Hey, Noah

f o u r | Coffee Daze

f o u r | Coffee Daze

I was getting coffee in the little campus cafe when I saw him again.

It had been a couple of weeks since the bonfire, and I was getting some sustenance before I hit class. I was turning away from the counter with my order when I saw him sitting at the small table, sipping from a steaming mug of what was probably coffee with his gaze permanently glued to the windows.

Now I wasn't too much of an outgoing person like Ella was, or someone so ever sociable like Matt, our other best friend. I was just me, and usually that meant I didn't go too much out of my way to initiate friendships. They just always... happened.

So I don't know what made me do it, but I was determined to pull it off well.

I plopped down on the seat across from him.

He turned to me and raised an eyebrow just fractionally.

Of course, that didn't really do wonders for my confidence level. Especially when he looked at me with those icy eyes.

"Hi," I piped out.

He didn't respond. It was like we'd never skipped out and took a comfortable walk together, like we'd never laid under the stars, like he'd never listened closely to everything I'd said and like he'd never been sweet and held my hand longer than was needed. Almost as if the night at the bonfire just never happened.

It was nice, I remembered. We'd parted on pretty good terms. Hell, I'd even been giddy like a little schoolgirl thinking about her first crush or something after he'd walked me back. And now, two weeks later and his walls were up as strong as the day I'd first ever said hey to him and his eyes were just as impenetrable.

Almost like something happened to bring him back to that state of mind or feeling.

Shit.

I cleared my throat, feeling the awkwardness practically saturating the air.

"Um," I struggled to remember what I wanted to say. "My friends and I—we were hanging out for dinner tonight. Do you, uh, want to join?"

His eyebrows knit together in a frown and I immediately felt deflated because that had to be a definite no.

"There's a game tonight," he ended up saying, and my eyes widened in realization.

Oh. Oh.

Man, was I dumb.

How could I forget the game? Especially when he was one of the star players?

I instantly felt stupid. Football wasn't really my thing, because I understood, like, zero percent of it. Ella and Matt were already used to my ignorance and lack of interest, but I felt it wouldn't really be right if I explained all that to the guy on the team of said sport.

I mentally sighed.

"You'll be there, right?"

I masked my surprise. I was an observant girl, hardly oblivious to much. It wasn't just the fact that he cared enough to ask, but also how it sounded like he wanted me to be there. Even if I'd misheard the inflection in his voice, I couldn't mistake how he set down his coffee, raised those brilliant eyes to mine and waited expectantly on my answer.

Noah Archer cared if I was coming to the game or not.

Hell, I knew I'd rather stay at home in my childish pajamas and well, just Netflix the night away than sit through a game I didn't care for or understand for however long I'd have to be there.

But I was pretty sure I liked Noah. And if he wanted me to be there, maybe I could. Just this once.

"Um, yeah. I will."

Boy, were Ella and Matt going to be thrilled.

And boy, was I going to hate sitting through a game I didn't understand.

I glanced at the chunky clock over his head behind him that read it was only a few minutes to nine. My class was about to begin, and I needed to get there early so I could get a seat in the back. That was because Mrs Taylor had taken the week off for some reason, but she'd unfortunately been precise enough to send a sub, and over the course of three days, we'd realized Mrs Meyers was someone who was used to spitting unknowingly as she talked. And she talked a lot.

So in order to avoid that, I needed to get to class early.

Which, regrettably, also meant I had to leave Noah.

I began gathering my things. "English starts in five, and I need to go. You would not believe the reason I can't be late, seriously."

"Tell me," he said in that deep voice of his that never said much, but always conveyed what he wanted to say. I was mildly surprised when he stood up too, reaching for his bag and coffee, but then I remembered how on most days he had a class in the room next to ours.

I also noticed how he wanted that a lot—for me to tell him things. Like he was truly content with being a listener—but that wasn't the Noah I'd heard of, was it? He was always so loud and opinionated, good-natured and friendly, chatty with the girls and major partier of Redwood University in everything I'd heard.

Was it the accident that brought on the changes? The occasional coldness in his eyes? The intermittent rigidness in his form? His fondness with being quieter now?

God, I wanted to know.

I wanted to know Noah Archer.

I told him then, about the spitting thing. He didn't crack a smile even once, but he did look slightly disgusted at the prospect of being spit at. As we walked to the building and I talked, he stayed close. There were a few looks aimed at him—I was glad to note that they were the regular looks of longing that the girls threw at him all the time and not the oh-his-parents-just-died look he'd been getting that day at the quad. There were a few curious glances sent my way too, but I ignored them as we reached the door of my classroom.

I spotted about ten or so seats available in the fifth row.

Score. I was safe for the time being.

I turned to see Noah leaving as I was peeking inside the class. Frowning in confusion, I called out to him.

"Hey, don't you have a class next door or something?"

His eyebrows knit together too—maybe trying to find out how the hell I knew that—and he shook his head slowly. "Not till eleven."

Oh.

So he'd walked me to my class.

Maybe it was the coffee daze, or the fact that he really didn't have to do much to make me like him, but if I'd been any bit unsure about going to the game, I wasn't anymore. I was so going. I'd be rooting for him to score or win or touchdown or whatever the hell you're supposed to do in the game. And the bright side to this was that maybe, just maybe, I'd understand it for once and finally get football.

Oh, who was I kidding? I wasn't going for the side education.

I was going because of him.

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Hey everyone! Chapter 4 is up! Do vote and comment and let me know if you liked it.

-lexy