NOAH
N
OAH BANGED ON MELANIE’S DOOR, DETERMINED NOT TO LEAVE UNTIL SHE OPENED IT. It took him a two-hour drive to make it her apartment from his hometown, and there was no way he was going to leave without speaking to her. Noah knew she was here because he saw her light in her window when he pulled up. At first, he had allowed her to ignore him because he thought the breakup was something she had wanted, and he wanted to respect that even if he didn't agree with it. But now that he was aware of what happened that led to their breakup, he wouldn't accept it.
A door ripped open, but it wasn't Melanie's door. It was her next-door neighbor, an older white woman, who had a puppy in her arms as she glared at him. "Do you know how much noise you’ve been making? You woke up my baby."
Noah assumed 'Baby' was the Yorkie in her arms, but Noah didn't give a fuck about her dog. All he cared about was Melanie, and he wouldn't stop banging on this door until she came out.
"I know how much noise I've been making, since I'm the one making it," Noah said. The woman's eyes widened with shock as she sputtered, clearly offended by his words. Noah banged on Melanie's door one more time before it opened.
"What the hell are you doing, Noah?" Melanie asked, glaring at him before she gave an apologetic smile to her neighbor. "Sorry about that, Martha."
"Melanie, I don't know who your friend is." Noah rolled his eyes. "But the next time he makes this much noise, I'm afraid I'll have to—Hey! I was still speaking!"
Halfway through Martha's rant, Melanie pulled him inside of her apartment before slamming her door.
"If I didn't answer the door, that means I don't want to speak to you," she said as she glared at him.
"Tough shit," Noah spat out, "because I want to talk to you."
"There's nothing to talk about," she said, folding her arms together, stubbornly. "We already broke up."
Noah decided to get straight to the point. He was tired of this act. "Did you speak to my mother?"
Melanie froze, her arms dropping at her sides as she stared at him before she bit down on her lip. Noah shook his head. So, it was true. He couldn't believe something like this happened behind his back without him knowing.
"I know you spoke to her."
Melanie sighed. "Yes, I did," she admitted, "but it changes nothing."
"How does it change nothing?" Noah barked in disbelief. "She told you to break up with me. You didn't break up with me because you wanted to. Why didn't you tell me? We could have talked about this!"
"Because it doesn't matter if your mother told me or not. I didn't break up with you because of what she told me. Ultimately, it came down to my decision."
Noah looked at her in disbelief as he felt pain in his chest again. Though he was angry finding out the truth, he had been relieved to know that the reason Melanie broke up with him wasn't because of him. But with the way she was speaking now, it seemed as if he were wrong. "So, you wanted to break up with me?"
Melanie looked at him sadly, her big brown eyes filled with tears. "Noah, when I'm with you, I feel shame. It's not even about your age. I could deal with you being younger than me, but I can't deal with the fact that you were once my student. How can I even go about telling people that? How can I tell my mother or father or my friends that I'm dating my student?"
"But I'm not your student anymore. You act like I'm a high school student. Yeah, maybe it's taboo for a reason, but you don't have to tell people that if you don't want to."
Melanie snorted with mock laughter. "You're a freaking hockey player that's about to go pro. Your parents are famous! Soon, all of your information will be out there, and all it's going to take is one Google search, and people will know. It's best for both of us if we break up."
"No, it isn't," Noah said, frustrated by everything she was saying. He was tired of hearing this. All he wanted was Melanie. What was the problem with that?
"Noah, you're a handsome young man who will soon have celebrity. A bunch of women will throw themselves at you, and you'll forget all about me. And I'll eventually find the one who is right for me."
Noah grabbed her, pulling her to him and embracing her. "Why can't I be that right man for you?" he asked against her lips. "I don't want anyone else but you. Why can't you understand that?"
He kissed her deeply, holding her face to his as she struggled until she stopped, allowing him to kiss her. "I love you," he told her in between kisses. "I don't want to lose you."
Melanie ripped her mouth from his. "You're selfish, Noah. All you can think about is yourself. What about me? What about what I'm going to go through? The world isn't going to say anything about you, but I'm going to be the person torn to shreds when all of this blows up in our faces."
"Who cares about everyone else?" Noah asked, and Melanie shoved him away angrily.
"I care!" she yelled, pointing at herself. "Your mom is the first roadblock, but what about everyone else?"
"We'll plow through them too. I don't care what my mother says. She won't stop me from being with you. We'll fight all of them if we have to."
