The Thing About Three

chapter eighteen | no freaking way

THE WORLD ALWAYS seemed peaceful early in the morning before the sun rose.

I rarely saw those fleeting moments before the land awoke, mainly because I wasn't an early bird and slept in—even on school days.

On the morning after my night out with Dallas, however, I woke up at 4:30 AM and couldn't go back to sleep, so I stayed up and thought about anything and everything, but mainly about Noah.

I felt bad about choosing Dallas over him, and wanted more than anything to run over to his house and tell him that, to try and make him forgive me.

I didn't want to have to wait a full school day and then tell him at work with so many people around us.

That thought propelled me out of bed, because he went to work around the same time I went to school. Maybe I could catch him before he leaves and tell him.

I quickly did my makeup and changed out of my pajamas, dressing warmly in jeans and a sweater to fight off the frosty, autumn air. By the time I was getting in my car to leave, it was 5:15 AM, a little early for him to be getting up and ready for work, but I left anyways.

The drive to his mother's house was quick, mainly because there wasn't anyone on the road yet. I crossed paths with his mom when I pulled into their driveway, catching her eye as she opened the door to her SUV.

"Hi," she said in surprise as I exited my car. "Can I help you?" She moved away from her car and toward me, zipping up her padded jacket over her blue scrubs.

"Uh, no ma'am," I replied. "I'm sorry I'm here so early, I just wanted to talk to Noah about something before he went to work. I'm a friend of his."

She smiled and nodded, her blue eyes assessing me. "I know who you are, Claire. I've been hearing about you since you moved here."

"Oh," I breathed out in surprise, my breath visible in the cold air.

She smirked, the action looking so much like Noah I felt my eyes widen slightly. "You've got that boy wrapped around your finger, you know." She turned around and went back to her car, reaching inside to press a button on her rear view mirror.

The garage door growled as it opened in response to the button, and she turned back toward me, tipping her head toward the open garage. "He's in his room. He's supposed to be getting up soon to go for a run, so you can go ahead and wake him up, if you'd like. He normally sleeps past his alarm, anyways." She slipped into her car, sending me a wink before backing out of the driveway and zooming down the street.

I watched her go and then turned toward the open garage and stepped inside, disappearing through the door that lead into the house.

It didn't take long to find Noah's room despite having never been inside his house before. His door was plastered with stickers and posters and a metal sign that read: NO GIRLS ALLOWED—UNLESS YOU'RE HOT.

I laughed at that, and then took a deep breath to calm my nerves and knocked on the door.

When I didn't hear anything after a few seconds, I knocked again. And then again. And then I cracked open the door when I still didn't hear a reply, because I was nosey and impatient.

A small nightlight shone in his room, allowing me to see Noah sprawled out on his bed, one arm thrown over his forehead as the other hung off the side of his bed, his blankets tangled around his legs and revealing his bare torso.

I gulped, and then slowly padded my way into his room, unsure what I should do. His mom said I could wake him, but was that really a good idea?

The sound of his alarm going off made me nearly jump out of my skin. The light of his phone lit up with the alarm on his nightstand, and I crept forward when I realized he was going to sleep right through the alarm just like his mother had told me.