Chapter Sixteen

Harken is already at the party by the time Noel and Priscilla make their way over, having to follow Nolan and Karl as they walk back and forth to guide people through the dense forest covering the entire private area. He seems to have found a group of slightly older-looking guys and is deep in conversation with them about something Noel can't quite hear.

Deciding not to bother him, she wanders towards the food table and starts loading up a plate, not having much since breakfast this morning and the few pastries earlier. She looks around to see if she can spot Kyle, but he doesn't seem to be here yet or attending at all.

She does notice one guy eyeing her from the corner of her eye but doesn't get the greatest feeling and decides to ignore him, grabbing a bun to finish off her plate and turning away to find Priscilla. She is sitting with Karl and Nolan on the deck, a few other strange girls sitting around them.

Sitting down next to Priscilla, Nolan notices and looks over at her with a bright smile.

"Feels like we haven't had the chance to talk at all on this trip, Noel," he says and moves his chair closer to hers. His eyes look a little glossed over and she notices the small group of beer cans between him and Karl.

"Yeah, a lot has happened, we haven't really had the chance to talk." She smiles timidly.

"I saw you the other day at the beach, I didn't realize you looked that good," he comments, making her feel uncomfortable. A few months ago, she would have loved to hear that coming from him, but now it just makes her feel awkward.

As if sensing her discomfort, Priscilla leans forward and interrupts their conversation.

"Noel and I don't know where the drinks are here. Do you mind going to get us a couple?" she asks, batting her eyelashes at him. Nolan grins at her and nods his head, getting up to head towards the building.

"Come on, let's go sit somewhere else," Priscilla mutters and picks up her arm to tug her along.

"We're going to leave just like that?"

Priscilla doesn't say anything until they reach the grass and find a few spots on an empty picnic table, setting their plates down.

"I was going to tell you this after, but you ended up finding me before I could."

"Tell me what?" Noel asks.

"Right before you got there, Nolan and Karl were talking about how you looked at the beach, making crude comments about attractive you looked in a bikini despite me sitting right there. I wanted to see what else he was going to say about you, reveal his true nature finally, and he started talking about knowing you've had feelings for him for a long time and has always wondered why Harken seems so interested in you. He doesn't believe you guys have never slept together." She stops, but it sounds like there is more to the story.

"What else did he say?"

Priscilla looks like she is struggling, not wanting to say.

"Karl said something about getting Nolan to try and prove if you have or not by getting you in bed himself...and Nolan agreed, thinking it was a good idea. That's why he approached you right away and seemed so eager."

Noel feels her stomach flip repetitively, tossing around the little food she has managed to eat so far and making her feel sick and disgusted.

She always believed that Nolan was different from all the other guys at her school, thinking he was a nice guy with good intentions with the typical attitude of a teenage boy. She never imagined that he could be just as terrible as someone like Karl, if not worse.

He wanted to try and sleep with her, just to prove if she is a virgin or not. Just the mere thought and she feels like she's going to vomit.

"You okay, Nole?"

She shakes her head. "I can't believe I ever liked that guy."

"Hey, I had no idea he was like that either, and I know him a lot more than you. He hid his disgusting intentions really well, you couldn't have seen that coming. Just be glad that you realized you weren't that into him before he had the chance to take advantage of your feelings for him," Priscilla says, patting Noel's hand.

"You're right, he knew of my feelings for so long yet only now has he chosen to try and take advantage of them. It doesn't make any sense," she mutters.

Priscilla looks past her over her shoulder. "Do you think it has anything to do with Harken?" she asks.

"Why would it?"

"Well, Harken did say something about never being on good terms with Nolan and that they've known each other a long time. If that's the case, wouldn't he also know Karl, and have a problem with him too? I mean, Karl is the like the other half of Nolan, whatever offends Nolan it also offends Karl, yet he was okay with having Harken come on this trip," she says.

Noel thinks back to just before they left for their trip and Harken started giving Nolan a hard time. She never thought that maybe they have past issues with each other, and now that Harken has become so protective of Noel, showing whatever weird attachments and feelings he has towards her, Nolan is using that against him.

"It's not impossible, Harken isn't the easiest guy to get along with. Regardless, whatever his intentions are I'm not interested and have no intentions myself to fall for it anymore. I accomplished my goal of going on my first date, I'm going to enjoy the rest of my week and just relax."

Priscilla picks up her red solo cup. "I'll drink to that," she says and downs the contents.

"I don't have a drink yet," she says and frowns.

"Well, let's go get you a drink then. We have to celebrate; you went on your first date, and it wasn't a total disaster." Priscilla stands up and leads Noel back towards the deck.

"Is that really a reason to celebrate?" Noel teases. She knows her friend is just finding an excuse to drink, though she doesn't really need one at this point.

Dragging her back over to the food table they wander to the end where there are a few canteens filled and marked with different beer types, stacks of red solo cups next to them with sharpies to initial the cups.

"Wow, this is pretty thought out," Noel says.

"The people who own this cottage are apparently a bunch of rich fraternity girls from Miami University, I guess they're used to throwing parties like this." Priscilla grabs her a cup and fills it with an unknown beer before grabbing herself one.

Noel sniffs it and is surprised to get a hint scent of cherries, getting a small taste of it as well when she takes a sip, paired with the usual stale ale taste beer seems to have for her. It's a lot better than whatever she had at Karl's.

"Be careful with that, lightweight. These beers have a stronger alcohol percentage than the ones even I'm used to drinking, and you got wasted off three beers last night," Priscilla warns. Noel can't argue with her, remembering how bad she smelled this morning after getting so drunk she ended up vomiting.

She continues to take small gulps of her drink and savour it a little more this time as they wander back towards the center of the party, another smaller fire being set up on the lawn as the sun starts to completely set. Noel finds her eyes naturally looking for Harken, finding him quite easily sitting in one of the lawn chairs gathered around the fire pit, looking down at his phone.

Noel is thinking of walking up to him but is stopped when a girl she recognizes from earlier, sitting with Nolan and Karl, approaches her with a soft smile on her face.

"Hey, you're Noel, right?" she asks.

"Uh, yeah, that's me."

The girl holds her hand out. "I'm Ashley, one of the hosts I guess for tonight."

"Nice to meet you," Noel says, shaking her hand hesitantly.

"Do you mind if I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure."

Ashley seems to look past her and in Harken's direction.

"Do you know that guy over there?" she says and nods in his direction. "I saw you guys at the beach the other day."

Noel hesitates to explain the relationship between her and Harken, the intentions of this girl quite obvious as she flashes flirtatious looks in his direction with her standing right there. She has just realized her feelings for Harken but has yet to say anything to him, she isn't about to send a girl in his direction.

But she is quickly reminded of when they were talking after her date with Kyle, and how he mentioned what good friends they are. She had just gone on a date with another guy. If Harken had any feelings for her, he would've said something after that, knowing he is going to lose the chance to say anything if she continues seeing Kyle or finds someone else.

"We're good friends from school."

A grin spreads across Ashley's face. "Oh, awesome. So, you won't mind if I talk with him? He's pretty cute, I won't lie," she giggles, the sound like daggers in Noel's chest.

She forces a smile and shakes her head. "No, I don't mind at all, he's a good guy."

Ashley thanks her and wanders off towards Harken with a shy smile.

Priscilla grabs her friends' shoulders and turns her around, her mouth hanging open in shock.

"Why the hell did you do that? Didn't you just say that you like Harken, yet you send another girl into his lap?" she asks.

Noel shrugs her hand off, not needing any more reasons to feel like crap.

"I like him, so what? That doesn't mean he likes me back. I've already thought about it, I told him everything about my date with Kyle, and all he said was that we were really good friends," she stops and takes a shaky breath. "If he had any feelings towards me, don't you think he would try and stop me from seeing other guys by telling me at this point?"

Priscilla's face drops, written clearly across it that she can't argue her point; Noel is right.

"So, you just aren't going to do anything about it?" Priscilla asks.

Noel nods. "Not much else I can do. I'll be leaving for California in a few months and Harken will be free of the jail cell called my house, and I doubt he has the intentions of following me to California, there isn't anything there for him."

Priscilla scoffs, causing Noel to frown in confusion at her.

"I don't doubt that boy would follow you anywhere, but maybe you're right, you know him better than I do," she says.

Yeah, a little too much.

~*~

Harken has done his best to ignore Noel's presence for the night without making it seem like he is, making sure he is always chatting in a group or busying himself with something else, trying to give her the space he promised her earlier. He has also kept an eye out for Kyle and is slightly relieved to see he hasn't shown up so far.

When Noel admitted her disappointment with the date and how she didn't feel any connection with Kyle, he cheered silently, not realizing how much he was hoping for that outcome and how happy it made him.

He's quickly realizing that forgetting his feelings for Noel is a near-impossible task, and that makes him wonder if that means it's going to be impossible to just be friends with her. Once she goes off to California at the end of the school year, he will have no choice but to stuff his feelings for her back down.

There's a long time before that happens.

The reason he was trying to be so sociable and involved tonight was to get his mind off of Noel, but nothing seems to be working as usual. He resorts to sitting down in one of the lawn chairs and occupying himself by looking at the pictures on his phone, wondering if he will ever get the chance to tell Noel about them.

He curses himself for thinking about her and puts his phone away, praying for a moment's peace. As if answering his prayers, he sees a pretty brunette walking towards him with a shy smile. She doesn't ask and sits down in the seat next to him, crossing her long legs and facing him.

"My name's Ashley, one of the hosts tonight. You're kinda cute, mind if I drink with you?" she asks bluntly.

He turns and looks in the direction of Noel, seeing her occupied talking with Priscilla and another girl, a small smile on her face as she seems to be enjoying her time.

"Yeah, sure," he says and picks up his drink, tapping it with her outstretched cup. "I'm Harken," he adds.

"That's an interesting name. Where are you from, Harken?" she asks, attempting to say his name with a flirtatious tone, but it just sounds awful to him.

"Arizona," he says blankly. He takes a large sip of his beer, already not liking this interaction but having no excuse to leave.

"Are you a part of the high school group a few doors down? You don't look like someone in high school." She leans towards him with a sly smile, fluttering her eyelashes at him. He resists the urge to gag a little at the awkward gesture.

"Yeah, I look older than I am, I get that a lot."

He is expecting her to pick up on his cold and indifferent attitude, but it seems to just entice her more as her smile spreads, thinking he is playing hard to get.

"Well, then you must get a lot of girls hitting on you. How do you feel about being with a girl older than you?" she asks, reaching out her hand to caress his arm, her fingers drawing over his tattoos.

A sudden explosion of music from the deck catches his attention and he glances over the fire, his eyes landing on Noel instead. She is sitting down on the deck now, Priscilla nowhere in sight as she sips from a red solo cup and chats with another random guy.

Harken narrows his eyes and peers at the guy, instantly getting a bad feeling from him, but isn't sure if it's just his jealousy get the best of him or a genuine bad gut feeling. Ashley continues to say something next to him, but he can barely hear her over the music, paying more attention to the exchange between Noel and the other guy.

He watches as another girl approaches them and asks Noel something, taking her attention away for a few seconds. The blood rushing through his veins freezes over when Harken sees the guy take the hand that has been stuck in his pocket and reaches over to the drink in Noel's hand, dropping something in it.

Harken is too far away to reach her in time, pushing away from his chair and rushing towards her just as she turns back towards the guy and takes a sip of her drink as he continues talking. Harken rushes over the lawn chairs, tripping over them and up the stairs before he manages to reach her.

Noel is lifting the cup to her lips again when Harken snatches it out of her hand, spilling some of the contents onto her and the deck, before throwing the rest of the contents on the guy next to her. He sees nothing but red when he looks at the guy, not hesitating to ball his fast and slam it into the guy's face, knocking him out of his seat.

"Harken, what the hell!?"

He barely hears Noel cry out to him, until he feels her hands on his arm, pulling him away from the guy cowering on the ground and dragging him away from the gathering crowd, the music having been cut to leave an eerie silence following them.

Harken lets her drag him back towards the cottage and through the back door, breaking through into the living room. Seeing that no one is there, she throws his arm down and whips around with anger blazing in her deep hazel eyes.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? Why the hell did you do that? You could've seriously hurt him!" she continues to cry out on a rant, beat red in the face. Harken tries his best not to let her anger get him riled but mixed with the fury from earlier, it doesn't work.

"You're a damn idiot, Noel! Do you not realize what just happened?" He screams back at her. "Do you not realize how stupid you were back there? You left your drink unattended for just a second, and that prick put something in it!"

He huffs in anger, Noel falling silent and her face growing pale.

"W-what?" she mumbles out, her entire body now trembling.

"I'm not even angry at you, how could you know?" he continues to yell, his anger continuing to rise despite that the situation has calmed down.

"Then why are you still getting angry right now?" she asks, her voice rising again.

"Because I didn't get there fast enough! You fucking drank from it, Noel, who knows what the hell he put in it!" Harken suddenly stops mid-rant, his eyes going wide. "Shit, what am I thinking? We need to get you to a hospital, now."

He switches into emergency mode and fumbles for his phone in his pocket, but Noel is feeling the slight effects of the drug she took a small sip of, remembering how her drink tasted afterwards and spitting out most of it out of the shock of the coppery taste.

"I didn't really drink it," she mutters, her head feeling light. "I spit...some of it out."

"Do you hear how you sound, Little Red? You sound drunk, and you've barely had anything." Harken tries to laugh, but the sound is panicked, on the verge of a breakdown.

His mood switches suddenly again and he is overcome with anger, turning to kick over the trashcan next to him, his eyes shifting to the door.

"I'm going to kill that asshole," he says and turns towards the door.

Noel reacts without thinking and rushes to grab his arm, turning him around and reaches up to grasp his face and pull it down towards hers in a deep kiss. She can tell he is shocked at first and doesn't know how to react, before the anger quickly melts away and he takes over, wrapping an arm around her and going from an angry beast to a hungry one.

Harken picks her up swiftly, pushing his tongue through her lips to run along the top of hers, enticing a sound she has never made before. He digs his fingers into her thighs and tosses them down on the couch, his lips quickly moving to her neck, leaving fiery wet trails of kisses along her neckline and collarbone, pulling the neck of her sweater down before giving up and leaning up to pull it off her.

Noel sobers up when the air hits her exposed shoulders and chest, barely covered by her blue silk bra, but the heated look in Harken's pale blue eyes as he gazes down at her is enough to drag her back into her drunk-induced state, knowing this time she is getting drunk purely from the heated sensation Harken is arousing in her with the touch of his fingertips and blaze of his gaze, looking at her as if she is the damn sun in the sky, consuming him the longer he stares.

He doesn't give her the chance to think anymore, crashing his lips back onto hers, tongues slipping against each other as hands slide against burning skin. Noel barely notices when Harken runs his fingers along the hem of her shorts, tempting to have them removed.

They faintly hear the click of the side door, before loud voices erupt through the room. Harken barely reacts in time, grabbing Noel and covering her as best he can and pulling them off the couch to duck behind the medium-height bookshelf beside it. He didn't have time to grab any discarded clothing before hiding, praying as he holds Noel against him to cover her semi-naked torso so that no one looks at the couch and notices them.

They both wait with bated breaths as the voices move toward the kitchen. The fridge is opened and the clinking of glass bottles and crumpled cans can be heard. The crowd seems to be filling up their cups and grabbing more drinks for outside before they head back out.

Harken waits to hear the close of the side door before he relaxes and releases his hold on Noel, but instantly tenses again remembering what just happened between them. It was mind-blowing, to say the least, he wants to curse out those who interrupted him, but he isn't sure how Noel feels about it.

She kissed him first, but who knows how she is feeling right now?

"Little Red?" he asks quietly, reaching a hand out to touch her cheek. She pulls away from his touch and gets up to grab her sweater. She shoves it over her head before running out the door, not looking back to even close it.

Harken bangs his head against the bookshelf, torn between running after her and letting her go. Not knowing what else to do, he sends a quick text to Priscilla, breaking down the situation with Noel and the asshole probably still cowering on the ground, and told her to call the cops as soon as she could to get him arrested.

Once she does that, Harken is going to have to leave. If the police discover he is here and was involved, at worse he knocked the guy out pretty much, all while on parole; he's done for. Even if they let him off with a warning, Scott will hear of this, and his stuff will be packed at the house before he has the chance to leave Miami.

Maybe leaving is the better option at this point.

Who knows what the relationship between him and Noel is going to escalate to after this, he doesn't think he can handle her going back to ignoring him. If that's the case, he would rather live out the rest of his parole in one of those shelters Scott told him about, they even provide their own education and credits if you aren't missing many.

With his intelligence, Harken isn't worried about getting his missing credits.

Feeling completely drained, he drags himself off the ground, making up his mind and wanders out the door in a slight daze. He stops and looks at the still-gathered crowd on the deck, seeing the douchebag from before now sitting down with a pack of ice on his face. Harken searches for Priscilla and sees she is already on the phone but is standing away from the group, speaking in a hushed tone as she clutches onto Noel.

He feels a small sense of pride towards Priscilla when he sees the red solo cup he had tossed on the ground from Noel, clutched in her hand. Keeping that would definitely help if they can find any residue of whatever he put in there.

Seeing how Noel is in more than capable hands, he sneaks off towards the shrouded path through the forest and back towards Karl's cottage. He kicks open the side door, not expecting to see Karl half asleep on the couch inside with Nolan.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?" Harken asks.

Karl rubs his bleary eyes. "We could ask you the same question or assume you're doing the same as us and hiding out before the cops get here."

"What reason do you have to hide out from them?"

Karl scoffs. "Did you forget who Nolan's brother is? We aren't exactly squeaky clean either," Karl says, pointing to a wasted Nolan still passed out on the couch.

"Who's his brother?"

"Nate James, does that name ring a bell?"

Feels more like a brick to Harken as the memories of that name slam into him. Trying to put the two together, he doesn't see their resemblance, but vaguely remembers a little blonde kid hanging around Nate a few times when they were younger.

"You did a pretty good job hiding that tattoo on your hip, but I caught a glimpse of it on the beach. It's a wolf, isn't it?" Karl asks. "There was a gang that ran around Bisbee a few years ago, most of them the natives that bordered the city limits, weren't they?"

"I fail to see your point here," Harken mutters.

Karl gets up from the couch and stalks towards him, stopping to cross his arms and lean against the archway.

"Nolan says his brother was a member of that gang, and it's said that the design of their tattoos tells you what rank you were. Doesn't seem like yours was all that big, I'm guessing you weren't that big a member then," he snorts.

Harken just narrows his eyes, fed up with the night's events as is, but lifts his shirt to rip it over his head, revealing the large mixed tribal and Celtic style tattoo that runs from his left wrist up his arm and to his chest, the intricate symbol of the Lewis tribe crest in the middle of his breast, and the large head of a wolf covering his shoulder, winding and thick brushed tribal designs covering the skin around them.

"Guess again, asshole. If you're so familiar with their markings, you probably know what my ink means." Harken glares down at Karl, watching as the kids' wide eyes wander over the tattoo, his fingers gripping his forearms.

"Well, w-what's that one then?" Karl asks and points to his waist.

Harken chuckles and lowers his jeans to show off the tattoo he got in honour of the homeless dog he and Nate had found when they were 10. Harken was living in one of the rundown foster homes he was shipped off to in the shabby south part of downtown Bisbee, having met Nate after Harken was found spray painting the back of the gas station downtown.

They snuck out often to feed this dog they found wandering downtown and tried to care for it, to discover it was struck by a passing car one morning when going to look for it. Harken got the tattoo when he was 13 and got his hands on an older friend's tattoo kit from his dad.

Karl's shoulder slumps and he shoves his hands in his pockets.

"So, I'm guessing the same thing that happened to Nate, happened to you? That's why you disappeared?" he asks.

Harken throws his shirt back on. "I'm the reason Nate landed his ass in Juvie, being under 18 is what saved him though he still got a few more months than I did. Anyway, not here to reminisce about the past, I'll see you assholes later." He tosses them a slight salute and heads towards the stairs.

Running to his room, his nerves on edge just from being reminded of the name Nate James, he packs his things with shaking hands and grabs his phone when he's done, rushing out the door.

He gives one look back to the cottage before turning towards the road, dialling Scott's number, and hoping he's awake at this hour to get him out of this hell hole. The phone rings a couple of times before the raspy voice of Scott, half asleep, answers the phone.

"Harken, what in the world? You better be getting arrested to be calling me at this hour," Scott mutters.

"Close enough. I need your help; can you help me with a plane ticket back home? I'll try and cover it later when I get my first pay from the pub."

There is a small pause. "When did you get a job? At the pub?"

"Is that really important right now, Scott? I'll tell you later, can you help me or not?"

"Wait, hold on. You said you were close enough, what does that mean? Are you just pulling my leg?"

Harken takes a deep breath and recounts the events of Noel and the guy attempting to drug her, but makes sure to quickly reassure him that the police have been alerted and Noel admitted to spitting most of it out at first, so she might not be in that bad of danger.

"So, why the hell do you want to leave? You're just going to leave Noel there alone for the rest of the week with these pricks?" Scott's scolds, something Harken saw coming and prepared for.

"Scott, I knocked the guy out, the police are on their way and I'm on parole. Do I need to say more? Besides Noel and Priscilla, I don't think there was anyone else who really knew my name there," he says, briefly remembering the girl Ashley. He only mentioned his first name and being a host of the party and owner of the cottage, she might try and minimize the damage and not mention his name.

"Harken, I am your lawyer, and I am telling you to stay. If they ask you anything, you tell them everything you've told me and nothing more. You were acting in self-defence for my daughter, don't think I won't help you fight that argument if anything bad happens. I promise you, nothing will happen to you, but I'm not allowing you to leave Noel alone. Convince her to come with you if that's the case, it doesn't sound like things are exactly supervised down there."

Harken groans into the phone, debating telling Scott the actual reason he is trying to leave, using the cops as a mere excuse at this point.

"No excuse is going to change my mind, Harken. Priscilla might be there, but I feel much better knowing you are there as well," Scott adds.

"Why would I make a difference? I'm not exactly that good for your daughter, you know?"

"Because I trust you, Harken. I know you won't let anything happen to Noel."

His words are a dagger to Harken's chest. If Scott knew what Harken tried doing to his precious daughter afterwards, he wouldn't be harbouring such trust in him.

Scott hangs up without another word, leaving Harken standing there feeling numb, debating going back to the cottage or trying to get a hotel room in the city with the little money he has left after buying his way here. Realizing that isn't considering food or anything for the remainder of the week, he has no choice but to head back.

Picking up his things, he slowly heads back toward the cottage driveway, spotting a small figure standing just under the front porch light.

"Where the hell are you trying to go?" Noel calls to him.

She comes marching down the driveway and stops just a few feet away, seeing the bags he has packed and carries with him.

"Were...are you leaving?" she asks quietly.

He drops his bags. "I was trying to, but your dad said no."

He sees the anger flare up in her again, noticing how much she is teetering from side to side. "Are you drunk?" he asks and reaches for her.

Noel slaps his hand away and backs up. "Is that really all you have to say?"

"What else do you expect me to say? You ran away from me, what else was I supposed to think?" he cries.

"Just tell me if you like me or not!" she screams and shoves at his chest, continuing to scream out profanities.

Harken catches her hands and holds them against his chest, but she continues to lash out. Using his other hand, he takes hold of her chin and forces her to look at him.

"I like you, alright? Hell, I more than like you, I fucking love you! I've loved you since the first week of junior year and I haven't stopped loving you since! Is that what you want to hear?"

The air fills with tense silence, nothing but the haggard breathing of Harken and sharp inhales of Noel to be heard between them.

She opens and closes her mouth, wanting to say something but unable to get the words out. Calming down after a few seconds, he realizes the impact of the words he finally got out and hangs his head in defeat.

"Since junior...year?" she mutters.

"Yeah, Little Red, since junior year. I said I wasn't going to lie to you anymore, but this one I couldn't tell you. If you really want to know the truth...that's the truth."

For some reason, tears gather in her eyes.

"Why don't I remember meeting you?" she whispers.

Harken can't bear to see her cry over this, knowing most of it is due to her drunk-induced state anyway, she is probably feeling a mix of different emotions slamming into her right now. He pulls her into his chest and runs a hand down her hair.

"It's a long story, but do you remember when you said you fell from a tree? Do you remember much of what happened that summer before?" he asks her.

Noel shakes her head. "Not really, I didn't remember much of the school trip either."

Harken smiles softly and leans his head on top of hers.

"I had a feeling that was the case, that likely means you don't remember meeting me, since we had our first real interaction on that trip, but I noticed you the first week of junior year when we had our first school assembly. I thought you were damn adorable the first time I saw you, and I knew I wanted to be someone close to you no matter what it took."

Noel pulls away from him slightly. "But I never acknowledged you, right?" she sniffles.

"Yeah, it was really hard to approach you," he smiles down at her, wiping a few stray tears away with his thumb. "If you know, why did you do it?"

"I didn't mean to, it wasn't long before that, I lost my mother, and I was really closed off. I really only got worse from there, the only person I've been close with is Priscilla and it was hard for me to open up to anyone else. I didn't realize it at the time, it wasn't until this year actually, that I realized how sheltered I've become," she explains.

"But then what happened on the trip?" she adds.

Harken bites his lip. "That's a long story, Little Red."

"I don't care, I want to hear it."

He reaches down and picks up his bags again and nods his head toward the cottage.

"Let's go in first and get comfortable."

They wander back upstairs to his room, and he drops his things on the ground before climbing on the bed and propping himself up against the pillows and baseboard. He is shocked when Noel climbs on after him and lays her back on his chest and cuddles herself between his legs, then takes his arms and wraps them around her.

He just chuckles after a seconds pause and squeezes her against him, burying his face in her hair and giving himself a few more seconds to seep in the serene calm washing over him. Sitting like this with her, he feels like nothing can get to them.

"Alright, start from the beginning and don't leave anything out," she says, looking up briefly to flash a smile at him. Unable to resist himself, he leans down and pecks her lips, savouring the sweet taste before pulling back.

Her smile widens as she nuzzles against him, the tips of her ears slightly red, and Harken dives into the story of their first meeting, doing as she says and doesn't leaving a detail out. From their first activity together in the canoes, enticing their first conversation together where she shared her fear of water with him because she doesn't know how to swim, to their first attempt to teach her.

He feels his chest growing tight as he recounts all the small moments they shared that week, realizing just how brief they are compared to how long he remembers them being, and probably felt they were at the time. Harken remembers spending the entire weekend with her, only 3 short days together, yet it was barely any time at all.

"Why didn't I go and meet you at the water tower? Is that why you took me that one day?" she asks once he is done, telling her of the note he tried passing to her, and how she never showed.

Harken shrugs. "I'm not sure, and it doesn't seem like we'll be able to figure it out if you can't remember," he tries teasing to lighten the mood.

Noel turns in his arms and crouches in front of him.

"Then, can we start over?" she asks.

He hesitates. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know what happened back then and why I never showed up, but I'm here now and it might not make up for what I did back then, but I like you and I'm willing to try again...if you're still willing to give me a chance?" she asks and hangs her head to play with her fingers nervously.

He reaches out and wraps an arm around her waist, pulling her back against his chest and capturing her lips in a deep, toe-curling kiss.

"It took me a really long time to get your attention, Little Red. I'm not about to lose my only chance."