"Let's go!" One of the guys shout, after making it.

"Your turn, Brianna." Noah tells me.

I'm still distracted by the fact that I'm less than 12 feet away from Marcus.

I look at him, and he's staring at me.

"Go on, Rose. Your turn." He says, almost angrily.

So he does remember me.

"We can leave." Noah whispers in my ear.

"I don't wanna leave." I mumble, almost angrily.

He takes in a sharp breath and backs up.

I try and fail.

Noah comes up behind me.

"Here, this is how you're supposed to do it."

He grabs my arms, puts the ball in my hand, and controls my hand."

"Then you throw it downward from right here where I put your hand."

I throw it.

He moves his hands from my arms to my waist.

"See, it works perfectly." He says as the ball bounces its way into the cup.

I nod, unable to speak because of the hot British guy holding me right now.

He slowly let's go.

We continue to play until it's my turn again.

"Remember what I showed you." Noah whispers in my ear.

Is he trying to be like that? Does he like me?

I take in a breath and try what he showed me. It works.

I scream in excitement. I turn around and face him. Before I can think about it, I run up to him and he picks me up by my legs and I kiss him. He didn't protest, he just kissed me back.

It wasn't a long romantic kiss like in the movies, it was short but enjoyable and just as full.

He smiles at me.

"Piercings." I tease.

He once again puts me down slowly, and we continue to play. I avoid looking at Marcus because I wouldn't be able to stand the awkward stares between us, but I do give a small side glance.

Surprisingly, he's not staring at me anymore.

He's directed his stares at Noah, and the stares are full of anger. Marcus' face is so red, I think he might explode. Noah on the other hand, just smirks.

Oh shit.

What the hell have I done?

SUNDAY, AUGUST 25th

That night, I went home and refused to leave Noah. Even though we share an apartment, that didn't seem to be enough for drunk me.

So I slept in his bed with him. It's not the same as laying beside Marcus.

Marcus is warm and not afraid to hold me.

Noah was laying so far away, that each time I scooted closer, he tried to wiggle backwards like he was gonna fall off the bed.

"Sorry, I'm just trying to give you personal space." He would say.

"I don't need space from you."

Then he scooted closer and held me.

But it still didn't feel the same as Marcus.

But it felt right.

But not as right as me and Marcus.

But forget him. The only guy I need is Noah. And the only friend I need is Kayla.

Right?

Now it was morning, and I was still laying in his bed.

He sits up and looks at me.

"Good morning beautiful." He says, smiling.

I guess he assumed we were dating. I've never had a boyfriend so I wouldn't ever tell him "Yeah we are boyfriend and girlfriend." But we can act like it.

It's bad but it's the best way to take my mind off Marcus.

But I do love Noah. I really do.

So it's not so bad is it?

"Morning." I say, returning the smile.

He gets up and goes to the bathroom. While he is in the bathroom, Kayla creeps in.

"Girl what the heck are you doing? Staying in Noah's bed? I thought you liked Marcus, and I know he likes you."

"We saw him last night at the party, he doesn't give a shit about me." I say.

"But you give a 'shit' about him." She says.

"Not anymore."

"Yes you do, Bri. You know you do and you're trying to use Noah to cover it up."

I look down, frowning.

"Look, I'm not mad. And I get it. Trust me, I do. Just please, don't hurt our friend."

After about 30 seconds of silence, she leaves and says she is going to church with some of her family that lives here in Vegas.

She was wearing a beautiful black dress that stopped right above her knees. She had on a pearl necklace like old people wear but nicer and she rocked it. She also was wearing a tiny Kate spade purse.

I tell her bye, and she leaves.

As if on cue, Noah comes out as soon as Kayla leaves the apartment. He has a towel around his waist, so I guess he had taken a shower. That was fast.

He comes in the room and shuts the door behind him.

He comes and sits on the bed.

He runs his hands through his wet hair, and looks at me.

"I heard what Kayla was saying."

I look down once again.

I feel a hand on my chin, and he lifts my head up gently.

"I know you probably miss Marcus, and I know that you might be using me to distract yourself. But I'm willing to be your distraction. I will be your distraction up until you figure stuff out, and if you want to be with me, I will be happy with that, and if not, I will still be fine. I will always love you and if being your distraction helps, I'm willing to be that for you."

I smile, and he leans in and kisses me.

It was a small peck on the lips, but it was genuine.

He understood, and he was okay with that.

Damn foreign boys are the best. Marcus is from El Salvador, and Noah is from Britain in the UK.

He gets dressed and I eventually get up and go take a shower.

While I'm in the shower, I look at my arms. I see my old scars and the obvious scars that have been stitched because of how deep they were. The hospital stitched them, because they wouldn't stop bleeding.

I take my medicine, and stare in the mirror. I brush out my hair. I wrap my towel around me and leave. I go to my bedroom.

I put on a black shortsleeved dress that flares out at the bottom and it stops halfway down my thighs. I wear it with thin black tights under it. I put on an overcoat over it.

When I look back up in my mirror, I see Noah standing behind me.

"Shit." I gasp.

He puts his hand on my shoulder and try's to take off my overcoat.

"Can I see?"

I sigh and nod.

I let him remove my overcoat and I turn to face him.

I show him my arms.

"I wish I would've known you when you were younger. None of this would ever happen. Not the old scars, not the new scars. None." He says, gently running his thumb over the marks.

"Where else?" He asks.

"Everywhere." I say, frowning.

He sighs and puts my coat back on me.

I put on my extremely over-worn black doc martens.

"Do you not have any other shoes you like?" He jokes.

"Nope I wear these 99% of the time." I respond.

"You're off work today, right?"

"Yup."

"Okay good."

"Where are we going?" I ask.

"You'll see."

"Okay is you can't tell me where, then tell me why."

"You didn't get a proper birthday celebration. So I'm giving you one. Just me and you."

"You don't have to-"

"I'm already doing it so come get in the car."

I smirk and go downstairs.

We pull up to the mall. It was called Fashion Show.

"Firstly, you get a free shopping spree. Everything you buy is on me. But because I know you'll try to by barely anything, you have to spend at least $500."

"At least? That's half a thousand dollars! Where do you even get money from?"

"I'm an online video game tester."

"You're joking?" I ask.

"Actually no, my friend works making video games and I test them out and he pays me loads of money."

"Wow."

So we go in the mall and shop. We stop and get some food.

I end up spending only $420 but he admits it's close enough and allows us to leave.

"Wanna know where we are going next?" He asks.

"There's more?" I ask, surprised.

"Yup, we are going to take pictures all around Vegas."

"We are going to look stupid." I laugh.

"No, I have a very professional camera we can use."

"When did you get that?" I ask shocked, looking at the camera he's pointing to in the back.

"I got it yesterday for you."

"For me?"

"Yup, happy birthday."

"Thank you so much, Noah." I say, smiling.

"You can thank me with a kiss once we get out the car."

We pull into a parking garage and walk around, looking for places to take pictures. He takes pictures of me and we stop for ice cream. At like 6:30PM, we get back in the car and drive to a park.

He parks on the side of the street, and we go sit at a table. He goes back to the car and comes out with a bunch of gift bags.

"Oh my god." I say.

He smiles and I open the things he got me.

He got me a bunch of gift cards, and candy and heart chocolates and stuffed animals. He got me a stuffed seal, and it was so ugly that I loves it. He also got me jewelry, clothes, and the gift he made the biggest deal out of, a skateboard.

Then he hands me another gift.

"Marcus got you this before your actual birthday. He gave it to me in anger, but I think he would've wanted you to have it."

"I don't wanna open it right now." I say.

"That's understandable, I'll put it back in the car until we are home. Then you can open it on your own time."

"I can't believe you got me a skateboard." I say, changing the subject.

"Yeah, mines in the car and I'm pretty good so I was thinking I could teach you to ride."

"Sounds fun." I say, smiling.

He leans in for a kiss, and I kiss him.

"Thank you, Noah." I say, smiling.

"Anything to make you happy."

Then we get back in the car. He drives back to the parking garage. We walk around and go inside antique stores, and look around. We just walk around and talk. He insisted on bringing out skateboard sand trying to ride around but I declined because I don't want to fall.

The time hits 10:30 eventually and we do to a night club. It's fun and we dance and party.

We leave quickly because my social anxiety began to bother me as the Vegas club became too crowded for me to take.

It was about 11:45 at that time.

"Wanna skate? Or is it too dark?"

"We can do it early tomorrow morning." I suggest.

"Deal." He says.

We go home and when we get there, Kayla is in there.

I walk in and they both start singing happy birthday to me.

"Happy Birthday to you"

"Happy Birthday to you."

"Happy Birthday dear Brianna"

"Happy Birthday to you.

I begin thinking about the last time someone sang happy birthday to me.

It was my mom, a birthday where I was turning an age I can't exactly remember because of how long ago it was.

I knock that thought out of my head and hug Kayla and Noah.

I needed this. I really did.

Authors note: I never realized that the happy birthday song was only 4 lines long :/

Also, almost 2000 words omg. This chapter (if u don't count the authors note) is 1975 words ahhh

love u guys leave comments and vote

Bye