Drowning

Chapter 9:"I can't help it"

Leah's P.O.V.

Dinner is finally ready and we're all seated at the dinner table. Every now and then I catch Noah looking at me. It makes me uncomfortable yet I like it. Alex is rambling on about football not knowing no one is listening. He has this talent to talk and talk no matter if anyone is actually listening. I know not listening to him is quite rude but I only have one thing on my mind.

Noah.

I know it is so damn cliché but I can't help it. He did something to me. I don't know what but something is definitely different. Before, if a guy almost kissed me I didn't spend dinner thinking about it and him. I did obviously like other guys but Noah's just so ... different. And obviously it doesn't help he looks so amazing. I mean really why? Why? He has a face like I have never seen before and his body, God his body.

No!! Leah get it together. He is sitting right in front of you.

Just as I think this Noah looks up. He has a cute little smile on his face. I smile back.

"Are you even listening?" Alex asks out of the blue. Okay not really out of the blue but you get it.

I look at him with my eyes widen and a smile," Yes, of course."

Alex narrows his eyes,"What did I just say?"

"You said that you don't think the Vikings will win this season." I say quickly. Noah's head snaps toward me with his eyebrows furrowed. I just shrug.

"Good." Alex's voice hits my eardrums. And then he continuous.

After dinner I take the dirty dishes to the sink.

"What are you doing? It's my turn to wash the dishes, Leeloo." Alex asks from behind me. He is so cute and the best brother ever, because he is the one person who hates washing dishes more than me, but he still asks.

"Its okay, Al. I'm almost done anyway and you've had a hard day." I say smiling at him.

Alex smiles and says thanks.

As he walks out the kitchen Noah enters.

"I thought that the rule in this house was that the person who didn't cook, washes the dishes."

"I know. I just wanted to do it, because Al had a hard day." I say still with my back to Noah.

I hear him sigh and suddenly another pair of hands drop into the sink. I look at the person those hands belong to.

"You also had a hard day." He mumbles. He doesn't look at me; his eyes are directed toward the plate in his hands.

I look at him. Noah is not such a bad person. He is actually a really nice guy if he tries. He surprises me every day.

I sigh," Well, you're not doing it alone."

As I am drying the last plate Noah looks toward me.

"Do you want me to stay?" He asks this in such a way my heart melts.

I look him in his eyes and nod. Noah nods back and smiles.

"I'll just go get you a pillow and blanket." I say passing by Noah standing in the doorway of the kitchen.

I run up the stairs to my room for the pillow and blanket. I go to my closet and grab a blanket. Just as I do so a box falls out spilling all my family and friend photos. I sigh and bend down to pick them up. As I am picking up the photos, my hand lands on a photo of our family. Alex, Dad, Mom and I. I run my thumb over my mother's face. She was beautiful. I look almost exactly the same, but somehow the features we share just look so much better on her than on me. I close my eyes trying not to cry.