𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐥𝐨𝐞 ✾ (𝐧. 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐚𝐩𝐩)

ELEVEN !

DEAR CHLOE !

"Why did i do that?" rowan whimpered to ollie, mentally facepalming herself. her crush was about to come over- and this time it wasn't to work on homework.

"do what? invite him over?" olive asked, scrubbing the dish in her hand until all of the cheese came off. rowan nodded in return. ollie sighed, "ro, you gotta stop working up over this kid. he thinks you're cool- probably thinks you're pretty too," she winked.

rowan rolled her eyes, "but he doesn't like me the way i like him, and i'm afraid i'm gonna do something that's gonna make the chances of him liking me go down to zero."

"impossible. knowing you, you've probably already embarrassed yourself in front of him before," the girl chuckled.

"hey!"

"but am i wrong?" olive eyed the shorter girl.

rowan sighed, crossing her arms over her chest and looking at her checkered vans, "no.."

"exactly! and he's still not weirded out by you, because he likes you for yo-" ollie was interrupted by a knock on the front door. she gave her friend a wide grin as rowan made a scared face.

"coming!" rowan called weakly, jumping off of the stool and running to the front door. she opened the door in a hurry, to reveal noah standing inches away from her.

"hey, red," noah laughed.

"i don't even have red hair!" rowan said, confused.

"yeah, but your face is red whenever i see you," he pointed out, a smirk on his face. rowan heard ollie cackling from the other side of the house, she must've heard what he said.

"ha, ha. very funny, schnapp," she crossed her arms over her chest once again and stuck her tongue to the inside of her cheek, keeping from smiling. the two walked to the kitchen where ollie was, and without even glancing at noah, rowan could feel his pride in the joke he had made minutes before.

"hey noah! it's been awhile," olive waved, wrapping a single arm around noah. rowan felt her heart drop at the small gesture, even though it was just friendly.

"yeah, how've you been holding up? what about your mom and phoebe?" he questioned, sitting on the stool that rowan sat in just two minutes ago.

"they're good, phoebe broke up with her boyfriend, though. i think she's over him, it's been a couple months," ollie said, sloshing around the water in her water bottle.

"who's phoebe?" rowan asked, completely ignoring the sign above a door upstairs that said "phoebe" on it.

"phoebe's my older sister. i wish she was home this weekend, you'd love her!" ollie gushed, "she's so funny, and she gives the best advice ever. she's like a best friend and a mom all in one!"

"well, i'll have to come back another time to meet her," rowan said, not really sure how to respond.

⛈

it was nine at night, and the three kids were doing whatever teenagers do at sleepovers. in other words; they were playing on their phones and showing each other the dumb videos and pictures they stumbled upon while scrolling through social medias. and suddenly, noahs phone started blaring 'call me maybe' by carly rae jepsen.

"noah... what the hell?" olive wheezed.

noah blushed, "it's a good song, okay!" he quickly tapped the answer button on his phone so it would shut up. "hi momma." ollie and rowan gave each other the look; as a sign to shut each other up.

an inaudible voice was heard from the other line, and noah spoke back. "mm, yeah, sure. no, it's okay, take your time. yes i'm having fun. it's okay, love you too. bye. mom! okay, yes i know. bye, mom." he ended the phone call with a grin on his face, "she can be so annoying sometimes, but i love her. and she's on her way to pick me up."

"i love her too," rowan smiled, thinking of all the times she'd gossip with her and chloe during their sleepovers. the three sat in silence for a couple minutes, olive was the only one looking at her phone. rowan and noah awkwardly stared at each other's hands, occasionally making eye contact.

ollie must've noticed this, because she got up quickly and headed towards the bathroom, "i'll be right back." she scrunched her nose, pointing to the bathroom.

"noah," rowan spoke, pulling another folded letter out of her bag. "i wrote this a couple days ago, can you put this is the treehouse? in the drawer. since i'm not going to be able to tonight."

"i mean- sure," noah nodded, grabbing the letter and stuffing it into his pocket. a car horn beeped from outside the house, and the two raced down the steps. olive shouted a quick "bye noah!" from the bathroom.

"noah, i don't care if you read the letter. just don't tell anyone else what it says," rowan told the boy before he walked out the door. unexpectedly, he pulled rowan in for a hug.

"bye, ro." rowan stared at him racing down the driveway to his moms car, with a toothy grin on her face. of course, it was just a hug, but it was something. and it made her all warm and fuzzy inside.

"cute," she heard a voice call behind her, and turned around to see olive.

"shut up," she laughed, gently shoving her friend. they went up the staircase, and climbed under ollie's silk sheets.

rowan tried desperately to sleep, but all she could think about was how bad she wanted to be in noahs arms again.