The Rebound Curse

[Past]

“Noah! Stop it! Let go of me!”

He only grunted in response and continued to make his way through the healthy, green, front lawn. I planted my heels on the ground but he only dragged me away to no prevail. We stopped when we were about ten steps away from the front porch of his house.

It was a beautiful white, two-story building that resolved more like a mansion really. The whole house’s lights were on, making it look welcoming.

Noah placed his hands on both of my shoulders and squeezed them softly. I relaxed under his touch. “You have nothing to worry about. What are you worried about?”

I sighed, running my hands through my locks. “What if they don’t like me? What if they think I’m not good enough for you? Not smart, rich, or pretty enough?” I blubbered out nervously.

“They’ll love you no matter what. And you know why? Because I love you. My family knows that I’m happiest as can be, and they’re happy for me. So stop worrying already! They’ve wanted to meet you for so long. I can’t hold them out any longer.” He placed his large hands on my cheeks. “Besides, I met your family. It only seems fair that you meet mine.”

I frowned. “You only met them because my dad caught you climbing through my window at two in the morning. You’re lucky he was only holding a plastic toy gun.” He chuckled at the memory.

“Your dad loves me like his kid, and you know it. Your whole family loves me.” I sighed.

“I know,” I said. The instant Dad and Noah got talking; they hit it off quite well. In just five minutes, they already began talking about politics and sports, all thoughts about how Noah sneaked into my room were forgotten. I even think Mom had a little crush on Noah. Bleck. And Foe was already making gestures for Noah to pick her up in his arms and even threw her rattle at him. It was her weird gesture of telling him to play with her.

“Yeah, but what about my social class? If you hadn’t noticed, my family isn’t exactly full of money and stuff.”

“Pfft. They don’t even care if you’re a hobo playing the harmonica on the streets and asking for money.” I gave him a look. He only laughed a little and bent down to kiss me on the lips.

My heart hammered violently in my chest and soon, all my worries were all gone. Now all I wanted to do was just be with him and him only. I began lacing my hands through his hair but he pulled away with a sly grin.

I bit my lip and exhaled. “I guess it wouldn’t be too bad. I mean, I already met Nick and he’s pretty cool. He doesn’t hate me either.”

“That’s the spirit! Ready to meet them?” I sighed once again and quickly nodded. We practically ran to the front door. I think he was scared I might run off.

Before he could even jam his keys in, the door swung open to reveal a twelve year old girl with red orange-ish hair that came down all the way to waist. She gave us a toothy brace-y smile.

"Mom! They're here!" she screamed excitedly. I smiled at her politely. Noah wrapped his arm around me and we walked in together.

"Um, Elle, this is my Bella sister. Bella, this is my Elle, girlfriend." He stammered. I bit my lip to keep myself from laughing. And to think that I was the nervous one.

Bella looked at her brother weirdly before snatching my wrist as she began to pull more inside the house.

"You really are beautiful!" She said cheerfully. She appraised me with awed eyes as she looked at my my simple white summer dress. It wasn't even that nice looking.

I blushed, "Thanks."

She pulled me down on the couch and I landed down almost painfully on the cushion. "Noah's told me so much about you! Well, actually, he kinda brags about you in front of all of us. It gets kinda annoying but he really was right for once! You're so pretty! Nick has to be jealous. I don't get it though. How could someone so nice, and attractive as you be with someone like...Noah?"

Noah coughed nervously and glared at his baby sister. "I heard Mom calling for you, Bells. You should probably go before she gets mad."

"I didn't hear her-"

"Well I did. Now go."

"Noah!" Bella whined only to have her brother push her some more. Once she's out of the room, he sat next to me with a sigh of relief.

"Now I know why I've been keeping my family away from you. You should be afraid of them. They're a crazy bunch."

I rolled my eyes. "And you are the sane one in this family, Mr. Persistent?" He smiled boyishly at me.

"Well, if I wasn't so persistent, we wouldn't be here would we? Come on. I'll give you a grand tour of the house. We should hurry or else they'll smother you with lies and embarrassing moments and make my life miserable." I giggled as he pulled me up the grand stair case.

We walked around his house for almost ten minutes. Stopping here and there to let our hormones take over us and we would make out. Finally we stopped at a white door, similar to the rest of the house. Except for Bella's door, which was painted light pink. Or Nick's. Whose door was painted dark blue with a Keep Out sign.

"And this, Miss Parker, is my bedroom."

He twisted the door knob and we walked in. It was possibly one of the smallest room in the house. I was surprised to even see a king size bed be able to fit in this tiny room. It was also everything a boy's room would look like. I could see a pizza box underneath his bed, game controllers were scattered in front of his TV, his boxers were thrown carelessly around the place, and it faintly smelt of some type of cologne.

"Cozy, huh?"

"Is it me, or does your family hate you or something?" He rolled his eyes and flicked me playfully on the nose.

"I picked this room, for your information. The smallness makes it feel homier and cozy."

"Hmm," I mumbled as I sat down on his bed and bounced a little.

"Testing the springs? For whatever reason?" He teased as he sauntered towards me.

"Oh you know," I wriggled my eyebrows at him. He smirked before softly tackling me down on the bed. I shrieked when he poked my stomach, knowing that I was extremely ticklish there.

Then he lowered his head so that he was just centimeters apart.

"I love you."

A smile broke on my face and I placed both my hands on his cheeks.

"Right back at you, stud."

And we kissed. For five seconds before Bella practically killed the door to drag us downstairs for dinner.

[/Past]



I nervously fidgeted on my seat, turning left to right, unsure of how to sit. Noah, however, looked relaxed as can be. It warmed my heart a little seeing him like this. He was always tense when I first saw him in all these years.

He turned right, then left before stopping in front of my building. I had told him the directions earlier.

"Um, thank you for driving me home. That was very nice of you." I nodded once before opening the door out of his silver Lexus. I winced a little when I slammed the door a little too loud. I was just about to give him one last nod and an awkward wave before he rolled the window down.

He didn't look at me when he spoke, and it scared me a little. "Can I come up?"

I was surprised. Really surprised. Then again, you would be too if you were in my position.

"W-what?"

"Can I come up?"

"Up the building? To my place?" He turned his dark eyes on me, a wry smirk forming on his lips.

"Yes." It was simple and short. Yet, it felt demanding.

"I-I guess you could. But isn't it getting kind of late-?" But he drove off so fast I screamed a little. I thought he would just leave but he only drove off to park. Then he got out of the car and walked to me.

I stood there with my brows knitted together. I probably looked like an idiot too. I looked up at him curiously, trying to find answers on his face. But they showed nothing. Knowing the old Noah, I could almost read his next moves, but this new Noah, I found nothing at all. He hid his emotions so well.

"Well?"

"Hm? Oh! Oh yeah." I laughed nervously and began walking up the stairs that led to the front door.

A part of me, a huge part of me, warned me to just tell Noah to screw off and go home. For all I knew, he could plan some evil revenge and rape me. I mentally slapped myself for thinking such thoughts. Noah would never do that. Then again, who was I to judge? This wasn't the Noah I knew. This was a totally different person that I had never known that was in Noah's body.

I fiddled with the keys before sliding it in the key hole. The sound of the door unlocking seemed to echo slowly. When the door was open, Noah walked in before I could without even asking permission whatsoever.

His expensive dress shoes tapped quietly on my wooden floor. I closed the door and followed this new Noah inside my place.

He walked into the living room and I was surprised to see Foe on the couch watching TV. She slowly turned to look at me then at Noah. Her eyes widened just a little when she saw him.

I threw my purse on the love seat. "Um, Foe, you remember Noah, right?"

Her eyes widened a little bit more. She surprised me even more because she actually did remember Noah.

"Uh, yeah." She got off from the couch and looked at me. I shrugged.

"Um, I should go to bed. It's late. Nice to see you." Then she scurried off to her bedroom. I frowned. I would've prefer it if I wasn't alone with Noah.

"She's older now."

I nodded slightly. "Yup. Fourteen years old."

"Why is she living with you?"

I moved away from the living room to the kitchen. He followed. "My parents passed away a couple of years ago. I took custody of Foe and now I'm her only legal guardian besides our Grandmother in Canada."

I swallowed hard in having to talk about my parents. Noah lifted his hand up as if to touch my cheek but he stopped and instead, patted my shoulders. "I'm sorry." He looked true to his words too.

I felt some sort of electricity flow from where he touched me. "It's okay. Did you want something to drink?" I moved away from him.

"Just a glass of water," was his reply. I watched him in the corner of my eyes as I got a glass and filled it with water and ice. He was looking around the room and absorbing everything he saw. His eyes stayed the longest on a picture of Gabe, Lilly, and me in our high school graduation gowns with huge smiles on our faces.

When I handed him his glass of water, he drank the whole cup. Then he went back to stare at his surrounding. My mouth itched. I couldn't take it anymore.

"Why are you here, Noah?" I blurted.

He didn't look at all surprised by my question. "I'm here to apologize." He replied easily.

"Apologize what?"

His shoulders hunched over a little. "I wanted to apologize for the way I acted earlier today. I had no right to do that to you. The past is the past."

I sighed tiredly. "Noah-"

"I just want you to plan Bella's wedding with all of your talent that I keep hearing about. I don't want our past problems to affect Bella or her wedding in anyway."

"Of course," I agreed. I was a bit stunned of what he just said.

He pressed his lips together into a thin line. "I should go home."

I walked him out to the front door. He walked down the stairs from my place but stopped and turned to face me.

He looked like he was in an internal battle with himself. Then his eyes glint into something that was mischievous in a very non playful or good way and his lips stretched into a cold smirk. He walked back up the steps to me.

"What are you-"

But he quickly backed me up inside my home and against a wall, then he kissed me. Noah kissed me hard.

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Editted June 22, 2009