A Necklace of Hope

Ch. 12: Going to Erica's Party

Warning: longer than before chapter ahead.
Noah

Me and Eric got in the car with his sister driving. I was scared. What if Jaden is there? What if I embarrass myself a LOT? What if Lindsey doesn't want to go with me anymore? I'm out. I've made up my mind.

"Sara, stop the-" but Eric puts his hand over my mouth. "What the heck dude!?" I yell.

"Dude, you can't back outta this one. Just go with me it'll be fun. 'A learning experience' as Mr. Albert calls it."

"Fine. But protect me from Jaden, literally." He nods his head. I'm literally scared. What if?
.......
Noah

We get to Erica's party and I open my door. I suck in a deep breath, "What if this goes wrong?" I ask. Eric just glares at me.

"Bro, you're worrying too much. Just chill or I'll leave you here, literally, no joke." He sounded serious. I nod my head and start walking toward her house.

It's packed with lights and music blaring. People are dancing and some are on the floor with empty cups in their hands. I see Lindsey and start walking toward her. Once I get to her I cup my hand over her mouth and start walking to Erica's front yard. Nobody is in the front, that's why I go there. I take my hand off of her mouth and open my mouth to talk.

"Look, can we just hang out here? Nobody's here and I like it that way." She looks at me and smiles.

"Then I know the place." She kind off added a smirk on her face.
.......
Noah

We walk from Erica's house to the tiny coffee shop that not many people go to. The food is really good there. It's still in business and I like it that way, but I don't know how it is.
We walk in the lit up coffee shop and go to the counter.

"Caramel frap please," I say to the worker. She's an old woman in her 60s. She's very friendly. I know that because a few years ago I used to go to this coffee shop with my mom and visit with her.

"Just black," Lindsey says. I thought she would get a frap or mocha.

"That'll be $7.35," she says.

I give her eight and say, "keep the change." After, we get seated. We're waiting for our coffee so I bring up a topic. "So, do you really like me? Or are you just joking?" I know it sounds stupid.

"I do, I do, it's just that..." and she trails off, fidgeting with her hands.

Minutes later we get our coffee and drink. We just sit with silence. Nothing going on, no words, just staring outside at the lit city. "So, umm, about that question earlier," I start.

"I do like you. As a boyfriend. But, I'm worried-"

"That no one will like you if you date me because I'm the bullied kid? It's ok, say it out loud."

"Yeah, you got me. I'm sorry, I should be more nice," she says as a whisper.

I rub her back. "Hey, it's ok. It's fine if you're like that. It's not that you're mean or anything. Just, for instance, say their was a ugly kid at school. You wouldn't want to be his friend because you're mean, it's just that some people are that way." She shines me a smile.

"Thanks. I really haven't been the most popular anymore." She goes back to frowning.

"Why, what's wrong?" I ask.

"Coach Sed kicked me off the gymnastics team. People have gotten mad at me and I haven't gotten any more popular."

"Well, I haven't ever been popular. Now you gotta think about that." I tried getting her to loosen up.

"Yeah, I shouldn't be feeling bad for myself when you haven't ever been popular." She smiles, "I have a place we can go."

"Ok," I say.
......
Lindsey

We walk down the street to a place I know very well. It's not very popular, just like the coffee shop, but the food is very good. Hamburgers and cheeseburgers with fries. Then, ice cream sundaes for when you're done. It's delicious.

The thought of sweet has brought me back to Noah. He's so sweet. He doesn't really take anything offensively, and he notices stuff, but doesn't always point it out. I want to be a thing, but I don't know if we're going too fast. I bet you think I'm dumb for saying we're going too fast, but we are. I'm only 15 while he's 16. If you think you should be getting a boyfriend or girlfriend when you're 14, you're thinking weird stuff, at least that's what my parents taught me. They taught me not to go too fast.

"So, where is this place?" Noah asks.

"We're almost there," I say.

I few minutes later, we see the 'Pops Hamburgers' sign. I love going there. It's so peaceful and old fashioned. There's a really sweet old man, Ol' man pops, some people like to call him. He gives you a compliment every time you come in, and he means it.

"We're here!" I say slightly excited.

"Wow," Noah says. Oh no, did I make the wrong choice?

"What's wrong? Don't you like it?" I ask.

"I love old fashioned places like this!" Now I just smile at Noah's smile.

We go inside and take a peek at the menu. I ask Pops for a hamburger with fries and a chocolate shake. Noah asks for the same, just instead of a shake he asks for a Mountain Dew. We sit down waiting for our food. We just text our friends and play games on our phones.

We get our food a couple minutes later and start eating.

"Hey, listen," I start. "I like you and all, but-" I can't finish because Noah grabs my chin.

"Hey, you don't wanna be a thing?" He asks. "Well, we can be a thing. A secret thing."
.......
What do you think Noah and Lindsey are going to be? A thing? Or not a thing?

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! This is my first chapter since December.

💯💯Bye!💯💯