The New Kid: a Noah Beck Fanfiction *completed*

39

Addison was in the doorway, panting anxiously. "Sorry, I know that you had other plans right now, but Griffin just got into it with Chase. He tried to get at Charli, and Griffin decided that he needed to protect her. It's not going well, and he won't listen to anyone."
"Son of a bitch," I muttered. I turned to face Noah. "Raincheck. I have a dumbass brother that I need to go take care of."
Noah nodded like he understood, but I could tell by the look on his face that he had little faith that we would get back to what we had started. He was probably right, but I didn't have time to address that.

I stormed down the stairs, seeing a circle formed around Griffin and Chase. Charli and Dixie were in the corner, and Dixie was working at calming her down. I caught her eye, and she gave me a pleading look. I pushed through the crowd, stopping directly in front of Griffin, who had stood up to argue with Chase.
"Griff."
He turned to face me. "What, Grace? I'm a little busy."
I stepped in between the two of them to ensure that Chase wouldn't try to pull any cheap shots. "I know exactly what you're doing, bubs. I know that you see Charli like another little sister, and all you want to do is protect her, but I need you to keep a level head. You've been drinking. Besides that, Chase isn't eighteen yet. He could press charges for assault of a minor."

I saw Griffin's clenched fists relax at his sides. "Leave her alone," Griffin leaned around me to spit the warning at Chase through clenched teeth.
"Alright, people! Nothing to see here! Get back to your underage drinking!" I yelled, leading Griffin over to Dixie and Charli. "What the hell happened?" I asked, passing him off to Dixie like we were divorced parents exchanging our children for visitation.
"We were dancing together, the three of us, and Chase came up and tried to talk to Charli. Charli told him to leave her alone, and he just wouldn't take no for an answer. Griffin stepped in between them, and Chase got shitty with him. You know how one thing leads to another when these people have been drinking," Dixie explained.
I shook my head. "I will never forgive him for the things that I just gave up to save his ass."
"What are you talking- oh," she said as she saw Noah walk down the stairs with his hair disheveled.

I crossed the room to meet Noah at the bottom of the stairs. "I was finishing up with Griffin and heading right back upstairs," I said, grabbing his hands.
"I don't think that we're meant to do anything together at Bryce's house," he laughed. "This isn't the first time that we've tried. It's okay."
I faked a pout. "It's not okay."
"Let's go dance, and maybe, after some of these people leave, we can sneak into the bathroom for a quick bit of fun."
"Fine," I groaned. "I'm getting another drink then."

We walked into the kitchen and saw Bryce setting a game of beer pong up on the kitchen table.
"Hey, come play against me and Addi!" he called out to us.
We made our way over to the table. I had played against Addison plenty of times, and I knew that she was horrible at it, but Bryce was pretty good. "Are you good at beer pong? Bryce has been reigning champ a few times, but Addi's awful. Together, they're stoppable."
Noah laughed softly. "I'm not horrible."
We took a few shots, and Bryce and Addison were falling behind by two cups. "Addi, babe. What the hell?" Bryce asked.
Noah and I looked at each other and laughed. The game didn't last much longer, and Noah and I won. "And I was worried about what?" I asked.

We excused ourselves from the kitchen, heading back into the living room. The party had started to die down, and there were about half as many people still there, but the house was still full.
"What time is it?" Noah asked, leaning over to whisper in my ear.
"Time to go back upstairs," I teased.
Noah laughed and led me over to where Griffin and Dixie were sitting with Charli. "Hey, guys," he said, sitting next to Griffin and pulling me down onto his lap. "I missed the fight. What happened?"

Dixie shot Noah a look as Griffin became angrily explaining everything that had happened. I made eye contact with Dixie, and we both chuckled awkwardly. I pulled out of Noah's grip, grabbing Dixie and Charli's hands and leading them to the kitchen.
"He knew exactly what was gonna happen if he asked," I said, laughing as I pulled myself up onto the kitchen counter.
Dixie and Charli pulled themselves up on either side of me. "No kidding. I noticed that you guys never went back upstairs. Is that his way of avoiding it?"
I shrugged. "It was just getting somewhere, and Addison knocked on the door. I was ready to finish what we started, and he gave some speech on 'it's not meant to happen in Bryce's house.'"

Charli interjected. "Why did you bother giving him a choice? I can almost guarantee that if you had just led him back upstairs, he wouldn't have objected."
I started to disagree, but I thought about it and changed my mind. "You might be on to something. I don't know, though. He seemed pretty firm on his answer."
"Try again," Dixie suggested.

I walked back out to the living room, and Noah was looking around helplessly as Griffin grew more passionate about the story.
"Hey, Griff. Sorry to take Noah away from you, but we've had something important come up."
"See you, man," Noah said, standing up. As we walked away, he whispered to me. "Thank you so much. He told the story three times."
I laughed, pulling him into the guest room. "I know you said to wait, but I don't want to wait. I want to finish what we started."
And that's exactly what we did.