Some Loves
Authors: Meg Jolie
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Genre Fiction, #Coming of Age, #Romance, #Contemporary, #New Adult & College
SOME LOVES
BY
MEG JOLIE
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2014©
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Please note:
Some Loves
is the sequel to
Some Hearts.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Voices echoed off the high ceiling of the lecture hall.
Intro to Ethics was my first class of the day. At least it wasn’t an early morning class this time around. In fact, the class was pretty enjoyable. It was the only class I had my cousin, and best friend, Riley in.
Noah Callahan was in the class as well.
I’d be lying if I said he wasn’t the reason I looked forward to class every day.
I
watched in silence as he lumbered down the slanted aisle. He always took a seat closer to the front. I couldn’t help but feel he chose it because it was as far away from me as possible. It had been nearly half a year since our break-up.
A lot had happened in those
months.
My nineteenth birthday and the winter holidays had come and gone. Spring semester had started. Noah’s transfer had obviously gone through and now he was here, at State, whether he liked it or not.
I was afraid he
didn’t
like it but it was too late for me to do anything about it.
My little brother
, Tyler, was now living with our aunt and uncle. With some creative financial planning, Mom had decided she’d be able to keep our house. I now lived there alone, though Tyler visited often.
Our mom had completed court-ordered rehab and was now serving jail time as part of a plea bargain for driving under the influence and child endangerment. Tyler’s leg was healing from the accident, but
he was not at one hundred percent yet.
As for Noah and me, I felt as though we weren’t any closer to reconciling now than we were
last fall.
“This is ridiculous,” Riley muttered from the chair beside me.
“What?” I asked as I glanced at her. I’d been pulling out my notebook because Dr. Douglas, our Intro to Ethics professor, always dove right into lectures.
“You and Noah,” she groaned. “He’s been here all semester. There’s only a month left before summer break. And you’ve hardly talked to him at all. And he’s
right here
!” she said as she vaguely motioned his direction.
“I can’t make him want to talk to me,” I told her. Other than a brief word here or there, we really hadn’t spoken at all. I didn’t often run into him. Actually, I never ran into him. This Ethics class was the only time I usually saw him. That pretty much amounted to watching him walk away from me. And even though he was only walking toward the front of the room, I always felt as though he was walking away.
My heart ached every day at the sight of him. Noah and I had dated our last two years of high school. He’d truly been the love of my life. A series of misunderstandings and unfortunate circumstances last fall had changed all of that. Looking back, I was almost completely at fault for that.
I just wished I knew how to set it right.
“Do you work today?” Riley asked.
My mom owned an upscale consignment store that carried infant and toddler clot
hing, Tiny Tot Boutique. My aunt Aubrey, my mom’s sister, was currently running the store, trying to keep it afloat until Mom could return to work. I helped out a few nights a week and on Saturdays. It was an arrangement that left my mom grateful and left me with a paycheck. She and her sister were finally mending their relationship.
I shook my head. “Not tonight. Why?”
“Let’s go to Clarice’s. I could use some pie.”
“Sounds good to me,” I said.
Dr. Douglas appeared in the front of the classroom. He immediately had Riley’s complete attention. She straightened up in her chair. I knew damn well it wasn’t the idea of ethics that had her so intrigued. It was the sight of the relatively young Dr. Douglas.
Riley grinned as she gazed toward the front of the room. “And so begins another lecture.”
I couldn’t help but laugh as I rolled my eyes.
***
The scent of strong black coffee was always the first thing to greet us when we went into Clarice’s, our local bakery. It used to simply be a bakery but in trying to keep up with the times, it had expanded into a coffee shop. The second thing I always noticed was the large glass display case at the front of the shop. It was a carb lover’s paradise.
I was in heaven.
“I’ve been waiting all day for this,” Riley said as she made her way up to counter. “You want pie, right? The usual?”
“Sure,” I said with a nod.
She ordered a piece of Key Lime for me and a piece of French Silk for herself. The woman behind the counter quickly dished out a piece of each pie and handed us our plates. Riley insisted on paying and I didn’t feel like arguing. Instead, I let her know that I’d be buying the next time.
She took off and I followed
her to our usual spot. When she stopped at the back, corner booth, my stomach dropped to my toes. Noah was seated with a brownie ala mode and a huge glass of milk. When Riley stopped next to his booth, his eyes snapped up to us. In an instant my gaze brushed over him. It had been awhile since I’d seen him close-up like this. His blond hair was shorter than I was used to. His sky blue eyes still nearly took my breath away.
“Hello!” Riley said as she slid into the booth next to him. “Have a seat,” she said as she motioned for me to sit across from them.
“I don’t think…I mean…This isn’t…,” I stammered.
“Just sit!” Riley ordered as she pointed to the empty spot.
I glanced at Noah. He looked as surprised by this turn of events as I was. I hesitantly edged forward, half expecting him to tell me I’d better find a seat elsewhere. When he said nothing, simply leaned back in his seat, I slid onto the creaky vinyl bench.
Riley’s gaze swung from me, to Noah, and then back to me. “See,” she said, “this isn’t so bad.”
“Riley,” Noah grumbled, “what are you doing? I thought you asked me to meet you here because you wanted to talk to me about something.”
“I did want to talk to you about something. I wanted to talk to you about Emory.” She smiled at both of us but I knew her well enough to know that it was a nervous smile.
Noah looked as though he wanted to bolt. I was pretty sure that’s why Riley had seated herself on his side, she was blocking his exit. It was clear that I was making him uncomfortable. After everything else I’d done, I didn’t want to do that.
I started to slide out of my seat. “I think this was a bad idea.”
She grabbed my wrist. “Sit.”
Slowly, I edged myself back into the booth.
Riley kept her eyes on me as she reached for her fork. Silence ensued as she took a bite of her pie. I couldn’t bear to look directly at Noah, afraid of what I’d see written on his face, but I saw him shift uncomfortably.
I had no idea what Riley hoped to accomplish here.
“Here’s the thing…,” Riley said when she finished her first bite. She poked her fork my way, then at Noah. “You two need to talk. But you are both too stubborn to see that. Noah, you’ve been back in town for months.”
“What is it that you expect
me to say?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Something. Anything. You two were toge
ther too long to try to pretend that you don’t know each other. Or that the other doesn’t exist.”
Noah’s eyes darted to mine and then dropped again. “Riley, it’s not that simple.”
“Make it that simple,” she said firmly. “If you don’t talk, you can’t work things out.”
“What if there’s nothing to work out?” Noah stated.
My heart felt as though it stopped for a moment, then it took off racing. I couldn’t believe Riley had done this to me. I knew she meant well. But there was no way this scenario was going to turn out any way other than disastrous. Noah knew how to get a hold of me. He knew where to find me. Hell, all he had to do was look my way every morning when he entered the lecture hall. Other than the first day, when the sight of me had taken him by surprise, he’d chosen to ignore me.
In all fairness, I hadn’t really gone out of my way to talk to him either. I’d been waiting for a hint, a sign, just a g
lance that hinted at him not hating me. I hadn’t gotten that. But maybe…just maybe he was as confused as I was? Maybe he’d been waiting for the same from me?
“Noah,” I said hesitantly, “maybe we should talk.”
He raked both hands through his hair and finally shook his head. “About what? I thought we’d said all that there is to say.”
Riley groaned. “Hardly.
Now I want both of you to stop being so difficult. Let’s do this in baby steps.” She turned her attention to me. “Emory, you must have something you want to say to Noah. It doesn’t have to be anything deep and meaningful. Just say
something
.”
“Okay,” I took a breath.
“How’s Adelaide?”
His eyebrows crinkled together. “Maybe you should be telling me. It seems like you spend more time with my grandma than I do.”
“Would you prefer I didn’t?” I quietly asked. Maybe he felt like I was infringing upon his family. Which I guessed I was.
“No. It’s fine. I mean, she really appreciates the company.”
I nodded. Noah’s grandma, Adelaide, was nearly ninety. She’d been widowed for years now and lived alone. Despite failing eyesight and hearing that wasn’t the best, she did okay by herself. She refused to move into an assisted living complex and had compromised by hiring weekly help for her shopping and cleaning.
Her mind was as sharp as ever. Her biggest complaint was that she was lonely. She wasn’t able to drive anywhere and most of her friends had passed on.
Noah’s family was her only family in town. I had gotten to know her fairly well over the years. When Noah had moved away, I’d started visiting her regularly.
I found that I enjoyed our visits every bit as much as she did. For just a moment I had been afraid that Noah was going to tell me that no, he’d prefer I stayed away from his grandma. Of course, he didn’t. He knew perfectly well how lonely she was.
“Actually,” he said as he cleared his throat and dropped his gaze, “it’s really nice of you. So thank you.”
“It’s no problem. I like visiting with her.” I didn’t know what else to say so I finally picked up my fork and cut off a small wedge of my pie. Noah did the same, taking a large bite of his brownie.
“She’s actually not doing too well,” he said quietly.
“She’s not?” I asked. I hadn’t realized that. “She never mentioned anything.”
“I’m not surprised. She’s been having dizzy spells. She never mentioned it to me, either. I just happened to overhear my parents talking,” he said.
“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that,” I said honestly. “Although now that you mention it, she has been more tired t
han usual.” One night last week she’d politely told me that maybe I should come back a different day. She said she was ready for bed, that she was feeling worn out. It had been early yet. Usually, she made it difficult to get out the door. She’d never, ever hinted that I should leave before.
Noah looked glum. “I’ve thought so too. It sounds like part of the problem is her blood pressure.”
“Is that serious?” I’ve wondered.
“She’s almost ninety so I think any health issue is serious,” he pointed out.
“Right. Well, let me know if I can do anything to help.”
“Thanks.”
After a quiet lull in our conversation, he redirected his attention to his food.
Riley’s gaze swung between us again. “That was a good start,” she encouraged. “You must have more to say.”
Noah sighed before turning his attention to me. “How’s Ty?”
I nodded as I fini
shed chewing. “Good. He’s been going to physical therapy and it’s been going well. He wasn’t able to play baseball this spring, so he’s really disappointed about that. The coach did let him join the team though. He gets to keep track of the score and put it up on the board. He’s really excited about that. It makes him feel like he’s still a part of everything. Thank you for asking.”
Wow. C
ould we sound any more formal? Any more uncomfortable and ridiculous?
Noah must’ve been thinking the same thing.
“Look, Riley,” he said as he slid his half eaten brownie away, “I don’t know what you think this is going to accomplish. I’m not sure—”
“I’ll tell you,” Riley said as she dropped all pretense of having a lighthearted conversation. “You’re both good friends of mine. I care about both of you a lot. You two used to be so happy together.
And yeah, okay maybe too much has happened for you two to just pick up where you left off. But the thing is, you both seem miserable without each other. Noah, you haven’t dated anyone since you’ve moved backed.”
He raised his eyebrows at her.
“I know this because my sources have said so,” she unapologetically stated. “And Emory…” She shook her head at the mere thought of me. “Well, she’s just plain miserable without you.”
I didn’t have it in me to be mortified by her words. I figured I probably deserved to have my dignity raked over the coals.
“She’s a wreck. She misses you Noah. You can pretend you don’t miss her, but I think you do. You know,” she leaned back in the booth, “when you two first broke up, I thought maybe it was a good thing. I thought maybe you should both see other people. I thought maybe then you would realize whether or not you were meant to be together. But neither of you has done that. You’re both living your life in limbo.”