SCARLETT
One hundred and eleven. That was how many texts had gone back and forth between me and Noah in the six days we’d known each other. It was a ridiculous amount of texts to send a virtual stranger. But he didn’t feel like a stranger. We’d talked about almost everything—our likes and dislikes, family, friends, funniest moments, darkest moments. Although there was a lot more to learn about each other, I felt that I knew him pretty well already. He seemed determined to know everything there was to know about plain old me.
After a full school week of flirting our butts off, I had fully entered the obsessive realm, and now my every thought pretty much involved Noah. I annoyed myself and was sure my family now hated me.
“I’m leaving in a minute,” I said to my parents.
“Who’s meeting you?”
“No one. I’m walking to Noah’s; then we’re heading to town together.”
One of Dad’s dark eyebrows lifted. “We’ll take you to this Noah kid’s house. It’s about time we meet him.”
“What?” No, that was not happening.
“Honey, you don’t expect us to let you go to the house of someone you barely know and we’ve never met, do you?” Mum said.
“Yes! That is exactly what I expect. Noah’s fine.”
“I’m sure he is, but if you’re going to be hanging out with him outside of school, then we need to know him,” Dad added. “I’ll just get the keys.”
“You can’t be serious. Why’re you doing this to me? Do you have any idea how embarrassing it’s going to be when I show up with my parents?” Did they skip being teenagers altogether?
Jeremy laughed. “I’m really enjoying this.”
Glaring at him, I said, “I hate you.”
“All right, drama queen,” Mum said. “Get your jacket and we’ll go now.”
“Can you at least wait in the car?”
“That defeats the objective of meeting Noah.”
Following her, I grumbled, “I know.”
Ten minutes later, I knocked on Noah’s door and took a deep breath. He hadn’t told me if his parents were home or not; mine were standing behind me. A guy that looked like Noah opened the door. His brother.
“Are you Scarlett?” he asked.
“Yep. You’re Finn, right?” He nodded and stepped aside. “This is my mum and dad, Marissa and Jonathan.”
“It is nice to meet you all. Come in. He is around somewhere. Can I get you anything? You thirsty?”
I shook my head. “I’m good, thanks.”
“No, thank you, Finn,” Dad said. “Are your parents home?”
“Yes, in the kitchen. Come through.”
I followed Finn into a glossy, white kitchen. He sat on a stool at the counter, so I followed, wishing Noah would hurry up. Why hadn’t Finn called for him?
Noah’s parents turned around. They were both effortlessly beautiful, just like their sons.
“Marissa and Jonathan, these are my parents, Bethan and Shaun.”
Bethan’s eyes lit up. “Scarlett! It is so lovely to finally meet you. And I am so glad your parents came too. Jonathan, Marissa, how do you do?”
“So, what are you going to see?” Noah’s carbon-copy big brother asked me.
“No idea. We just go and see whatever’s on. It’s kind of a thing my friends and I do.”
“Really? Have you seen many awful movies?”
“Tons,” I replied.
Finn smiled, and it made him look even more handsome, though not as much as Noah—but then, I was pretty much obsessed with his younger brother.
“Do I need to ask what your intentions with Noah are?” he asked, fighting another smile.
Laughing, I swiveled on my stool and rested my arms on the counter. “I promise my intentions are good.”
“He will be so disappointed,” he replied, winking. “Tell me about yourself, Scarlett.”
“Not much to tell really.”
“So you are the average teenager? No skeletons in your closet?”
I held my finger up. “I stole a chocolate bar from a sweet shop when I was ten. But I felt so bad that I couldn’t eat it.”
He laughed. “A regular little rebel, aren’t you?”
“Totally badass,” I replied, killing the American accent with one syllable.
“I thought I heard the door,” Noah said, eyes widening when he saw my parents chatting to his. “Why didn’t you call me, Finn?”
“If you weren’t too busy doing your hair, you would have been down here to let her in, girlie.”
Ah, brotherly love.
“Sorry about my brother,” Noah said. “And these are your parents?”
Mum and Dad turned around, and another round of introductions started.
I watched my dad closely. His shoulders relaxed, and he smiled as he spoke to Noah. Yes! Clearly he didn’t think Noah was about to murder me.
“I guess we should get going and let these kids get to the theater,” Mum said. “It was lovely to meet you all; we’ll have to get together sometime.”
Bethan touched Mum’s arm. “That would be fantastic. We don’t know very many people here.”
“Ready?” I asked Noah. “Or do you need more time to do your hair?”
Finn laughed, offering his hand for a high five. I slapped it, earning a glare from the guy I couldn’t seem to get out of my head.
“Okay, you are never meeting my brother again,” Noah said, pulling me off the stool. I swooned inwardly at the feel of his soft-yet-firm hand covering mine.
We made a quick exit, leaving my parents to continue talking to his, and set out for the shortcut to town. I was so looking forward to spending time with him outside school, I was practically skipping.
“Favorite holiday?”
“Hmm,” I murmured. “It’s between Christmas and Easter. Probably Easter.”
“Why Easter?”
“We go to visit my grandparents, and they put on a massive Easter egg hunt. They own a farm, so it literally takes all day to find the eggs. Then we light a fire in their living room, drink hot chocolate, and eat our eggs. Sugar coma central, but I love it. Three months to go!”
Noah grinned down at me.
“What about you?”
He frowned. “Holidays aren’t that big in my family. Christmas, I suppose. So you will be away over Easter?”
“Yep. In Cornwall, so we’ll be there Thursday night until Monday afternoon. My friends usually do something Monday night if you want to come too?”
“What do you do?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Just hang out. Imogen has an outdoor pool, so we spend the day in the water. The guys burn barbecue food.”
“You go in an outdoor swimming pool in April?”
“Yeah. Last year was okay, but the year before, the English weather was not kind to us.”
“You still did it?”
“Yep, it’s tradition.”
“Crazy tradition,” he muttered, making me laugh. “What about your birthday? Anything planned yet?”
“I’m trying to convince my dad to let me have it at an all-ages club.”
“He doesn’t want to?”
“He thinks people will sneak drinks in and would rather it be at our house.”
“They could sneak drinks in there too.”
I threw my hands up. “Thank you! He’ll give in soon though. I’m sure.”
“He’s not good at saying no to you?”
We approached the theater, and I saw my friends standing outside. I wanted longer alone time with him.
“He’s crap at telling me no.” We reached everyone else. “And here we are. Hey, guys.”
“Hey,” Imogen said, immediately taking a not-so-subtle step closer to Noah. “We can’t decide between scary or romantic.”
“Yes, we can,” Bobby said. “I ain’t watchin’ nothin’ lovey, so we’re going for the slasher.”
Imogen rolled her eyes. “Fine! Whatever.”
“Slasher is cool with me,” I said. “Noah?”
He raised his eyebrow as if to say, “Or romance, really?”
Bobby clapped his hands together. “Settled then. It’s showin’ in half an hour, so should we go to the arcade first?”
With previews, it’d be an hour before the film actually started.
Without answering Bobby’s question, we set off toward the arcade opposite the movie theater. Imogen stormed ahead. Since they’d broken up last year, Imogen had been cold with Bobby—because he had broken up with her. She didn’t like that. Imogen Forest wasn’t supposed to be dumped.
“I think I’m going kick your butt at air hockey,” Noah said, nudging me with his elbow.
“Probably. I suck.”
Chris gave me a disapproving look. He knew I didn’t suck. I was actually champ of our group, but that didn’t mean I could beat Noah. I had no idea how he played, so I didn’t want him to know I was good.
“Yep, Scar-Scar couldn’t hit it straight if her life was on the line.”
“Thanks, Chrissie!”
When I had first arrived at school, Chris had been the one to show me around, and he had taken me in to his group of friends, who I quickly adopted as mine too.
We got in the arcade, and the guys went to change some money into tokens. Chris grabbed my arm and took me aside. “What’s going on with you and the new boy?”
Trying not to grin like a moron, I shrugged. “Not much.”
“Not much? You two are all flirty, flirty, gonna suck each other’s faces off any minute. He’s watching us right now, trying to work out if there’s anything going on. Should I kiss you?” His face lit up with mischief.
I whacked his arm. “Don’t you dare, Christopher.”
“Fine, Miss Boring. Has he not tried anything yet?”
“I’ve known him two minutes.”
Imogen slotted beside us and raised her perfectly plucked eyebrows. “Maybe he’s gay.”
“So what if he is?” I replied, secretly hoping he wasn’t.
Chris rolled his eyes. “He’s not gay! Clearly he just knows you’re not easy.”
He was having a dig at Imogen, because Im wasn’t playing along with the best-friend thing. If she hadn’t been attracted to Noah, she would have been as supportive as Chris.
We all looked over to Noah, who was watching me, talking to someone on his phone, and frowning. He looked away as I made eye contact.
“What’s that about?” Chris said.
Imogen smirked and shrugged. “Probably his girlfriend.”
“Shut up, Im,” I said.
Noah hung up, slipped the phone in his pocket, and jogged back to us.
“Everything okay?” I asked. Please don’t have a girlfriend! It would be pretty crappy of him if he had. We’d been flirting and texting constantly.
“Everything is fine,” he said, casually throwing his arm over my shoulder. It was a friendly move, but it made my insides turn to mush. Imogen rolled her eyes and turned away. I didn’t really care what she thought.
We walked to the air hockey table with Noah’s arm around me and Chris winking over my shoulder. I wasn’t complaining.