Bad Timing

Venticinque

Noah and I sat apprehensively, the music from the party shaking the windows of his fixed up truck.

Admittedly, I didn’t know a whole lot about cars or trucks and I definitely didn’t know what kind of truck he had. However, his truck looked way different than it did before. No longer was it scratched up, faded, and had several dents in random places. In its place was a newly painted deep blue truck with an impeccable body.

The interior was clean and simple – a cab seat, stick shift, and old fashioned. Although it wasn’t one of those luxurious, drool worthy cars, I was awed by the comforting feeling of it all. All in all, I was in love with his truck and not just because it smelled strongly of him in the inside.

 The morning his brother was found brutally beat up, his truck was beat up as well. It was driven into the tree right outside East Carteret High. It was a miracle he and Nick weren’t injured in the car accident, but Noah wasn’t even sure if he drove his truck or not.

The more I knew about what happened during Nick’s death just seemed to make me sicker and more scared. I refused to show this to Noah because I genuinely wanted to help him let go of the weight he’s been carrying for over four months. I was lucky he even shared with me the tiny bits of the event and how he felt. When he didn’t refuse my help, I held onto the opportunity.

That’s how we ended up at this cliché high school party.

“That’s so gross,” I muttered, looking away when a shirtless boy fell into his own puddle of vomit.

Noah smirked, his blue eyes resting on me playfully. “You weren’t saying that when you almost fell into your own vomit – you actually wanted to swim in it. You’re quite the party animal.”

 My face flushed at this embarrassing information. However, before I could retort to his comment, my eyes fell to his hands as it tightened over the steering wheel. His leg bounced up and down rapidly. I sighed, scooting closer to him and interlocking my fingers with his.

“You’re nervous about what we’re about to do?”

“Kind of,” Noah admitted, but his playful smirk returned. Noah hated to show how nervous he really was. “I think I’m more nervous that there’s a beautiful girl touching me right now.”

I rolled my eyes and snorted. “Yeah right.”

“No, I’m serious. You’re really beautiful,” Noah complimented with a small smile on his face and tucked a strand of my curled hair behind my ear.

“Are you sure it isn’t because I’m wearing tight jeans and Paige’s blouse really hugs my pea sized breast?”

Noah chuckled – a rich deep tone that caused my heart to skip a beat. He cupped my face in his warm hand. “Even when you’re throwing up or drooling all over my pillows, you still managed to convince me that you’re incredibly beautiful – inside and out.”

“Hmm,” I muttered, my heart beating wildly when his gaze lazily fell to my lips. “I never pegged you for the cheesy type of guy. This is a really corny moment.”