The Shy Girl and the Class Clown

Chapter 15

Noelle's P.O.V  

"Beautiful, what happened last night? I couldn't find you to apologize."

"Don't you dare call me beautiful. Trying to impress me with how much money you have and also having Emily at the table was a nice touch, you stupid bastard." I say just as the door behind me opens and Danny appears.

"You better have some nerve waking me up this early Caden." He says, opening the door wider for Caden and I to move inside. I grab Chip by the arm to pull him into the kitchen and I grab my coffee cup and take a sip of it. Caden and Chip glare at each other, but Danny puts an end to it.

"What is going on? All I wanted was to see Noelle and instead, I get hounded by her brother and another guy." Caden starts, clearly frustrated with the whole situation. Chip can't seem to hold it together so I finish my coffee and grab his arm again.

"Remember the promise. I care about you, but this is my battle." I whisper as he relaxes before going to stand next to Danny.

"Caden, if you want me to trust you, you have to give me something I can trust. After 8th grade, you were there for me when Scott broke up with me, at least that didn't hurt as much." I pause before continuing, "but this was a stab to the heart. You went behind my back with Emily." I walk up to him and get into his face, "Next time this happens, you won't have me to deal with, you'll have an angry ass brother and Chip to deal with." I walk towards Danny, who wraps me up in his arms.

"Noelle, why don't you trust me?"

"Caden, go away." I say, going to the door to open it and gesture outside. 

"Well, hi there Noelle. Caden." I recognize the two voices as Nick and Trent. 

"Hey! Come on in and make yourselves at home." I say as they walk inside and bro hug Chip and my brother. 

"Okay fine." Caden puts his hands up before turning towards the door, "Noelle, when you're ready let me know." He makes his way out the door and I shut it behind me, falling against it.

"Noelle, do you want to go get breakfast? I'll buy." Chip offers. Nick and Trent look at each other, then after a glare from Chip, agree. I look to Danny who nods in agreement.

"I'll go get ready. You guys just wait down here." I say, making my way upstairs. I pull out a long sleeve sweater dress, leggings, and my riding boots. I change into the outfit before brushing my hair and brushing my teeth. I grab my bag with my phone, wallet, and keys before coming back downstairs. The boys are in a small circle, talking.

"Boys ready?" They turn around and Danny gives me a small smile.

"Have fun, but not too much fun." Danny warns us as we walk outside to the truck. The boys let me have shotgun, which I thank them for. Chip starts the truck and Song Number 7 by Randy Houser starts playing through the speakers of the truck.

"Song number 7, took me all the way to heaven that night. Song number 7, cranked up to eleven set the mood just right. I was holding her tight, she had her hands in the air. She was falling in love and I was already there. Song number 7." I sing along quietly.

"There were stars in the sky sparks in her eyes. And the smell of hickory burnin'. Everybody there just disappeared like it was only me and her and the midnight blue behind a red dirt moon" The boys belt out, jamming to the music. I laugh and sing along, feeling the stress lift right off my shoulders. We pull up in front of Denny's and Chip parks the truck, turning it off.  I grab my purse as the four of us get out of the truck and shut the doors. We're inside the building and the waitress leads us to a booth. Chip slides in first and I slide in while Trent and Nick slide in across from us and look at the menus. 

"Chip?" I whisper.

"Yes love?" He replies

"Thank you, for all you've done." I reply and I put my hand next to his, then I realize what i'm doing and move my hand away. We place our orders and chat with one another till our food comes.

"Trent, how can you eat that much?" Nick says as a plate of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage is set down in front of Trent. Nick gets french toast with eggs and bacon. I manage to get a small plate of sausage. 

"Noelle!" I look up to see Brooklyn and Noah standing next to our table, looking down at us. 

"Oh hey guys." I greet. "This is Chip, Nick, and Trent, this is Brooklyn and Noah." I introduce everyone as Brooklyn and Noah slide in where there's room. 

"Noelle, can I talk to you privately for a minute?" Brooklyn suggests.

"They can hear everything that you say." I reply, gesturing to the group. They stop eating and continue to look our way. Chip resituates himself to get a better view of us. 

"Oh alright." Brooklyn starts. She's sitting next to me and she turns to face us. "Caden apologized for what he did. He understands that it's wrong for what he did." For some reason, I wanted out of there, away from everything. I start to feel my eyes tear up and subconsciously, I feel Chip tense up. 

"Brooklyn, that's enough." He says. She looks at me and first shock crosses her face, followed by sadness. She moves out of the booth and I follow, hiding my face as I make my way towards the truck. 

"Crap bro, what the heck just happened?" Trent asked Nick, but all I was greeted with was silence. I make it to the truck and fall to my knees in a sobbing mess. Multiple pairs of strong arms wrap themselves around me, holding me. I snuggle into the arms, suddenly feeling self conscious of myself. I sniffle and move, standing up, running my hands down my pants, hoping that I can remove any dirt before getting into the truck. Nick and Trent climb up in the backseat and shut the door, giving Chip and I some alone time.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." I whisper, looking down, running my right hand up and down my arm. 

"Don't apologize." He says, wrapping me up in a hug before opening the door for me to get in. I thank him as I buckle and he shuts the door, going around to the driver side and hopping into the seat and turning on the truck. I lean my head on the window as we pull out of the parking lot, Brooklyn and Noah are standing by the entrance into the diner and have sad looks on their faces and I feel...nothing?