Page 27 of Two Weeks to Fall in Love

“Sometimes, yeah. Thanks,” he said, and lightly squeezed the hand I’d placed on top of his before letting it go. I pulled it back into my lap.

A moment of comfortable silence passed between us, as if everything had been said even though only a few words were spoken.

This was a bigger moment for him than I’d intended it to be.

I just wanted to say something nice, not spiral him into an identity crisis.

I’d assumed he’d always been this way. But when it came to Noah Archer, making assumptions always made an ass out of me , exclusively.

He cleared his throat and stared up at the ceiling. “Guess it’s my turn.” For a few seconds he was quiet, and then he looked at me, really looked at me.

“I like how you’re true to yourself, unapologetically, no matter what others think or say. I like how strong you are, like you’d fight a bear for your loved ones if you had to,” he said, maintaining eye contact the whole time. Why were his answers so much deeper than mine had been?

“And I like how loyal you are to your friends,” he finished, grinning.

Loyal . I wasn’t so sure that was something he should have liked about me.

In fact, I was pretty sure it was something he should have decidedly disliked.

After all, it was my misplaced loyalty and desire for justice that had brought me into this mess.

Playing chess with someone who was playing checkers.

Only at this point, I wasn’t sure who was playing what.

Not a single one of my plans had gone according to, well, plan.

At this point, I was exhausted with all the plotting and the scheming.

The amount of failure clearly meant I wasn’t good at it in the first place.

I glanced at Noah and pressed my lips together, curious about how the answer related to him.

His friends had never hung out with us, but to be fair, I don’t think I’d ever seen them hang out with one of Noah’s girlfriends.

However, him and his three close friends were a well-known group to everyone.

Not just because of their good looks or because they all seemed to excel in different things, but because they seemed like that type of group that was just genuinely close.

The kinds of friends with whom, even if they didn’t see each other for a month, it would seem like yesterday when they met up.

It was hard not to notice them laughing and goofing around at school.

I frowned. Now that I thought about it, it did seem like he’d been hanging around them a lot less this past week.

“Are your friends okay with you spending so much time with your girlfriends?” I asked earnestly.

He just grinned and waved his hand. “Nah, they make fun of me about it, but they also call it free entertainment for them, so . . .”

I nodded, but my chest felt heavy. Entertainment. Was I entertainment?

“Not that I see things that way, of course, because I don’t . At all. I’m serious about this,” he quickly added, as if he could sense the downturn of my thoughts. “They’re just dumbasses who don’t really get what I’m doing.”

Honestly, I didn’t get what he was doing either. I didn’t even get what I was doing anymore.

“How about another question?” he asked, as if he wanted to change the subject.

“Sure, let’s go.”

“If you could choose to have one special ability, what would it be and why?”

“You’re first, right?”

“Yup,” he said and made a humming sound. “I’d want the ability to control time and space. I feel like there’s a lot you could change in the world if you had that kind of power.”

“Yeah, but it’s also dangerous. I mean, I’d have thought you would know the repercussions of changing things, the butterfly effect and all that,” I said, tilting my face as I studied him.

Noah shrugged, seemingly relaxed, but it felt like there was something deeper behind the ability he’d chosen, and his next words only confirmed that.

“Some things are worth the risk,” he said. “What about you?”

Initially, I wanted to give the answer I’d given to this question since childhood: I’d want to fly .

Because who wouldn’t want that? The freedom, the ability to travel distances faster—it was an easy answer.

But it was also an answer I hadn’t really thought too deeply about.

And wasn’t the whole point of these questions to make you think about them?

“I’d want to be a human lie detector,” I said. That felt better. More natural. More me .

“Um, that’s a first,” Noah said, and tapped a finger along his lips. “I’m not so sure knowing the truth all the time is the best for . . . socializing.”

“I disagree. I think it would help me socialize with the right people. Who needs a bunch of liars for friends anyway?” I said, and instantly the deep irony of my words was like a punch to the gut.

I was currently a walking red flag for any lie detector.

“But also, since I plan to be an investigative journalist, knowing the truth all of the time would make my job much easier,” I finished, wanting to bring the focus away from friends and social circles.

“ Skyler Fox ,” he said, but not in a way that seemed like he was talking to me. More like he was just tasting my name on his tongue. Then he grinned and nodded. “Cunning, resourceful, a perfect name for a big-shot journalist.”

Something about the way he said that, his voice deep and warm, made my face grow hot. What was wrong with my body today?

But it quickly became obvious that something wasn’t wrong with my body. Something was wrong with me , because when he leaned his shoulder against mine, I didn’t move away.

*

It was 9:25 p.m. when we stood at the front door. Noah dutifully stayed true to the curfew set by my mom, and so after the questions and watching a few YouTube videos, he said it was time to go. A blessing, considering I needed to process everything that had happened today—and a lot had happened.

“Noah, it was so nice to meet you,” my mom said as she gave Noah her usual big hug.

“The pleasure was all mine, Serena. It was really great to see where Skyler got her amazing personality from.”

I couldn’t tell whether that was sarcasm from his side, but my mom just grinned proudly and showered him with thanks.

“I’ll walk you to your car,” I muttered, opening the door for him before Mom had a chance to embarrass me.

Silence stretched between us until we reached his car. I shuffled from foot to foot, unsure of what I was supposed to say now. Before I had a chance to overthink every sentence that crossed my mind at least three times, he beat me to it.

“Today was really great. Honestly, everything I needed after—” he started, and then scratched the back of his head. “Anyway. Thank you.”

“For what?” I asked. It wasn’t like I’d made dinner.

“A lot of things,” he said on an exhale, and looked at me.

His eyes were soft, softer than I’d ever seen them. The look he gave me felt genuine—tired but warm. Noah took a step closer to me, so that our bodies were almost pressed together, and reached out his hand.

I stood frozen as he brushed his knuckles against my cheek, so gently I barely felt it, and yet they left a trail of fire behind them.

Then he leaned toward me, and I closed my eyes firmly, unsure of what to expect.

His lips pressed against my forehead, warm, soft, and painfully sweet. They stayed there for a second or two before he pulled back.

My heart was working in overdrive, beating so hard I thought it was going to explode.

Then his expression softened, radiating something sweet and boyishly innocent. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning, okay?” he said, and I just nodded dumbly.

Noah smirked, as if he was fully aware of what he’d just done to me, opened his car door, and got inside.

I stood in the same spot for a few moments, even after his car turned the corner and I could no longer see it.

I stood there, waiting for my heart to stop overreacting. This was Noah. Noah Archer. There was absolutely no reason I should be reacting like this to a simple kiss on the forehead.

And yet.

With wooden steps, I made my way back to our front door, more than 100 percent ready to throw myself on the bed and attempt to process everything.

But as soon as I walked into the house, I knew that wasn’t going to happen.

Leaning on the door frame of the living room was my mother, lips pursed and eyebrows raised.