Let Love In

It had been three weeks since the concert, three weeks since Colin’s friends went back to Arizona, and three weeks that Riley hasn’t shut up about John. The two of them had wasted no time in getting each other’s phone numbers before he left. Since then Riley’s phone has been glued to either her hand or her ear even more than usual. Noah was happy for her, but at times it was a bit much.

“RILEY. If you don’t put that away, Mr. Fisher is going to take it away, and you’ll never get it back.” Noah whispered harshly across the aisle to her friend texting under her desk. “John can wait, like, half an hour or something. You know that I’m right.” Riley finished her text with an annoyed look on her face before slipping her phone into the pocket of her hoodie, a smirk making its way across her lips as she turned towards her friend.

“We need to find you a man.”

Noah rolled her eyes, ignoring the warm feeling creeping up her neck into her cheeks. “What, like right now? In the middle of class? Get serious, Riley.”

“What, I’m just saying…” The bell rang as the girls packed up their books, heading into the crowded hallway. “Or at least get you a hot date to the dance next month.”

“What? No, Riley, I said I didn’t want to go.”

“Noah Taylor. This is Senior Prom we’re talking about. You can’t tell me you don’t want to go. You’re going, and that’s the end of it.” Riley stared her down, her hands on her hips, determined to win.

“Well, since I obviously don’t have a choice in this…” Noah let out a sigh of defeat as Riley clapped her hands, already on a mission to find an acceptable date.

Noah was engrossed in her calculus homework spread across her bed when papers went flying as Riley appeared out of nowhere, collapsing into the open spot on the bed. “What happened…” Noah didn’t bother to look up from her book, simply stating her phrase, rather than posing a question, knowing Riley had a rant just itching to get out.

“John said he can’t drive up for prom.” Riley buried her face in the pillow with a dejected sigh.

“Did you really expect him to? You guys have “been together” for what, three weeks? And besides, the kid lives all the way in Arizona. Give him a break. I don’t see you driving out there to see him all the time.” Noah flipped through her book to look up something in the back pages.

“Well, actually, they have a show next weekend I wanted to go to…”

“How many days are we going to be gone?” Noah mumbled flatly to the tune of “What sort of friend would I be if I didn’t go with you?”, not looking away from her book as Riley shot up and engulfed her in a hug.

“Oh my god, Noah, this is gonna be so much fun!” Riley pulled out her phone and tapped away at the screen with a fierce excitement.

“What’s got you two all excited?” Colin pulled his head out of the fridge as the two girls came bouncing into the kitchen, both talking a mile a minute. Noah stopped dead in her tracks, caught off guard, unaware he was over. “Noah and I are road tripping to Arizona next weekend to see John’s band play!” Riley squealed with excitement as Noah nodded in agreement.

“You two are going by yourselves?” Colin’s voice was laced with concern, crossing his arms to face them.

“Well, yeah, I guess…” Riley was cut off mid sentence.

“I’d rather I go with you. I know these guys, I’ve made the drive before, and I don’t want you two underage girls going alone to a place you’ve never been.” Colin’s tone gave little room for arguing.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about with the whole underage line like it’s a big deal; we’re like, a year younger than you guys, at most.” Riley stuck her tongue out at Colin, rolling her eyes.

“Still, I’d rather you two not go alone.” The butterflies in Noah’s stomach were shot down as Colin called out a “Baby, you gonna come with us?” and Sarah appeared a moment later.

“Go where?” Sarah crossed her arms as she waited to hear where she was being dragged.

“To Arizona next weekend; the girls were going to drive there on their own to see John’s band play, and I told them we’d go with them ‘cause I don’t want them going alone.”

Sarah’s gaze jumped from Colin to Noah to Riley before shrugging a “Sure, sounds fun,” as she walked back to the living room.

“I’ll call Eric later to see if we can all crash there or something. I haven’t seen my Aunt in a while anyway...”

“Next Friday’s an early release day, so we wanna leave around one.” Riley and Colin talked over general details as Noah wandered into the living room, knowing she wasn’t going back to her calculus homework anytime soon.

Noah had a hard time focusing on the movie the group had selected after she noticed how Colin and Sarah were sitting together on the couch, half way through. Sarah had wedged herself perfectly against his side under his arm, draping her arm across his waist. As Colin unlaced their hands to draw patterns over Sarah’s arm with his fingers, Noah had to get out, mumbling some excuse about unfinished homework as she jetted towards the stairs.

She dug through her backpack looking for nothing in particular as a wave of jealousy crashed over her, causing her to toss her backpack to the side and collapse on her bed in obvious frustration. After a few deep breaths, she resorted to flipping mindlessly through the channels on TV, never staying on one channel for more than a few moments.

Riley knocked quietly at the door as she walked in, heading straight for the spot next to Noah, mumbling a “So, how’re you doing?” despite already knowing the answer. Noah turned her head slightly, shooting a glance at her friend who was engrossed in a text message on her phone. Noah sighed as a quiet “Yep.” escaped her lips, not particularly wanting to dwell on her jealousy, wishing it was her down there and not Sarah.

After a while of seemingly endless commercials, Riley excused herself to return home, claiming John would be calling her soon, followed by a short “See ya tomorrow, Hun.” Noah didn’t move from her sprawled out position, staring up at the ceiling for what seemed like an eternity before slowly climbing out of bed to turn out the light, abandoning her homework for a night of restless sleep.