The next couple of days blew by in an instant. Noah and Amanda took Lee and me out to breakfast at some hipster place where the oatmeal came in mason jars and the bacon was high-quality organic stuff that made your mouth water just to smell it. They showed us around campus and took us to a bar they liked that held underage theme nights for college students. We ordered pizza and ate it in Amanda’s dorm room over a game of Risk, and we went into the city so Noah and Amanda could show Lee and me their favorite haunts.
Noah and Lee got a little tired of me wanting to stop every couple of yards to take pictures, but Amanda could not have been a more obliging photographer. She climbed halfway up a tree to get a cute shot of me outside a brownstone with the most adorable cherry blossoms and planters, and she wheedled the boys into shining their phone flashlights at the right angle to get a photo of me hanging off a lamppost like I was in Singin’ in the Rain.
It was a wonderful couple of days, but…on a completely selfish level, I was relieved when Lee packed up his car to drive out to Brown to meet Rachel and her parents. And, fine, okay, I knew that made me a terrible person, but I had hardly seen Noah all year, and so far, we’d hardly spent any time alone.
So, despite a completely wonderful couple of days hanging out in a group, I wasn’t exactly sorry to be standing beside Lee’s Mustang. He shoved a handful of empty candy-bar wrappers at me that we’d missed when we cleared the garbage out after we arrived.
“Text me when you get there safe. And say hi to Rachel from me.”
“Yes, Mom.” He rolled his eyes but grinned. “You take care of yourself, too, Shelly. No wild parties, no heavy drinking, all that jazz…”
“Yes, Dad,” I shot back at him. “I’ll see you in a few days?”
“That you will, kid.”
He pulled me in for a hug, and as we parted, he gave me a sloppy kiss on the cheek and I ruffled his hair.
After I’d waved Lee off, I walked back to the dorms, where Noah was waiting for me. “You sure you’ll be able to cope without him?”
“It’s only a couple of days,” I scoffed. But he had a point. Lee and I had hardly ever been apart. The few family vacations we’d had in the last few years we’d often taken together. When we were kids, we’d beg our parents to let the other one come along. They gave in for the first time when we were eight, and we didn’t make it an easy habit for them to quit.
“It’ll be good practice for you guys, in case you don’t end up at Berkeley together,” Noah said nonchalantly, throwing his arm around my shoulder and drawing me close. He nuzzled my face. “Never too late to put in an application for a school somewhere near Boston, you know…”
Instead of answering him, I said, “Guess we’ve got some time to ourselves.” I ran my finger over the motif on his T-shirt.
Noah drew me even closer, until I was flush against him. “Oh, yeah?”
“There you guys are!”
I couldn’t help gritting my teeth. Amanda might have had a cute British accent and been infectiously likeable, but right then, I wanted to shove her back through the door, grab Noah’s hand, and run.
“Great news. A bunch of us are going to Shay’s tonight. We’ll grab some dinner there, too. You’ll love it, Elle. It’s like, sort of a dive bar, but kind of cute? I mean, they have a Brie plate. It’s to die for. And the Riesling is delicious.”
All I could do was stare slack-jawed into the expanse of Noah’s chest in front of me. Brie plates? Riesling? I suddenly felt totally out of my depth. Besides, I just wanted to spend the evening with Noah. Surely that didn’t make me a bad person, wanting some alone time with my boyfriend?
I looked at Noah, hoping he’d turn it down on behalf of both of us.
But he was smiling at Amanda and saying, “Awesome. You’ll love it, Elle. And you’ll get to meet everyone.”
“Am I a terrible person?”
Levi didn’t hesitate. “Absolutely. The worst. I mean, come on, Elle. What kind of monster wants to spend time with their significant other instead of carrying on the group hang for, like, day number four? Reddit would definitely agree. You are in the wrong here.”
“Levi, I’m serious.”
Noah was in the shower. I dithered in the hallway, my shoe wedged in the door of his room to keep it open. I’d told Noah, after we’d hung out with Amanda for a little while longer, that it would be nice to spend some time just us, but he didn’t seem to get it. He just kept telling me how much fun it would be and how much I’d love it.
So I’d done the only thing I could do at that point.
I’d called my good buddy Levi.
After Lee, I’d class Levi as my best friend. And I didn’t want to complain to Lee about it because I didn’t want him to think I’d resented him being around the last few days. It’d be a kick in the face if he thought I was picking Noah over him. Especially after he’d just driven all the way across the country with me so I could see my boyfriend.
Levi, though, he got it. He’d had a serious relationship back in Detroit, before he’d moved to California. He’d been in love. He got this kind of thing more than the other guys did. And sometimes it was good to have someone to talk to who wasn’t Lee.
“Did you tell him you don’t want to go hang out with everyone?”
“Yeah, but…I didn’t push it. That also makes me sound like a jerk. You know, like, ‘No, Noah, I don’t want to hang out with any of your friends. I don’t want to go out and do things and be sociable on your spring break.’ ”
“Hmm, okay, that’s tough. Can you fake being sick and stay in?”
I kicked at the doorframe, scrunching my nose. “No. He’d stay back to look after me, and it’s pretty obvious I’m not sick.”
“Cramps?”
“For a period he knows I had last week?”
“Man, you guys are close.”
“Lee’s mom drilled it into her sons pretty early on that periods are nothing to be embarrassed about. She never wanted me to feel awkward about it. Especially when it’s just my dad and brother at home.”
“She’s a sweetheart.” Levi was quiet for a minute. “But, I mean, cramps could still work.”
I rolled my eyes, but he’d made me smile, at least. “I’m just gonna have to tough it out. Maybe it’ll just be dinner and we’ll head home.”
“Don’t bet on it, Elle. You’re hanging with cool college kids now.”
“Hey, I called you to make me feel better. You’re being the worst friend.”
“I’ll send you some memes to make up for it. The plum poem is making the rounds on Twitter.”
“Ugh, again?”
“You know I’m a big fan of poetry memes, Elle.”
He was. He’d sent me, like, fifteen different haikus about a viral meme a couple of weeks ago. It was niche. But it was pretty funny.
“I gotta get back to work. My break’s almost up.”
“Sure. Thanks, Levi.”
“Any time. Let me know how it goes. Have fun!”
“I’ll try,” I mumbled, and hung up. I sighed and kicked the doorframe again. I went back into the room. Noah was out of the shower, already dressed and rubbing a towel over his hair.
“Hey, who were you talking to?”
“I was just on the phone.”
“Lee? He there already?”
“No, it was—it was Levi.”
Noah nodded. It was awkward—he was obviously trying to look nonchalant. He shrugged one shoulder, still nodding. “Cool, cool.”
“Just catching up. He was on his break at work.”
“Cool.”
I appreciated how hard Noah was trying. It was how I tried not to be jealous of Amanda. Except Noah hadn’t kissed Amanda. But I had kissed Levi.
I stepped up behind Noah, wrapped my arms around his torso, and pressed a kiss into his shoulder. I could feel how tense he was. “I love you.”
He relaxed. “Love you, too, Elle.”
I hesitated. All we were getting was a couple of stolen hours here and there—and most of them when we were tired and going to bed after such a busy day with Amanda and Lee. It wasn’t selfish of me to want an evening with just the two of us; Levi would have told me straight if he thought so.
“You sure you don’t wanna stay in tonight?” I murmured. “We could start watching that new series on Netflix, the one with the detective…”
“Don’t tell me you’re nervous about meeting my friends, Shelly.” Noah turned around. He put his hand on my cheek and his thumb tilted my chin up to look at him as he smiled crookedly at me, his eyes sparkling. “Is it because they’re college kids?”
I knew I could have just been honest with him, but, hey, there was always tomorrow. We still had time before Lee returned and he and I headed back to California. What was one more night sharing Noah with his friends?
I threw my hands in the air and said, “Okay, you caught me. I’m worried I’ll look like a total dork in front of your cool football-playing, Toni Morrison–reading, Riesling-drinking college friends.”
“Trust me, Elle.” His other hand came up to cup my cheek and he bent to kiss me. “They’ll love you.”