Page 12 of Two Weeks to Fall in Love

Two Weeks to Set the Trap

Luckily, the last class of the day was very much Noah-less.

Which meant I could actually pay attention without someone’s gaze boring a hole into me. But even without him present, thoughts about him still somehow invaded my mind, including mixed feelings about this unexpected date.

It’s not that I had no interest in dating.

After all, I’d had my fair share of crushes through the years, although usually nothing came of them.

Probably because, for some reason, I’d become a blubbering, blushing idiot whenever I’d be around my crush, so making the first move was out of the question.

Even being myself around a guy I liked felt like mission impossible.

Eventually, my infatuation would just fade, so most of my attention was focused on studying.

But, at the end of last year, I made the firm decision that I would enjoy the final year of being in high school. I would go to parties, talk to boys, go on dates, kiss someone—I just wanted to make some fun memories.

At the start of this year, though, I never expected that I’d be dating Noah Archer.

Even less so that I’d be the one who asked him out. But I guess things were different when you didn’t actually like the person. I slammed my locker door shut, earning a few frowns from the students still left in the hallway.

“Damn, Sky, what did that locker ever do to you?” A familiar deep voice spoke from behind me, and I turned around with a grin on my face.

“You say locker , I say improvised punching bag ,” I responded, shrugging and taking in the guy in front of me.

His curly blond hair was short and irresistibly fluffy, and the blue eyes that studied me were laced with humor.

“It feels like I haven’t seen you in ages, Jake!

” I added, warmth spreading across my face.

“Not sure how to feel about you saying that, seeing as we share the last class,” Jake replied, leaning against the locker next to him.

“You know what I mean!” I clicked my tongue and lightly pushed his chest. “I just can’t remember the last time we spoke, you always rush out of class to some club of yours.”

Jake’s lips twitched into a guilty smile as he ran his fingers through his hair. “Guess you have a point there. But if you’d stayed on the debate team . . .” The final words of his thought never arrived, but I knew the insinuation.

I shrugged. “What can I say? I thought I’d better leave and let the rest of the team shine for a change.”

He laughed, his eyes crinkling. “How mighty noble of you, Sky.” After another chuckle, he cleared his throat and looked me in the eye. “I’m serious, though, we miss you. I miss you.”

“Uh, yeah, I miss the team too,” I said, pressing my lips together as I fought through a slight wave of confusion about this entire conversation. “So, uh, I have to get going now, though, but—”

“Oh yeah, of course, come on, I’ll walk with you,” he said, squeezing my arm before he started walking.

“Don’t you have a club meeting now?” I frowned, tossing my bag over my shoulder.

Jake just shook his head, grinning. “Nope, it was postponed today. Which is great, since I got to run into you like this.”

“All righty, then,” I stuttered, feeling suddenly stiff as we walked down the hallway.

In a way, I could consider Jake a friend. We weren’t nearly as close as we once were, but after spending a lot of time together as part of the debate team over the years, I did feel like I knew him pretty well.

I had a feeling like he’d been avoiding me this year.

I assumed that he’d been busy and probably upset that I’d left the debate team after being their ace since the start of high school.

No one debated with more fervor than Skyler Fox.

Our team had been the reigning champions for years, so I wasn’t surprised when some of my old team members shot me nasty looks once I’d “abandoned” them.

Taking all of that into consideration, the fact that Jake was suddenly acting so friendly was a little confusing. Maybe he’d just finally gotten over his resentment ?

“So, how have you been, Sky? I know you were close friends with Lily,” Jake started, shaking me out of my thoughts.

“ Best friends, yeah. Her moving away has been rough. But we still talk on the phone all the time, and she promised to come visit during winter break,” I muttered, tracing my forehead with my index finger then brushing a strand of hair behind my ear.

Honestly, it was a bit surprising that Jake even knew Lily’s name or that she’d moved away. I couldn’t remember them ever sharing a class or interacting while she was at school. What was his endgame with this? Maybe my suspicious nature was expanding outside of my Noah investigation.

“That’s great, I’m glad you guys still have such a great relationship,” Jake said and smiled, but soon his face reverted to a more serious expression. “Speaking of that, I really do miss talking to you, Sky. I was wondering if you’d want to hang out together one day, catch up and everything.”

My eyes widened at the unexpected offer as I pushed open the front door of the school.

Once upon a long time ago when I first joined the debate team, I might have had the smallest crush on him.

Had he asked me to hang out back then, I would have jumped for joy.

Now, all I did was frown and stare at him.

“Where is this coming from, Jake? I mean, it’s a little out of the blue,” I asked softly.

He laughed and scratched his head before turning to me. “Yeah, I mean, I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and since I just saw you at your locker today, I thought it was a sign, you know? So, how about it, over the weekend, maybe?”

As soon as he asked that, I stopped at the top of the stairs, my gaze settling on the figure waiting for me at the bottom.

Based on how the last two days had been going, I planned to keep the weekends open for Noah’s eccentric, impromptu dates.

As much as I didn’t want to spend time with him, the rational side of me understood the reason I’d even asked him out was to spend time with him.

I needed to fully immerse myself in the dreaded experience of dating Noah Archer.

With a slow shake of my head the disappointment of my own words hit me before I even spoke.

“I’m a little busy this week, probably next week too. But maybe after that we can grab a coffee or something,” I offered, feeling a little guilty for some reason.

Jake’s eyes followed my gaze, and his face darkened for a moment before his usual lighthearted look resurfaced. “Oh, are you dating Noah now?” he asked, as if that fact wasn’t already known all over school. “Didn’t know you had a thing for him.”

I clicked my tongue and looked at my feet. “It’s complicated. Anyway, I should get going. It was really nice talking to you again, Jake.”

“Same here, Sky. I’ll make sure to ask you out for that coffee in two weeks,” he said, and winked before innocently ruffling my hair.

I frowned, still more than confused about what had triggered this random encounter, but gave him a tentative smile before skipping down the steps.

As soon as I reached the bottom, I noticed Noah’s intent gaze on me, and for once, his headphones weren’t firmly placed over his ears. His eyes traveled behind me and he furrowed his brows for a moment before focusing his attention back on me.

“You friends with Jacob?” Noah asked.

“Yeah,” I said, even though I wasn’t sure I could really classify Jake as that. “Why? Do you know him?”

“Hmm, guess you could say that,” he replied, enigmatic as ever, and I let out a frustrated huff.

Before I could say anything, he reached out his hand to me expectantly, his eyes still occasionally glancing behind me. Sighing, I held his hand and ignored the way my heart clenched as he entwined our fingers.

“I should smack you for what you pulled today,” I muttered, narrowing my eyes at the memory of the most embarrassing class experience of my life.

Noah let out a boyish chuckle, then grimaced apologetically. “I said I was sorry, didn’t I? Besides, you didn’t have to reply instantly or let out a grunt in class. That one’s totally on you.”

I heard the humor in his voice as he recalled the events, and the worst part was, he was right in a way . It kind of was my own fault, both the grunting and the texting. My own curiosity had ended up getting the better of me. Not that I would ever admit to Noah that he was right about anything.

I muttered something unintelligible, and his lips quirked before he pulled me toward the parking lot.

*

His fingers thrummed against the wheel in a rhythm only he seemed to hear, while I focused on the blurred world through the window.

It wasn’t like I’d really known what to expect when I’d asked Noah out, but I was starting to feel a lot like I was in Alice in Wonderland .

I just wasn’t sure what role Noah played.

Was he the hole I’d fallen down into this strange new world?

Or was he the rabbit that had lured me into it?

Or, just maybe, he was actually the Mad Hatter. He definitely acted like it.

“I just can’t seem to figure you out, Fox,” Noah said, his tone light and curious.

“ You can’t figure me out? That’s definitely my line.” I snorted and shook my head at him.

Yet again, he surprised me. After all, I’d never met a more enigmatic person than Noah Archer, and here he was, saying I was the one who was hard to figure out.

“Come on, I’m like an open book,” he teased. I knew he wasn’t, but as usual I played right into his hand.

“Oh yeah, sure. If that open book was an encyclopedia written in ancient Latin.” I rolled my eyes and shuffled in my seat to get a better look at him. “You do know that everything you say sounds like a riddle? I’m convinced you’re part sphinx.”

At that, he laughed and looked at me, eyes twinkling with amusement and something I couldn’t put into words.