“Shit,” Trips says next to me.
Noel looks up from the game. “What?”
“There’s pictures of the two of you on the internet. They are calling our girl Lanie here, your secret lover.”
Noel practically leaps from his seat and comes behind Trip and I to check out the screen. “Fuck!" he growls.
I flinch. Am I really that embarrassing to be seen with? How can pretend that he’s so into me one minute, and then be pissed cameras have caught us holding hands the next? “What’s your problem? It’s a harmless picture. Who cares? We both know it isn’t true.”
He paces in the kitchen a few seconds and then darts up to the front of the bus. Noel doesn’t say another word to me. Instead, he rushes past me and into the other room to retrieve his cell phone, and then plops down in the seat next to the driver. Big Bertha takes the next exit and pulls into a truck stop.
I watch as Noel shoves his hands through his hair as he waits by the door for the bus to fully stop.
He’s acting like a complete fucking lunatic.
The rest of the guys hop off the bus and then start towards the convenience store. The second I step off the bus I glance around. Noel’s at the back of the bus talking on his cell. Whoever he’s talking with is obviously arguing with him. I can’t make out what he’s saying, but the wild gestures his arms are doing tells me he’s defending himself.
He takes a breath and his shoulders slump before closing his eyes. Whatever the fight was over, he now looks relieved. Curiosity wins out, and I take another couple steps toward him. Noel notices me and straightens himself as I approach.
Before I can hear more than him say goodbye to the other person on the line, he snaps, “How long have you been there?”
I shake my head. “I wasn’t eaves dropping.” Okay, so maybe that isn’t exactly the truth, but I didn’t really hear anything either. “I wanted to make sure you were okay. You rushed out of there so quickly.”
Noel stuffs his phone into his back pocket. “Everything’s fine—just business—nothing that concerns you.”
I flinch at his snippy tone. “Sorry. I was just…concerned.”
He sighs and drags his fingers through his messy brown hair. “Fuck! I really feel like all I do is fuck things up when it comes to you. I shouldn’t snap at you. It’s not your fault I have bad shit in my life. I really don’t mean it. I’m sorry.”
This is the second time in less than a day Noel has apologized to me. I really don’t get how he can be so forward and overly sexual towards me, then flip the switch and tell me he’s sorry for hurting me. He’s like a man possessed by craziness.
“So…” He closes the space between us and holds out his arms for a hug. “Friends, again?”
I shrug and wrap my arms around his waist. “Friends.”
It actually feels good to get to this point. We should be able to be friends without all this weird tension between us. Two people who dated in high school should be able to look past that and have a healthy friendship. This is going to make working on the children’s literacy campaign so much easier.
I rest my head against his chest, and he rubs my back. Noel holding me like this reminds me of when we were a couple and he was unbelievably sweet. I sigh and give him one final squeeze before I let this lingering hug between us get weird.
“Come on. I’ll buy you some of those sour-lemon candies you like so much.” He tugs my shirt.
I grin. It’s funny the things people remember about another person. “Only if you eat some with me.”
He laughs and throws his arm around me as we start towards the store. “The thought alone of eating those things make me want to puke. I ate what—one hundred and fifty of those things in one sitting because you dared me?”
“It was four hundred and eighty-seven. The bet was five hundred remember? And you lost miserably.” I poke his stomach.
He grabs my hand and holds it against his chest over his heart. It’s a simple gesture, but a dangerous one. Something so sweet will wear down my willpower to resist him if he tries to tempt me into sleeping with him again. I know the Noel I use to love is in this sexy, bad-boy rocker somewhere.
I pull my hand away, and Noel gazes down at me with sad eyes. Desperate for a subject change I say, “My friend, Aubrey, is meeting up with us in Dallas tomorrow.”
“Is she the one that came with you to the show, when you…” His eyes dart away from mine. It’s like he doesn’t want to bring up the time I walked in on him with the two sluts back in Houston.
Allowing him off the hook, I don’t even acknowledge his slip up. “Yeah. She’s from Texas, so she’s flying down to catch the show and driving to her parents place near Waco when we leave for the next city.”
He nods. “We’ll actually spend a couple days in Dallas. Our manager booked us all rooms so we can get off the bus for a bit.”
A smile creeps across my lips. “You think we’ll have time to drive home for a night? I’m sure your parents will be thrilled to see you.”
Noel stops in his tracks. “No. I promised myself I’d never go back there, not after the way Dad treated me.”
“But your mom…don’t you miss her?”
He sighs. “Of course I do.”
“Well, then come home with me.”
He raises his eyebrows. “What do you mean, come home with you?”