Loving Noel (Wildcat Graduates Book 1) Read online

  Releasing the breath I had been holding, I reply to Cade, “I know, Cade. I know.” I pause before dropping my voice, “She’s special.” Another moment of silence follows before I hear Cade sigh loudly into the phone.

  “I know you know that, but I just had to say it.” He laughs half-heartedly before saying, “Don’t do anything Stacy would make me kill you for.” This makes us both laugh, breaking the tension between us. We say our goodbyes as I park in Xana’s driveway, and turn off the car.

  I’m taking Xana to see a movie in the park. That part she knows about, but she doesn’t know what else I have planned. They’re showing Star Wars tonight as part of their end of summer activities for families before school starts. A baseball friend of mine is helping run the movies this summer, and has helped secure me a great spot under one of the trees in the park.

  As I help Xana out of the car, I reach in the backseat and grab the picnic basket. She turns to grab my hand and sees what I am carrying. “You brought us a picnic, Noel?” she asks as she looks up into my eyes. The surprise on her face growing into a full blown smile that lights up her whole face.

  “Yes, I did,” I tell her as I lean forward and kiss her forehead. “Now, let’s go get comfortable before they start the movie.” I take her hand in mine and walk us over to the tree Kyle has saved for us. As we arrive at the tree, Xana stops dead in her tracks, her free hand flying to her mouth, which is wide open in surprise. The look on her face is priceless as she takes everything in. There are a few pillows lying over by the base of the tree, and a bouquet of purple tulips lies on top of them.

  “Purple tulips,” she whispers before abruptly turning her head to look at me. “You did all of this? For me?” Her voice trembles as she steps closer to me. After setting the basket down on the blanket lying beneath the tree, I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her close to me. Her hands move to my chest as she looks up at me with what appears to be the beginning of tears.

  “Of course I did. Only for you.” I place a kiss on her lips, and reach for her hands. “Come sit down with me, the movie should be starting soon.” After moving the tulips out of the way, I pull her over to sit between my legs in front of me, while I lean up against the tree. She picks up the tulips and brings them to her face to smell them. Her smile is the most beautiful thing I have seen all day.

  “How did you know about the tulips?” she asks as she twists around in my embrace to look at my face. I place my forehead on hers and kiss her on the lips, softly.

  “I have my ways, Sweetness. I know you, remember,” I tell her as I run my hand through the back of her hair.

  “Yeah, you do,” she whispers into my lips. Looking back up into my eyes she asks, “Now, what exactly do you have in that magic basket, Handsome?” she asks playfully, prompting me to open the basket.

  “Oh, you know, just a few things I thought my girlfriend might like, but she stood me up.” I pull out a box of Raisinettes and a package of Sour Punch Straws. I have a bag of popcorn tucked away in the basket as well. “Maybe I can share them with you instead?” Taking the flowers from her and placing them to the side, I offer them to Xana and she turns her head to look up at me.

  “I’m glad she stood you up, because now I get to share your snacks,” she grins mischievously up at me. We stare into one another’s eyes before I lean in and kiss her sassy mouth. We kiss for a few minutes before I hear Kyle’s voice over the loudspeaker announcing that the movie is about to begin. We get ourselves more comfortable while the previews are playing. She leans against my chest with her head tucked snugly under my chin, my arms wrapped around her middle, her hands on top of mine.

  Xana and I stay seated that way throughout most of the movie, feeding each other candy and sharing drinks. I think we talked for half of the movie, each taking turns quoting different parts of it. Both of our parents have made us watch this numerous times, so there aren’t many parts we don’t know. There may or may not have been a popcorn war at some point during the movie. The birds and squirrels will have a feast on it tomorrow.

  After the movie is over and the families begin to filter their way out of the park, we stay a little longer, lying on the blanket looking up at the stars. The night has cooled off considerably for August, and the sky is clear enough for us to easily see the stars. We lay side by side, our hands intertwined between us, as we try to decipher constellations out of the stars. We’re pretty good at finding the big and little dippers, but that’s about as good as we got. Xana and I stay at the park until Kyle and the rest of the movie crew finished packing up the equipment and picking up the small amount of trash from the grounds. It’s getting late, but the park has extra lights that they use when the movie is over, so cleanup is easier.

  We gather up our things and head back to the Mustang, parked on the other side of the park. Carrying the basket and blanket with one hand, I weave my fingers with hers in between us, the tulips in her other hand. I catch her smelling the tulips a few times on our way to the car. It’s after eleven o’clock, but I can still see her face. Even in the moonlight she is beautiful. Her long, curly, strawberry blonde hair really stands out against the blue halter top she is wearing, and those short tan shorts on her petite frame make her legs look longer than they are. I can never stop looking at her, touching her, kissing her, wanting her.

  As we reach the car, I place the basket and blanket in the back seat, and pull Xana to me with my now free hands. Taking a step toward my car, I walk Xana backwards, her back resting against my car. I take the tulips from her hands and place them behind her head on the roof. My hands rest on either side of her face, and I lean forward and kiss her hard, my hands falling to grip her waist tightly. Xana’s hands move to grab the back of my neck, and I can’t focus on anything but that kiss. My hands somehow find their way under her shirt and slide up and down her soft, silky back. She releases a moan and tightly wraps her fingers in my hair. Her firm pull on my hair pulls a groan from me that I didn’t know I was holding back. I slide one hand down to her grab her bottom, and use the other hand at her waist to pull her as close to me as possible.

  Pressing myself into her harder, I move my kisses across her cheek and down her neck. I can feel her heartbeat racing against mine as I gentle our kiss and slowly pull away from her. I kiss her once more, gently, on her lips, and reach to move a stray piece of hair that has blown into her eyes. Her hands reluctantly untangle from my hair and I reach behind her head to grab her flowers off the roof.

  We stare at each other for an intense moment before I take a step back and hand her the flowers. Nothing is said by either of us as I help her into the car and close her door. Taking a deep breath to steady myself, I walk around the car and climb in. Xana is holding the tulips like she would a baby, the smile never leaving her face. If that’s all it takes to make her smile, I’ll gladly give her flowers every chance I get.

  “I’m glad you had a good time,” I tell her as I start the car and pull onto the street. Her smile grows wider as she turns to look at me.

  “I’m not sure good really covers it, Noel.” Xana looks down and smells the flowers once again before looking back up at me. “I think this was the most perfect date I’ve ever had. I can’t believe you did all of this for me,” she all but whispers. She lowers her eyes down to the console in between us, and bites her bottom lip.

  “Hey, look at me.” Xana raises her eyes to mine as I stop at the red light. Looking straight into her eyes, I lower my voice and answer her. “You’re the one who makes it perfect.” I wink at her before continuing through the now green light. Xana sits quietly in her seat, the bouquet of flowers held in front of her face. I know she’s trying to hide the fact that my words really got to her. She’s never one to take compliments from anyone, not believing them most of the time. She truly has no idea how beautiful that makes her.

  “One day you’ll believe me,” I tell her as we turn into her neighborhood. We sit in a comfortable silence for the remainder of the way to her house, th
e radio filling in the silence. I walk Xana to her front door, wishing we had more time to ourselves.

  Her brother and a few of his friends, back from moving Mike’s things back to the dorms, drive up as I am walking Xana to her door. Our goodbyes are cut short as they begin to walk toward the house. It’s probably a good thing we’re interrupted, because I’m sure our kiss would be interrupted by her parents coming to the door to break us up. If they saw how we were kissing each other at the park, I’m positive her curfew would be shortened for good.

  “Goodnight, Sweetness.” I place a brief kiss on her lips, walk to my car, and leave.

  The first nine weeks of school is not much different from last year. My morning classes always fly by quickly. Xana and I see each other before school and in band for third hour. I don’t see her again until after my fourth hour class, when she finishes lunch. It’s halfway through the school year, and I’m still not used to us being on different lunch shifts. Fortunately, my fourth hour class is close to the orchestra and band hall, where we both still eat lunch. It gives me a chance to walk with her to her fifth hour class, which is close to mine. After that class, we don’t see each other again until after school.

  She stopped fighting me about picking her up and taking her home every day. I can’t explain it, but I have this need to take care of her. I guess you could say that I get it from my dad. He’s constantly doing the same thing for my mom, always doing things for her that she could do on her own. I know she can ride the bus just as easily, but why should she when I can pick her up and take her home? I want to do it. Sometimes we go out for ice cream, or hang out with Cade and Stacy before heading home. I like that extra time together. I need it.

  I am snapped out of my thoughts when Jason tells yet another, joke. “Hey, Noel, what did the banker take to the beach?” He looks so excited to hear my answer. Jessica simply rolls her eyes and continues to eat her lunch. Cade and Stacy are trying not to laugh and Mercedes is looking at me, hanging onto everything I do. Just like she always does. Why she and Jessica even eat lunch with us, I will never know. We’re not their usual crowd.

  Bringing my hand to my chin, I repeat the joke back to Jason, and pretend to think about my answer, like it is some ancient Chinese secret. Unable to wait any longer for my response, Jason blurts out the answer, “Sand dollars! Get it?!” He laughs at his own joke like it’s the first joke ever to be told. Cade finally loses it and bursts out laughing, doubling over in his chair. I can’t help laughing along. It was kinda funny. Everyone is laughing, except for Mercedes, who looks slightly irritated.

  “Nice one, Jason. Did your little brother tell you that joke,” Cade teases him. That only makes me laugh harder and doesn’t even rattle Jason.

  “Oh, shut up Cade. You’re just sorry you didn’t tell that joke first,” he laughs as he throws a Frito at Cade. It misses and lands in Stacy’s hair instead. She is not pleased, but there is an evil glint in her eye that I’m not sure anyone but Cade and I notice, as she picks it out of her hair. Jason isn’t paying her any attention when he says, “Sorry, Stacy. You’ve been laid! Get it?! Frito Lay-ed?” He is laughing uncontrollably at this point, and doesn’t see her lick the chip before leaning over to place it back in his bag of chips.

  By this point, everyone is laughing so hard and pointing at Jason he finally stops to see why they are pointing at him. Stuffing another few chips into his mouth he asks, “What? What did I do?” He frowns at Stacy as she simply grins at him. His eyes dart back and forth from her to the rest of us when she answers him.

  “We’re just wondering how many chips it will take before you find the one I licked and put back in your bag,” she retorts as she fights her laughter. “Practice your aim, hot shot, or licking will be better than what I will do next time,” she warns as she winks at him.

  “You didn’t,” Jason asks, looking his bag of chips to Stacy, and then back again. He isn’t laughing anymore, but everyone else is dying with laughter. He looks over at me, eyebrows raised.

  “Don’t look at me. You’re on your own,” I tell him before turning to look at Stacy. “Stacy?”

  Stacy smiles sweetly at Jason and says, “I’ll never tell.” This is why I like Stacy. She can give as good as she gets and isn’t afraid to let everyone know it.

  We laugh and joke around a little more before Cade asks, “Do you and Xana want to come with us to the mall for the early movie?” Stacy starts throwing away everyone’s trash before the bell rings.

  “Nah, she’s working on a group project for English with Andi after school, and with Andi’s basketball practices, today was the only time they could all get together to finish,” I tell him as I finish my drink and crush the empty can before I throw it away.

  “I saw her this weekend with some guys down on the town square. They looked pretty cozy walking around together,” Mercedes chimes in. Her accusatory tone does not go unnoticed by Stacy.

  “Of course they did, Lexus,” she says with a little harshness. “Xana and Andi have known Jaxson and Blain since grade school. Sometimes, I can’t believe they aren’t related, except for Andi and Jaxson dating now,” Stacy retorts back at Mercedes. She raises her eyebrow at me, silently asking if I understand that. I know they’re only friends. That doesn’t mean I’m not oblivious to the way he continues to look at her.

  Mercedes interrupts before I can respond, “I’ve told you, my name is not Lexus,” she exclaims to Stacy, eyes glaring at her. Changing her expression, she turns to me and says, “Well, they sure looked like more than friends when I saw them. Holding hands and laughing. She must be going after him because he’s a football player,” she shoots back at Stacy, disgust on her face. “You must be so upset about it, Noel,” she coos to me as she places her hand on my arm. Stacy leans further over across our circle to look at Mercedes. I cut her off before she can tell Mercedes off.

  “No, I have no problem with it. They’re working on a group newspaper and video project for English about Shakespeare. It’s about romantic getaways, hence the hand holding,” I explain, not that it is any of her business. I hope my explanation hides the fact that this news really does bother me. Not about Xana, but I don’t completely trust Blain. In the corner of my eye, I catch Cade shaking his head and frowning at me. He doesn’t like her at all, and hates to even acknowledge her presence. I’d love to just ignore her, but since our dads work together I have to put up with her.

  “Well, they sure were convincing,” she says doubtfully. Before I can stop her accusations, the bell rings; saved by the bell at last. I grab my books and head for the door, anxious to get away from her. I can hear Mercedes calling out my name as I leave the orchestra Hall. Not wanting to hear her voice anymore, I head for my next class as quickly as I can, leaving Cade to walk on his own.

  The last bell for the day rang just in time. If I had to listen to the guys in Mechanical Drawing talk shit about girls for one more minute, I was going to lose it. If those girls had any idea how they were talked about by those guys, they would never date them. It’s awful. Cade and I may not be innocent, but we’ve never talked like that about anyone. Even Mr. Jones was tired of hearing them talk and turned the radio up a few times to drown them out.

  By the time Cade and I reached our lockers, Xana and Stacy were already there talking to Blain and Jaxson. Blain has his arm around Xana as Stacy and Jaxson argue about something. Xana and Blain are laughing at them as we walk up to them. I don’t like the way he is holding her.

  “Cade! Get your girlfriend before she starts throwing punches at Jaxson,” Xana exclaims as she leaves Blain’s side and wraps her arms around my waist. I wrap my free arm around her and kiss the top of her head, sending Blain a silent message as I stare his way.

  “What is she doing now?” I ask Xana as Cade walks over to Stacy and pulls her away from Jaxson.

  “They’re arguing over sports, as usual. Please make them stop, Cade,” Xana pleads as Andi makes her way over to our lockers. She stops beside Blain and looks fro
m Stacy to Jaxson.

  “What did you do?” she asks Jaxson, causing Blain and Xana to laugh. They can barely keep a straight face as they explain the argument to Andi. Jaxson and Stacy continue to argue, and it’s obvious he’s only arguing with her to see how far he can push her. He’s braver than I would be. Stacy may be small, but she can sure hit like a guy.

  “I swear I can’t take you anywhere, Jaxson. You always need to stir things up, don’t you,” Andi scolds him. “You argue with her on purpose. Let’s go before Stacy punches you,” she laughs as she drags Jaxson, who doesn’t look apologetic at all, toward the parking lot. “Next time, just punch him, Stacy,” Andi calls out over her shoulder as they turn the corner.

  This makes Xana and Blain laugh even harder. Cade’s arms are wrapped around Stacy’s waist in order to keep her from following them. “You heard her, right? Next time I’m gonna punch him in the face!” Stacy looks at Xana and then Cade for validation. Xana just shakes her head at Stacy, while Cade whispers something in her ear that makes her calm down. He really has a way with her.

  “I’d better go before Stacy takes her anger out on me just for being his friend,” Blain declares, his gaze lingering on Xana before he walks toward his own locker.

  “Four fifteen,” Xana calls out to him as I put things away in my locker.

  “Yeah, that should give me enough time. See you there,” Blain confirms and leaves the courtyard, giving Xana one last glance before turning the corner. I’m finished with my locker, and pull Xana to my side and kiss her soundly to remind her who she belongs to.

  “Let’s go, Sweetness,” I tell her as we walk to the parking lot, Cade and Stacy following us. Once in the parking lot, we joke around with everyone for a few minutes before Xana and I leave. We stop by Sonic and get something to drink before I drop Xana off at the library to meet Andi and the guys for their project. Afterwards, I have to stop by the bank to pick up a list of things I need to help my dad with. His job as a loan officer keeps him busy and I help the bank with some of the upkeep on the bank owned properties; mowing lawns, cleaning up debris, some minor painting. It gives me extra money and I like the work. It’s never the same thing every time, and I can work around band and baseball practices.