As usual, thank you so much for the reviews! Here's a new chapter for all of you reviewing my this story, it means so much!
"If you were a girl, would you be impressed if I brought you here to watch classic scary movies?" Noah asked as we sat doing homework together at the video game store.
I scoffed and threw my pencil at him, making him shriek and barely dodged it. "So my ovaries and uterus don't make me a female anymore?"
He rolled his eyes and tossed me back my pencil. "You know what I mean, a girl that I could be interested in."
I winced and felt my eyes burn, my stomach turning sour. "Oh, you mean like Riley? A pretty, popular girl who only noticed you because of your weird obsession with murders that happened to kind of coincide with the murder of her 'best friend' that she secretly hated?"
I don't know where that anger came from –that's a lie and we both know it. My feelings were hurt because he basically just said I'd never be the girl he liked. I had all these feelings for him and he was obsessed with Riley, so obsessed he couldn't even see how big of a crush I had on him.
"What just happened? Why are you yelling at me?" he asked, pushing his books onto the table and turning to face me. "What the hell, Gwen?"
I pushed my stuff into the floor and jumped to my feet. "You just blatantly told me I was never going to be worthy of your affections and you're upset because I'm angry?"
The anger on his face dissolved and confusion took its place. "Huh? You're angry because I have a crush on Riley and not you? That's a little selfish…"
A traitorous tear left my eye and I wiped it away before he could see it. At least I tried, but his face softened and I knew he'd seen it. He was on his feet and in front of me in seconds, looking at me in fear as he pumped his fists. I pushed past him and gathered all my things, shoving them into my bag. Embarrassment flooding me along with rejection so fast it almost made me dizzy.
"Gwen, where are you going? Your house is like seven miles from here," he said as I pushed open the door and tried to get away.
"Trust me, it's going to take walking seven miles to make this embarrassment go away," I said, walking down the sidewalk quickly to try and get away from him.
"Stop, let me drive you home!" he shouted, grabbing my wrist and pulling me to a stop. "Hey, talk to me. I'm just the movie nerd who knows more about serial killers than anyone should. Why are you upset that I like Riley?"
This was stupid, I couldn't make him like me when he liked someone else. It wasn't fair to me or him or Riley, I should be a good friend and let him be with the cool girl that liked him. I should go put on a more black and go be with Audrey at Rachel's wake.
"I just don't want you to get hurt," I said, my shoulders slouching in as I gave up my stubbornness. "Too much is happening right now, I don't want you or Audrey to hurt. She's hurting right now and I can't fix it, I don't want Riley to break your heart because I can't fix that either."
That wasn't a total lie, I didn't want her to break his heart and I didn't want either of them to hurt. They were my best friends, when they hurt I hurt. Audrey was already devastated, I didn't want Noah to be like that too.
"Aw," he cooed, pulling me close and hugging me on the sidewalk in front of the video game store. "You're so sweet, Gwen."
My stomach was still sour, but I hugged him back anyway. We went back inside and continued to study, but only after Audrey swore she didn't want either of us to come with her. She was just going to make an appearance and then leave, her parents didn't exactly know their perfect catholic daughter was a moonlighting as a lesbian.
"You never answered my question, you know?" he said an hour or so later. "Would bringing her here be romantic or stupid?"
As much as I hated it, I had to help him plan a romantic night. "It could be but not just the normal video store. You need to get candles, probably vanilla or something light like that, and place them on that table. Put soft pillows on the couch and make some popcorn with the lights down low. Put in a really good movie and offer her the fluffy, warm blanket you're going to bring after you turn the heat down a little so she'll want it.
"Then you're going to get under it too and hold her close. She'll look up at you and you'll look down at her and it'll be so romantic."
That was actually the perfect night to me, but I feel like it could be universal. Warmth, candle light, and cuddling was the best thing for a date. I could almost imagine being all cuddled up and warm watching movies with Noah and maybe kissing… but that's a story for another day.
"Having girl best friends comes in handy sometimes," he said, winking at me and making my heart do funny things before I convinced it to calm down.
Breaking off into pairs sucked when you were a group of three friends, it sucked even more when the teacher made the pairs. Mr. Branson seemed to be on team Niley, Roah –whatever, he partnered Noah with Riley and me with Will. I've never talked to the kid before, but I knew he cheated on Emma with Nina and it caused a lot of drama because no one told Emma until he did accidently. Drama spread around Lakewood like wildfire…
"Hi, I'm Gwen," I said once we'd broke off into groups to talk about our project.
"Will," he said, never looking away from Emma and Kieran.
"Right, I'm not doing this entire project by myself while you pine over your ex-girlfriend," I said, clasping my hands together and placing them on the desk in front of me. "Kieran's hot and you messed up, of course that's who she's going to rebound with. Anyone with a brain that's watched a teen movie knows that."
He actually looked away from them to me. "You think he's hot, too?"
I rolled my eyes before opening my notebook. "He's mysterious and new, of course everyone's going to think he's hot. You're cute and wholesome, except the cheating with one of her best friends part, that usually wins out over mysterious and broody… But cheating is inexcusable to most people."
"I didn't cheat! We were on a break," he said, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "We were on a break and I'm weak, so weak."
"Okay, Ross Geller, that's still pretty rough," I said, tapping my pen as I spoke. "I would advise you not to interfere with that and let it run its course. She's trying to get over you, but he'll do something that reminds her of you and she'll bolt. Then she'll come back to you and you start kissing her ass until she forgives you. Unfortunately, you're a guy and that means you're going to ignore everything I said and jump in with both feet."
His face was surprised to put it lightly. I guess he wasn't expecting me to be so opinionated whenever I was so quiet in class. For some reason people don't realize you don't have to scream about opinions to have them… I also kind of wanted Kieran to be single, even if I had less than zero chance with him and would never go after him.
Was that selfish? Maybe Noah was right, I am a selfish person.
I was lying on my bed with my computer in front of me when Skype started ringing. I'd already talked to Audrey about Rachel for two hours earlier so it wasn't her. The girl was a mess, even if she was trying her best to keep it under wraps. She even thought someone was framing Rachel's suicide, that someone actually killed her. I guess it was too hard for her to think she didn't notice Rachel was depressed –of course, I didn't tell her that or anything. I just listened and nodded like the good friend that I am.
"Your plan worked perfectly until it didn't," Noah said as soon as I answered the call.
"Huh?" I asked in confusion. "I made several plans today, I don't know which one you're talking about."
He rolled his eyes but answered the question anyway. "The one for the romantic night with Riley. She thought it was awesome until she got a text from Tyler and ran off."
"Why would she run to Tyler? Isn't he the one they think killed Nina?" I asked, grateful for the excuse to not do my homework.
He shrugged and flopped backwards on the couch he was sitting on. "One second we were making out and talking about condoms and the next she was running out of the store."
Condoms?! Things were that serious between the two of them? I felt my stomach drop and I tried my best to keep it from showing on my face. I needed to be the best friend instead of the crazy girl with a crush on him. Even if he always had sex with a girl he just started talking to a couple days ago.
"Wow, that's rough," I finally said, figuring it was the best answer I could give.
"So, what's your opinion on spending the night watching classic movies in low light with vanilla candles and popcorn while we're wrapped up in fluffy blankets?" he asked, grinning genuinely for the first time in the conversation.
It shouldn't be healthy for my stomach to be in my throat one second and then be filled with butterflies the next. My life was a literal rollercoaster whenever he was involved. I planned the perfect date for him to go on with another girl and he was inviting me after she left him.
"So you want me to be your backup date?" I asked as I put my stuff up and got ready to leave. "That's so sweet, I feel so good about myself."
He rolled his eyes and smiled at my dramatics. "I worked hard and want someone to experience it with me who doesn't leave for a possible murderer. I'll be at your place in ten, be waiting anxiously."
I rolled my eyes before shutting my computer, grabbing a hoodie and my phone charger, and heading downstairs. I thought about putting in my contacts but immediately shot the idea down. I wasn't even wearing makeup, tonight was just a friend night… He did almost have sex with Riley earlier –I didn't want to be Noah's Kieran. If that made any sense…
"I'm going to Noah's, I'll be back later," I told my dad as I went out the door.
I was standing in my driveway when I heard one of the bushes behind me rustle. I figured it was just the wind so I didn't think anything of it until I felt eyes on me. I looked around spastically, but there wasn't anything in the yard. I stepped back up onto the porch until I saw Noah's headlights.
I ran to his car and pulled the door shut, reaching over Noah to hit the lock so we were safely inside. My heart was pounding and my eyes were burning furiously. My stomach was flipping and my breathing was rapid.
"What's wrong? Are you okay? You look like you're about to pass out," he said, turning to face me and holding my shoulders. "You're kinda freaking me out."
I pulled my knees up into the seat with me and pressed my forehead against them. "It's nothing, I just scared myself. I heard the bushes rustle and immediately jumped to murderers. Just drive back to the store and feed me."
He just nodded reluctantly and followed my instructions. I thought about what happened the whole way there and realized how stupid I was. It was obviously just the wind rustling the bushes and my dad probably looked out the window to see if I was still there. There wasn't a mass murderer running around, just Tyler who got pissed at Nina. I was being ridiculous.
"I'm telling you it's scarier because it could actually happen!" I argued as the credits of Halloween rolled on the screens in front of us. "Ghosts are bullshit, demon possessions are too religious, and ghoulish monsters are just ridiculous. But serial killers breaking into houses to seek vengeance? That could happen any day of the week!"
I could practically hear Noah's eyes rolling at my explanation. "You're ridiculous! Stuff that can really happen is weak, you need stuff that's just a hair away from being totally crazy. Stuff that happens every day isn't scary, little girls swearing like sailors and projectile vomiting pea soup at priests is terrifying because it's out of the norm!"
"Her vomit looked just like soup! The effects are so over the top they're not believable!" I argued, hitting him with the pillow on my lap. "You're so dumb!"
He scoffed before hitting me with his pillow. "Your automatic response is to call me names and hit me with a pillow? Are you in middle school?"
I stuck my tongue out before moving to stand on my knees and hit him again. He laughed and immediately started hitting me back. An all-out war started after that, me knocking him off the couch and following him down with my pillow flying.
I'm not sure how, but he ended up knocking my pillow out of my hands and taking my wrists in his hands. I was crouched over his stomach with my head down near his, struggling to steady my breathing while laughter shook my body.
"We just had a pillow fight. If we were in a horror movie, we basically just put ourselves on the chopping block," he said, making me pull up and look at his face.
I was so close to his face I could feel his breath hitting my chin. I knew I should've gotten up, but I couldn't break his gaze. He let go of one of my hands to reach up and brush my hair behind my ear and I rested my free one on his chest. His heart was beating really fast underneath my palm and I knew mine was mirroring it.
"I didn't know you wore glasses," he finally said, making me laugh and breaking out intense eye contact.
"Yeah, I'm blind as a bat," I replied, not moving off his stomach. "I was in the middle of doing homework when you invited me to your date."
"Shoot, I forgot to ask Riley something about our project," he said, sitting up and making me fall onto his lap suddenly. Our eyes locked again and something intense passed between us. His voice was rough when he forced out, "Uhm, I have to get my phone…"
I nodded and jerkily stood up, trying to hide my flaming cheeks. I probably looked like a total perv, sitting on his lap and staring at him. I just ruined our friendship, there was no way it would stay the same.
"Noah!" Riley shouted, making me jump in surprise.
"Riley? Riley, oh my god!" Noah shrieked, fear clear in his voice. "Where are you? What's happening?"
"He stabbed me!" she shouted, making my entire body turn cold as fear flooded me. "Please call 911."
I had my phone out, dialing the number before she even finished talking. "Hello, 911, what's your emergency?"
"My friend has been stabbed," I said quickly. "She needs an ambulance!"
"Ma'am, where is your friend?" she asked calmly. "Is the person still there? Are you safe?"
"Who stabbed you? Where are you?" Noah asked after I repeated the question the woman on the other line asked me.
"On the roof, Tyler," she breathed, really out of breath and lying flat on her back. "He's gone now."
"We're not in the same place, she says she's on a roof and the person who stabbed her isn't there," I replied, trying to keep my voice steady so she could understand me.
"We have to have a location to send an ambulance to," the woman said, trying to keep me calm as my adrenaline started pumping overtime.
"Hey, Riley, where are you?" Noah repeated, tears making his voice sound thick and muffled. "Just look around. Just tell me what you can see!"
"I can see our stars," she said, but she was barely audible now.
"No! Riley, hey, no! Hey, you have to stay with me, okay?" Noah shouted as Riley's breathing slowed. "Please. Please! Riley! Riley?"
"We don't know where she is, but she's not talking anymore. She's on a roof where it's dark enough for her to see stars in Lakewood," I told the lady from 911. "I don't know anything more!"
"We'll send a car to do a sweep, ma'am. That's all we can do," she said before the line went dead.
This chapter is sort of the beginning of the NoahxGwen romance. I'm still trying not to push it too much too fast, but it needs to sort of start coming into play.