.” With a glance down at the poster board, he shook his head. A hint of a smile cracked through. “But considering what you’re wearing now, I didn’t have anything to worry about.”

A weight lifted off my chest, and I flung my arms around his middle—squeezing as much as the sandwich board would allow me to. “It’s impossible to be ashamed of you. It hurt when you wanted to hide me from your friend, but I promise it’s not like that with my mother. We’re not close. The only time we talk about boys is when she reminds me dating will only distract me from piano, and I ignore her.”

Noah wrapped his arms around me—the posters stabbing into his arms. I snuggled against his warm, comforting chest and breathed him in.

We stood in each other’s arms until I felt our heartbeats sync up, and Noah combed his fingers through my loose hair.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I never should’ve hidden you from Julian, and now I get what that felt like.”

A lump formed in my throat at his soft words, but another knot of worry unfurled in my stomach

Noah snuck a hand underneath the poster board and stroked up my back. A shiver followed close behind his touch, and I pulled back far enough to squint up at him. “Does this mean I get to meet your other friends now?”