“Thanks again for the advice you gave me,” he told her over the sound of the music playing from the radio. “I’ve been doing better now.”
“That’s good, Noah,” she said with a genuine smile, one she had been awarding Noah with recently that filled his chest with warmth. He smiled back at her, tossing her a wink that made her roll her eyes. And then she threw a nod back at him, gesturing for him to keep his eyes on the road.
“The first game of the season is coming up on Friday,” he said. “It’s a home game. Are you coming?”
“I’m not really a hockey fan,” Melanie said, and Noah’s eyes widened.
“Wait. You’re living in Massachusetts, but you’re not a hockey fan?” he asked, surprised. Everyone here was a hockey fan. How could she not be?
“First of all, I’m not from Massachusetts. I’m from New York.”
“I guess you’re one of those women who don’t like sports.”
“Actually, for your information, I like basketball,” she retorted, and Noah frowned.
“You’re a basketball fan,” he said like he had a foul taste in his mouth. Melanie shifted in her seat to look at him.
“You say it like it’s a bad thing.”
“It is a bad thing,” he retorted, shaking his head. Just when she was starting to seem cool to him, she would ruin it by saying she was a basketball fan. Basketball was average at best and wasn’t even that entertaining of a game to watch. He would rather watch golf over basketball, and that was saying something.
“At least they’re actually playing a game,” she mumbled as she turned to look at the road again.
“Wait. Are you saying hockey isn’t a game?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. It’s a fight on ice. That’s all you guys do is get on the ice and start pushing and shoving. I’m actually surprised you have all of your teeth.”
“It’s better than watching a bunch of people traveling and the two same teams playing in the finals every year. There’s no variety. It’s the same thing.”
“I would rather watch the same two teams make it to the finals every year than watching a bunch of people fighting every five minutes, making the game longer than what it needs to be.”
“Well, I would rather—”
“We’re here,” she said triumphantly. And she was right, judging by what his GPS told him. He glanced out of the window, seeing that the rain was not pouring as heavily over here as it had been back on campus and seeing a fancy apartment complex, and when he took a closer look at the neighborhood, Noah realized that he recognized this place.
“One of my friends lives around here,” Noah said. His friend used to play on the same team as him, but he recently graduated and was out job hunting, while also doing a YouTube channel that gave him lucrative money. This neighborhood was a nice one.
“Really?” she asked, in a somewhat non-interested fashion, as she grabbed her umbrella.
“Yeah, and there’s this nice club around this area. The Hoot.”
When Melanie had all of her things packed together, she turned to look at him with a smile. “Thanks for driving me home in this weather. I should have my car back soon, so you don’t have to worry about doing this again.”
“Are you sure you’re going to have that piece of—”
“If you talk badly about my car, you’re asking for a failing grade,” she said with a short smile as she stepped out of the car, making sure to slam the door shut.
Noah quickly rolled down his window. “You can’t abuse your power like that,” he called.
But she only waved him off as she stepped inside of her building. Noah chuckled at her childishness as he pulled off.
CHAPTER
14
MELANIE
A
