Always a Friend

Chapter 15

The last bell of the day rang, my heart started racing, and the imaginary butterflies in my stomach started fluttering around in my stomach like crazy. At this rate, I wasn't going to make it out of the classroom, let alone out of the building, to meet Noah for our after-school date. I hurried down the hall to my locker, switched out my books, and headed toward the front of the school, listening to my heart pound like conga drums in my ears. I kept looking down at my clothes, wondering if they were okay. It's not like I could do anything about them if they weren't okay because I was here at school and didn't have access to my clothes from here. Then, I thought, what if it's another date like what happened with Jude? Surely, I couldn't be that unlucky in love? 

I pushed open the right door, and Noah was looking down at his phone at the bottom of the steps off to the left, leaning against the stone pillar. I started walking down the steps; girls were walking in front of him, flirting, batting their eyelashes, giggling, and saying hi. He raised his head, smiled, and then looked back down at his phone, not really acknowledging them. I wasn't quite sure what to make of that; I didn't want to read anything into it and get my hopes up. I mean, look at the last time I got my hopes up; my date ditched me for our server, who happens to be in English with Jude and me. She transferred classes so that she could be in class with Jude. It was bad enough that I had to look at him every day; now, I had to look at the back of her head. Today, I dreamed of taking a pair of scissors to her hair and chopping it off. The thought made my mouth's corners curl into an evil grin. I wiped the smile off my face before Noah saw it and wondered what I was thinking because I didn't know if I'd be able to come up with a good enough lie. 

"Hey, Gemma." Noah smiled, glancing up from his phone. "Are you ready to go?" 

"Yeah. I texted my mom earlier and told her I wouldn't be home until later." I walked down the steps. Noah pushed the button on the side of his phone, then put it in his pocket. He stepped away from the stone pillar when I reached the bottom step. 

"Where would you like to go get something to eat?" Noah asked as I stepped down off the bottom step. 

"Anywhere but The Breezeway." 

"Yeah...I heard about that. Sorry, he did that to you. No, Breezeway. How about pizza?" 

"Pizza sounds great. Before we go, do you mind if I drop my book off at my car?" 

"Where are you parked?" Noah asked, looking around the parking lot. 

"I'm parked back that way." I motioned a few rows behind us.

Noah looked over his shoulder. "Oh...." He stopped, turned around, and started walking in the opposite direction. I turned and hurried after him. We returned to my car, and I put my book bag in the backseat. "Where are you parked?" I asked, locking my car. 

"I'm parked over that way." He pointed toward the other end of the parking lot. I looked at him, then across the parking lot. 

"Get in." I unlocked the car. "I'll drive us to your car." I opened the driver's side door. It was hot outside, and I didn't want my makeup to sweat off my face. That wasn't the look I was going for on my date with Noah. I was already pushing my luck with the all-day look. If this had been a specific date, I'd be walking out of the house with a fresh makeup look, not one I've had on my face since this morning. I didn't even want to flip down the visor and look at my hair. I'd hate to see what it looked like right now. If you thought all-day makeup was bad, all-day hair should be outlawed. You can't go out on a date with a hairstyle you've had all day. That's just wrong on so many levels. 

"My car is the shiny blue one." He pointed to the shiny sports car. 

I peeked over at him, then returned my gaze to the parking lot because kids were still whipping out of their parking spaces and heading toward the exit. I should've known it was the sports car. We did go to a rich school, so most of the vehicles in the parking lot weren't your average teenage cars. I pulled up next to his shiny blue car that looked like it rolled out of the showroom floor.