BOOK TWO: COMPLETE ✅ With The Ambition quickly becoming one of the music industry's hottest young bands, Abi and Noah's fledgling relationship must face a whole host of new challenges.
As press interest in Noah's shady history and his current priva...
Noah's voice cut through the darkness. Blinking my eyes against the beam of the torch he was shining in my face, I sat up quickly in the metal-framed double bed.
"What's happened?"
"Nothing's happened," he said, dropping the beam onto the floor of the tipi, "I want to show you something."
"Show me something?" I said, gaping at him. "It's the middle of the night, you maniac."
"It's not," he continued, walking over to take my hand and pull me to my feet, "It's nearly dawn. We need to go now if we're going to get there in time."
He turned the torch around to illuminate his own face, his grin making him look borderline psychotic as the shadows danced across his features.
"Where? Where are we going?"
"Just put something warm on and come with me," he smiled, finally switching on the lamp that bathed the bedroom of the luxury tipi in a warm amber glow, rather than the harsh beam of his torch.
"Why didn't you just do that to start with," I asked, pulling on some socks.
"Not as dramatic," he shrugged with a smile.
"Idiot." I shook my head to myself as I rooted around in my bag for a hoody and a pair of leopard print leggings that I knew would still be clean and smelling fresh.
After my mum and John had left the previous evening, both Noah and I had been too tired to check out any of the bands or entertainment. Traditionally, Friday night was always a pretty big one at Glastonbury, with all the weekenders arriving. But, after already doing three days of it, we'd been happy to head back to the VIP campsite, have a hot shower in the swanky, wood-built bathroom block, then fall into our temporary bed for a good night's sleep.
Little did I know we'd be getting up before the sun had risen.
Finally dressed, I swilled some mouthwash around my teeth before spitting it onto the grass as I stepped out of the tipi.
Noah was waiting on a bench outside. "Classy," he said, raising an eyebrow.
"When in Rome," I replied, waving an arm around to remind him of the fact we were in the middle of a ginormous farm, nothing but fields for miles around.
Noah let out a gentle laugh. "Come on, let's go," he said, standing from the bench and taking my hand in his.
"What's in the backpack?" I asked.
"Breakfast," he replied, his smile suggesting we would be enjoying something a bit more special than cereal.
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By the time we reached the top of the hill, I was out of breath and my body had grown warm under my hoody. Once we had picked our way past the endless expanse of tents and late-night revellers, the air over the English countryside had turned quieter. The faint hum of the festival was still there, but it had taken on a faraway sound. As though not one of the thousands of people back down at the bottom of the hill even existed.
The sky was still a dusky purple, the stars beginning to shed their bright, glittering cloaks for another night, fading into washed-out silver speckles until it was time for them to dance again.
Placing his backpack on the floor and kneeling next to it, Noah began to remove the items inside, one by one. On top of a blue and white striped blanket, he laid out a spread of pastries, fruit, and a flask of hot coffee.
Glancing up at me, he winked. "Thank god for VIP catering."
Smiling, I dropped down onto the blanket and helped myself to a croissant. "This is stunning," I mumbled through a mouthful of buttery deliciousness.
"The croissant or the view?"
"Both," I laughed.
From our position above the rest of the world, I could see for miles. The faintest tinges of pink were beginning to feather into the sky on the horizon, Noah's face filtered into smooth perfection as I watched him sip from the metal flask.
"You're going to be knackered later," I said. "I'm not sure many people would choose to be up at sunrise when they're headlining a festival later that evening."
"I'm not most people," he shrugged. "I wanted to make the most of this. This spot, the silence. Just you and me."
Twisting the cap back onto the flask, he placed it down beside him and scooted around to sit opposite me.
Cross-legged, he took my hand in his. "I wanted to thank you."
I frowned, a puzzled smile curling across my lips. "For what?"
"For saving me. I was fucked before I met you. Karen, all those people that used me, and I just let them. I thought I was nothing more than just a pretty face that knew how to use his dick."
I squeezed his hand. "Title of your autobiography?" I whispered, raising an eyebrow.
Noah laughed, rolling his eyes. "I'm trying to be serious here," he said, "I don't know how to say it but I need to try. I need to thank you. In a way, you saved my life."
He reached over to root around in the front pocket of his backpack, still holding lightly onto my fingertips with his other hand. My heart stopped beating as he pulled it back out, a small, square box in his palm.
Noah drew in a deep breath. "I want to be with you for the rest of my life, Abigail Wilson. I want to see the sunrise with you every day, until the day it doesn't rise for us anymore."
Noah grasped the box tightly as I stared at him, wide-eyed and lost for words.
He rubbed his thumb across the smooth, bright blue polish on my thumbnail, the same way he had always done when he was nervous. "And, when the day comes that the world stays dark, I'll be okay because you'll be with me. Even when we turn back into nothing more than just atoms, floating around in space, you're a part of who I am now."
Blinking back the tears beginning to form behind my eyes, I swallowed hard.
"Noah, I'm not-"
"This isn't a proposal," he interjected, "You're too unique for that and I'm still not sure I even believe in marriage."
"Oh," I whispered.
"We don't need a piece of paper, Abs, not right now anyway. I just wanted to give you something to show how much you mean to me."
Letting go of my fingers, he opened the box. The hazy, early light was just bright enough to sparkle on the huge, square emerald ring inside.
"I didn't want to get you a diamond," he said softly, looking up at me through his eyelashes. "It had to be something different."
"Noah," I gasped, "I love it." My voice was weak as I whispered, still reeling from the shock of his gesture and the beauty of his words.
"Will you be my forever, Abi? Until we fade to atoms?"
The single tear that broke free was warm against the cool morning air as it rolled down my cheek. I swallowed hard and reached my hands to cup Noah's face, his light stubble bristling against my palms.
