The Middle | ✔️

Chapter 21 (Noah)

"I don't get it." John says, eyeing me suspiciously. "You couldn't find your way back to the dorms? But your phone wasn't dead? You could have just used Google maps?"

"I know that, John." I tell him, with a complimentary eye roll. "I just didn't wanna leave, okay?"

"But, I don't get it..." John is too confused by this.

"He wanted to have sex with her, John. There." Zach spells it out for him.

Were sitting in a booth at one of the best local diners in North Bridge, Marley's, eating brunch together. Track Tryouts went well, Stefan and I both made the team, but now I'm fucking starving because I didn't have time to eat a proper breakfast. I asked Zach, John and Will if they wanted to meet here after tryouts. Zach and John agreed, I still haven't heard from Will. He wasn't in the dorm when I got back this morning, so I assume he hooked up with someone last night and spent the night at their place.

"Its true, I did want to have sex with her." I admit, between mouthfuls of scrambled eggs. "I should never have walked her home in the first place."

"So..." Zach eyes me with delight. "Why didn't you sleep with her? That's not like you at all."

"We need to write a paper together, Zach." I frown at him sternly. "Hooking up would have been dumb."

He smirks at me, John continues eating his food, clearly uncomfortable with such a conversation. Well, wait for it.

"I kissed her, though. And... Other stuff."

While I don't exactly want Zach to know about this, there's no point lying about it. I don't think Jamie will lie to her friends about what happened, so it could get back to Zach regardless.

"Other stuff?" Zach grins at me. "I'm interested in this other stuff, tell us about the other stuff."

"You really don't need to." John says quietly.

"We...fooled around, a little bit." I admit, still focussing on my breakfast. "But I stopped it." Right when she was about to orgasm. The most horrendous timing ever. But I had to stop it then, or I wouldn't have been able to control myself.

"You stopped it?" Zach asks me, unimpressed. "That's really not like you. Not at all."

I look up at him, trying to convince him that I'm actually proud that I was able to stop things. "She was a little put out, actually. She wanted to...go all the way."

"She did?!" John asks, sounding a lot happier now. "Wow, she must really like you! This is great!"

Zach and I both look at John in disbelief. Is he actually this naïve? Surely not.

"Um, John, you know that sleeping with someone doesn't always mean that you like them, right?" I ask him dubiously, earning a sharp laugh from Zach.

"Dude, just because that's what we do, doesn't mean everyone else does." Zach smiles as he sips his coffee.

"It's not what we do, it's what we did." I remind Zach sternly. "Last night proves that I've changed. I could have slept with Jamie, but I didn't."

"So, you don't like her then?" John seems a little crestfallen.

"No, I don't. Well, I do, but not like that. She's a cool girl, and I'm sure we'll get along well while we're doing this assignment together, but that's it." I tell John.

"I think she's awesome, and the two of you would be great together. You kissed last night, surely that means something?" John says. He just doesn't get it.