It was…speculation. Delight. Maybe a little bit of expectation.
Cheese on a biscuit.
After a moment, someone coughed, and that seemed to set off the series of poorly hidden snickers and whispers that followed. They didn’t sound malicious, just smug. It was as though by sharing an innocent lunch, Noah and I had become an item, just as they’d all suspected we would.
I tugged my jacket tighter around me and lifted my chin as I started to make my way toward my seat. Nothing to see here, folks.
Babs and I were seated about ten rows from the front today, but when I finished counting and glanced up, something didn’t track. She wasn’t in her usual spot by the window. Instead, she was across the aisle—sitting next to Mrs. Grady.
Babs spotted me and beamed. “Christine and I found a treasure of yarn today.” She patted Mrs. Grady’s arm in the same comfortable manner she’d used with me.
Noah’s mom, however, was focused over my shoulder. “You don’t mind, do you, Noah? Babs is going to teach me how to crochet.”
Sure enough, Babs’s large bag had been moved as well, a ball of thick yarn and a sleeve full of different-sized hooks sticking out of one of the side pockets.
I blinked, feeling what was becoming a far too familiar heat trickling up and down my back. Noah was right behind me, close enough that I could enjoy a hint of his woodsy scent. For a split second, I wanted to lean into him and inhale a deep breath of it.
Except, we were friends now, and friends, as a general rule, did not tend to feel swoony whenever they caught a whiff of his sexy cologne. Nope.
Simmer down, Luna.
I shot him a questioning glance, but he only shrugged. “Fine with me.” And then, “Aisle or window?”
So far, I’d been happy not to watch the scenery go by, especially after learning that we were essentially Joey’s maiden tour.
I didn’t know what exactly Noah saw on my face, but before I could make my decision, he took the matter out of my hands. “Take the window,” he said, but when I didn’t move, he raised both hands in a mock surrender. “Or not.”
“Sometime today, please,” Tay ordered over the speakers. “So we can get moving.”
Because I’d already held everyone up once, I had no choice but to skootch into the window seat so Noah could slide in beside me. He was casual as ever, of course, stretching his long legs into the aisle.
The bus rumbled beneath us as we pulled away from Granby, and I stayed quiet for a while, staring at the muddy spots on the window so that the landscape beyond it streaked into an incomprehensible blur.
I hadn’t just told Noah about The Incident—I’d shown him the video. I’d even narrated the dumb messages, like some kind of emotional tour guide.
Was it too much? Should I be embarrassed?
I’d shown him the part where I fell, too. At least he hadn’t asked to see it again. In those first few seconds, as I lay sprawled in a pile of lobster filling, my skirt had ridden up… far enough to reveal more than my wounded pride.
I peeked sideways without turning my head. His eyes were closed, arms folded loosely across his chest, so I let myself look.
That expression I’d mistaken for annoyance—lips pressed together, that faint crease between his brows—was still there, even now, while he was clearly relaxed.
Maybe it wasn’t annoyance at all. Maybe it was just…him. A resting mask. One he’d learned to wear in the ER, where life and death decisions didn’t exactly allow a person to show his feelings.
The thought sent a strange ripple through me.
What would it be like, I wondered, to always have to hold yourself in check like that? To keep a lid on every reaction, to swallow anything too loud or too raw?
And then an even quieter thought whispered through: Had I been doing the same thing? Not as a doctor. But with Leo?
Smiling while doubting myself. Laughing when I didn’t think something was funny. Pretending to be fine so that I wouldn’t come across as…too much.
I shifted in my seat, the realization unsettling.
I felt the gears shifting, the ones on the bus, but maybe also mine?
I bit the inside of my cheek, sneaking another glance in Noah’s direction.
