Wrong Number - A Josh Richards Fanfic

Meeting Noen

Maddie's POV:

I smile in the mirror as I finish brushing my hair.
Today I get to see Noen for the first time in like... forever!! 
All of the girls are still sleeping, it's only 9 in the morning, so I try to quietly leave the room. As I quietly close the door, Tony walks by. He stops when he sees me and he smiles. 

"Hey Mads! What are you doing up this early?" He asks me as I start walking down the stairs, hi. next to me. 

" Hi Tony, one, it's 9 am. Two, I'm meeting a friend I haven't seen in a while!" He smiles at me. 

"Cool! When will you be back?" He asks me. We have gotten sort of close recently... he's actually really nice and funny. 

"Probably around 5..." He frowns for a split second but then looks at me. 

"Do you maybe want to hang out after? As friends of course..." He says, drifting off at the end. I smile at him.

"Of course, Tony. I'll text you." I say and he smiles widely. We reach the door and before I head out, he wraps his arms around me in a hug. I blush even though we've hugged before. I hug back for a second. "Bye, Tony!" I say, opening the door.

"Bye Mads!" And with that, he closes the door and  I get in the Uber I called not too long ago. I sit in the front seat and tell her the directions. Looks like we're going to IHOP for breakfast. 
Noen knows me so well...
I just scroll through instagram as I wait. Finally, we arrive at IHOP. 

"Thank you so much!" I say, tipping the driver. As I head inside, I see Noen sitting in the lobby on his phone. I clear my throat and he looks up. When his eyes focus on me, he stands up, dropping his phone. I run to my best friend and hug him tightly. He hugs me back and we hold each other like there is no tomorrow. When we finally pull apart, we study each other. I notice he's gotten taller, his hair is much longer, not to mention a different color. His face is sort of narrower and his skin is clearer, and he also looks much happier and calmer, like he enjoys LA. I mean who wouldn't? I'm the first to talk. "I see you still remember my favorite things!" He smiles.

"How could I forget? Here, our tables over here." He says, leading me over to a table. I smile and sit down across from him and immediately take out the menu. He laughs and I look up, blushing.

"What?" I ask, self conscious. He smiles. 

"You're just so cute! You're like a kid on Christmas day!" He says, laughing. I blush harder. 

"Excuse you, I still do get this excited on Christmas day! And pancakes are sooo good everyone should be excited!" I exclaim, then realize I really do sound seven. I giggle when the waitress comes over. 

"Can I take your order for drinks?" She asks, kindly. I smile at her. 

"I'll have a coffee please!" I say, even though I'm already super hyper. Noen sighs, knowing he'll be stuck with a very hyper Mads all day. 

"I'll have a Diet Pepsi." Noen says. The waitress nods and writes that down, walking away. Noen got a kids menu for some reason so we just play Tic Tac Toe until the waitress comes back. I smile at the scent off my coffee as she places it in front of me. I immediately put in one cream and five sugars. I mix it all together and then take a sip, burning my tongue but oh well. 

"Okay, are you ready to order?" She asks me and Noen. We look at each other and nod, him going first. 

"I'll take the New York Cheesecake pancake stack please." He says. The waitress nods and turns to me. 

"Um... I'll have the build your pancake combo please!" I say, ecstatic. She nods. 

"Two or four pancakes?" She asks me. I looked over at Noen, smiling widely. He sighs again. 

"FOUR PLEASE!" I say, sort of loud. She giggles and writes that down, walking away. By then me and Noen had ran out of Tic Tac Toe grids so we convert to doing the maze. Once we're done, I move over and sit next to him and we color the picture at the same time. Soon enough, our food comes and I go back to my seat excitedly. 

Time Skip, 1 Hour Later:

Me and Noen get up after arguing for about 10 minutes about who got to pay, he won, and we left IHOP. We get in Noen's car and he starts taking me somewhere. We end up going to the Santa Monica pier/beach. I smile, knowing Noen knows me so well. He parks the car and we both start running like pre-schoolers at recess. I get to the entrance first and he catches up, breathless. After we both catch our breaths, we walk in together and he leads me to all the games and we start to play. 

Time Skip, 3 hours later:

"You wanna go to In n' Out before we part ways?" Noen asks me as we continue walking along the beach. 

"Yea sure! I'm starving!" I say, even though breakfast was only 4 hours ago. 

"Thank god, so am I!" Noen exclaims and we turn to start walking back to the pier. We grab our socks and shoes, heading back to Noen's car. It's about 3 pm now so that means we've been hanging out for a while now. We've completely caught up on each others lives. Along the drive, we talk about Minecraft.
God, we're such nerds. 
Whatever. 
We walk into In n' Out and I tell Noen to order for me because I've never eaten In n' Out before and Noen says he knows the best things to order. While he orders, I go to the outdoor seating and get us a table. Noen comes out about 10 minutes later with two burgers, two milkshakes, and a big box of french fries. I smile and he sits down across from me. We start eating, in an comfortable silence, devouring our food, sharing the french fries.
Wow, this is really good.
As I finish my burger and am just sipping my milkshake, Noen clears his throat. I look up. 

"Yes...?" I ask him. He looks nervous for some reason. He lets out a nervous exhale and I get really worried. 

"Mads..." He starts. 

"Um... yes?" I ask him, anxious. He doesn't respond. "Noen? Are you okay?" 

"No I..." I look at him expectantly. "Mads, I like you. I like you a lot. I have for a very long time. Since before I moved. Since like, seventh grade. Probably earlier. I know you probably don't feel the same but it eats me alive every day, causing anxiety and panic attacks and I don't know what to do. I've tried everything, other girls, distractions, just nothing works. I can't take it anymore. I just had to tell you." He says very quickly, then falls silent. I stay quiet for a second, not wanting to hurt him. 

"Noen, I- I'm so so-" 

"It's ok Mads, you don't have to respond. I understand." He says sadly, but kindly. "Lets just get out of here. I can drive you home." I don't debate him.  He already payed up at the front so we just walk out the doors and into his car. This time, we fall into an awkward silence as we just go to the Hype House. Once we get there, I get out and despite everything, he watches me inside, making sure I'm safe. Once I'm inside, I automatically see Tony lounging on the couch on his phone. He looks up when he hears the door close. 

"Mads! You want to go watch a movie?" He asks sweetly. 

"Yes, of course!" I say forcing a smile. I follow him up to his room (no, nothings going to happen MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER) and he turns on the TV and goes on Netflix. We end up just binging On My Block and then we watch Sharkboy and Lavagirl like the children we are, and I end up falling asleep on his bed. 

(A/N: This was a long chapter, it took a while to write! Oh, also, spoiler alert; Mads is surprising Josh next chapter! Anyways, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed! K, bye bby's💖✌🏻)