Page 6 of Two Weeks to Fall in Love

“What are we even doing here, Noah?” I shook my head, giving him a pointed stare.

“You’ll see. Come on.” Out of the blue he grabbed my hand and entwined our fingers. Ugh, not this again . I swallowed loudly and reluctantly let him pull me along.

We walked down a path that was barely there, just a narrow strip of dirt, winding through patches of dry grass and scattered boulders.

A place that could only be found if you were looking for it, hidden from the world, and yet Noah navigated it effortlessly.

Suddenly, we were at an opening overlooking the glistening ocean, waves gently crashing against the cliff side.

My heart skipped at the way the water foamed as it neared land, instantly reminding me of The Little Mermaid .

I instinctively stopped to take in the moment, and Noah halted as well.

“The waves are so beautiful,” I murmured, staring in front of me, completely mesmerized.

“Yeah. Makes you really wanna go out into the water,” he replied, seemingly in thought as well. “Do you surf?” The sudden question made me glance at him, but as soon as I saw his intense blue eyes, so reminiscent of the ocean in front of us, I had to look away.

“Depends on your definition of surfing, I guess,” I said, and a flicker of curiosity crossed his face at my answer. I sighed. “I’m very skilled at being slammed by waves, and by the occasional surfboard as well.”

Noah laughed wholeheartedly, shaking his head at me. “You’re a funny girl, Fox.”

“Yeah, that’s me, your resident comedian.” Rolling my eyes, I carefully peered at him. “So, is this where you were taking me?” I asked, thoroughly unimpressed. Pretty, but nothing to write home about.

Noah shook his head and squeezed my hand before he started walking again. “You think I would have dragged you here to watch some waves?”

“I mean, you are known for being unpredictable,” I mumbled quietly, looking at my feet with renewed curiosity.

“Oh, is that what I’m known for?” Noah asked sarcastically. It’s not like he was deaf to all the whispers around school. Surely he knew exactly what he was known for.

“Among other things,” I said, cautiously glancing at him.

The corner of his lips was pulled up in amusement, and he rubbed his chin with his free hand.

“Mm-hm.” He turned onto an unmarked path that led down the cliff side.

The path sloped downward, steep and full of jagged rocks.

But somehow I felt safe, his hand tightly holding mine as we patiently and slowly navigated every obstacle.

Eventually we arrived at a little hidden cove with glittering sand.

I gasped at the sight, blinking several times to see whether it was an optical illusion or I’d just used the glitter filter one too many times.

But no matter how many times I blinked, the sparkling sand remained.

“What? How?” I turned to Noah, eyes wide and completely awestruck.

He flicked my arm gently, a pearly-white grin on his face as he pulled me toward the small beach. “Come on, I’ll show you.”

My eyes stayed glued to the ground as we walked, still confused about how this was even possible. Noah let go of my hand and bent down, grabbing a fistful of sand and offering it to me.

In his hand there was a mixture of fine sand and what looked like small colorful stones—green, pale white, blue—that glistened under the sun as he moved his hand from left to right.

I looked up at him with wonder and he beamed at me proudly. “Pretty cool, huh? It’s fine glass that was shaped by the ocean and then tossed away. Now it’s part of the beach, it belongs.”

Noah looked out at the ocean wistfully, a faraway expression crossing his features.

Maybe it was the sun making his eyes glisten like the sea, or the way his wild strands of hair fell over his determined eyebrows, or the way he seemed so excited by something like sand , but I found myself understanding why everyone at the school was so crazy for him.

He was handsome but also enigmatic. Like one of those beautiful statues that seemed almost untouchable.

“Yeah, pretty cool,” I said, unable to tear my gaze away from him. As if he felt me looking, he turned and caught my eyes.

“The sand or me?” Noah said, and the corner of his mouth quirked up in amusement.

If he was anyone else I would have admitted that in that moment, I probably meant both. Since it was Noah Archer however, I said, “The sand, of course,” and rolled my eyes.

I walked past him and down the beach. He caught up to me quickly, only this time he didn’t try to hold my hand.

I didn’t know if I was happy or disappointed about that.

It turned out holding hands was kind of a nice feeling—even holding hands with a guy like him.

I should have smacked myself the second I thought that.

What was happening to me? Was this the power of Noah Archer?

I looked at him sideways and cleared my throat, deciding I had to make one thing abundantly clear.

“Let me tell you right now, I don’t plan to be brainwashed, so you can keep your creepy mind mojo away from me.” I blurted my words swiftly, feeling a slight blush cross my cheeks. Noah stopped walking, and I turned my head to face him.

There was an amused smile on his face as he shook his head. “My creepy what now ?”

“Creepy mind mojo, or hypnosis, or whatever you use to make all these girls love you even when you leave them.” Crossing my arms over my chest, I lifted my chin, bracing for whatever kind of explanation he’d come up with.

“Hey, I don’t do anything like that.” He laughed, waving his hand in the air dismissively.

Now, that was thoroughly anticlimactic.

“Well, you do something!” I said, narrowing my eyes as I studied his face for any hints.

He just shrugged and walked down the beach. I followed, but made no effort to catch up.

“So?” I asked again, realizing that he wasn’t planning on saying anything else.

“So, what?” he called, looking back at me before looking out at the ocean again, then suddenly sitting down on the beach.

“So what do you do to these girls?” I tried again, getting slightly annoyed that I wasn’t able to get anything out of him. Clearly getting to know the truth behind Noah Archer wouldn’t be as easy as I’d initially hoped.

Noah seemed to mull over the question as he untied the shoelaces on his Converse. I frowned, confused about what he was doing, but before I could ask anything, he finally replied. “Nothing, I just ask them some questions,” he stated casually, and seemingly honestly.

“Questions?” I asked, trying to keep my voice from sounding as incredulous as I felt.

Noah chuckled and let out a sigh. “Yeah, questions.”

He pulled off his shoes and rolled up his jeans. It didn’t seem like he was all that surprised by my line of questioning, more like he was curious as to what my endgame was. Not that I would ever tell him that.

“That’s it?” I raised one dubious eyebrow.

He shrugged. “That’s it.” He jumped to his feet and walked to the ocean.

Letting out a deep, dramatic breath, I raised my hands in the air in exasperation before looking at him.

“Just where are you going now ?” My voice beckoned, sounding more exhausted than expected; his cryptic answers were giving me a headache.

Noah turned back around and flashed me such a boyish grin that my heart involuntarily skipped.

Then he spread his arms to his sides, lifted his head, and yelled, “Don’t you hear it? The ocean is calling to us, the sun’s up high, and we have a beach like this all to ourselves.”

Noah tilted his head to the side, raised one hand toward me, and wiggled his index finger as if asking me to come closer. “Can you really resist putting your feet in when you’re so close to it, Fox?”

Well, that sounded ridiculous . The only thing I heard was the sound of crashing waves along the cliff sides, brushing against fine sand, and—

Was that what he meant? The sound of the ocean calling to us?

I caught myself grinning, puzzled by how he saw the world in such a different way. I guess I had learned something about him today.