Bad Memories // a.u.

chapter 35: thoughts

keaton's pov

"Hey," Noelle half-smiled, standing in the doorway to my house. I was so sure she'd moved back to Rhode Island and I was never going to talk to her or see her again, but here she was. She bit her lip, a habit that I had come to love.

"Are you really here?" I asked, even though I knew it was a stupid question. I took a few steps closer to her, but she made no movement to come farther into the house. Instead, her eyes flicked to Sam who was still holding the door open.

"Hey, Noelle. How have you been?" Sam asked.

I didn't give Noelle a chance to answer her and said, "Sam, do you mind giving us some privacy?"

"Uh, sure. I guess so," she replied, a hint of disappointment in her voice. She held out her arm as a gesture for Noelle to come in and she walked outside, closing the door behind her.

"So what are you doing here?" I asked, after we walked into the living room. The title screen for The Avengers was up on the TV, replaying over and over. I turned off the TV so it wasn't disturbing us.

"I'm moving back," she said, shrugging like it wasn't a big deal.

"Seriously?" I gasped and leaned back into the couch.

"Yeah. I wasn't happy back in Rhode Island so I caught a bus back here. I'm planning on calling my aunt to see if she can take the old house off the market. I went by there earlier and it hasn't sold yet."

"She doesn't know you came?"

Noelle shook her head. "I left her a note, but I felt like it was better if I just left because I knew she would try to stop me." We were both quiet for a long moment and then she said, "can I ask you a question?"

"Of course," I breathed out.

"Are you with Sam?"

I should've known that question was coming. Sam had tried to come between us and now it seemed like I was with her. I wanted to be able to tell Noelle that no, I wasn't with Sam but really I had no idea what I was with her. We weren't quite dating, but I felt as though we were more than just friends. We had kissed a couple of times, but nothing more than that.

"I shouldn't have come here," Noelle said, standing up. "It was good to see you though." She walked to the front door, letting herself out. I stood there, dumbfounded. If I had known she was going to come back, would I have even developed my friendship with Sam? I wondered.

Sam walked back in a minute later. "Well, she stormed off pretty quickly."

"What are we?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"What do you want us to be?" she asked, her voice seductive. She stood close to me now, running a hand down my chest.

"I don't think I can do this. I'm sorry, but I'm not over Noelle and that's not fair to you. I've really liked getting to know you better, but my heart still belongs to her."

"She's not going to want you back now that she's seen us together. You know that don't you?"

"We were just going to watch a movie," I said shaking my head.

"She doesn't know that."

I groaned. When had everything become so complicated? I just wanted to go back to when I first met Noelle and we were happy. There was a time when everything was perfect and I wished that I had that back. "Just leave please?" I asked Sam.

She smiled sadly at me. "Just know that I could love you better than she ever could." She stood up on her tip toes, giving me a kiss on the cheek.

I fell back onto the couch, wondering what I should do. I wanted to go looking for Noelle, which I figured she would be staying at Drew's because that's where Skylar was living now. She didn't even give me a chance to explain myself. I decided against it and turned on The Avengers that was still in the DVD player.