“Henley,” Noah calls after me as I hurry up the hall, desperate to get to my locker. Hell, maybe I’ll just skip grabbing my shit and head straight home. Surely, he won’t chase me the whole way, right? “Fuck, Henley. Stop.”
Yeah right, fucker.
I get to my locker and with the keys to dad’s pick up inside promising me a quicker getaway, I have no choice but to stop. “Spitfire, it’s not what you think,” he tells me, finally catching up to me with a strange desperation on his face mixed with an anger that has me on edge.
At that, I whirl around. I can maybe handle being hurt, but I can’t handle him lying about it, especially when I saw them with my own two eyes. What happened in the classroom was certainly not Noah telling the girl to fuck off again, whatever it was, it was intimate.
“Not what I think?” I scoff. “Please, I’d love to hear what it is you assume I’m thinking?”
His face falls and it’s clear he knows he’s hurt me, but I wasn’t expecting him to, well… care. “Babe, come on,” he says, reaching out for me.
I step back from him. “Are you kidding me right now?” I snap. “You were two seconds from shoving your tongue down her skank ass throat and now you want to shove your bullshit in my face? It ain’t going to happen, Noah.”
I turn back to my open locker, but his warm hand curls around my elbow and turns me back to face him. “This isn’t over yet.”
I rip my arm out of his grip. “Don’t touch me.” Noah’s hand drops to his side and I’ve never seen someone look quite so devastated before. “You played me.”
His face falls. “How can you say that?”
“How can I not?” I all but cry. “Last week you only left with me because she was watching. You wanted to make a point. Well, congratulations, you made a point, and now, your little game is over.”
Regret flashes in his eyes and I realize I was right. “It was a game, wasn’t it?” I question. “Leaving here with me and taking me back to your place. It was all for Monica. You wanted her to see that.”
“Henley,” he sighs, clenching his fists at his sides to resist reaching out for me. “At the start, yeah, but…then it changed.”
The betrayal slams through me.
“Yeah,” I scoff. “Heard that one before.” My eyes grow watery as I reach for my bag inside my locker and look back up at his desperate eyes. “I’m done,” I tell him before turning and walking away, not giving a shit that I’ve just left my locker wide open for anyone to rifle through, but it’s not like there’s anything important in there.
“Fuck,” Noah roars a second later followed by the sound of my locker door being slammed closed with such force I’m surprised it didn’t snap right off the hinges. “It’s fucking real, Henley. It’s not a game to me. Not anymore.”
I keep walking, but I can’t help but look back over my shoulder to find Monica standing at the end of the hallway watching Noah, who’s pressing two clenched fists into my locker with his head dropped down between his shoulders.
As if sensing my gaze upon him, he looks back up and shattered is the only way to describe what he looks like right now. Seeing the desperation in his eye, the fear of me walking away has me reconsidering. Maybe this is real after all. Maybe there is a chance for us and I should give him a moment to explain. I take a step towards him as his head hangs low in defeat. Not a moment later, two simple words come out of his mouth and ruin it all. “She’s pregnant.”
Monica walks forward in triumph as my world crumbles in a way I wasn’t prepared for.
And with tears of finality dropping from my eyes, I walk away, leaving the one guy who could have changed it all behind.
Chapter 13
Tully – Where the hell are you? Wanna skip? We can see who can hold the most tequila before passing out. I’d fucking kick your ass BTW!
Tully – Seeing as though I can’t get a hold of Noah, I’m assuming you two are getting busy somewhere… or being losers and staying at school. Guess I’ll drink my tequila by myself.
Tully – Hello? Are you dead? Did the fake fire swallow you whole and take away your ability to reply to your best friend?
Tully – Hey, SKANK????
Tully – Whore!!!!!!!!
Tully – Did you lock yourself in the bathroom again?
Tully – Shit! Did you start drinking without me?
Tully – I’m not going to stop until you text me back, bitch.
I let out a sigh as I spin my phone between my fingers. I don’t doubt for one second that she means it. She’ll keep going until I let her know that I’m ok. On Saturday night, I unlocked my phone to find thirty-three unread texts from her when I was busy indulging in a bubble bath.