SCARLETT
I was on a total high. It was the last day of school before Easter. Noah and I walked along the corridor hand in hand, trailing behind Imogen, Chris, and Bobby.
In two days I was going to my grandparents’ for the weekend, and although I would miss Noah, I couldn’t wait. The Easter egg hunt was at the front of my mind. We’d even probably find a few from last year. No matter how old any of us got, we still had a basket and we still went searching.
“I’ll see you at lunch,” Noah said as we parted ways to go to our one different class.
Imogen pulled me through the door and we took our seats. She was still a little sour about me being with Noah and him not paying her one bit of attention. I tried not to let it bother me, but it was annoying that she couldn’t just be happy for me. If she’d had a boyfriend right now, I was sure it would have been a different story.
“Have you slept with him yet?” she asked.
I was taken aback. Imogen was a little too open with things like that, but I hadn’t expected her to come right out and ask that, especially since we’d only been officially together four weeks, and it’d be my first time.
“No, but thank you for asking.”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t be such a prude. Do you think guys like Noah are going to hang around forever?”
“I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t make him wait forever, and Noah’s not like that.” He really wasn’t. He didn’t make constant sexual innuendos and talk to girls’ breasts. He’d shown me nothing but respect and hadn’t even mentioned us having sex yet. I wasn’t sure where his head was, although when he kissed me, I had a pretty good idea—but he wasn’t the type to push.
“Of course he’s not. You’re too naive.”
“That’s the kind of guy you’re used to, Imogen. They’re not all like that.”
“Wow, thanks so much, Scarlett.”
“Come on! You can’t tell me my boyfriend is going to dump me if I don’t put out and then be offended when I come back with the truth. You’re my friend, Imogen, so I’m going to be honest and tell you when you’re being a cow. You get your heart broken because you go for guys that you know are only after one thing. Sorry, but that doesn’t really leave you much room to complain or judge.”
Mr. Waters started the class, and I’d never been so happy to begin a math lesson before. Imogen pretended to be engrossed in the equations we were given, but I knew she was only doing it to ignore me. I didn’t like hurting my friend, but I wasn’t going to take her crap.
My phone vibrated once in my pocket and thankfully Mr. Waters was over on the other side of the room helping someone, so he hadn’t heard it. I slid the phone halfway out of my pocket and opened the message. It was from Noah, of course, and said “My place after school. Everyone is out.”
It wasn’t often that we got time alone, so I sent back an immediate reply of “yes” and shoved my phone back away.
School passed far too slowly but that was only because it was the last day. Noah and I walked back to his place after I’d gotten the okay and a “back by nine o’clock” reminder from my mum. I hadn’t told Imogen about Noah’s text because she would only give me that I-told-you-so expression that I could do without. It wasn’t her business anyway.
“So where are your parents and Finn?” I asked.
“Mum and Dad are visiting friends and won’t be back until the early hours of the morning, and Finn is taking a girl from work out on a date. Hopefully he won’t be back before I have to get you home.”
“I’m sure he won’t, unless the date is really bad.”
He squeezed my hand. “Let’s hope they like each other then.”
We got back to his house, and he went straight in the kitchen, knowing I needed a post-school snack. He and his family were all health freaks though, so I knew I wouldn’t be getting chips or chocolate. That didn’t matter; their food was amazing and healthy.
Noah fixed us some carrot and cucumber sticks; fresh, homemade bread; cheese; and dip. We sat down in the living room to eat and watch their TV that looked like it belonged in a museum. They weren’t big on TV.
We ate snuggled up on the sofa. It was perfect.
“So, what’re you cooking for dinner to top this?” I asked, taking a bite of carrot.
“I thought you might cook for me. You know, since you are the one leaving me for four days.”
Shrugging one shoulder, I leaned further into him. “Sure, if you don’t mind oven french fries and a frozen pizza.”
Like I thought, he turned his nose up. “No, thanks. I’ll teach you to cook something decent.”
“Pizza is decent.”
“Freshly made pizza is decent,” he countered.
“You’re teaching me to make fresh pizza? Like, the dough too?”
“Yes.”
This could end badly, but I was surprisingly excited. We weren’t completely alone much, and this was likely to be the only time before I went away. I was glad we weren’t just spending the afternoon watching the TV. “All right. Don’t let me ruin it though.”
“You won’t ruin it.”
We went up to his room to chill before starting dinner. I sat on his bed and Noah stood by his desk, tapping his fingers on his sketchpad. He was incredible and could draw pictures that looked like photographs—it was breathtaking. He’d only just let me see them, and I seriously hated him for how much artistic talent he had. I had none.
I could tell he was considering showing me something but was nervous and maybe a little unsure of it. Suppressing the urge to beg him to show me, I pretended to look around his room. The decision had to come from him.
He bit his lip, picked the pad up, and held it close to his chest. “I’ve been working on something.”
My eyes lit up. “I know. You’ve been keeping it hidden. Are you ready to share?” He would absolutely not let me see anything that was unfinished.
“I am, but I’m worried.”
“Why?”
“You have to promise me it won’t scare you. It’s something I have been thinking about recently.”
“I won’t freak, I promise. What is it?”
“Well, even though we have only been together a month, I do think about our future, and I’m not saying I want to rush into anything, but it is on my mind.”
I held my hands out, on cloud nine. “Show me!”
Taking a deep breath, he gave me the pad and turned away. He hated watching someone looking through his work. It was really personal to him, and I loved that he shared it with me.
I flipped the pad over and the picture made my heart stop. It was me and him, probably about four years older than we were now, standing outside a beautiful wooden house, surrounded by a meadow.
“You said you wanted to live in the city, in a posh apartment, but I couldn’t see it. I hope you don’t hate this,” he said.
“Are you kidding? This is incredible.” It brought tears to my eyes. I loved him and our mapped-out future so much I thought I might burst. How could he think I would freak out? This was perfect. I was fairly certain that unless he cheated or killed someone, he was with the one I wanted to spend my life with.
There was no way anything could be as beautiful or peaceful in the city. Everything changed as I stared at the drawing of us, arms around each other, happy as a person could be, surrounded by nature. I wanted that. I wanted to live a life with Noah where we’d have more time to enjoy things, rather than rushing around a busy city, taking hours to get anywhere, and bumping into people every second. I wanted our house to be surrounded by land we could enjoy and fresh air.
“I want this too, Noah. I have even less idea of what I’d do if we lived in the country like this, but I want it more than a built-up city. I don’t care if I don’t earn as much money.”
He finally looked at me, and his smile melted me. “You have no idea how much I want it too.”
“Well, it’s done,” I said, my voice thick with emotion. “After university, we’ll move to the country and live the simple life. I want goats and those cute little micro pigs.”
Laughing, he sat beside me and stroked my jaw, stealing my breath. “You want a farm?”
“If I’m living in the country like this, I want animals.”
I spent the next hour watching him draw pictures of my animals. He laughed through the whole thing, even adding chicks, rabbits, a cow, and a llama. I added a stick sheep with a bad woolly body. It was stupid fun.
At six we went downstairs to make the pizzas. Noah got the ingredients, and I got a wooden bowl and spoon. He didn’t bother measuring anything out, so I left him to put everything in and I just stirred it until it was thick enough to knead.
Noah slapped the dough down on the countertop and smirked. “Go on, get kneading!”
It was gross. I hated when things stuck to my hands and it greatly amused him, but I was having fun cooking with him.
I pushed the dough down with the palm of my hand and froze.
Noah, sensing something was wrong, asked, “You okay?”
I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. “Yeah, just had a major sense of déjà vu.”
“Really? With what?”
“Kneading this with my palm. I’ve never done it before, so it must be from when I attempted chocolate chip Christmas tree cookies with Mum a few years ago.”
“Strange,” he said with a shrug. “Hey, perhaps you have done this before, you just don’t remember it.”
I looked down. “Noah, please.”
“No.” He lifted my chin and bent down to look right into my eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m not bringing it up again, and I don’t want to upset you.”
“No, I overreacted. You’re allowed to talk about it. Wow, I really am different, aren’t I?”
“Yes, you are.” Ouch. “You are completely different to everyone else because there is no one else that is perfect to me or for me. Different is not a bad thing.”
He was still at the same height as me, so I leaned forward and kissed him. His arms quickly wound around my back, and I was pulled onto my tiptoes, flush with his chest. My hands were still gross and sticky from the dough, but that didn’t seem to worry him as I gripped his hair.
Noah pushed me against the countertop and ran his hands down my back. When I felt my insides burst into flames, I pulled back. I had the desire to be with him, but I wasn’t ready. Why couldn’t my body and mind be more in sync?
He kissed my forehead, breathing just a little too fast. “We should get the dough kneaded and rested soon, or this pizza is going to be awful.”
I took a deep breath and tried to get my body under control. “Sounds good. I’m getting hungry.”
We spent the rest of the evening relaxing together. We didn’t mention my loss of memory again because it always turned things tense between us. I hoped he would get past the oddness of it or I would remember already, because I didn’t want anything causing friction between us.
I spent the next couple days—supervised—with Noah, and then it was time to go to my grandparents’. I wasn’t sad that I wouldn’t see him, although I’d miss him, because we were keeping in touch and, as he’d said, we had our whole lives ahead of us, so what was four little days? I seriously loved him.