One Chance

Noelle woke up early the next morning.

She was curled up under a black floral comforter, next to a boy she didn’t recognize. Her clothes were in an unusually neat pile on the floor next to the bed. Noelle quickly shot a hand down, pulled on her underwear and the dress under the covers, skipping the tights completely. Grabbing her purse, she stood up, only to be met with a pounding headache. Doing her best not to whimper, Noelle hurried to the door, closing it quietly behind her. Her shoes were the one thing that was missing from her clothing heap, leaving her no choice but to look for them. Keeping one hand pressed against her head, she searched the house, stepping over the few people sprawled out on the floor.

It was still bothering her how she didn’t recognize the boy she woke up next to. She had no recollection of dancing with him or kissing him, never mind anything else that they had done. As soon as she stepped outside, she saw her shoes, a small pile of cigarette butts, and an empty Jaeger bottle, and it all came flooding back.

She had told Alex. She had kissed Alex. She had come this close to having sex with Alex.

And then Alex left.

Alex woke up next to a girl from his art class.

He didn’t remember her name, only that she was drunk and willing. Pulling on his jeans and tee shirt, he folded his jacket over his arm and slipped on his sneakers. The girl rolled over and Alex froze mid-step, hoping she wouldn’t wake up and see him leaving. He didn’t care what she thought, really. He knew that she knew that he wasn’t going to stay, but it was awkward to have to nod or say goodbye, or even acknowledge what they had done.

There was only one girl Alex would’ve waited to wake up, and he knew for a fact that she probably hated him.

He made his way downstairs, hoping he wouldn’t run into anyone he knew. The last thing he wanted to was have to talk to a hung-over Jack, or an angry ex-girlfriend. He wanted to go home, take some Advil, take a shower, and go back to sleep for a long, long time.

But of course, that would be too easy.

Noelle had snatched her shoes up, shoving them into her purse before turning to exit through the house. Keeping her eyes on the ground, she walked quickly, wanting nothing more for her massive headache to go away, and to go back to sleep. Just as she entered the kitchen, she smacked into someone.

“Sorry,” She and the person said at the same time.

Noelle recognized the voice, and reluctantly looked up.

She sent Alex her dirtiest look and brushed past him, making sure to ram her own shoulder into him. Alex opened his mouth to speak, but she was across the room before he could say anything.
Drawing in a deep breath, he said, “Noelle. Wait.”

She stopped, but didn’t turn to look at him. “What, Alex?” She snapped, and even though she sounded tired, the venom was evident in her voice.

Alex, not expecting her to actually wait, wasn’t quite sure what he was going to say. He stared at the back of her head for a moment, opening and closing his mouth before she started walking again.

“I…I’m not sorry, for you know…last night.”

She slowly turned to face him, looking positively pissed off. “Do I care, Alex? I was drunk and you were drunk. You would’ve been nothing more than a one night stand, and I would’ve been the same to you. Now, if you don’t mind, I have a wicked hangover, and I plan to be home before seven.”

She smiled a mockingly-sweet smile, turned back around again, walking forward, her posture perfect as she stepped over sleeping bodies.

“That…that’s why I couldn’t,” he said, watching as she stopped. “I couldn’t do that to you, Noelle. You were way more wasted than I was…and it wasn’t right. I know you started it, but I couldn’t take advantage of you like that. I like you too much.”

Alex could see Noelle draw in a deep breath before she quickly walked out of Gina’s house. Despite his conscious telling him it was a bad idea, Alex followed.

“Noelle, I-”

“Stop it, Alex!” She snapped, whirling around. “Just stop it, okay? If you wanted to get into my fucking pants, you had the opportunity last night! You know as well as I do that all of this ‘but I really like you!’ crap isn’t going to work with me. So get over it, and go find some other girl to fuck, and leave me the hell alone.” She turned back around, for the second time that morning, and stormed off.

Alex, yet again, followed. “I’m serious, Noelle. I like you more than any of the other girls combined. If I didn’t, I…I wouldn’t be here right now. I think you know that. And I think I’m falling in-”

“Don’t you dare say it, Gaskarth!” She screamed, looking even more tired than ever. “Don’t you dare say it. I don’t understand why you have such an issue with this! I. Do not. Believe. In love. Nothing you keep saying to me is going to change that! Okay? So stop daydreaming about it, alright? Just go home.”

This time, Noelle took off running down the street, her purse swinging from side to side violently. She heard footsteps behind her, a sound only sneakers slapping down on the pavement could make. Rolling her eyes, she ran faster, pushing herself just a little more to get to the street that would take her home. Just as she was about to turn the corner, a hand latched on to her arm, causing her to stop completely.

When she turned around, hand already raised to slap him, he was looking up at her pleadingly. “One shot,” He panted, hands on his knees and holding his index finger up. “Give me one try, and I promise I can change your mind.”

Lowering her hand, she glared. “If I say yes, will you leave me alone?”

A grin broke out onto his face, and he grabbed her hand, pulling her back towards Gina’s house where his car was.

Noelle opened the passenger seat of Alex’s car just as he was pushing hats and shoes and empty CD cases off of the seat. She sat down, put the seatbelt on, and stared straight ahead, refusing to look at Alex. She heard the car rumble to life, the windows go down, and could feel Alex’s stare burning a hole through her cheek. She did her best to ignore it and leaned her head back, rubbing her temples and running a hand through her messier-than-usual hair.

Her head felt like it was about to explode when the radio turned on, blasting Fall Out Boy at full volume.

“Do you fucking mind?” She yelled over the immense noise, finally turning to look at Alex. “I have a freaking hangover, and my head is killing me.”

“Sorry!” He yelled back, reaching for the radio’s on/off button. “Jack likes it loud.”

Noelle had to stifle back a giggle, and then quickly regained her pissed-off attitude.

“Whatever.” She mumbled, pulling out the last one of her cigarettes. “Where are you taking me, anyway?”

“You’ll see,” He said, focusing on the road. Noelle rolled her eyes and sighed.

Twenty minutes later, Alex was shaking Noelle’s shoulder. She opened her eyes slowly, barely registering her surroundings.

“What the hell do you want now?” She asked, her voice thick with sleep.

Alex said nothing at first, but reached across the center console of his car to unbuckle her seat belt and open the door from the inside. “We’re only at the best breakfast spot in Baltimore.”

She groaned, part from annoyance that Alex though the best breakfast spot was a shabby-looking diner, and part because her head was still pounding. Seeing the impatient look on Alex’s face, she hauled herself out of the car and followed Alex to the door. He held it open for her, ushering her inside with a sweep of his arm.

The inside of the diner was shiny chrome and un-lit neon, complete with vinyl seats and stools at the long counter. Alex lead her to a booth in the corner, made sure she was comfortable, and then slid in across from her. A waitress came to bring them drinks; a coffee for Alex, ice water with lemon for Noelle.

“Get the waffles,” Alex said, nearly burning his mouth on the coffee. “They’re the best here.”

“I’m not hungry.”

When the waitress came back, Alex ordered waffles for two with fruit on the side.

“I told you I wasn’t hungry.”

“And you’re going to be thanking me in a few minutes.”

When their food arrived, Noelle stared at it. On the plate in front of her were three of the biggest, fluffiest waffles she had ever seen, doused in syrup and topped with whipped cream and fresh strawberries. Alex was already stuffing too-big bites into his mouth.

“Try it,” He said, not bothering to chew or swallow first.

Noelle refused, even though they did look and smell ridiculously good. Before she knew what was happening, Alex had cut a chunk off of Noelle’s plate and was spiraling the fork in big loops toward her mouth.

“Are you-”

Before she could finish asking if he was actually doing the whole ‘airplane’ thing to get her to eat, he had shoved the piece into her mouth. She chewed and swallowed with some difficulty, all the while glaring at him.

Alex had no choice but to laugh; it was kind of hard to take her seriously when she had chipmunk cheeks stuffed with waffle.

“You’re an asshole,” she said as she dug into the rest of her plate.

Another plate of waffles later, Alex had paid the bill and was opening the passenger door for Noelle. She slid back into the car, picking up a CD case off the floor and looking at the back while Alex started the car. He pulled it out of her hands and put it in the player, playing it at a lesser volume than the radio was previously at. They listened in silence for a while, as Noelle knew better than to ask where they were going next.

“Have I screwed up yet?” Alex asked timidly, looking at Noelle out of the corner of his eye.

“Screwed what up?”

“My chance. At y’know, taking you out and all?”

“Surprisingly, not yet. Even though you’re an idiot, and an asshole and I can’t stand you right now, so far I’m having…well, fun, actually.”

Alex smiled to himself and started singing along with the CD, not caring that Noelle was probably laughing. Much to his surprise, instead of laughing she joined in, shouting the lyrics out the car window for the world to hear. They were laughing, and Noelle was actually smiling, and both were having a genuinely good time.

Two CD’s and an hour and a half later, Alex stopped in the parking lot of a deserted beach.

“…Why are we at the beach, Alex? It’s freaking quarter to nine!”

Opening the passenger door and letting Noelle out, he told her, “Because both you and I are hung-over, and therefore I have an excuse to do this. I hear it works wonders.”

He scooped her up, throwing the girl over his shoulder and clinging onto her legs. He traipsed across the sand with some difficulty, kicking off his sneakers on the way.

When he was out up to his knees, she warned, “Alex, I swear to god if you-”

He threw her in the water, laughing as she came up soaking wet with her hair clinging to her neck and her dress clinging to her bare legs. She shot him a half-smirk, half-smile before lunging at him, tackling him to the sandy bottom of the bay. Both came up sputtering and spitting out water, as well as wiping it out of their eyes.

“You little sneak!” He nearly shrieked.

“You started it,” She shrugged, wading out farther and eventually diving in.

Alex shook his head and laughed before following, starting a splashing fight.

Noelle won when she tackled him onto the sand, though lost a few points when he wrapped his arms around her waist and refused to let go. “Was it worth the chance?”

Noelle turned around to face him as they laid down in the sand while she thought. “Honestly?” She bit her lip. “Yeah. It was.”

Alex’s smile got even bigger. Taking yet another chance, he kissed her, hoping she wouldn’t slap him.

She didn’t.

Instead, she kissed back, though Alex realized that this time it wasn’t lusty or needy or anything but perfect. It was just a kiss, sweet and cute and too short for Alex’s liking. When she pulled away from the kiss, she didn’t pull away from Alex. Instead, she settled into the sand next to him, resting her head on his chest. “I’m glad you were too pathetic looking for me to refuse.”

“Hey!” Alex said, lightly pushing her head to the side, only to have her put it back. After a few minutes of working up the courage, he asked, “…Did I…did I keep my promise?”

“Yeah, you did, Alex.” She answered softly. “Thank you. Because I’m pretty damn sure this is how love is described in all of those movies. And if this is what it feels like ,and I am falling in love with you, I’m positive I never want to fall out of it.”