The Middle | ✔️

Chapter 52

Jamie

"Shit, you guys need to leave." I look up from my phone at Jay, Joel and Patrick. We've been rehearsing in my garage. Rehearsal is now over.

"Why?" Jay asks as he stops playing his guitar.

"Noah's on his way over here. I told him I met Sarah, he's probably freaking out." I explain.

"Why would he be freaking out though?" Patrick asks casually as he pulls his headband off of his head and tosses it at me, getting up from the stool behind his drums. "There's apparently nothing going on between the two of you, so why would he care that you've met his old girlfriend?"

"She's not an old girlfriend. She's a friend." Joel clarifies.

"Right. I don't know, stuff has happened between me and Noah. And Sarah told me things about him. Private things. He's gonna be panicking."

Sarah has already messaged me to let me know that Noah just called her. She played it totally cool and told him we barely talked about him. I really do like Sarah.

"Okay, we'll leave." Jay says, putting his guitar down. "You sure you can handle him on your own?"

"Of course I can!" I frown at Jay. "He's a boy, not a dragon."

"He may not be a dragon, but that doesn't mean you aren't playing with fire." Joel says. Damn, I walked right into that one. "You told us you wanna keep your distance from him and try to get over how you feel about him. Him coming over here right now is the complete opposite of that."

"I know, he just wants to talk to me about Sarah. That's it. Now can you please leave? He'll be here any minute!"

"Christ, how fast does this guy walk?" Patrick says, grinning at me.

"I don't know, but he's on the Track Team, so go!" I usher them out the garage door and close it behind them. Jay drove them over here, they won't run into Noah.

Fuck. Joel has a point though. This isn't a good idea. But I knew he'd wanna talk to me about Sarah. Did I think he would march straight over here as soon as he found out? No way. But it's happening.

As soon as the doorbell rings, I rush to answer the door. He didn't run, he would have been here sooner if he had. But he looks dishevelled. This Sarah thing must really be bothering him. He marches past me, briefly stroking Benji on the head, and makes directly for the kitchen. I swallow, hard. He looks great, as always. 

"So, you met Sarah." He says, turning on me as soon as I enter the kitchen behind him.

"Yeah, I did. I went to New York yesterday to visit my friend Erin, turns out they're roommates at NYU. Small world, huh?"

"Yeah." I pause, thinking he'll say something else. But nothing more comes out of his mouth. I watch him carefully, because I'm unsure how he's feeling right now. He seems pissed. But he also seems....

He's looking me up and down, and instantly I feel an awareness sweep over me. I'm wearing cotton pyjama shorts and a black vest top. I should have thrown something else on before he got here. The way his eyes are sliding up and down my legs is making me feel extremely exposed right now.

"We're cool though, right?" I ask tentatively, because I don't know what else to say right now.

He takes a step towards me, and then another, effectively closing the distance between us. I feel my breathing hitch as I look up at him. He's so tall, and standing this close, I need to tilt my head up to meet his eyes. They aren't meeting mine though, they're still surveying my body, from head to toe. I don't know what to do, so I don't do anything. I wait.