Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.

I roll my eyes and put on my earbuds as a text from Novalee comes through.

Novalee: study at ur placeeee??

Me: sure, wait an hour tho.

Novalee: why???

Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.

How the fuck can I still hear it over my music?

Me: Xan's got company and they r getting it done. don't think you wanna hear it.

Novalee: what does that even mean????

Me: ...

Novalee: ?????

Me: they're fucking, love. they're fucking.

Novalee: ohhhh

Novalee: come to my place then, why are you listening in?!?!?!

Me: im used to this shit, but yeah ill be there in ten.

I shove my phone into the pocket of my sweatpants as I start gathering my things. I throw my backpack over my shoulder and walk out of the room. "Right there, Xan." A high-pitched voice fills my ears before the next song plays. I can't help but chuckle as I walk downstairs. He doesn't even try to hide the fact that he's having sex. I guess the girls he does it with don't give a fuck either. Sadly, I was the only one besides Xan so I'm the one who chose to suffer.

I pick up an ambrosia apple from our fruit bowl and head outside to my car.

Fifteen minutes later, I'm up in Nova's dorm, taking out my notebook and computer on her bed. It was only two days ago that Maddy came to my house and told me to lay off Novalee. I have. Honestly though, I think I started laying back after that second kiss. I knew it probably shouldn't have happened and Maddy just confirmed my thoughts.

I still want to be Nova's friend though, so obviously I haven't completely blown her off. "How have your other classes been?" We study together a lot now, but mostly speech since we both take the class. I still ask her about her other classes and help her out with those too. "Fine, I'm actually keeping up with my work." Her eyes lighten. I nod, "Good job." I say, hopping onto the bed. If she's telling the truth, then I'd say my learning techniques have helped.

"Are you almost done with your speech? It's due this Friday." She nods and hands me her laptop. I go over her outline and she's halfway done with it. It's really good too. "This is good, Nov! Finish it today so that you won't have to worry about it last minute." She nods her head plenty of times. "I plan on it. I finished my work for the week so this is my last assignment!" She smiles.

I return it and continue on the homework I was doing back at the house before I got distracted with moans. I'm finishing up an essay for one of my classes. It's a fifteen-page research paper and I'm already twelve pages in. It's a midterm paper and the midterm isn't due for another week which is enough time for me to finish it up. "Have you been studying for midterms?" I ask.

Fuck, I'm being so weird and quieter than usual.

I haven't seen her since before Maddy came to my house, but by the looks of it, she has no idea her best friend visited me. She would have mentioned it. "Yess, Christian. I got this handled, thanks to you, of course." She has been doing better. I'm relieved by it. I only nod. "Ugh, I'm so nervous to present." She says.

I furrow my brows slightly. "You did great when we presented last time and this one's easier and shorter, don't worry about it," I reassure her. She smiles a bit but shakes her head. "The only reason I wasn't nervous was because you were up there with me." She bites her fingernails nervously. It's a bad habit of hers.

"You'll do fine." I pat her calf. She looks at me for a moment, narrowing her eyes. "Okay. Spill. What's going on?" She says. I furrow my brows. What the hell is she talking about? I guess she's figured me out.

"You're not the only one who can read people. You seem fine, but you're acting weird." She leans back against the wall, arms crossed across her chest now. "No, I'm not." I don't think she'll confront me about the kiss because every time I mentioned our first one before, she would blush a little too much. She's confident when she's kissing me, but she does not like talking about it afterward.

"I'm gonna kick you."

"No, you're not."

She pulls her foot up slightly but I grab her heel before she can kick me. She huffs and pulls her foot away from my hand. "Don't be mean, Johänson." She tucks a strand of loose hair from her ponytail behind her ear. "I'm not being mean, but I can be." She challenges. I raise my eyebrows slightly. I can't even take her seriously when she's being 'mean'. She's too nice.

"Really?" I ask. She nods, arms still crossed. "Try me." I shoot. She looks away from me like the answers are somewhere in this room. She looks back at me. "You're losing your game this Saturday, ha!" She smirks. How mean. I chuckle, "we're definitely not. Try again." I straighten up from my lying position. "Maddy told me the team you guys are playing are way better than you." She retorts.

What the hell is up with that girl and her opinions? I can't confidently say we'll win because UCLA has a really good team this year and they're undefeated so far just like us, but we're going to try our best. There has to be a loser this Saturday and it won't be Oak Hill. "Maddy doesn't play on the field, tell her to keep quiet." I point a finger at her. She rolls her eyes, "Is she wrong?" She challenges. Yes and no.

"Very wrong. Go and you'll see." The season started a couple of weeks ago, but we've been practicing since the summer and working on our chemistry, something we didn't much of my sophomore year. Sure we won a bowl game, but that's not a National Title. We won the National Title my freshman year, but I was barely playing back then. We're currently 4-0 and hopefully 5-0 this Saturday. We have our doubters, but I'm sure we'll be fine.

"Hm. Maybe." She says. She's only been to one of the games so far and it was the first one. I've been trying to get her to go, but she never wants to. Her phone rings on the bed and her eyes widen. I furrow my brows in confusion and before I can ask who it is, she answers. "Hello?" She squeaks. She covers her mouth in embarrassment.

I chuckle softly, but I'm curious. Could it be a guy? I can't hear the voice on the line since she doesn't have it on speaker, so I only hear one side of the conversation.

"Really? That's so great!"

"Hmm, I'm free anytime between November 26-29. Is that too late?"

"Okay, okay. Can't wait to see you again!"

"Okay, bye!" She pulls the phone away from her ear and her face is lit up. "Uh, everything okay?" She looks up at the sound of my voice, placing a hand over her heart. "I forgot you were here for a sec!" I frown and she looks back at her phone. "That was my agent! He hadn't contacted me in a while and I got worried but turns out he was looking for projects for me!" She says enthusiastically.

I smile. "And I'm assuming he found something?" I question. She nods her head quickly. "The show starts filming next year in June which is perfect. They're holding auditions all throughout November, so I'll be going down to L.A. during that small Thanksgiving break." She smiles.

"That's fucking amazing, Nov. I hope it works out well this time." I say genuinely. I know how much this means to her and how much she's wanted it for a while now. She nods again, still not looking up from her phone. "If I don't get the part, you may have to kiss me again so that I'll feel better."

My mouth gapes a bit. She looks up at me from her phone slowly. "Oh my gosh, I did not mean that! I swear!" She hides her face behind her hands, but I already saw how flushed she is. Fuck. I hope Maddy was wrong. She can't like me already, right? No. She doesn't. I'm fine, I just can't string her along.

I chuckle forcefully. "Nova, it's fine. I know you didn't mean that. Don't worry about it." I say as casually as possible. She uncovers her face slowly, looking at me. Her face still has a bit of a blush. "Are you sure?" She whispers. I roll my eyes playfully. "Yes, it was an 'in the moment' type of thing, right?" I add quotation marks when I say this. She nods quickly. "Definitely. Both times."

I shake my head. "No need to make it bigger than it is then. I know your mouth moves before your brain can even process what you're saying." I chuckle. Count on Novalee to say the worst things at the worst possible moments. It's happened to her a couple of times already, it's actually funny sometimes. Though I don't think she'd be a good guest at a funeral.

She chuckles, "Sorry." I shake my head again. "Stop apologizing." She nods. "Okay."