Falling - NOAH CENTINEO

ch. 25 | The Return

"I think we should tell Mark and Rita." Noah said, holding me in his bed.

"I think so too." I sighed. "I just don't want it to change everything."

"It won't even be that big of a deal. Its not like we wouldn't spend as much time with them or anything because we're already together 24/7."

I nodded. That was true. I had been analyzing every negative thought they might have about us dating and this was one of them. But, what Noah said made sense. Noah and I are always together and thatd why nobody suspects anythings off.

"You're right." I said. "We'll tell them tomorrow on our way to school, I guess?" I asked.

Noah smiled and kissed the top of my head that was buried in his shoulder. "That sounds good to me."

I stayed silent, still unsure about the whole thing. If we tell our friends, does that mean we have to tell Noah's parents? My mom? I didn't want anything to change with Noah's family. They have always seen me as one of their own children. Noah and I have been having sleepovers since we were little. Would our parents make us stop doing that? Would we have to have open doors now when I'm over?

It was the technicalities that freaked me out.

"You okay? Seem like you're thinking about something?" Noah asked looking down at me.

I traced circles onto his bare chest, unsure of what to say.

"I just don't want us to be treated differently once we tell everyone." I muttered out.

"Yeah, I'm kinda freaked about all of that too." Noah sighed.

I leaned up off of Noah's chest to look at him. "Really?" I asked.

"Hell yeah." He said sitting up. "I bet Mark's gonna be pissed when he finds out about-" He said, instantly stopping in his tracks.

"Nevermind." He said, waving it off.

"No, what were you gonna say?" I asked.

He sighed. "I shouldn't of said anything." He groaned.

"Noah, what is it?" I asked.

"Alright," He sighed. "Listen, Mark told me a few months ago, when you were with Anthony, that he wished he would've asked you out before Anthony did." He said, picking at his fingers.

"What?" I mumbled, my heart racing.

Mark liked me? What the hell?

"Yeah," He groaned. "I thought he got over it because he never said anything else, but the other day in History, he said that he was gonna take you out since you were single."

"You're fucking with me."

"Wish I was. But, B, I've liked you since we were kids and I have definitely told Mark this." He sighed. "But, I don't know. I guess you just caught his eye or something."

"Oh my God, what do we do?" I said, getting up from the bed, in sheer panic mode. "We can't tell them now."

"No, no, no. It's fine. I'll find a way to tell him when we're alone, alright." Noah said, trying to calm me down.

"I don't want to ruin our friendship with them, Noah. Mark's gonna hate you if you tell him." I pleaded. "We can't tell them yet."

"B, if we don't tell them, Mark's gonna ask you out." He said. "And what are you gonna say to him?"

I groaned. He was right. There was no way out of this and I couldn't put it off forever.

"Alright." I sighed. "Tomorrow, then. And I don't want him to know that I know that he has a crush on me."

"Deal." Noah said. "Now come back to bed, please." He whined, holding out his arms.

The next morning, we picked up our friends for school. We had conversations, per usual, but I could feel the tension between Noah and I. In my mind, I knew for sure it was obvious that we were holding out on telling them something, but they didn't seem to notice.

"My mom was being a complete bitch last night. She said that if I got a bad grade on this paper, I'm grounded." Rita said, crossing her arms while her nostrils flared.

"Good thing you've been working on it for a couple weeks." I huffed.

"Yeah, but what a dick move. I always get good grades, I just don't understand why she's acting like that." Rita sighed.

"My dads been on my ass lately, too. Saying if I don't raise my D to a C in English, he's making me pull out of sports." Mark chimed in.

"Well, bro, you better do that. We need you on the team." Noah said, looking in the rearview mirror at him.

"Yeah, I just have no idea what to study." He said.

"I can help you after school, if you want." Noah offered.

He shot me a quick glance. I could tell that he was gonna tell him then about our relationship.

"Really? Yeah, that'd be great." Mark said.

"Yeah, of course." Noah said, pulling into his usual parking spot.

We all got out of the car and walked into school.

"Do you wanna hang out after school tonight?" Rita asked.

"Yeah," I said. "And you can sleep over since its Friday." I offered.

"Sounds good. I need a wine night." She said, rubbing her temples.

I laughed and put my arm around her. "Then, I've got you covered."

We all strolled into school and there was a weird tension in the air. There were barley people in the hall and the ones that were, were not engaged in loud conversation like usual.

I instantly felt it and I could feel Rita tense up next to me. "What happened?" She asked.

"Yeah, where is everybody?" Mark asked.

Just as the words left his lips, I saw him.

The double black eyes, healing cuts littered his face. He rolled up his sleeves, showing off his wrapped hand. His lip had a scabbing gash on the side.

Anthony walked alone, which was unusual. He usually had a small trail of douchebags behind him. But today was different.

He looked absolutely fucked up. I looked up at Noah but he just stared at Anthony with his jaw locked. Anthony didn't dare look in our direction, but I could tell he wanted to.

"Woah..." Mark mumbled.

"Double Woah." Rita said.

"Triple." I agreed.

Noah remained silent and continued to walk to his locker like nothing was wrong.

He did that to him.

"He really got messed up." Mark observed.

"No shit, Mark." Rita said, shooting him a glare.

Mark and Rita went to their lockers but I followed Noah to his.

I leaned against the lockers next to his as he pulled a textbook out.

"What?" He asked.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Did you do that?" I whispered.

Noah looked down at the ground. "I told you to not worry about it." He said, slamming his locker closed.

I followed Noah as he stormed in the opposite direction.

"Noah, he looks bad." I said, trailing behind him.

"Yeah, I know. That was kind of my intent." He said.

I huffed, pulling on his arm to make him stop walking. "Noah..."

"What, B? I try and protect you and now you're mad at me for actually following through?" He asked, throwing his arms in the air. "Can I not win?"

"Noah..."

"I gotta get to class. I'll talk to you later, B." He said, walking off in the opposite direction.

Oh, boy.