Time Will Tell

“You and Noah are pretty close,” my mother says. “You’ve been seeing him for the last few months.”

“He has a baby?” I ask, still shocked.

She nods.

“But it’s not mine?” I ask once again, just to be extra sure.

She laughs. “No, but you act like she’s yours. I think you love her.”

“She calls me momma,” I say.

“I’ve noticed,” she says and I can’t tell by her expression or her tone of voice how she feels about that. “Oh, baby,” she sighs now. “I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

I nod at her but don’t say anything.

“I’m sure you’ll remember things soon enough,” she says now, mostly to herself.

Kim opens the door then and steps in. “Hey, sweetie,” she says, walking over to me and hugging me. “How’re you feeling now? Any better?”

“Yeah,” I answer softly. “A little better.”

“That’s good. In the mood for Starbucks?” she asks me.

She knows my weakness. I nod.

“Noah’s in the food court buying you something. I would have stayed and kept him company but I wanted to see you, and I think he needed a little time along to think anyway.”

I’m not sure how I feel about Noah. He’s cute, I noticed that from the beginning, but I need to know more about him than that. Looks don’t make or break things for me.

“What is he like?” I ask, almost desperately.

She sits down on the edge of my bed. “Uh…” she says, thinking. “He’s alright. He really cares about you. He’s a guy, so of course he’s already made a few dumb ass moves but you mean a lot to him.”

“You think he’s alright?” I ask. She’s never approved of any guy I’ve liked. She always thinks the worst of them – like I had a crush on Reese’s friend for like two weeks and she thinks he was only using me for sex, which we didn’t even have.

“Yes,” she says. “I didn’t like him but I think he’s proven himself worthy of a chance to be with you.”

“Worthy of a chance? Mom says we’ve been together for months.”

“Yeah, you have.”

I laugh. “So he’s cool?”

“You really like him, sweetie,” my mom says.

“You told me you love him,” Kim tells me.

Well that kind of freaks me out. Here I am, in love with some guy I don’t even remember. I don’t know how we met, I don’t know his birthday, I don’t know anything.

“How old is he?” I ask now. I need to know something about him.

“Why don’t you ask him when he comes back?” she complains. “I honestly don’t know a great deal about him other than that he’s a daddy.”

I roll my eyes at her.

“Yeah, baby, Kim and I will go to Sarah’s and check on Emma so you and Noah can talk,” my mom says, leaning over and hugging me and then grabbing her keys from the table next to my bed.

“Bye, honey,” both of them say at the same time and then walk out of my room just as Noah walks in. “Hey, sweetie, bye sweetie,” my mom says to him.

“Bye Mrs. Foster,” he says. “Where are they going?” he asks, handing me an iced mocha. He winks at me.

“To see Emma,” I say. “Thank you.”

“No problem. You like those right?” he asks me.

“Yeah,” I say, putting my straw in. “You’re my boyfriend and you don’t know what I like?”

I take a sip and realize he’s put in just the right amount of sugar. He smiles at me when he notices my surprise and sits next to me, kissing my cheek and wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

“So, when do you get to go home?” he asks.

“I’m staying tonight so that idiotic doctor can ask me more stupid questions,” I growl.

He just laughs.

“How old are you?” I ask him.

“Twenty,” he says. “And I know that you’re seventeen… oh, wait, no I think you’re eighteen,” he teases.

I push his shoulder, laughing. “I’m confused and you’re making fun of me?”

“No, I think you’re cute.”

I smile. “You’re pretty cute yourself.”

“I’m even cuter with Cheerio’s in my hair,” he teases.

I stare at him, confused. “I feel like that’s supposed to mean something to me.”

He pulls me close into his side. “When we first met you pulled a Cheerio out of my hair,” he explains.

“How did we meet?” I ask him, tilting my head back to get a good look at him.

“My mom talked to you at that store, you remember that?” he asks. I nod. “Well when she met you she decided that she wanted us to get together, but I didn’t want a girlfriend, and you just broke up with your boyfriend so she asked you to babysit for Grace sometime – Grace is my daughter – and we got together that way.”

He strokes my face.

“We’re happy?” I ask.

He nods and leans in to kiss me softly on my lips. I kiss him back.

“We’re very happy,” he mumbles.

I smile at him. “Alright, so tell me about yourself,” I say, grinning at him.

He grins back at me. “Where do you want me to start?” he asks.

“How about your baby? And you can go all the way up to your ex-girlfriend slamming my head into my own door.”

“Alright,” he sighs, leaning back, pulling me with him. “This is going to be a long story.”