Same Time Next Year

Chapter 9

Elle

Noah and I had done a lot of talking last year during our weekend at the beach house.  Yes, we had also spent a lot of time making up for lost time in other ways but our main focus was talking through a lot of the things we had left unsaid after our breakup, we had a lot we needed to get through.  We also spent time catching up on the things we had missed out on in each other's lives during the year we were broken up.  I think that first year we were scared to leave the house, thinking it would break the spell we were under. I was determined that in our second year together we would focus on just having fun together.  I had missed getting to spend time with Noah. 

Once I got to the bottom of what had been bothering Noah that morning, we did have fun.  That afternoon we played around on the beach and swam in the ocean before we made pancakes for lunch together, the only thing the two of us could cook. After lunch we played the board games and video games we had as kids, reminiscing about our childhood summers.  Our hands always reaching out for the other, trying to not lose that contact.  Everything felt kind of like a dream, we needed that confirmation that it was real.

This secret weekend reminds me of the beginning of our relationship after the kissing booth when we were sneaking around and falling in love.  Everything was only about the two of us and we couldn't get enough of each other.  We would do whatever we could to end up with some time alone together, much like this weekend.  I was back to lying to Lee to get a weekend alone and Noah snuck back to LA without even telling his family.  It was hard not to have those old feelings resurface, especially when we had been in this strange non-relationship for the last year.  I came into this weekend thinking that nothing would change, we would get to spend a fun weekend together and would go back to the way things had been the last year.  Communicating by texts and phone calls here and there.  But, now I'm not so sure.  The more time I spend with Noah, the more I can't imagine not being together.

Being here with Noah also makes me think back to that first summer at the beach house after Noah and I started dating.  Our families had only recently found out we were dating and although Lee had helped Noah and I get back together at our birthday party, things with Lee were still a little raw.  Plus, I think June was a little upset that we hadn't talked to her about what had been going on with us.  Noah and I didn't want to flaunt our relationship in front of anyone but on the other hand, we knew our time to be together was running out. Noah would be heading to the other side of the country in a few months when his football practices started at Harvard.

We were very experienced at sneaking around at that point and would take advantage anytime we found ourselves alone together.  We snuck into each other's rooms in the middle of the night, waking early to go back to the correct one in the early morning hours.  We thought we had things all figured out, although thinking back, I'm sure June knew what we were up to.  We were were young and in love and oblivious to everyone else around us.

Our weekend last year had been magical.  The surprise of a stolen weekend together had been amazing but the benefit of having a planned weekend this year was that I was a little more prepared. No messy bun and ratty pajamas for me.  This year, I had a chance to figure out what I would be wearing and I had even bought a new dress that I planned to wear for Noah tonight. 

I thought about recreating the surprise dinner we had on the beach last year.  But last year was so perfect, I wanted to leave that memory as it was.  Instead I decided to take Noah to the fancy restaurant Matthew and June would take us all to at the end of the summer when we were kids. I was in the bathroom getting ready, while Noah was waiting in his room for me to finish. We had been talking the entire time but I had kept the door shut so Noah couldn't see me until I was ready.