Falling - NOAH CENTINEO

ch. 26 | The Real Tea

a/n: i hate myself for naming this chapter this but like deal with it 🤠🤪☕️

"Face masks are lowkey overrated." Rita said, spreading the purple cream across the bridge of her nose.

"Yeah, but it makes me feel like I'm productive." I said, pushing my hair back away from my forehead.

"That is true, but it gets in my hair and makes my hands sticky..." She said, proceeding to spread it.

"Yeah, and I never even notice a difference in my face." I whined.

Rita nodded, finishing up.

"So, Anthony..." She said.

"What about him?" I asked, trying to play dumb.

"You know." She said, raising an eyebrow to me through the mirror.

I looked down at the sink, washing my hands free of the face mask.

"You know about what happened to his face." She said. "And you never even really told me about the night you guys had."

"It went fine. He, uh, took me to a restaurant and I just told him that we were over and that was it." I lied.

"And he agreed?" She asked, suspiciously.

"Yep." I said.

"Bull shit." She said.

"Its true." I lied.

"B, I know when you're lying." She said, turning to face me.

"Rita, thats all that happened. I have no idea what happened to his face."

"Whatever, Blake. If you don't wanna tell me, thats fine." She said, giving up.

"Rita..." I sighed.

"No, its fine." She said, trying to egg me on to tell her.

"Okay, fine..." I sighed. "Um, just please don't tell anyone."

"I promise I wont." She said, looking pleased.

"Okay," I sighed. "I was telling Anthony that he needed to stop harassing me and shit and then he tried to... um, rape me, I guess?" I felt my heart break as I said the words.

I could see the hurt in Rita's face too.

"But then, Noah showed up and told me to go to his car." I gulped. "I never saw him do it, but... I guess it was him who..."

"Blake..." Rita sighed. "I-"

"It's fine. Noah just refuses to talk about it at all so I don't want him knowing I told you."

"I won't say anything." She promised. "I'm just so sorry that happened to you." She whispered.

"It's fine. I'm just glad Noah showed up."

"How did he know you were there?" She asked.

"He saw me leave with Anthony and went on a drive. He just happened to drive by Anthony's car." I shrugged.

"Hmm." She nodded. "So you didn't see him do it?" She asked.

"Nope." I said, popping the 'p'.

"I bet Anthony's pissed." She sighed.

"Yeah, but he hasn't made contact with me since the night. Maybe Noah really did get through to him." I shrugged. "I just have no idea how."

"Its weird, isn't it? Why wouldn't Anthony do something like call the police for assault?" Rita asked.

"No clue. Maybe cause he was about to rape me?" I suggested.

"But theres no evidence of him attempting. Just evidence of Anthonys beat up face."

"True. I don't know and honestly, I don't want to. I'm just glad its over with now."

"I am too." She sighed. "So whats going on with you and Noah?" She blurted out of no where.

Ope.

"What do you mean?" I asked, lying to her face once again.

"You two seem very flirty lately." She smirked.

"We're always like that." I rolled my eyes, a smile creeping onto my face.

"Okay, B. A boy doesnt just come save you out of nowhere if he wasn't into you." She laughed.

"Then you don't know Noah." I smirked back.

"Just tell me!" She pleaded. "Please, if theres something going on, I'll be so excited!" She said, clapping her hands.

I looked over at her. "Really?" I blurted out.

"Of course," she smiled. "It's been bound to happen for years now." She laughed.

"But you'd be excited? You wouldn't be mad?" I asked.

"Blake, C'mon. Of course, I'd be excited."

It felt like a weight had been lifted off my chest.

"Okay, well. There is something going on." I smiled over at her.

She smiled at me, listening intently.

"We've been kind of secretly dating since Spring Break." I winced.

"Blake!" She yelled, hitting my arm playfully. "Why haven't you told me?"

"Do you know what 'secretly' means?" I laughed.

"You bitch, I knew it!" She smiled. "Have you guys been having wild sex?"

"Rita!" I yelped, hitting her arm. "But yes."

She jumped up and down and clapped her hands, like an excited toddler. I laughed at her reaction. This was not the reaction I had envisioned at all.

"Blake, I'm so happy for you. You deserve a great guy like Noah." She smiled.

"Yeah, I'm really happy." I beamed up at her.

"Why haven't you told anyone?" She asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"We didn't want everything to change." I sighed. "We were scared it'd hurt our friendship with you guys and we have no idea how our parents are gonna react." I shrugged.

"It would never hurt our friendship." Rita assured me.

"Well..." I started. "Thats why Noah and Mark and hanging out right now." I sighed. "Apparently Mark has a fat crush on me or something."

"What?" Rita asked, the color draining from her face.

"I have no idea but Mark told him that as soon as I'm single, he was gonna ask me out." I said. "So Noah's telling him that we're together."

Rita gulped and looked down at the ground for a moment. She looked back up at me and put a small smile on her face.

"Um, well. Thats gonna be awkward." She said, laughing dryly.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked.

"No, yeah. I'm fine. All good here." She said, waving it off.

"No, Rita, whats wrong?" I asked.

She turned the faucet on and proceeded to take her mask off under the hot water.

"Nothing, I'm good." She said. "I just think I'm in love with Mark, but its fine."

"Rita, what?" I asked, completely shocked.

"Um, yeah. I've been kind of in love with him for a few months and recently," She paused, standing straight up. "I kind of thought he was into me too." She laughed, dryly. "How fucking stupid of me. He had the hot's for you the entire time."

"Rita..." I said.

"No, its fine. I'm good. I'm not mad or anything, just processing." She said, walking back into my bedroom.

"Now wheres that bottle of wine I was promised?"