As mad as Noah might have been after our fight at his place, he still drove me back home. Sure, it was the most dreadful silent car ride I'd ever been to in my entire life, but he didn't leave me stranded, he could never. Noah could never do that, even if he wanted to.

His heart was too good and too pure to even consider doing that.

I thought about breaking the silence to say something to him, anything really, that would turn his frown upside down, but the sour expression of disappointment mixed with hurt on his face was too much for me to handle.

So I did the next best thing, which was to remain silent for twenty whole minutes and thank him in a mumble, so low that I was sure he didn't even hear it. Because I know that if he did, while still upset, he would still say something like "No worries." or "It's no biggie.". Turns out, all I had left of that fateful day was a silent car ride and a broken ego.

After showering and changing into some loose, washed out blue jeans and a sweater, I dragged myself to the kitchen, to have dinner with my dads, which consisted of feta cheese filled raviolis from the italian restaurant we always ordered dinner from on the nights they didn't feel like cooking and I didn't feel like trying to.

Five minutes into the dinner, my dads noticed something was wrong with me. I didn't let them in on any specific details, and yet despite knowing nothing about what had happened, they told me that some people were worth fighting for. And without them knowing, what they said held a subtext that meant more than they'd know.

So, after I was done with helping out with the dishes, I went back to my room and grabbed a small purse that I threw around my shoulder. I put on my white sneakers and bolted out of the house, got on top of my bike and made my way to where I knew I'd find the person I wanted to talk to.

The bike ride was longer than I'd expected. God, I hadn't remembered that it took that long, but thankfully, the nights were getting warmer by the day, and it was a fantastic summer night tonight, so the bike ride was not a complete failure.

Trying to remember the way was a challenge, but I managed to get to the right place. I knew that as soon as I saw Noah's truck parked just before the cliff's edge.

Not being entirely comfortable on this road, I got off the bike and walked all the way to the truck, draggin my bike with me. As I approached the vehicle, I could make out the shape of Noah's body, laying on the back of the truck. And I could hear the sound of the music by one of the rock bands he liked so much, coming from inside.

I don't know what caught his attention, but if I had to guess, I would say it was the sound of the slim, rubber wheels hitting the gravel. He sat up and looked into my direction, almost as if he didn't believe his own eyes.

"What are you doing here?"

I chose to answer his question with another question. "Can I join you?"

"Sure." He responded instantly.

I parked my bike next to his truck, leaning it against the passenger seat's door. Noah extended out his hand, helping me hop onto the back of his car and I took a seat next to him. He picked up the gray blanket he was using to cover his legs, and managed to unfold and stretch it out, covering my own legs too.

"I made a decision." I announced out loud. My words seemed to capture his attention and he turned his head in my direction.

"Oh yeah?"

"More than one decision, actually."

By the way he shot me an intrigued look, I knew he was eager to know more, so I quit stalling and blurted out my most recent choices made about myself and my future.

"I am taking the SATs."

Noah looked surprised, but a cheeky grin still graced his face.

"Really?" He asked, and I nodded in agreement, smiling proudly. "What else?"

"I am getting my driver's license."

"That's my girl!" He wrapped one arm around me, pulling me closer into his embrace. With nothing in between us, he went ahead and kissed me, softly, as if he was unsure whether or not he should have. But yet, fully sure that he wanted to.

"One more thing." I announced, after our lips tore apart. "I decided that I am going through with the clinical trial."

"Really?" He beamed, proudly and I found myself mirroring his expression. I nodded in silence again, before he added, "I am so happy for you."

"Thank you."

He laid back down on the truck, looking up at the stars and the moon in the dark sky, and I did the same. Tonight, the moon burned bright in the shape of a waning crescent moon, looking exactly the same as mine and Noah's tattoo.

I let some comfortable silence linger between us before I mustered the courage to do what I came here for tonight.

"I feel like I owe you an explanation."

Neither of us moved. From the corner of my eye, I could see Noah turning his head in my direction, but after I took my time keeping my eyes locked on the moon, he went back to looking up at the night sky as well.

"You know why I am the way I am, I won't repeat the same story over and over again."

He didn't say anything, and I continued. "You were right." I felt his gaze on me again, and this time, I looked away from the stars and onto his brown eyes. "I was too afraid, and I kept using my health condition as my excuse for everything."

"But if there's something I've come to realize lately is that, I am much more afraid of losing you and what we have, than I am afraid of anything else."

Noah's eyes were locked on mine, and so were his fingers, grazing against mine.

"So, I am going to do all those things and fight for a chance to live longer and better. Because life is just getting good now."

He kissed me for the second time tonight, this time with an intensity I was not expecting, turning my insides into mush and making me feel like I was flying. And well, I wasn't complaining about it either.

* * *

Game nights were a thing for me and Kyle, and occasionally Harper as well, ever since I can remember. We would get together - usually on a Friday night -, and we'd play a board game over some pizza and drinks.

However, the three of us hadn't done that in a while now, mostly because we've been spending a lot of time with the group, doing some of their things. Tonight, however, we were going back to our game nights and the group was joining us.

And tonight's game was Scrabble.

Noah - who came a bit earlier than planned - was in charge of the food, of course, while I took care of the drinks. Carter and Kyle showed up holding hands, which was no surprise for me at this point. And, needless to say, neither was Chloé and Ben, and their very own inflated version of PDA. However, what I was not expecting was for my cousin to show up with no other than Chloé's brother, Wyatt, by her side. They weren't even holding hands, but they did seem intimate, although she swore to me they were nothing but friends, when I pulled her aside and asked her about it.

Nights were warmer than their usual temperature in late spring - I guess we can all thank global warming for that -, so we decided to kickoff game night by playing outside. My backyard wasn't too big, but it fit the eight of us really easily. We all sat down, forming a circle and laid the game board in the center, with pizza boxes and cans of Coke scattered around the lawn, within reach of us.

We weren't that far along into the game, but Noah seemed to be aiming for the title of winner pretty early. He had already laid down some letters but it wasn't until now - when he carried the white, square sized tile that had the letter M on it, to the board -, that I realized that he was that close to making his first big move.

Though, when everyone else around me grew quiet and started looking at me, I got confused, to say the least. I looked around, my eyes finding theirs, which looked at me with such eagerness, until they landed onto Noah's.

Noah Wilson, the champion of the male senior's swimming team, responsible for half of the awards our school gets, had a nervous smile on his face. His eyes moved onto the board and I followed his gaze, reading what word he'd formed.

PROM

"Uh... I'm sorry," Noah said while taking his hand to the back of his head and scratching it. "There should be a question mark at the end, but they don't make those for the game, so..."

"Are you asking me to go to prom with you?" I asked, while the words felt tight against my throat as I said them out loud.

"I am indeed." He nodded. "And I could really use an answer right now before my nerves kill me inside."

Prom... Wow. I had never even dreamed I would be going to prom. Not necessarily because I didn't know if I'd be around this long, but because I only hung out with Kyle and Harper. Girls like me... They don't go to prom. They stay in their bedrooms, doing everything they usually do on every random night.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be asked to go to prom, much less by my boyfriend (it still feels weird to call him that, by the way), and with all these people, who are my friends, watching and rooting for me to say yes.

"Yes! Of course!" I couldn't break their hearts.

Noah sighed in relief, and everyone else cheered while he engulfed me in a hug.

"Did you all know he was going to do this?"

"Yeah." They said in unison, sharing some knowing looks and cheeky smirks.

"I should get some extra credit just 'cause I gave him the idea to do it at game night." Kyle said after cheering for me.

"Yeah, but I came up with the idea of using the game tiles to actually ask you to come with me, so..." Noah shot back instantly.

"Noah's the official winner of game night, no matter how many points we get." Ben stated, never missing a chance to hype up his best friend,

while holding up the bright red can, filled with caffeine and additional products that caused this drink's taste to be addictive.

A few pizza slices later and some points earned by each of us, game night was over, with Noah finishing in second by two points, and Ben finishing in first place.

As for myself, I finished in fifth, but went to bed feeling excited, and eager about prom. And I can't remember the last time I felt this way for a school event, much less prom.

In my eyes, I scored first place.

* * *

author's note: first they can't even be in the same room together and now they're going to PROM??? i'm such a sucker for zoah <3

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xoxo, mars