Falling - NOAH CENTINEO

ch. 20 | The "Date"

Wednesday night rolled around and I was absolutely terrified.

I was awake all night, tossing and turning. I haven't hung out with Noah in days and I could tell he was suspicious. But there was no way I could see him and lie to his face, saying everything is fine. As much as I wanted to mess around and have a secret love affair, I need to settle my other battles first.

"Wanna hang out today?" Noah asked, driving us home from school.

"I can't tonight, I have to go to dinner with my mom." I lied.

"Alright, how bout when you get back?" He asked, interlocking our fingers.

"Yeah, of course." I smiled back.

Noah pulled into my driveway and looked over at me.

"Have fun. Call me later, ight?"

"I will." I smiled, getting out of his car.

I wanted to kiss him when I left so bad, but I knew that I couldn't do it just yet until I was done with this whole mess.

I started getting ready when I got a text from Anthony saying he'd be here in an hour.

I got ready swiftly. I was scared shitless and sweating profusely. What the hell was Anthony going to say tonight? More importantly, what was he going to try and do?

I heard a honk outside. I pulled my curtain aside to see Anthony's car sitting in my driveway. I let out a deep sigh. Here we go.

I opened the front door and looked up at Noah's window to his room. If only he knew what I was doing to protect him. He'd probably kill me for it. He looked like he was sitting at his desk, staring at his computer when his head turned toward me. He stood up out his chair to look out of the window. I quickly snapped my head down so we wouldn't make eye contact.

Anthony knew that Noah saw. He got out of the car and circled to the passenger side to open the door.

"M'Lady." He smirked.

I got into the car with one last glance up at Noah who looked absolutely heartbroken and incredibly confused.

After about 20 minutes of driving, I finally spoke up.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"It's a suprise." He said.

"I don't like suprises."

"Still not gonna tell you." He said.

I rolled my eyes and looked out the window, becoming familiar with the backroads.

"Wait...Are we-?" I started.

Anthony pulled off the main road onto a narrow dirt one. I knew where we were now and I really didn't want to go.

"Anthony, I don't wanna-"

"I took us here on our first date, Blake. We had our first kiss here..." He said, smiling to myself.

"Remember it was so dark we didn't even notice we went off the main road," He laughed. "And then we just stumbled across the best view in town." He said, motioning in front of us.

It really was a beautiful spot but it was tainted with bad memories. It was an overlook of the whole city. It looked particularly magical at night when all the lights were on. But this place does not hold the magic it used to.

"Why are we here?" I whispered.

"I just wanna remind you of the old days." He said, with his arm draped over the steering wheel lazily.

I felt terrified in this parked car with him and with no one around. It felt incredibly unsafe because he was so unpredictable.

He looked over at me, sighing, but giving me a small smile. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an SD card.

"Whats that?" I asked.

"Our video. The only copy."

I hated the way he said our video. I hated that I even contributed to it at all when I knew I didn't want to.

I didn't respond, completely confused.

"I'm giving it back to you." He said, handing it to me.

"Really?" I asked.

He nodded, ushering it towards me. I grabbed it quickly, in fear of him changing his mind. I curled it into my hand for dear life.

"How do I know that its the only copy?" I asked.

"Scout's honor?" He asked. "But look, you know my parents. I couldn't save that shit on there even though I wanted to, they'd see it."

He wanted to save the video. My stomach churned and I felt sick.

"Dates not over yet, though. We're going to dinner." Anthony said, turning around and going the way we came.

"Why did you want a date?" I asked.

"Blake, I'm gonna be honest. I've been fucking girls left and right ever since we broke up and sometimes...I just wanna get dinner." He said, pulling out onto the main road.

"Thats not true. Why me?" I said, seeing right through him.

"Isn't it obvious, Blake? I love you and I wanna be with you." He scoffed.

"If you really loved me, you wouldn't of treated me the way you did." I said, suddenly feeling confident.

"Oh cut that shit out, I treated you great." He said, rolling his eyes.

"No. No, you didn't. I felt like absolute shit every single day we were together."

Anthony pulled into the resturaunt and parked in the back of the parking lot.

He turned towards me. "You need to shut up." He ordered.

"No, Anthony. You don't control me. I'm not another one of your puppies that follows you around anymore. I'm done." I said.

He started breathing heavily, like he was literally steaming mad. His eyes looked dark and cold. Then suddenly, he took ahold of my neck and kissed me. Not like any other kiss I've ever had before. It was urgent but no lust behind it.

I tried pulling away by his grip on my neck was tight, borderline too tight. I talked through the kiss, trying to make him hear that I didn't want it. He put his hand on my upper and thigh and moved it up.

Now I understood. He wasn't just kissing me because he missed me. He was kissing me because I took his power away and he was trying to show his dominance.

Before I could scream, Anthony's car door was pulled open and he was drug out by the collar of his shirt.