Summer

*Bonus* Chapter 2

Noah's POV

"You're a fucking moron, you know that, don't you?" my best friend says, shaking his head at me.

I hate how Justin's looking at me right now. It's the same way that I've been looking at myself every morning since that day at the airport.

"You don't think I know that I fucked up, dipshit?" I tell him as I squeeze the ketchup from the plastic bottle out onto my plate.

"Well, it's worth repeating, man."

I give Justin a cold glare. For his sake, I hope he takes it as his cue to shut the fuck up before I punch him in the face for pissing me the fuck off.

Sitting at Val's right now, my mind instinctively wanders to that first day I saw Fee. I walked in and saw only her, I swear it. Obviously, I didn't make it seem that way because I'm an asshole, but she didn't have to do anything in particular to catch my attention. One look at her and it was end-game.

You'd think that her grayish, blue eyes would simply be enough to captivate me completely, but it was so much more than that. It was the way her cheeks flushed when she saw me walk in. It was the way she looked like the most delicate, innocent angel without even trying. It was the way she stared at me like she was craving to know my soul.

"Look, all I'm saying is that I know how much you care about her," Justin continues as he bites into his burger. "I've never seen you like this before."

"That's because I've never felt this way before."

"Then why'd you let her go, huh?"

I hate when Justin plays therapist. He knows I hate talking about my feelings and shit. 

"Dude, I'm not getting into this," I tell him as I push my plate away and take a sip of the soda in my cup.

"Well I am because it pisses me off that you're doing this to yourself, bro. You're shying away from someone you want. Someone who makes you happy. Someone you love. I don't understand it." He takes one last chomp of his burger before wiping his lips with the paper napkin and handing his empty plate to the waitress. "As your best friend, your brother, I'm not letting you fuck this one up."

"I already fucked it up, wiseass," I shout as I rub my temples with my fingers. Justin's pushing me past my limit, which means I'm on the verge of losing my temper.

"Well, it's not too late to fix it."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I ask him, crossing my arms and leaning back on my chair.

He cocks his eyebrow and looks at me sternly. "You know exactly what I'm talking about."