Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 135522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Something deep in him stirs, just like it stirs inside me.
There has to be a reason he let me stand so close to him in that living room. A reason he’s turning his schedule inside-out to interview me. A reason he’s not yet brave enough to say.
“Can we do the morning tomorrow?” he asks. “If you plan to go to service, then we could do the afternoon. Otherwise I think the morning is the best. My mom and I used to go to church,” he volunteers suddenly, eyes pulled momentarily from his phone for a thought. “Don’t know why we stopped. Anyway, if we interview in the morning, I can use the afternoon to write. That’ll reduce the likelihood of working into the night. Plus I could prepare for the shoot Monday morning … if it’s still happening Monday. I can’t recall what Burton and Nadine decided. They kept going back and forth.” He sighs. “Should’ve taken more notes. Also …”
My eyes become lost to the dance of his cute lips.
His precious, incorrigibly kissable lips.
I just adore the way they move whenever he speaks. It’s the same as it’s always been, how his adorable, heart-shaped lips hang parted between his thoughts. His forehead does this cute thing where it wrinkles up and twists when he seems to be searching for a word. Now and then while he’s talking, his right eyebrow will flick upward a little all on its own, too, and it makes him look so doe-eyed and precious to me.
“Cole?”
He’s staring. I think I might’ve missed something. “Y-Yes?”
“You’re okay with that? Doing the interview at your house?”
Okay, I definitely missed something. “Uh, yes … sure. Is that what’s better for you?”
“If I’m taking photos, then yes, it will be more interesting for the readers if I capture you in your home environment. I guess that settles it.” He gives his phone one final tap before pocketing it. “Tomorrow morning at ten.”
“Tomorrow at ten,” I agree absently, lost in his eyes, happy.
Noah nods, then turns to head off.
Suddenly, I can’t stand it. “Wait! Noah?”
He stops and peers back at me. “Yes?”
And again, I find myself prematurely demanding his attention without knowing what in the hell I want to say to him.
What is it exactly that I want to communicate?
That he’s been on my mind for years?
That my entire high school existence was fueled by my secret desire to protect him from afar?
That I think he’s the most adorable, intriguing, and sweetest person in all of Texas?
Instead of any of that, the front door flies open and Burton’s voice booms from the front porch. “Hey, Noah! You ready to head back? I gotta drop some massive kids off at the pool and there was no way I was about to blow up Nadine’s toilet.”
Noah visibly suppresses a cringe. “Y-Yes, I’m ready.”
“Can’t promise I won’t let out a few silent-but-deadlies on the way. We gotta go, though, before I go. Hey there, Cole,” he says as he passes by, slapping me on the back along the way.
Noah meets my eyes for half a second. “I will see you in the morning … big bro.”
Big bro.
He seriously just called me “big bro”.
I really hate Nadine suddenly.
“Just kidding,” he says flatly.
I wasn’t sure until this moment whether Noah was capable of humor at all. He’s always so serious all the time.
Now that I’ve seen it, I think my heart just exploded.
“Oh … of course! Kidding! Ha!” I let out a laugh. It comes out way too stiff and unnatural. I immediately try a different kind of laugh. It’s even worse. What am I doing? “I’ll see you tomorrow, little bro!” Now I’m breathing even more life into the bro thing? Stop talking, Cole, just stop. “I mean, um … I’ll see you tomorrow, N-Noah. I hope.”
That’s the last thing he hears before heading off with Burton. I just stand there on the gravel like a lost garden gnome. Tamika is next to pass me by, offering a little wave and a, “See you around, Mr. Man-of-the-Hour!” before slipping into her own car. I listen to the vehicles as engines ignite.
I think my own engine just died.
I’m becoming entirely too skilled at humiliating myself lately.
I hear heels clack down the steps of the porch behind me. “I promise I won’t mess it up this time,” comes Nadine’s voice as she joins me on the gravel.
I’m still staring at the car Noah’s in. “Mess up …?”
“Y’know how guilty I felt after that whole Christmas fiasco? I just can’t forgive myself for settin’ you up with Malcolm the way I did, pushin’ you two together like that. Someday, I’m gonna learn my lesson to quit playin’ matchmaker. It obviously isn’t my thing. But you know what, Cole?” She pats me on the back and offers a wink. “Everything happens for a reason. And now, I’m doing the opposite of playin’ matchmaker. I’m letting the town play the role of matchmaker itself! And once this event gets underway, you’ll have more options in love than you can count.”