Page 45 of Two Weeks to Fall in Love

Two Weeks to Fall in Love

I was in love with Noah Archer.

And today I was going to have to watch another girl ask him out. I was going to have to watch him date this other girl for the next two weeks. Eventually, I was going to have to watch him fall in love with someone else.

I was going to throw up .

Things had been so much easier when I was blissfully unaware of my feelings. If only I could go back in time and unlearn everything about him. But no . I didn’t actually want that. As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I knew I didn’t want to forget Noah Archer.

I would rather be miserably in love with him and watch him date other girls than take back the last two weeks.

And that was the only thing that helped me get out of bed, get dressed, and get into Melissa’s car.

It was obvious by the time we arrived at school that the rumor of our early breakup had spread. Everyone got quiet as I passed by them in the halls. Someone must have seen us yesterday. Not that surprising considering we broke up right next to the parking lot. That was stupid of me.

“Are you okay?” Melissa whispered, before taking my hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

“Yeah. I’m okay.” I squeezed back and let out a sigh.

This wasn’t the hard part. The hard part would be the second period. The one I shared with Noah. Maybe I could skip class . Only what would I even do? Just walk around? Surely time would pass faster in class than trying to waste it outside.

Sighing, I resigned myself to my fate. Today was going to be a horrible day. But tomorrow would be better. Probably.

First period zoomed by. It felt like I was walking down death row as I went to my next one. The one class I wished I could avoid. I was one of the first people in, and I took my usual seat, anxiously twirling my hair.

He probably had a new girlfriend already. The rumors were about to restart. A new girl would become the focus for the next two weeks. I would be forgotten. Noah would be someone I just passed by in the hall, and things would go back to how they always were. How they were meant to be.

I knew by the whispers when he entered and, unable to help myself, I looked up.

Noah Archer walked into class, his headphones pulled over his ears, hands stuffed in his pockets, eyes looking down at the floor. He sat at his desk a few rows in front of me.

My heart hiccupped. There were tingles passing through my whole body. This was the first time I’d seen him with the awareness of being in love with him, and I couldn’t for the life of me understand how I’d never realized it before. The effect he had on me.

Noah threw himself into his seat. Silence stretched along the class as people looked around. And then a girl stood up. The same girl who had tried asking him out two weeks ago.

There was no way I was about to witness him start to date someone else. The nausea set in.

The girl walked up to him boldly this time. Determined.

I couldn’t look away. Like a deer in headlights, I was trapped, watching this nightmare unfold in front of me.

“Hey, Noah,” she started, with her sweet voice and cavity-inducing smile. Noah pulled down his headphones and looked up at her.

“’Sup?” His deep voice sent a shiver down my spine.

“I was just wondering, if no one’s asked you yet, would you maybe go out with me?”

The whole room went quiet in expectation. This was it. Was she the new girl who would date Noah Archer? Would she be the one Noah Archer fell in lo—

“Sorry, I can’t,” Noah said.

What?

It felt like that question rippled along the entire class. Everyone just stared at the scene unfolding. The girl who had been confident just a moment ago now seemed confused.

“Are you, uh, dating someone already?” she asked, her fingers nervously fidgeting with the edge of her sleeve.

Yes, that must have been it . Someone had beat her to it. My heart felt heavy.

Noah let out a sigh, one that made it clear he was tired and wanted the conversation to end. “No, I’m not dating anyone.”

Okay. Okay . . . what?

Whispers started. Slow. Just a few comments muttered in confusion. Noah Archer hadn’t refused to date someone once in the past year. This was unheard of.

“Then why won’t you date me?” This time the girl sounded upset. Probably embarrassed. Aware of all the eyes on her. The talk that would follow.

I, on the other hand, felt like I could finally breathe normally. This was confusing to say the least, but for me it was a blessing. At least it meant I didn’t have to watch while he started dating some other girl. It would give me time to prepare. To mentally adapt and accept the fact that—

“Because I’m in love with someone else.”

The classroom erupted. People weren’t even trying to whisper anymore. It was a full-blown conversation. And while my eyes were wide and fixed on Noah, everyone else’s were focused on me.

Because they thought I was the girl he was talking about. Only that wasn’t possible. After yesterday, there was no way he was talking about me. There was no way he was in love with me .

Was there? I mean, who else could it have been?

He’d spent the last two weeks with me. We’d gone on so many dates it would have been physically impossible for him to spend time with anyone else. To fall in love with anyone else.

Was it possible? The guy I was in love with was in love with me?

I could have burned a hole in the back of Noah’s head with how intently I was staring at him.

He hadn’t looked back once. Even if it was true, if he really was in love with me, I had ended things yesterday.

And besides, it still wouldn’t change anything.

It wouldn’t change what I had done, or the fact that he was far too good for me.

I knew that. And yet, when class ended, I found myself rushing to the door to intercept him.

“Noah.” His name was the only thing I could say before he brushed past me, putting his headphones back over his ears.

He didn’t even look at me. Didn’t even acknowledge my existence.

I’d messed up royally. I wouldn’t want anything to do with myself either.

But, god , I was in love with him. A wild hope had reignited in my chest and there was no taming it.

I didn’t deserve him. But I could deserve him.

I could work on it every day and prove that I was worth his love. That I could do better. That he made me want to be better. That if he could still love me, even at my worst, he deserved more than my best, and I would give it to him. All of it. Everything.

All I had to do was talk to him again. All I had to do was apologize and beg for him to listen.

All I had to do was tell him how stupidly in love with him I was.

Only talking to him seemed like mission impossible. Whenever I would try, he would just ignore me, avoid me, escape me. Even during lunchtime he was impossible to find.

Which was how I ended up here.

Missing the last period. Hiding among bushes. Hiding among bug-filled bushes. Waiting to ambush Noah Archer.

People gave me weird looks as they passed. Some snickered. Some straight-up laughed. I couldn’t care less. I was a singularly focused woman, waiting for those blue headphones to appear on the horizon.

And then they did.

I jumped out in front of him and Noah startled, looking up from the ground, and for the first time that day his eyes met mine. Just for one precious second before he looked away.

“Hey,” I said, nerves getting the best of me. I ran my hand over my hair, making sure there were no leaves stuck there.

Noah nodded and went to move past me. I moved in front of him. I had to make this quick.

“I’m sorry. Noah, I’m so sorry,” I started, and he froze. He raised his hands and put down his headphones, but his gaze was still anywhere but on me. “I know you’re mad at me. I know I messed up. I can’t even . . . There are no words to explain just how sorry I am for everything.”

How many times would I be able to say I was sorry in five minutes? Whatever the record was, I was sure I could beat it, because I had no intention of stopping.

“I’ll say it as many times as I need to, though, because I am. I am so, so sorry about—”

“Skyler, what do you want?” Noah finally spoke, and when he looked at me, the hurt I saw there, it broke my heart. “I’m not mad. I just, I don’t know what you want from me. You broke up with me, right?”

Well. I wasn’t expecting that. My imagination had made this whole thing look like there would be some angry yelling from his side, and a lot more groveling for forgiveness from mine. But all he sounded like when he spoke was tired.

“Yeah, but . . .”

“But what?” he said, with a dark chuckle. “But you want to be friends ? Because, yeah, that’s not gonna happen. I can’t do that.”

And then my heart shattered. Piece by piece. He didn’t even want to be friends with me. Which meant he didn’t want me in his life. And if he didn’t want me in his life, there was nothing I could do, nothing I could say that would change his mind. Game over. My loss.

“I can’t be friends with the girl I’m in love with.”

Say what?

I couldn’t have imagined that. It was too good for my imagination. This had actually happened. Noah Archer said he was in love with me.

“Yeah, so,” he added and tried to move past me.

I widened my hands like a goalie to stop him from walking around me. Noah stared at me like I was out of my mind. And granted, I probably was. But that didn’t matter at that moment because I needed to make one thing clear to him.

“I don’t want to be friends,” I breathed out, unable to keep those words in my mouth a second longer.

Noah stared at me. Brows furrowing. Hand touching his chin like he was trying to figure something out.

“Then what do you want?” A valid question. With only one answer, really.

“You.”

He blinked. I blinked. We blinked at each other.

“Are you messing with me?” he asked, his voice breaking.

Oh god, no . Why were these kinds of confession scenes always so much cooler in books and movies?

“No. Noah, no, I was scared. I messed up so bad. When I asked you out, I never even imagined it would be like this. And then the guilt of it all made me think I couldn’t be with you.

I couldn’t bear the fact that I had once had such horrible intentions.

And then after Saturday, and how wonderful you are, it was too much.

And I thought since you were going to break up with me after two weeks anyway, then I could just rip the bandage and—”

“I was never going to break up with you, Skyler,” Noah said, and I nodded. A choked laugh left my lips.

“I know. I know that now. I messed up. I messed up so bad, Noah. I’m so sorry.” I’d told myself I wouldn’t cry. I wouldn’t put him in that position. And yet here I was, tears slowly escaping their prison in my eyes.

Noah was silent. He was silent for what felt like an eternity. And then his throat bobbed and he took one step closer to me. My heart throbbed. He reached out slowly and brushed the tears off my face with his thumb.

“How do you feel about me, Skyler?”

This was it. The big finale. I couldn’t mess this up.

“I guess your black magic worked,” I mumbled. Noah tilted his head in confusion.

“You scienced the love out of me.” Wow. Was saying those words really that hard? Noah frowned, but I could see the faintest pull on his lips. He took another small, cautious step closer.

That timid but hopeful smile. As if he knew exactly what I meant.

“I’m in love with you, Noah Archer.”

There . The words were out. My heart was on display. If he decided to crush it now, I can’t say I wouldn’t deserve it. It would be a miracle if he didn’t.

His eyes stared into mine. Every second that ticked by, I felt more nervous. More convinced that this was hopeless.

Then he smiled. That big, bright smile that could light up any room. And he took a step closer. And then another.

My breathing came out quicker. Or was that his?

He brought his hand up to my face, caressed my cheek, and brushed a strand of hair behind my ear. His face was inches away and he moved his head to the side of mine. I could feel his breath along my ear as he whispered.

“I’m in love with you, too, Skyler Fox.”

I didn’t know it was possible to feel this amount of happiness.

But as he pulled back and leaned his forehead against mine, the happiness I felt multiplied.

Slowly, his lips came closer and pressed against mine.

I couldn’t even think anymore. My arms reached out and wrapped around his neck, while his hugged my waist. We pressed against each other as if our survival depended on our proximity.

The kiss started out gentle. Testing. Reaffirming. But then it deepened. And it was as if we’d both forgotten where we were until the sound of whistling from the few remaining students interrupted us.

We pulled apart, lips swollen, breath heavy, stupid grins on our faces.

“You’re still not in the clear, you know,” Noah said, trying to appear serious but unable to wipe the smile off his face.

“Mm-hm,” I mumbled, and got on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

“I mean, there should be some more apologizing,” he said, and then I moved my lips down to his neck. “Probably,” he said, swallowing hard.

“Absolutely, yes, apologizing,” I mumbled against his neck before moving to his ear. He shuddered.

“You can’t just break up with me and then—” His voice was hoarse, and when I tentatively kissed just below his ear he stopped speaking all together. “Oh, fuck it.”

Noah put his hands on my back thighs and lifted me into his arms. I squeaked in surprise, locking my hands behind his neck and my legs around him in an attempt to retain some sort of balance.

“Where are we going?” I asked as he started walking toward the parking lot.

“On a date,” Noah said, matter-of-factly. “Obviously.”

I laughed, feeling light and happy and free.

And loved .

For the first time, I actually understood the word. Not because of some movie or books. It wasn’t just this fictional concept that I believed in without truly knowing.

I knew what love was now. It was stubborn, messy, confusing, unexpected, warm. Love was slow, heavy, consuming, scary.

But most importantly, there was one thing I knew without a shadow of a doubt.

Love was real. And it was ours .