Chapter 2 (Noah)

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Noah

"Why the hell are you taking bio?!" Will asks, looking horrified.

"Because, I might wanna get into medicine. And biology is a big part of that, Will." Zach says, sounding a little annoyed.

John laughs and goes to open more beers for the four of us. Were hanging out at Zach and John's dorm, discussing our first day of classes. It was good. Besides being late to English Literature in the morning, making a fool of myself in front of the entire class and practically being accused of sleeping with some random girl last night.

"Have any of you guys ever read Pride and Prejudice?" I ask.

"Nope, seen the movie though" Zach says.

"I have, it's not an easy read but it is good." John says.

"I read it in High School because I had to." Will says, sighing dramatically. "It sucks."

"I have to read it for Literature." I tell them. "Then do a critical analysis on it or some shit."

"Oh yeah." Will looks like he just remembered something. "That's a paired assignment, right? Professor Griffin sets the same assignment every year I think."

"Yeah it is. He paired me up with some girl -"

"A girl?" Zach cuts me off before I can say anything else. He's looking at me suspiciously. Like I'm incapable of working alongside a girl without getting into her underwear.

"Is she hot?" Will asks expectantly, suddenly looking far too interested in this.

I consider his question. Is she hot? The answer is fuck yes. There's absolutely no question. I'd go as far as saying she's probably the most attractive girl I've ever seen in my life. She's a brunette (my preference) with dark green eyes, a flawless body, and a pretty unique style I guess. She was wearing ripped skinny jeans, black vans, and a Fleetwood Mac t-shirt. She was wearing glasses, and her hair was thrown up on top of her head in a messy bun. She looked like she put zero effort in, and she was running late so my guess is she didn't have much time to get ready this morning. And even so, she looked amazing. Which sucks. I don't wanna be attracted to this girl I'm gonna be working with, but I am. Not a great start.

"Yeah, she was pretty," I say. The look of glee on Zach's face confirms that I should have lied and said she was disgusting.

"Awesome!" Will is ecstatic. "Noah and Lit Girl. You're gonna be seeing her a lot, working late at nights on your assignment together, just the two of you..."

John laughs and Zach smirks at me. Will continues.

"Maybe someone's hand touches someone's knee under the table by mistake. Maybe one thing leads to another. Maybe you guys end up hooking up for the next four months. Who knows!" Will is far too excited about this.

"Do you wanna fuck her?" Zach asks, dead serious, with a wicked grin on his face. I know that look. He's thinking of turning this into some kind of game. I need to shut that down.

"No, I don't." I growl at Zach, glaring at him. He just laughs and shakes his head before sitting back and scrolling through his phone lazily.

"What's she like? Is she nice?" John asks. A refreshing male perspective on such a subject.

Was she nice? Honestly, I'm not really sure. She wasn't not nice. That's a terrible double negative. But she was a little, weird? I don't know the right word for it exactly. She seemed pissed at me when we ran into each other outside the lecture hall, then she just laughed it off when Professor Griffin thought we'd spent the night together. She told me she hates Pride and Prejudice, and most girls love that romantic kinda shit. Then she called me Hot Asshole. She literally called me hot, and an asshole, right to my face. What is that about? I don't really know what to think about her right now, but I do know I'm far too interested in her. Which is not good. I do not wanna end up sleeping with this girl. But to be honest, even though she called me hot, I feel like she wouldn't sleep with me if I tried. She seems so unpredictable. I can't get a read on her at all right now.

"She seems okay." I tell them. "We exchanged numbers, for the assignment."

"My man!" Will goes to give me a high five, but I leave him hanging.

"Be careful, Noah." Zach isn't smirking at me anymore, but there's still a glimmer of something in his eye, "Exchanging numbers with girls on the first day of classes. This isn't what we agreed at all."

"Zach, relax, will ya? I need to work with this girl, and it's not like I had a choice. The professor paired us up, I didn't ask to get paired up with the hottest girl in the class." I need to fucking remind him that I am well aware of what we discussed. 

But, as Zach raises his eyebrows and lets out a short laugh, I realise what I just said. Fuck.

"She's that hot, huh?" Will exclaims. "Promise me you'll take her around our dorm sometime, I wanna see for myself." He winks at me. He doesn't understand what's going on between me and Zach right now. 

"Watch yourself, Noah." Zach says playfully. "You wanted things to be different now, remember? Or have you changed your mind already?"

"Yes Zach, I remember." I throw him an eyeroll. "I haven't changed my mind. Can we drop it now, please?"

"What the hell are you two talking about?" Will finally asks.

"You don't wanna know." John assures him with a small smile. 

"No, I do." Will looks between Zach and I. "I need wingmen, and this sounds like you guys aren't up for hook ups? Is that what this is?"

"No, man." Zach says with a laugh. "I am most certainly up for it, but Noah here isn't."

I glare at Zach as he sips his beer casually and raises his eyebrows at me. He's a fucking asshole, and if we hadn't been through so much together, I would consider punching him right now. But, he's my best man, even when he pisses me off. I know he's fucking with me right now, but, everything he has said is correct. I can't start with him.

"Will, I'm not against hooking up. I like fucking girls as much as the next guy." I say, and Will beams at me, "I'm just not jumping back into that right away. And I am definitely not gonna be jumping into bed with my fucking English Lit partner." Will nods his understanding at me, but he's still smiling. 

As I turn away from them to look out of the window, John starts talking about his guitar class. Poor John, he doesn't like talking about girls this way. He's a much better guy than Zach, Will and me. I almost feel sorry for him, he deserves better friends. But I'm sure he'll find some if he wants to. Apparently some girl in his class is really good at guitar or something, she's even in a band. Yeah, yeah, whatever. As John talks about how he himself can't play the guitar to save his life, I spot a familiar face walking past the dorms outside. My literature partner, Jamie Hawkins. Speak of the devil and she shall appear. Shes walking a dog, and she's not alone. she's with a guy. They look pretty friendly, and he looks like the type of guy she would be interested in. Tattoos, lip ring. Come to think of it, they look very friendly. Of course she has a boyfriend. But girls with boyfriends don't usually go around telling strangers that they're hot. Well, a certain type of girl might, but I don't think Jamie's like that. What am I thinking? I don't know her at all. Why am I still looking at them. Why am I so intrigued by her...

"Noah? You in?"

I turn away from the window to Will, John and Zach all looking at me, waiting for an answer.

"Uh, yeah, sure." What the hell am I agreeing to here?

"Awesome!" Will says. "So it's settled, we'll meet here tomorrow night for a few beers then hit the student friendly bars. You guys are so lucky you have me to show you around, I know all the best spots." Will puffs out his chest in mock pride. "I know where they don't card, and we have to go to the Grill."

"What's the Grill?" Zach asks.

"Oh! I know about the Grill! I heard about it in guitar class today." John says.

"Yeah, I'm not surprised" Will chuckles. "It's a bar and stage venue, so all the guitar students will be there a lot. It's pretty cool, and the live music there is always good of course."

"Sounds good." I say, before turning my attention back to the window.

But when I turn back around, Jamie and her boyfriend and the dog are gone. I wonder if she'll be at the Grill tomorrow night. I wonder if she's interested in the whole music scene at this school, the Fleetwood Mac t-shirt and alternative looking boyfriend strongly suggest that she is really into music. I wonder if she's in John's guitar class. I wonder if I'll get a copy of Pride and Prejudice out of the library before the rest of my Literature class do. The sooner I read the book, the sooner I can start working with Jamie...

Why am I so fucking interested in this girl? No, Noah. I decide I need to nip this in the bud. I need to keep my distance from her. Which could be difficult, given I need to work with her on this damn assignment. For fuck sake. Keeping a cold distance (like I did this morning after the initial shock of how attractive I found her) is the only way forward. It'll be fine.

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