Noah

April

~~~

He didn't know what to make of her. She was so far out of his comfort zone. Dixie was like this big ball of energy and light, with a hint of darkness in all the sarcasm and the bluntness. He was just pure, raw, darkness.

There were times where she was so happy and it felt like maybe things weren't so bad in the world. In the last month, he's gotten to know things that he never even thought that he'd learn about anyone, let alone her.

Seeing her with that guy, Eliott or whatever his name is, annoys him in a way that shouldn't. She was only supposed to be his ticket to Princeton, nothing else. He was supposed to be her fake friend, nothing else.

He couldn't feel anything more for her. Could he? It's at this point that he's starting to realize just how much time he's actually spending with her. He realizes now that he knows things about her that he doesn't know about anyone, or expected to know about anyone.

Noah knows she's too good for him. He's only using her while she's just happy to be his friend. She always put exactly 2 sugars in her coffee, she always seemed to smell like honey or bubblegum, she always shook her leg when she was nervous or uncomfortable.

He doesn't like knowing these things. Because they mean that he's been paying attention. Which could mean he cares. And god forbid, please don't let him care, it would hurt to hurt her when the truth is revealed about using her for his own personal benefit.

Noah didn't want to ruin things, after coming so far. And maybe, pretending that he wants to be with her will help his case move faster and then she'd write the recommendation for sure.

What does he have to lose?

After the last bell rings, he walks over to his truck and gets in. Knowing that Dixie would be coming out of the east side of the building, he pulls out of the parking lot and drives over. Sure enough, the petite brunette is carrying her books out of the library.

She stops when she sees his truck, and he rolls down a window. "Get in."

Dixie hesitates for a moment, but then opens the passenger door and gets into his car. Shortly after, he starts driving away.

"Where are we going?" She asks, in her soft quiet voice that she sometimes gets when she's around him he's noticed.

"It's a surprise." Noah states simply.

When they pull up, they get out. Noah glances at her and begins walking down the hill they're on and over a small bridge over a river. When they finally reach where he was taking her, he glances at her again to see her reaction.

Noah doesn't ever share where he goes when he's not at home or at practice or studying, but he felt like if this was really going to be convincing, he needed to show her one place. And he wanted to see her face when he showed her.

Complete and utter shock appears on her face, as she looks around at the trees and the leftover icicles on the trees that glitter. He knows she's probably never seen anything as beautiful as this, his spot, his place to go to clear everything else out.

"This is beautiful." She whispers. Freya looks at him. He glances away from her so they don't make eye contact. For a moment, everything is silent.

"This is where I go when I need a break. From everything." He says. "From people. From the world. It's so calm, so beautiful, that nothing else matters in the moment."

Noah can feel her eyes on him as he speaks. He remembers the tree he always sits under, and the bench next to it, undoubtedly frozen during the coldest month of the year for them. He quickly looks over to its usual place, and sure enough, it's there. The tree, the bench, exactly where he left them.

He walks over to the tree, Dixie watching his every move. He thinks it's kind of weird how she always watches him with her wide brown eyes, like she's trying to memorize and study his every move. He sits down on the cold, frosted over grass.

Closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the tree, he listens to Dixie's footsteps on the frozen grass, until she finally sits down next to him.

For the brief moment she's in the middle of sitting down, their hands brush up against each other. Noah flinches away, out of habit, but not before he feels her cold hands.

The second time they touched, it was as if a whole new world of galaxies had opened up, the universe had conspired, the stars approved, the world approved, the sun came out to peer down at them in the cold, and for the first time, something felt right.

And that scared him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." Dixie says softly. He didn't respond. Just opened his eyes looked at her. and

She looked up at him and for a moment, they started getting closer. And closer. Their noses touched together, and as soon as noah felt her nose brush his, he jumped away, breaking out of whatever trance he was in. He quickly stood up, glancing everywhere but at Dixie

"We should get back. It's getting late." He says, offering her a hand to help her up.

"Oh, uh, yeah." She says, awkwardly taking his hand.

The rest of the car ride was silent.