The Moment

Chapter Nineteen

I wasn't in the party mood. Considering how my day started, a party was not how I intended it to end. However, the boys had other plans. The girls and I hadn't moved from the couch for hours. We had used Uber Eats, one too many times to count, we had watched way too many movies and we sure as hell didn't look "party ready". But the boys filed in, one after another, group after group and suddenly, I was having a party.

"How you doing?" Blake asked, popping up beside me. Looking over at him, I brought the drink to my lips and avoided answering the question. The less lies I tell, the better. "Regs, come on. You know this will go away and everyone will forget it even happened."

"I don't think Noah falls into that category." Looking down at the ground, I wanted to ask. I wanted to know how he was doing. I wanted to know what he had told the others. I wanted to know how much he downplayed everything to make it look like he wasn't bothered.

"He's just as quiet about it as you are." Blake explained, deciding to give up on the conversation and walking away.

Playing with the almost empty can in my hand, I could feel his eyes on me. We had done our best to pretend as though nothing had ever happened between us and I wasn't going to break that now. Choosing to ignore the hole burning in the back of my head, I headed into my kitchen, grabbed another drink and headed towards the pool.

"Regs! Get in!" Tayler called, as soon as he saw me. My friendship with Tayler hadn't taken any hit from this. We were both so confident in our friendship that we didn't need people to believe us. We knew what we were and that's all that mattered. "Don't worry about it." He whispered, swimming over to me as I sat down on the edge of the pool. "Let them think it's me."

"Aren't you the least bit curious?" I asked, surprised I hadn't been bombarded with questions from him.

"No," He explained, shaking his head. "If you wanted to tell me, you would have. Sure, we're best friends and we tell each other everything but we don't have to. However, when and if you ever do want to tell me who's in the video, I'm here. But if you take it to your grave, I'm still here." Placing my hand on his head, I let out a smile as I mentally thanked God for giving me a friend like him. He's got my back 110% and I'll never be able to thank him enough for that. "Now, get in!" He demanded, placing both of his hands on my waist and pulling me into the pool. Oh, did I forget to mention I was fully clothed? Yeah, I was fully clothed.

"Tayler!" I yelled, splashing him once my head popped up from under the water.

"Let's get it!" Looking over to the door, I saw Josh running towards the pool and jumping into it, creating the biggest splash possible.

"Fuck yeah!" Griffin joined in, jumping in after Josh and before I knew it, everyone was jumping in the pool, most of them...fully clothed.

As more and more people jumped their way into the pool, I couldn't help but forget about everything that was going on. I didn't think something as small as a pool party would be able to take my mind off it but somehow, it had. Climbing onto Tayler's shoulders, I began fighting with Avani, who was sitting on Anthony's shoulders and the chicken wars began. For a solid hour, I was happy, genuinely happy, since everything started but as I fell into the water from Avani's push, my eyes locked onto his and that happiness I longed for...disappeared.

"Noah." I said, once my head had popped up from under the water. Swimming towards the edge of the pool and pulling myself out from the water, I could feel everyone's eyes on me. "Noah." I repeated, watching as he pushed his way through the crowd and into the house. Losing sight of him, I let out a sigh as I locked eyes with the one person I had been trying to avoid all night. Deciding to continue to avoid him, I headed upstairs into my room to change out of the wet clothes I had been wearing.

"Regs-"

"God dammit!" I shouted, jumping at the sound of his voice. Turning around, his eyes looked in mine and all I wanted to do was kiss him. But we were just friends.