Page 17 of Two Weeks to Fall in Love

Two Weeks to Draw the Line

There he was, leaning against the wall in front of the door after my last class of the day, head tilted to the side, a familiar smirk on his face.

“I’m pretty sure I told you I had plans with Mel.” I was also pretty sure, considering the spectacle our lunch had turned into, that even the people at the surrounding tables knew I had plans with Melissa. However fake they actually were.

“Yup, movie night, I remember,” he said, his smirk widening as he pushed himself off the wall. “Even more reason as to why I should drive you home, seeing as I won’t see you tonight.”

Running a hand down my face, I exhaled. Noah was like a bad habit you couldn’t shake, even when you tried your hardest. Annoyingly predictable. As if on cue, he held out his hand, waiting for me to take hold of it.

Fine, let’s just get this over with .

I reached out and he entwined our fingers before we made our way to the front door of the school.

“I have to ask, what’s with all the hand-holding? Another science experiment?” I glanced at him, raising our joined hands to make the point.

Noah’s face lit up, as if he was satisfied I’d finally asked. “Guess you could say that. Apparently, touching someone can increase your intimacy.”

“A little too much intimacy, if you ask me,” I muttered, pursing my lips. Noah just laughed in response and shrugged.

To be fair, it wasn’t like he was forcing me to hold his hand. The reason I went along with it was because I wanted to experience this two-week dating thing the way he normally did it. If hand-holding was supposed to increase intimacy, great , maybe that would make it easier for him to fall for me.

“Ready for another question?” Noah asked once we’d settled into his car.

Two in one day—we were upping the game. I wondered if he managed to get through them with most of the girls. Yet I had the feeling that the girls who had dated him weren’t all that interested in his questions.

“Sure, let’s hear it.” Shrugging, I blew a breath on the car window then doodled a smiley face.

Noah started the car and steered us out of the school parking lot before letting out a humming noise. “Is there anything you think can’t be joked about?”

Good question. Especially in today’s age when most people realized joking could have consequences. But, then again, where did you draw the line?

“People’s insecurities, I guess,” I said, pressing my lips together in thought.

“What if you don’t know what a person’s insecurities are?” Noah mused.

“I mean, yeah, sure, you don’t always know what someone’s insecurities are, so I guess you need to think twice before making a joke,” I said, twirling a strand of hair as I tried to figure out how to explain what I meant.

“Like, if something about a person or their appearance stands out, just don’t make that the target of a joke.

They could just find it funny, but it could also really affect them if it’s something they personally struggle to accept about themselves. Why risk it, you know?”

He was quiet for a few moments before he looked at me, a lopsided smile on his face. “I like that. I mean, personally, I do enjoy dark humor, but you should know your audience before making jokes about sensitive topics.”

I nodded and brushed a strand of hair off my forehead. We were silent for a few moments, so I cleared my throat and made a gesture that signified it was his turn.

“Family,” he replied almost instantly, but I could sense mild reluctance in his voice. As if the word itself was hard for him to say. “Assuming people’s situation and using their family as a joke. It’s too harsh. You never know what someone’s truth is.”

His reply made my heart skip a few beats anxiously.

I remembered the first time he’d driven me home in this car, and my snarky remark about his apparent wealth.

Back then I already thought his reaction was telling of a darker truth.

A secret to uncover. Right now, however, I felt guilty.

If that was the worst thing he thought people could joke about, my remarks must have hurt him more than he’d shown.

“Sorry,” I muttered, fiddling with my fingers awkwardly and avoiding looking at him.

Noah was quiet for a few moments before asking in a puzzled tone, “For what?”

What could I really say? It wasn’t like I particularly wanted to bring up that moment. It was just a slip of the tongue.

“Nothing,” I said, and let out a sigh, fixing my attention back to the window, but my eyes darted to him in an almost automatic gesture.

Noah chuckled and shook his head, like I was some odd creature he couldn’t quite understand.

Maybe I actually was an odd creature. Or maybe he was making me into one.

*

“You sure you don’t mind me staying over?” I asked as I plopped down on Melissa’s bed.

She turned to face me from her seat at the vanity, half of her face clean and shiny, the other still coated in makeup. It was enough to make me chuckle. Melissa narrowed her eyes at me, waving her well-used facecloth.

“You know I don’t mind. Plus, how could I mind since we had all those plans that we made?” she said, smirking as I grimaced apologetically.

“Yeah, sorry about that. I panicked,” I muttered, burying my face in my hands.

“No shit. You were like a fish out of water for a moment there.” She shook her head before turning back to her vanity and wiping at her face again.

“I just didn’t expect Jake to, like, sit with us at lunch. He’s never sat with us before. Why did he even want to?” I rambled, staring at Melissa’s back as if the answers would magically appear on it.

A few seconds later she let out a sigh, without even turning around. “I’ll assume you don’t actually expect me to answer that seeing as I’m not a Magic 8 Ball.”

“I’m just confused,” I said, stuffing my face into Melissa’s fluffy green pillow.

“Are you sure it’s Jake who’s confusing you?” she said, in her ever-the-all-knowing voice. Sometimes I hated how good her intuition was.

“Yes. No? I don’t know, Mel. Life is confusing me right now,” I whined, letting out a deep sigh.

“Wanna talk about it?” Melissa said, and I felt her sit down next to me before her hand was on my back, giving me a few comforting taps.

“I just feel like things are not going according to plan. I know it’s only been a few days and all, but the only thing I managed to find out about Noah is that he has nice eyes and a completely different way of looking at life.”

“I mean, isn’t that a good start? You went into this wanting to get to know him better and to understand what everyone else saw in him.”

“No, I went into this wanting to uncover his dark secrets and share them with the world so that I could spare other girls at school the heartache of dating him,” I said, and the look on Melissa’s face was enough to make me wince.

“That’s not like you, Sky. You don’t do shady stuff like that,” she said in the tone of a disappointed mother. “I know you’re all about fair treatment and just want to help, but do you think the right way to help someone is by hurting someone else?”

Ouch . That was a good point. A point I’d never let myself consider. No matter how this story ended, someone was going to get hurt.

“I don’t know, Mel,” I whispered, hating the dark feelings stirring inside of me. “He made Lily cry.”

“Everything makes Lily cry. She cries at every Christmas commercial.”

“That’s what she said too,” I admitted, letting out a grunt.

“Yeah, well, you know that already. So if that’s why you think you started all this, maybe think again.”

Sometimes it sucked when you had two best friends who knew you so well you couldn’t hide anything.

Even from yourself. If Melissa was right, was there more to this plan than getting revenge for Lily’s tears?

Was I getting revenge for myself? For the girl he met in the hospital that day?

And did it even matter? Wasn’t it already too late to rethink everything, anyway?

“My head hurts,” I muttered, and Melissa chuckled, patting my head.

“Yeah, yeah, we can watch a movie or something,” she said, jumping off the bed. “I’ll go make us some popcorn.”

“Ahh, you’re the best, I love you,” I sang after her as she made her way from the room, shaking her head at me.

“And you’re a pain in my ass,” she yelled back at me, and I laughed, rolling onto my back and staring at the ceiling.