Present Perfect (6 page)

“They’re awesome,” I said, swaying side to side, my eyes closed, letting the music flow through me. “The entire CD is brilliant. The song ‘
Everything’
is my favorite.”

“Mine too. It reminds me of you,” he said.

I quickly glanced at him, not sure if I heard what I thought I heard. I looked down and closed my eyes again. When the song ended, I looked over at Noah and caught him staring at me with a slight smile across his face.

“What are you smiling at?” I asked.

“You, I like watching you listen to music. You get so lost in it.”

Our eyes locked as I sucked in my lower lip, running my teeth over it. I felt a warm blush start to creep across my cheeks. I smiled at him, as I handed back the ear bud.

“Do you think they’ll go on tour soon?”

Noah shrugged. “Maybe.”

“If they come to town we have go to see them. I bet they’re unbelievable in concert.”

Suddenly, he hopped off the table and stood in front of me. Reaching into the back pocket of his cargo shorts, he produced two tickets, and held them up in front of me. He tried to contain it, but the grin on his face was getting bigger and more adorable each second.

“Performing Arts Center, three weeks, you and me, Tweet,” he said excitedly.

It took a second for me to register what he had just said. This would be the first concert either of us had been to. It was hard to contain my excitement.

“You’re kidding?!”

“Nope.”

I jumped up and flew into his arms, causing him to stumble backwards, and fall to the ground with me landing on top, straddling him. We were out of breath and laughing.

“Noah Stewart, you are the bestest best friend a girl could have.”

“I am pretty awesome, aren’t I?” He shot a flirtatious smirk up at me and my insides melted.

“Yes you are,” I said in a low voice.

We laid there, so close our noses were almost touching as our eyes locked on one another again. Noah had the most amazing eyes. They were light blue and so bright, it looked as if they were lit from the back.

I wish I had eyes like that. Mine were a weird color. Mom always said they were teal. What kind of color is teal? I can guarantee the color teal is the least used crayon in the Crayola big box.

I realized I should have probably gotten off of Noah immediately, but I didn’t. He seemed perfectly fine with me staying put, straddling him. My palms pressed against his chest let me know how toned and solid his body was, under his t-shirt. Playing baseball since we were little kids had been very,
very
good to him. I could also feel how excited he was. I had never felt anything like that before pressed against me. Surprisingly, I wasn’t scared. It felt right.

My gaze fell to his mouth. When I saw his tongue dart out slightly and run across his lower lip, a warm sensation took over my body. The butterflies in my stomach were doing cartwheels. Our breathing had gone from shallow and quick, to deep and slow. I wasn’t exactly sure what was going on. Noah was my best friend. I had always been excited when I saw him and wanted to spend all of my time with him, but what I was feeling was more than what I had experienced before.

Noah’s gaze dropped down to my lips, slowly moved up my face, and back to my eyes. Raising his hand, he tucked some of my hair that had fallen against the side of his face, behind my ear. My cheek and the shell of my ear tingled as the tips of his fingers skimmed across them.

“You were extremely sure of yourself, getting those tickets without asking me first. What if I didn’t want to go with you?” I said, teasing him. My voice was so quiet, it almost sounded like a whisper.

“Impossible. I know my girl too well,” he said, smiling up at me. I loved it when he called me his girl. He cleared his throat and then said, “I guess we better get up.”

“Oh. Yeah. Sorry about that.” A rosy blush took over my cheeks.

I rolled off of Noah’s body and sat up next to him. He didn’t stand immediately. I guess he needed a little time to calm down, so did I.

When he stood, he held his hands out to me, and helped me off the ground. Once I was on my feet, he pulled me in close against his chest, and said, “That was fun. What would you do for tickets to see Green Day in concert?” He had a smirk on his face.

The combination of our bodies pressed together, his bright blue eyes, and that smirk, had my head spinning, and my body experiencing sensations that I wasn’t use to feeling.

I wasn’t sure if it was my raging hormones or Beth drooling over Noah, constantly, but I had started looking at him differently. I didn’t like the way she looked at him or talked about his body parts. These new feelings were confusing to me. I knew when I was with him, I felt excited, happy, and safe. When we weren’t together it felt like a part of me was missing.

Since we shared all of our firsts together, I guess it was only natural that my first crush would be on Noah. Even though his body responded when I was on top of him, I knew teenage boys got like that for no reason at all. It was just the hormones flooding into his penis that caused it to react that way. Noah saw me as a friend, not a girlfriend.

Besides, I knew I wasn’t the right girl for him. There was nothing special about me. I was average height. My features were okay. I had been told I was cute. It was probably my round face and puffy cheeks. As a kid relatives always wanted to pinch my cheeks for some reason. I was slightly curvy. A few months ago my boobs decided to make an appearance all of a sudden. They had been developing slowly and steadily. Then one day, ta-dah, I had ta-tas. They weren’t huge, they weren’t small, they were average. My shoulder length hair was dark brown, like Emily’s, but not silky and shiny like her hair always was. My skin was pale, unlike the year round golden tan of my sister’s complexion. And then there were my freaky teal colored eyes that caused a lot of stares to be directed my way.

Noah deserved perfect because he was, and I was as far from perfect as you could get. Plus, we were best friends and I never wanted that to change.

The first week of high school was a blur. I was intimidated by the new classes and new teachers, but after the first day jitters were gone, things seemed to fall into place. I had two classes with Noah, three with Beth, and we all shared the same lunch period. High school life was going pretty well until, The Interloper invaded.

It was almost the end of lunch. Noah was sitting beside me studying notes for his next class. Across the table from us sat Beth, who was rambling on about every cute guy that walked by when she wasn’t stealing glances at Noah. I don’t think this girl ever shut up about anything, especially guys.

Every school has their version of
her
. Our version had just walked into the cafeteria. The Interloper was a walking cliché’. She was tall, blonde, blue eyed, very curvy, and to my surprise, headed straight to our table. Her eyes immediately zeroed in on Noah. A big Cheshire cat smile slowly crept across her overly glossy lips. I instinctively knew she was trouble and we would be mortal enemies.

She was well aware of what her assets were and displayed them shamelessly. Her shirt and jeans were tight and low. Her heels and boobs were high. As she walked, every part of her body bounced.

I read an article in Cosmo one time that said guys like girls with bouncy parts. The Interloper was extremely bouncy. No part of my body bounced. There were a few parts that jiggled. I’ve never read an article about guys liking jigglers. I glanced over at Noah and wondered if he liked bouncers or jigglers.

I continued to watch as her hair, boobs, and ass bounced their way across the cafeteria. The closer she got to our table, the tighter the knot in my stomach twisted. I felt like there was a vise clamped around my lower intestines. As she sauntered up, I felt an icy chill run up my spine.

“Yay, I found ya’ll!” She said.

“Hey, Brittani, I saved you a seat,” Beth said, pulling out the chair next to her for The Interloper to sit.

What the shizzle?! Had Beth lost her mind?

The Interloper, or TI for short, slid into the chair next to Beth, and positioned herself directly in front of Noah. She stared at him, trying to get his attention. When that didn’t work she cleared her throat loudly, hoping he would look up at her. Noah finally did look up from his notes, surprised that someone was sitting in front of him, staring.

She extended her hand, palm down, like she expected him to kiss it
.
“I’m Brittani Monroe.”

She introduced herself as if she were making an earth shattering announcement. Her southern drawl was so thick and sweet I felt my teeth rotting with each word.

A confused Noah took her hand by the fingers and shook it. “Um…hey. I’m Noah Stewart.”

He looked over at me with eyebrows raised, like he was checking to make sure he’d done what he was supposed to do. Pursing my lips, I returned his look, without uttering a word.

I started drumming the fingers of my right hand on the table while chewing my left thumbnail. This chick was unbelievable. She hadn’t acknowledged me at all, and hadn’t looked at or said another word to Beth since sitting down.

“It’s
very
nice to meet you, Noah. I’m so glad Beth asked me to join you for lunch.” Noah kept glancing back and forth between me and TI.

I stopped drumming, and chewing long enough to shoot Beth my DEFCON 1 evil eye. I could tell she got the message from the look of fear that crossed her face.

“Um…Brittani, this is my friend Amanda.” Beth’s voice was shaky.

TI never took her eyes off Noah. Her voice was flat when she finally acknowledged my existence. “Hey.”

She shifted her position forward and propped her boobs up on the table revealing the Grand Canyon of cleavage. “What ‘cha studying, Noah?”

She squirmed a little in her seat squishing her boobs together even more. Noah’s eyes landed right where she wanted them to. The Grand Canyon must have had hypnotic power because Noah couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from it.

Unable to tolerate the sightseeing trip any longer, I elbowed him in the ribs. “Ouch! What was that for?” He said, rubbing his side.

“You mentioned that you needed to get to class early.” I smiled innocently at him.

“Yeah, I guess I better go.” He closed his notebook and shoved it into his backpack.

TI tilted her head to the side, gave him her best pouty face, and whined, “I don’t want you to go yet. I’ll miss you too much.”

Unbelievable.

Noah stammered, “Yeah, well…um…maybe later.” He stood. “I’ll see you in Algebra, Tweet.” I gave him a slight smile. “See you later, Beth and um…”

“Brittani!” She squeaked, biting her lower lip.

Backing away from the table, Noah hesitated, and then said, “Um…yeah…Brittani.”

Both girls twisted in their chairs and watched as Noah walk away, staying in that position until he was out of sight.

TI sighed deeply as she turned back around. “He’s all kinds of yummy, isn’t he?”

Beth nodded in full agreement, “Yeah, all kinds.” I shot her another DEFCON 1. “What? Come on, Amanda. You can’t tell me you haven’t noticed how hot he is.”

“He’s my best friend. I don’t think of him that way.”

I lied. I do think of him that way. A lot lately. In fact, he has made a few appearances in my dreams. I got goose bumps every time he came within 10 feet of me or I heard the sound of his voice. A few days ago, I saw him mowing the grass in his backyard. He was shirtless, sweaty, and his shorts were hanging low. From the pounding in my chest and the lightheadedness, I thought I was having a heart attack.

TI picked up a napkin and started fanning herself. “That’s not something you think about. That’s something you feel, all over.”

“Yeah, all over,” Beth said, in a dreamy voice.

I sat there silently listening to these two rattle off all of Noah’s attributes. A burning sensation starting in my stomach traveled up to my chest. My entire body started to tighten up the more they talked about my Noah.

“He’s exceptionally hot. He’s far and above any of the guys around here. He could pass for a junior. I mean, look at most of the guys around here our age. They’re covered in pimples, scrawny, and uncoordinated. Arms and legs flying all over the place,” TI said, waving her arms in the air. “I can tell Noah’s body is rock hard. The muscles in his arms are A-MAZ-ING.”

I’ve had those muscles around me. They are amazing
.

“He’s a baseball player,” Beth chimed in.

“That explains it.”

“His tan and that dark brown hair are a sexy as hell combination,” Beth giggled. “I want to run my fingers through it. It looks so soft.”

I’d felt that hair across my cheek when Noah hugged me. It was very soft and smelled like oranges.

“Oh god! Beth. Did you see his ass?”

“Um…Yeah. It’s perfect.”

“His ass is mouthwatering.” Resting her chin in her hand TI looked away daydreaming, no doubt about Noah’s ass. “I’m going to crawl all over his body.”

“Like a fungus?” I asked, popping the last of the cheese puffs I had for lunch into my mouth.