Let Love In

As the next few weeks went by, Noah found herself constantly glancing at her phone, hoping for a call or a text message from Garrett, but lately those had been few and far between. It's not that Noah didn't make the effort, she tried often to get a hold of him, even if it was a generic text message telling him hello or asking him how things were going. He was the distant one, whether it was intentional or not, Noah was unsure, and spent many nights laying awake at night worrying about it. She had his voicemail memorized word for word at this point, he hardly ever answered when she called. If he did, however, it was usually followed by a "I can't really talk right now, can I call you later?" in which case he would forget.

Being the over-thinker she was, Noah tried to push all of her doubts and insecurities about Garrett out of her mind to focus on the end of the school year, looking forward to the summer and the next chapter of her life, but it always seemed to creep back into her thoughts by the end of the day.

Graduation came and went, and Noah found herself engrossed in a summer job and any other early summer activity she could get her hands on to fill the days. She hadn't seen Garrett in person since prom, and at this point, Noah didn't know what this was anymore. Tour had started for The Maine at the beginning of the summer, which made for even less time spent in contact for them. Noah tried her hardest to keep herself busy to keep her mind off missing Garrett and worrying about what it was they had.

The California date of their tour was marked on the calendar, tickets had arrived in the mail and pinned to the bulletin board in Noah's room, and the days were secretly being counted down.

"Two weeks, two weeks, two weeks..." Noah whispered to herself as she looked at the calendar. Pulling out her phone, she contemplated texting Garrett "just because." She missed him terribly and wondered if he missed her as much. She had several voicemails and texts to show her he did, but somehow she still couldn't trust that he was being completely honest. He hadn't been "missing" her nearly as often as he had before tour or when he'd seen her last, but she brushed it off because of tour.

The distance between them was starting to take a definite toll now that she had time to sit back and think about their relationship or whatever you wanted to call what they had between them, and at this point, the next two weeks could not fly by fast enough.

"I would give anything to see your face again right now."

Noah whispered those words to herself and took a few breaths, closing her eyes, feeling the sadness seep into her, knowing there was nothing she could do about the distance between them and how she couldn't make time go any faster. She grabber her phone off the bed and scrolled through the contacts, looking for the right number.

"I miss him too much for my own good."

"Well hello to you too." Riley's voice rang through the phone in response after a couple rings. "If it makes you feel any better, I miss John terribly too."

"Only slightly..."

Riley sighed through the phone. "Okay fine, I'll be over in like an hour or so. It's a Friday night, and we need some girl time."

-----

"You look like hell. What's up with you?"

Noah jumped at the voice, not realizing anyone else was around. She turned around slowly to see her favorite pair of green eyes staring back at her.

"What the hell Colin, you scared the crap out of me. I didn't know anyone else was here." Noah's mumbling was hardly comprehensible as she poked her head in the freezer in search of something.

"You didn't answer my question. That gallon of ice cream in your possession tells me something's definitely up. Time to spill the beans." Noah shrugged as she glanced at Colin, noticing his crossed arms and his "I won't take no for an answer" stance in the doorway a foot or so away from her.

"I dunno, just missing Garrett, I guess.." Noah trailed off as Colin brushed past her and into the small kitchen. He opened the first drawer and pulled out two spoons, shutting it with the bump of his hip before grabbing her by the arm and sitting her down at the table a few feet away.

"Time for some Love Line with Dr. Baylen. What's up with you and Mr. Nickelsen?" He handed her a spoon, pulling the lid off the carton of ice cream between them and dipping his spoon directly in.

Noah blinked a few blinks, staring at the spoon in her hand and then watching Colin slowly licking the ice cream off of his spoon before dipping it right back in the carton.

"Oh, um, well.."

"Hold up. I have a better idea. Pizza would make this situation better. You want some?"

"Oh, uhh, yeah. Th-that sounds n-nice."

"Alright then, let's go." Colin stood up, returning the carton and spoons to the kitchen.

"Right now right now?"

"Yeah, let's get going. I'll buy."

----

"I just realized you didn't answer my question, Colin." Noah avoided his questioning while they enjoyed their pizza, waiting for a response from him before continuing. "What were you doing at my house? Actually, a better question, what's up with you and Sarah?"

"This dinner conversation's all about you, Girlie, we'll talk about me later." Colin adjusted his focus to the pizza in his hands, the end of his sentence signaling something was different. "So, returning to our previous conversation over ice cream, what's up with you and Garrett?"

"Uhh, well..." Noah let out a dejected sigh before continuing. "To be honest, I don't exactly know. I mean, I don't even know if you can call him my boyfriend, that sort of thing. I mean, I don't know what you wanna call what we have. I mean, he's in Arizona, and I live here obviously, and I-I mean he's off on tour right now, a-a-and we haven't talked in a while, a-and I haven't seen him in person in forever. I just, ugh. I don't know anything anymore."

"Whoa whoa whoa, okay. First off, could you say that any faster? Secondly, I think you're looking too much into this. Let's be honest here. You signed yourself up for a long-distance fling as soon as you guys couldn't keep your hands off each other at that party. It's gonna suck 'cause let's face it, distance sucks. Being busy with tour sucks for you because he's gone and you're here. Even if he was from here, he'd be gone on tour like he is right now and you'd probably still be having this problem." Colin sighed, studying Noah's reaction while he continued.

"I mean, at this point, let's be realistic. You've set yourself up for heartbreak in this situation. You barely know him in retrospect, and you haven't been an item for very long. It's been what, six months, if that? At least if you broke things off, it's not like you've made any life altering decisions to be with him or whatever."

Noah didn't answer, focusing instead on ripping apart the crust on her plate, avoiding his stare.

"Noah..."

"I'm such an idiot. I don't even know what I was thinking. I'm so so s-stupid." Noah's response was barely above a whisper, directed more towards her plate than to Colin, but he still heard her, letting out the breath he didn't realize he was holding in.

"Didn't I tell you not to do anything you'd regret?"

"Ugh, I don't exactly regret it, okay? I mean, I wanted it as much as he did, and I'd do it again if he was here, okay? It's just, it hurts how things are between us right now. I mean, I don't even know what to call all of this. I can't believe I let myself do that, I was stupid. Obviously I can't take it back, but I guess now, sometimes I just wish I hadn't. I don't even think I loved him like I wanted to love someone when this sort of thing would happen to me. I mean, there are other people I would have picked if it was different..." Noah continued to ramble, and didn't notice Colin had moved to sit next to her in the booth, wrapping his arms around her.

"Hey, hey, hey. We all make mistakes. That's just how it goes sometimes. Trust me, I've made plenty. I get it." His quiet tone was calm and soothing, not judgmental or condescending whatsoever like his previous scolding had come off. "So what are you gonna do about it? Have you had the chance to talk to him about this?"

Noah shook her head in response, burying her face in the crook of his neck in response. She took a few deep breaths and felt his lips press against her hair. Butterflies overtook the panic and anxiety in her stomach, bringing her back to the reality of the environment around them. Colin had his arms around her and was holding her close, comforting her and keeping her safe. They were out to dinner at a restaurant together just the two of them. Was this a date? Suddenly a million and a half over-analyzing thoughts switched from her and Garrett to her and Colin, and she leaned back slightly to look at Colin.

She took a deep breath and barely had time to process everything before Colin's lips were on hers, moving in sync with each other in a way her and Garrett never did. He broke his lips away from hers hesitantly a few moments later, and Noah quickly kissed him back. Colin sighed into the kiss before breaking away abruptly and standing up, mumbling a "We should get going," scratching the back of his neck.

As they walked back to the car, Colin reached over and grabbed Noah's hand, taking it gently and holding it close, intertwining their fingers without saying a word. Noah's pulse started to race as she felt the warmth of his hand against hers, keeping the silence between them as they made their way across the parking lot.