“I will—”
“Why can’t you wait here?” Chase pushes off the wall. “Why do you need to go with him to take some girl home?”
Mason’s head yanks toward his friend, and Brady coughs, turning to the side to hide a laugh.
I force myself to meet Chase’s stare. “I want to go.”
“Why?”
My pulse jumps into my throat, and I shake my head. “Why do you care?”
His eyes narrow, and he steps closer… and my brother follows.
Chase shakes his head, pushing past me. “Whatever. I’m going for a refill.”
Mason points his frown at me. “What’s his problem?”
“He’s your friend. Ask him.”
“He’s our friend.”
“Right.” I’d almost forgot. “I have to go. Noah’s waiting.”
“Yeah, all right.” Mason nods and I spin, annoyed as I head for the door, where Noah waits, but the annoyance slips away as I find him waiting there for me, a hoodie in his hand.
“Ready?” he asks.
I nod, turning to Paige with a smile. “Hi again.”
“Hey, I’m glad you made it.” She beams, slipping out the door. “Noah was about to have a pity party.”
I look to Noah, and he winks down at me.
I don’t know why, but my whole body heats, so I quickly slip out the front, welcoming the cool air.
As we reach Noah’s truck, Paige pulls the door open, but she steps back, nodding her head for me to go in first, so I do. We head toward the opposite side of campus, and surprisingly, it’s not awkward.
Paige picks up with the conversation Noah said they were having, asking my opinion, and I do my best to offer a solution that might help. It’s kind of cool, being included in a discussion they could have cut short or picked up at another time.
Once at her building, she climbs out, turning back to us with a wave, and we watch as she disappears inside it. Noah waits for the door to close behind her completely, and then we’re pulling out of the parking lot.
He pulls into a gas station, and we both choose Icees, despite the chilly air. We climb back into the truck, but when I take the seat by the door, Noah looks over, jerking his chin the slightest bit, his lips curved at the corners. So, with my stomach threatening to tangle into a thousand knots, I slide over until we’re thigh to thigh.
“Can I take you somewhere?” he asks.
I nod, pulling my straw between my lips, and his eyes follow the movement.
It’s with a deep breath that he faces forward and off we go.
We drive with the radio off for a little over thirty minutes, before Noah pulls off the main road, parking on the shoulder.
I unbuckle my seatbelt and lean forward to try and see beyond the darkness.
“This looks like a good place to bury a body.”
“I don’t know about burying, but definitely to lose one at sea.”
My head jerks toward his and he laughs, pushing open his door.
He grabs the hoodie he carried out of the house and waits for me to slide out his way.
Taking the half gone Icee from my hand, he sets it on the hood, tugging the sweatshirt over my head.
I laugh, slipping my arms through, the cuffs hanging well over my hands. It’s soft, fresh cotton on the inside and smells like Noah.
“Thank you.”
He smirks, handing me my drink. “Welcome.”
“You planned this, didn’t you?”
“I figured you’d be up for a little road trip.”
I pull my lips to one side.
“Come on.” He nods.
We walk side by side up a small hillside that leads to a wide trail, and beyond it, nothing but ocean.
My smile is instant.
“Holy shit,” I whisper, stepping ahead of him toward the extended peak of cliffside in the center.
The moon bounces off the sea the way I love, but it’s even better as we’re up higher than I’ve ever been before, so it shines like ice below us. I laugh, glancing back at Noah as he slowly steps up beside me.
“You like it?”
Nodding, I face forward again. “It’s amazing.”
“Come here.” Noah takes my hand, leading me left a few feet, where there’s a slight dip in the rock, allowing us to sit and dangle our feet, another flat stone a few feet below to catch our fall, should we scoot too far over the edge.
I can’t help but laugh again, nudging him in the shoulder. “This is crazy.”
“It’s called Sunset Cliffs.”
“Man, we have to come back to watch the sun go down. I love the moon over the water, but the sunset is definitely a sight I have to see from right here.”
I look to him.
“You want to come back, I’ll bring you back,” he tells me.
“Say you swear.”
Laughing, he faces forward. “I swear.”
“When I was little, my parents would drive us to the coastline every Sunday for a picnic dinner. My dad would set up a little tent, you know the kind that’s all netting?” I smile. “My mom would put up a table and lay out the food, while me and Mase set up chairs and piled them high with blankets. We’d eat, play board games and then when the sun would start to set, our parents would tell us stories about when they were young, or when we were babies. It was always something new, something we hadn’t heard yet.” I loved those nights.