Memorıes Lıke These

Chapter Twenty-Six

The alarm shut off, leaving us in the deafening silence again and I slowly turned to face whatever was behind me. A tall, huge security guard stood behind me. A neat blue uniform plastered to his body and his arms folded and his face in a scowl. I looked over at Noah, who was standing next to another security guard and looking at me with wide eyes.

"U-Uh....." I stuttered. "We....uh-"

I had no excuse and I was never a creative person so I couldn't make one up straight away.

"We've been here since 8:00." Noah said. "We got locked in when you shut."

The security guard behind me frowned. "Really?"

"Yeah, we've been trying to find our way out since. I assure you we haven't done anything to wreck the zoo and we don't have any weapons on us." Noah said calmly. "Check us."

"Check him." The guard snapped at the other guard beside Noah. Without hesitation he started patting down Noah. Noah just rolled his eyes.

My own security guard started patting me down too until he had to agree that we were safe.

"Okay, you're clean. We'll walk you out."

With the guards on our heels, Noah and I started to walk towards the main entrance of the zoo. I leant in close to Noah, making sure the guards behind us didn't hear me and I whispered to him.

"Nice excuse."

He just laughed. "Pretty good eh? Didn't suspect a thing."

We reached the main door and the security guard that was beside me reached out and opened the small side door beside it. "Off you go." He snapped.

Noah and I shuffled out and just before the door shut on us, Noah turned to face them.

"I really like your zoo, sir. Good work-"

"Get out!" He yelled, slamming the door shut.

"Rude." Noah said as we stood staring at the closed door.

"Let's go." I said, starting to walk off.

"Where?" Noah yelled, still standing still.

I turned around. "Home!"

He still didn't move. "But it's only 11:00?"

I stopped walking. "So? We've done what we came to do."

"The cafe down the road doesn't shut till midnight." He said awkwardly, avoiding my gaze as he looked around.

I cocked my head to the side and laughed. "Noah, are you saying you want to keep spending time with me? I'm not gay you know." I winked.

He kicked at the footpath and then looked up at me. "Yes, okay. I like you. You're pretty cool. And-"

I raised my eyebrow. "Pretty cool? Come on."

He laughed. "Okay, don't ever bring this up again or I swear to god I'll murder you, but I'm glad you met Lorna and I'm glad I met you because....I don't know. I like you a lot. You're a pretty neat guy and I had fun tonight. And this distance between Lorna and I and Lorna and you is just bringing us together and fuck I sound really gay right now but you're one of my best friends. Okay. I said it. Fucking hell. Can we go now?"

I just laughed and nodded before running over to him. "Aw thanks, baby! You cutie!" I cried before running past him.

"FUCK YOU!"

--

"How's soccer going?" I asked Noah as we sat in the small cliché cafe eating a muffin each and sipping on orange juice. He looked up at me and dusted the crumbs off his fingers before speaking.