nascar stories.

Noah Gragson

In which, Noah is desperate.

*

The soft sigh of the ocean fills my ears. The blazing sun begins its daily commute back down to the watery horizon, preparing to herald a new night. I sit on the sandy shore, letting the gentle waves lap at my bare toes. The tides pluck at the heavy weight of negativity that had accumulated in me during the past few weeks, and I feel just a little bit lighter with every rise and fall of the water.

My quiet tranquillity is rudely interrupted, the shattered pieces falling into the water and carried away by the backwash.

"You alright there?"

I look up at the sound of his voice.

He taps two fingers to his temple in a mock salute, a confident smirk playing at his lips. Chocolate-brown strands of hair are impeccably gelled back, not a single strand out of place. Pale blue eyes are locked intently on mine.

No, not other people. Not other absolutely drop-dead gorgeous people. I can't deal with this right now.

"Hey, I'm Noah."

"Hey, I'm not really in the mood for social interaction right now so see you later." I turn back to the calming waves. Stop beating so fast, heart!

"Well then, aren't you a friendly one." He doesn't sound too taken aback by my lack of courtesy. Instead, much to my dismay, he plops himself down on the sand right beside me, so close that his shoulder just brushes mine. The warmth presses against my skin in an altogether not-unpleasant way.  

I ignore the involuntary spark of nervousness that flashes through me, and instead roll my eyes. "Oh for heaven's sake."

He continues on casually. "So, honey–"

"Please don't call me that."

"Do you have a name then, or can I call you mine?" Noah says, leaning in slightly and wiggling his eyebrow suggestively. He looks absolutely ridiculous, in a still drop-dead-gorgeous way.

I let out a snort in spite of myself.

"What?" For some reason, he sounds a little confused.

"You gotta try a little harder than that cheesy pickup line, darling," I say, laughing.

He winks at me, a sly grin on his face. "Wouldn't mind if you call me that more often."

"Oh shush."

Noah doesn't shut up for long. He physically can't shut up for long, I think morosely, as he opens his mouth yet again with a blunt "You look really sad."

"What an astute observation." I reply, eyes still fixed on the waves. Okay, let's not talk about feelings.

"You're not going to burst into tears on me, are you?" Noah places a hand on my bare arm, fingertips lightly running over the goosebumps that had settled on the freezing skin.

Right, my heartbeat totally hasn't sped up by at least triple the usual rate.

"Don't worry," I reassure him drily, "I'm not that emotionally unstable."

He looks at me dubiously. "You always come and sit here looking all sad and stuff?"

"Do you always annoy the hell out of people that just want alone time?" I fire back.

"Are you always this salty?"

"Are you always this obnoxiously insufferable all the time?"

Noah presses a hand to his chest in mock hurt. "Ouchie. You hurt my feelings."

I reach up with one hand and ruffle his perfectly hair styled until the strands stick up in all different directions. His jaw drops in horror. "Oh you did not just do that."

He pulls out his phone from his pocket, checking the damage on the reflective black screen with a despairing look on his face. "You have no idea how long that took me to do, man."

Tossing the phone carelessly onto the sand beside him, he instead scoops up a handful of the floury soft grains and tosses it at me. Some showers down on my head, settling in my hair. Others cascade down my body until resting in my lap. I glare at him, speechless. He grins back, a bright, cheesy, innocent grin that goes from ear to ear.

In spite of myself, I start laughing helplessly, attempting to rid myself of the sand with one hand without much success, the other grasping at another handful of sand to throw in Noah's general direction, with marginally more success. He sticks out his tongue at me.

"Are you like seriously, okay though?" he asks with a hint of worry in his voice, as he brushes grains of sand off himself.

"Yeah. Just need to recharge. I'm not always like this, I promise."

"Figured as much." Noah sends a sweet smile in my direction, and I feel my heart skip a beat. Or two. Or maybe even three.

Definitely about a hundred, I think, as Noah shifts beside me and wraps an arm around my waist.

A thousand, I correct myself, as I realise what the sneaky guy is trying to do behind my back.

"Oh I swear... you are the world's most obvious guy! If you want my number, just ask for it."

"What are you on about?" Noah still somehow manages to look somewhat innocent, with a hand in my back pocket, about to pinch my phone.

"I can feel you trying to take my phone from my pocket, you know."

"I was just..." he pauses, thinking, an embarrassed flush tinting his cheeks a light pink, "kindly lending you my body heat. Since it's getting chilly out. Yeah." He nods to himself, as if trying to convince himself along with me.

I smirk. "So you don't want it?"

"No! I mean – I just – damn, you got me there."

"Creep."

*

saturday, same spot, 5pm?

25-02-18, 6:57 PM

Are you asking me on a date?

25-02-18, 6:58 PM

mhm you could say that yea

25-02-18, 7:00 PM

5 o'clock on the dot

25-02-18, 7:04 PM

see you there, honey

25-02-18, 7:05 PM

Shut up, darling.

25-02-18, 7:06 PM

*

A/N: ahhhh thank you all so much for taking the time to read my weird little stories!!! <333