Time after time

Swimming in stars

Elle POV

After our trip to New York, I started to realize that winter lasts a long time on the East Coast, really long! I would have been ready for spring by now. But I knew we would have to wait several more weeks before the snow melted and the temperature became temperate again.

It was the beginning of February and it was starting to get a lot of excitement with the upcoming arrival of Valentine's Day. It was far from surprising, a gang of mostly single young adults right in peak hormones and you have a perfect mix. I admit that I didn't pay much attention to the chatter around me about this party. My fiancé was probably going to take me out to eat followed by a night with him. Maybe a bouquet of flowers and that's it but not everything can necessarily be that easy in real life...

I was at my favorite coffee shop studying when Abby came rushing in front of me. By the look in her face, I knew something was wrong. Did Greg do something stupid? I asked myself.
- What's going on, Abby?
- I hate these bitches!
- Ok ... what bitches are you talking about?
- The cheerleaders of course!

Ok, nothing new but yet?
- What did our dear cheerleading team do this time?" I asked her, crossing my arms on the table.
- Bethany didn't tell you about it?
- No!
- To raise money for their fundraiser for the Boston Children's Hospital, they are organizing an evening with a 5-course dinner for which they are selling at auction.
- Ok, but what makes you so angry if they want to spend an evening with a guy to earn money?

For my part, I had participated in setting up a Kissing booth to raise funds for cancer so it was just a more advanced method this time. If single cheerleaders want to do this, why not?
- Well, they dragged the football players into this madness. I saw Brianna complete her auction proposal and Greg and Flynn's names are on the list.

I closed my eyes when I realized what that meant. Girls were going to pay for the chance to spend an evening with our guys ... on Valentine's Day. I understood Abby's discomfort, even if Noah didn't know about it and refused to participate, there were still girls who would have wanted to buy him for one evening. I found it disgusting.
- Did you talk to Greg about it?" I asked her gently.

If Greg didn't know, chances are Noah didn't either.
- I threw a fit at him when I found out. He told me that he was unaware and that he would never have agreed to participate.
- You should believe him, Abby! Noah didn't tell me about it either and I can't think he would have agreed to it without my agreement. Greg probably had nothing to do with it!" I told her, sighing.
- I know but I so want to tear out the eyes of the bitches who gave money to date my boyfriend!

I thought that I too, being in front of a girl who would tell me how much she paid to spend an evening with my boyfriend, I think I could have started a fight... even if I had demanded that Noah not be never involved in one again.

Following this discussion, I kept a low profile. It's not that I was mad at Noah, I was just busy. He and I hadn't seen each other since last weekend since we both had a big week with projects to submit.

The next day, I was still at the coffee shop with the mission of finishing my essay for my literature class when a caramel latte was placed in front of me. This is my favorite coffee! I looked up to see a tired and stressed Noah in front of me.
- Hi!" I told him, crossing my arms against my chest.
- Hi!" he replied, facing me. "Greg told me Abby told you about the Valentine's Day auction.
- Yeah! Did you know?
- It was Greg who told me, after... Abby made a scene with him! He looked completely overwhelmed, poor guy. I then started to stress about how did you take the news? Is that why you haven't given me any sign of life since?
- I'm just keeping a low profile, Noah, and trying to finish my essay as quickly as possible.
- Are you mad at me?" he asked me with worried eyes.
- If you didn't know, how do you expect me to blame you, Noah? It's what you're going to do with it now that matters to me!
- Several of my teammates told me to come too! That spending an evening with another girl is not cheating." he said to me, closing his eyes.