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“Shall we get going?”
I look to Jack for an answer, unsure of what Noah means because Jack’s supposed to givemea ride home.
Sensing where my thoughts have gone, Jack slings his arm around my shoulders and says, “Don’t worry, Sav, Noah’s just coming to our house for dinner. Mom already cleared it.”
Oh no, that’s even worse than not having a ride home. I’d rather they left me here and went somewhere else. Jack turns me in the direction of the parking lot, too busy chatting away to notice my internal panic.
The feelings coursing through me are too much for fourteen-year-old me to handle, so I do what I do best and what I hate most, I retreat into myself.
The car ride home is filled with RnB songs as Jack navigates the streets of Montgomery, Alabama. I love this city. I watch the familiar streets pass us by as the car eats up the miles to home, trying in vain to distract myself from the boy in the front passenger seat. There’s so much history here and when I move—my dream is to move to New York and make it big on Broadway—I’ll be sure to come back and visit.
As soon as the car comes to a stop, I throw my door open and bolt for the house. My body is overwhelmed with feelings I’ve never felt before and I need some time away from him to sort through them. How I’m going to make it through dinner is beyond me. Maybe mom will let me eat in my room.
Yeah, that’s wishful thinking.
I race through the house and shut myself in my bedroom, burying myself under the covers.
Despite pleading with my mom later that afternoon, she refused to let me eat alone. And at dinner that evening, I quickly realize that isolating myself in my room has done nothing to prepare me for seeing him again. It’s been a matter of hours, and yet it’s like I’m seeing him for the first time again.
My mom, always wanting to make people feel welcome, starts the conversation as she sits at the table. “So Noah, how long have you been in Montgomery?”
“We moved right at the end of summer, ma’am.”
My mom laughs as she says, “Please, call me Sadie. How are you finding it?”
Noah serves himself some of the salad from the bowl in the middle of the table, and I watch his movements from under my lashes. “It’s different from New York, but I’m liking it.”
He’s from New York?
“You don’t sound like you’re from New York,” I say before I can stop myself. My cheeks flame as all eyes turn to face me.
My dad is the first to speak. “Now, don’t be rude Savannah.”
I drop my eyes to the mac and cheese on my plate. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude.”
When I’m greeted with silence, I look up into his stunning hazel eyes. One side of his mouth is lifted and it’s then that I notice how pillowy his lips are. “It’s okay. I grew up all over, so was never in one place long enough to have just one accent.”
“Oh, okay,” I breathe, as if he’s just told me the most fascinating fact.
He doesn’t try to hide the smile that lights up his face and I drop my head as my cheeks heat again at being the center ofhisattention.
I spend the rest of dinner focused on eating my food until I can excuse myself to my room on the pretext of doing my homework. The reality is I did it hours ago. I just need to not be near him right now.
When he leaves, I watch through the slats of my blinds in my bedroom window as he walks down the driveway and to a house a couple of doors down. When the door closes, I finally move from the window and flop down onto my bed as I look up at the ceiling. Everything that happened today plays like a movie in my mind as I scrutinize our every interaction.
Laying in the darkness of my room, unable to sleep, I vow to myself from this day forward I will be brave and bold. I won’t hide anymore.
* * *
This is how I met Noah, my brother's best friend. It’s also the first day of me falling in love with him and realizing that you can’t always have the one you want.
I wish I’d known when we first met what was to come, of all the heartache and pain that would follow.
Would I still have gone through it?
Most definitely.
Savannah and Noah will return…
