Love me. Choose me.

{15} Love me

"Je vais me marier," my mom practically screamed on the phone as I hurried through the hallway, trying to escape the cold rain that had started pouring.

With my phone pressed to my left ear, I tried to understand what my mom was saying. She seemed excited, and I was trying not to feel nauseous at her words. "Tell me you're joking, Mom."

"Depuis quand est-ce que je plaisante sur des choses comme ça?" she said with a slight chuckle, the kind she usually had whenever she was about to go out on a date with a guy. (Since when do I joke about things like this?)

I sighed at the thought of my mom's love life. I could remember vividly the last time she was so excited to go on a date. It all lasted for two weeks until she came home one evening and told me that the guy had dumped her because his wife caught them together. She said she didn't know he was married and that he had been lying to her.

That night we sat together in the living room with a bowl of popcorn placed before us and a bottle of orange juice while we watched another rom-com I suggested.

I rolled my eyes heavenward as my mind drifted to several occasions like that and let out a slight huff as my mom continued.

"Wow, Mom, is this for real this time?" I said, trying to sound excited but deep within me, I was praying things didn't turn the other way round at the end.

"Oui, chérie. Ce gars est vraiment sérieux et nous voulons que tout aille vite." She replied in excitement. (Yes, honey. This guy is really serious and we want to make everything fast.)

I bit my lower lip, my gaze on my nails, as my mom continued to give me details of the guy. It turned out he was the CEO of the place she worked, his wife had passed away, and now he decided to remarry.

"Comment se passe l’école pour toi, chérie?" (How's school going for you, honey?)

Her question pricked my pulse, knocking me back to the reality of my freshman year at Braden University.

"Fine, Mom," I replied, praying she didn't ask further. I hated lying, especially to my mom. I wasn't good at lying and she would always find out the truth. She used to say my voice was always abnormally shaky whenever I was lying.

"Bien, chérie. N’oubliez pas que vous allez assister à ce mariage, alors préparez-vous la semaine prochaine à venir en France." (Good, honey. Don't forget you're going to attend this wedding, so prepare yourself. Next week you're coming to France.)

"Okay, Mom."

The call ended, and I walked into my dorm room, pushed open the door, and dropped my almost damp bag on the floor before heading to the bathroom to get out of the wet clothes I was wearing.

I came back into the room and was packing my hair when Sawyer walked in. She dropped her bag by the door. "Noelle, there's a guy by the door," she said before going over to the bathroom.

I took out a black hoodie and blue joggers from my closet before making my way to the door.

I opened the door to see Shane standing next to it. When he saw me, he gave me a bright smile.

"I was heading to my dorm and decided to check up on you. How are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm fine," I replied as I closed the door. We walked down the archway together.

"You won't believe me if I tell you this," Shane exclaimed, bringing out his phone from his pocket. "The first-semester exam timetable is out already."

My jaw dropped as I started to panic. "You’ve got to be kidding, why so soon? I'm not ready."

Shane looked at me and gave a comforting smile before bursting out laughing hysterically. "I'm joking, it isn't out yet. Gosh, you should have seen the look on your face. You were on the verge of passing out."

I chuckled and gave him a slight pinch on his arm. He jolted but didn't stop laughing. "Hey, what did you do that for?" he huffed.

I rolled my eyes. "You almost gave me a heart attack. You know I haven't been reading that much for exams."

Shane was about to say something but was cut off immediately by a voice from behind me.

"Noelle." Someone said, and I turned to see Dean standing behind me.

"Hey, Dean," I said as he walked closer to me. His eyes partially drifted toward Shane's direction before returning to mine.

Shane gave me a confused look and I immediately remembered that I hadn't introduced them to each other. "Shane, this is Dean. Dean, meet my BFF Shane."

Dean smiled and stretched out his hand to Shane for a handshake, but Shane didn't take it, instead just gesturing that he wasn't the handshake type.

Dean turned to me with a smile. "Okay, later Noelle." With that, he walked away.

Shane turned to me with a serious look. "Who's that?" Without waiting for my response he added, "Please don't tell me it's another guy that you like."

I rolled my eyes at his behavior. "Absolutely not. I mean, I'm so over dating senior year guys or any guy after what Trent did."

Shane sighed. "I hope so, because I'm not ready to start giving relationship advice again."

I nudged him on the shoulder slightly with a chuckle. "Come on, you know you don't have to."

"Why wouldn't I? You're a drooling queen and I'm the king of correction," he laughed out. "Your mom told me about the wedding. I'm still surprised you didn't mention it to me."

My cheeky smile deflated immediately as he mentioned that. "That's because I don't want to get too excited about everything and then have it not turn out the way I expect. It will break my heart."

Shane sighed and rested a comforting hand on my shoulder. "I understand, but don't worry. I'm sure this one is for real this time."

What a chapter! I thought I was losing my mind when writing this. It’s been so long since I updated this book, so it feels almost like I'm meeting it for the first time. Sigh.

Let's get to the good stuff.

What do you think Dean is about this time? Do you think he likes Noelle?

What's your take on Noelle’s mom's marriage? Do you think it's for real this time?

Thanks for reading.

See you on the other side,

With love, 
Clara Joel