Chapter 20 is dedicated to

Thank you for your support ❤

-----------------------------------------------

YASMINE WARREN

Age: 16

---------------------------------------------------

Noah stared at the three smiling faces in front of us and then turned to me with a confused expression.

“Did you invite everyone?”

I nodded. “You said you wanted to hang out, and I know you’ve wanted to meet my friends. So I called them up and asked Yasmine to come too.”

“I thought we would…” he trailed off.

“I should have asked you first,” I frowned. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” he said quickly. “They’re your friends.”

“Hey, Jabba the Hutt.”

Noah turned to me. “But did you have to invite my sister?” he groaned.

Yasmine rolled her eyes at him. “I’m not here for you.”

She glanced behind me eagerly and I looked back to see what she was searching for.

“Isn’t your other friend coming?”

Melissa chuckled at my confused expression. “She’s been waiting for Kevin.”

“Oh,” I smiled apologetically. “I don’t think he’ll come.”

“You said you’d invite him,” she groaned.

“I tried,” I said, giving her a small hug. “He’s probably busy.”

“So you came here to see some guy?” Noah scoffed.

She shoved her phone in his face and pointed at the pictures on Kevin’s Instagram page. “He’s not just some guy.”

She sighed wistfully. “I think he’s my future husband.”

“So does everyone else in the comments,” he taunted. “Go home.”

“You’re not the boss of me. Besides, I’m here to see Lizzy too,” she linked arms with me, pushing Noah out of the way.

“So we finally meet Noah,” Callie said with a smile. “Thanks for taking care of our baby, Liz.”

“How long will you be in the country?” Melissa asked.

“For the rest of the year… maybe longer,” he said, giving me a small glance.

“Stay here forever,” Yasmine stated. “I want to be an only child.”

“Seriously, why did you invite her?” he groaned and we laughed.

“So tell me, Noah,” Callie, said sidling up to him. “Do you have a girlfriend?”

“Uh,” the tips of ears turned pink at her direct question. “No.”

“Callie,” I scolded, but she only grinned.

“Okay, okay,” she laughed and winked at me.

We walked into the arcade. Yasmine trailed behind us, sighing longingly as she scrolled through Kevin’s posts.

The evening went by in a flurry of fun. Callie chewed on a slice of pizza while Melissa chatted with Yasmine who wanted to know all about Kevin.

I was watching Noah, who was shooting some basketballs. It felt so nice being with him again, just like old times.

He was so satisfying. Like popping bubble wrap or untangling earphones in one quick swoop. Or peeling the plastic off a new phone.

Okay, maybe those weren’t the best comparisons, but you know what I’m getting at.

He finished the game and stepped aside proudly, hands in the air.

“Tell me I’m not the best.”

“I can do better,” I grinned, flipping my hair for emphasis.

He threw me a basketball. “It’s all yours.”

“This is how the pros do it,” I smirked, shooting the ball. “You gotta get’cha head in the game.”

It missed the net completely. I blushed as Noah snickered behind me.

“Yeah, the NBA is gonna be drafting you real soon.”

“I only wanna play for the Wildcats,” I laughed. “I missed on purpose.”

“Sure, you did.”

He moved closer to me, his eyes shining with amusement.

“Why don’t I give you a lesson.”

He positioned himself behind me, bent down to my height and placed his hands on mine.

“You have to keep your eyes on the target,” he breathed. “It helps to bend your knees a little and spread your fingers apart.”

I nodded, as his warm breath fanned my face. We were so close. I could feel the muscles under his shirt tense as he moved. If I turned my head even a little more to the left, we would be kissing.

I could smell the all familiar scent of vanilla and sandalwood and my mind whirled a little. I almost wanted to lean into him and take a nap.

Almost.

I shot the ball and it actually went into the net this time. Oh yeah, Wildcats here I come!

“I did it, Noe!”

I whirled around, excitedly, forgetting about how close we were. Noah’s breath hitched in his throat and he bit his lip. I backed up so I wasn’t all up in his space.

He cleared his throat. “That was great.”

“Right!”

I giggled and he let out a sharp sigh and then smiled.

The others had all gone ahead to the food court, so Noah and I wandered around the arcade trying different games. I sucked at most of them, but it was so much fun I didn’t even care.

The virtual reality games were the best because the simulations were so exhilarating. My sides hurt from laughing so much. We completely lost track of time after we finished playing them.

“A toast to a night of games and laughter,” I said, raising my cotton candy in the air like a champagne glass.

“A toast to the best girl I could spend the night with,” Noah mirrored, lifting his cotton candy too.

“Hear, hear!”

I laughed as we tapped the cotton candies together.

I cuddled the large teddy bear Noah had won for me and we went in search of the others.

Our footsteps synced with each other and our hands brushed slightly as we walked. I linked my arm with his and leaned on his shoulder. This was just right.

---------------------------------------------------