Kissing Booth 4ever and Always

16. Making Up

Writing this chapter made me realize exactly how lonely I am with my husband away for military lol It gets intense, so heads up! And sorry that it's taken me days to get this together. Single-mommin' has been tough this week! 

Sitting at home in my sweatpants, my mind and soul were unsettled. Seeing Marco was not something I had planned for. We had said our goodbyes at the beach house and I assumed that our paths wouldn't cross again simply by my sheer will for them not to. I had told him that he wasn't the one for me, but I'm sure Noah didn't know that. For all he knew, I gave Marco a chance the second he left off for Harvard for his second year. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the couch, massaging my temples. I must have picked up my phone, only to set it back down, a hundred times before finally sending a text.

"Do you hate me?"

I sat, knees drawn to my chest, watching for his response.

"No."

It was a good sign that he responded right away, and it was a good sign that he had said 'no', but part of me still felt like things were not okay. But we were engaged now, and that meant that he was ready to commit to me for better or worse, even if worse was happening only days after the engagement. If he wasn't going to give me any more to go on, then I was going to fight for us. I slipped on my shoes and threw on one of his old Harvard sweatshirts and headed out the door. I needed to let him know that Marco isn't, and never would be a problem for us.

I was nervous as I walked up the steps to his front door, and even though I had a key, I knocked instead. Standing there in the darkness of his stoop, tears began to well up in my eyes as I mentally rehearsed the words I was going to say. I heard the deadbolt on the door turn, and soon I was looking up at Noah through the cracked open door, wearing nothing but a pair of sweats. His head dropped as he opened it the rest of the way and I began my opening argument.

"Noah, I swear, I had no idea that Marco was the artist. My bosses choose who we are contracted with for those things, and I had no way of knowing it would be him. You know I would never put you through all of that again."

He didn't speak, so I pushed my way past him into his house and he shut the door behind me.
"Say something!" I demanded as he ran his fingers through his hair. His eyes were tired and his shoulders slumped.

"Elle, I don't know what to say."

I could tell that he wanted to speak but was holding back so he could carefully choose his words. I was fired up, though, and pushed him to talk.

"You can't honestly be mad at me for this, Noah. This is nothing compared to the hell you put me through with that baby scare!" I regretted the words before they finished escaping my mouth, but it got a response from him.

"Are you serious right now, Rochelle? You want to hold something over my head that would have occurred BEFORE WE FUCKING GOT BACK TOGETHER? Hmm?"

I was a little stunned by his outburst, even though I expected it after what I'd said, and I just blinked my bleary eyes as he continued.

"That is completely different than you having a sit-down dinner with the guy that fucked our relationship up in the first place."

"Noah, it was purely professional! I--"

He cut me off and turned to go down the hall to his room.

"Honestly, Elle, I don't want to hear it right now."

I followed him trying to match his strides and make my footsteps sound just as angry as his.

"Well, you're going to hear it. Because we are engaged now, whether you like it or not at the moment, and I'm not going to sit back and let this brew. We are going to talk and we are going to settle it once and for all tonight."