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"How about I carry the the back seat of the cab
"We live on the third floor, Mr Macho" I wondered for the millionth time e didn’t live on the first floor Lana always said it was good exercise, but she never had to practically drag hts of stairs
He looked at the girls dubiously "I don’t think you’re rousing theher terrain, so I think I can h about the sa and the proe to wake Lana or Aently pushed me aside "Keys?" I pulled out my apartment key and handed it to Noah He hefted Amy in his arms and disappeared inside the house
"Lana, I think I’m in trouble," I whispered to her passed-out for to be in our apart I wish you were awake to protect me from myself" Lana moaned in response, and I stroked her head
Noah returned and wasn’t one bit out of breath He hoisted Lana onto his shoulder, and I shut the doors to the truck The truck’s headlights flashed, and a naled that Noah had locked the doors He o first, but I felt really self-conscious thatin his face When he refused to h and climbed the stairs I hoped he liked juicy round ones
Noah had placed Amy on the sofa when he came back for Lana, so I led hiet A side-by-side on the bed, I shooed Noah out of the room and proceeded to take off Lana and Amy’s shoes I wiped Lana’s face doith a ipe so she wouldn’t have to wake up withmy sweet ti I was pretty sure I couldn’t handle Noah alone in est fear was that I would break down in front of higing him to my bedroom
I listened for the front door but it didn’t open or close Instead, I heard sounds of life out in the living rooerator filled the air momentarily, and I could hear water rush into the kitchen sink
Finally, past the point of being rude, I took a deep breath, rolled hter ready to start the match, and went out to face ainst the kitchen counter drinking a glass of water "Do you lass towards I shookroorateful to at least be in my own space
He came over, almost hesitantly, and I watched with perverse enjoyment as he sat down on the sex sofa But maybe he didn’t care He probably had his own sex sofa where he brought the girls he’d strung along for years I felt a twinge of so like disappointment that I hadn’t even warranted an invitation to Noah’s sex sofa
He didn’t say anything and neither did I Instead I stared at his hands and the complicated atch on his arm I didn’t know anyone ore a watch We all kept time by our phones
Noah’s watch was thick and had multiple dials and faces I idly wondered if it kept tih time
"What--" my voice cracked as I broke the silence "--what is it that you want?"
"That’s a loaded question A lot," he said after a pause "For now, though, to be friends again"
"Were we ever?"
"When I was three years in, I made E-4 It’s this weird position where you aren’t the lowest person on the totem pole anyoal for uess, is to make E-5, but you only er than four years The idea was always to get in, get eligible for the GI Bill, and get out," he paused I still hadn’t looked at him, but I heard him lift the drink and take a sip
"Grace, please," he touched e of the sex sofa, and his body was now only inches away fro to look at hi attention Of course I was I hung on every word I was embarrassed So I turned htly touching uess, because he continued
"But I enjoyed being in the Corps Remember the letter that you sent where you explained that you kept going to parties with Lana but you never felt like you fit in, even after years of being with the same kids?" I looked up, surprised he remembered that, and nodded His eyes were pinned on hten on the top of mine and I didn’t move away Not an inch I couldn’t
"And I wrote you back and told you how the Marineshe was reeling
"I kept thinking that ht place for s that made think maybe a career in the Marines wasn’t forhi al in my apartment where Noah was so close I could smell hiainst a pine tree in theI, on the other hand, sarettes from the party He must have just arrived e ran into each other
His hand felt rough but steady, his brown hair was h itaard, it invited a touch to sernails into the pal just that
His forearms were dusted with dark hair and his biceps stood out in relief against the T-shirt, ns of late evening growth, and I wondered if they would feel scratchy or soft against my skin
My eyes traveled across his jawline up to his lips They looked soft, but slightly chapped, as if he had been exposed to too lad my hand was palm down I suspected that it eaty, and I could feel my pulse had picked up
Each raph Click Click Click No es out and look at the Crinkles were for at me
I had lost the train of our conversation, but Noah easily picked it up again
"Anyhen I read your letter, I just wasn’t sure what I was going to do and I felt…" he paused and looked away fro to say He felt that I was too eriripped it tighter
"I knohat you felt" I couldn’t keep the accusatory tone out of my voice
"Do you? Because I was really confused at that tied again and this tiain A tic, then A giveaway that he was frustrated By the look of his hair, he must have been frustrated at least a dozen times today
I knew I didn’t want to hear whatever lame excuse he could come up with about why he hadn’t wanted tohere and why he was haunting me around campus
"Why are you here, at Central?" I specified so he wouldn’t respond with so lame, like "because I drove you home"
"It’s the Harvard of the Midwest?" Noah countered The state if I bought his response I didn’t
"What about ‘Bo won’t move north of the Mason Dixon line,’" I countered
"I ested it was a lot warht that?’