Chapter 5:

I stood in my spot, staring in a daze while Amy conversed with the two men and sat down at the table, dragging me into my seat across from Noah. The corners of his mouth moved up into an amicable smile, his hair bouncing slightly as he nodded in a polite greeting. I couldn't tell what colour his eyes were in the dim light, but they felt like they were swallowing me deep into the endless ocean.

"This is my friend Alarea" Amy was saying "she goes by... Rea?" she nudged me out of stupor, giving an awkward laugh before she turned to me "can you not be weird?" she whispered while pinching my arm.

I looked at Amy's slightly annoyed face and then towards the two men across from us, internally thanking that the bar was so dim so they couldn't see my blaring red face. Embarrassed, I smiled and nodded politely towards the two of them, glancing at Noah again.

"Please call me Rea" I tore my eyes away from Noah to look at Amy's date "I've heard a lot about you from Amy, it's nice to meet you."

"This is Rich" Amy said while gesturing towards her date. He had long black hair tied back into a low ponytail with a few strands falling around the sides of his face. A small silver stud on his bottom lip flashed a little when the dim lights hit him in a certain way. He was wearing relaxed black tee. He looked just like Amy's type, giving off somewhat of a rebellious feeling.

A waitress came to take our food and drink order. I looked around the bar, trying my hardest not to let my gaze be magnetized towards Noah who was directly across from me while Amy and Rich ordered. There were a few parties already at the bar but it was still relatively empty, the music wasn't loud and there weren't anyone on the dance floor. It seemed a bit empty, but I suppose that's normal for a Tuesday afternoon for a campus bar.

"Thanks for coming" Rich said with a smile towards me, his voice was sharp but clear, cutting through the music. "Noah's been holed up in his room for the last few months and I could finally drag him out when I told him we were meeting you." His shoulders moved up and down as he spoke.

"Meet me?" I said, tilting my head a little at the word choice.

"Yeah, I told him I'd been seeing Amy and we knew that you two were friends since we see you around campus sometimes." He gave a small chuckle while looking towards Noah.

"It's nice to finally meet you" Noah smiled towards me, his mellow voice was so soothing, I secretly wish he would keep talking.

"This guy's been holed up in his room mourning his ex-girlfriend, I thought meeting someone new would-"

"Ex-girlfriend? Mourning? What do you mean" Amy interrupted.

"Ah, you know that girl who disappeared a few months ago?" the waitress came back with our drinks and a plate of peanuts for our free appetizer. Rich grabbed a couple and popped them in his mouth before continuing his explanation. "She was Noah's ex, they dated for awhile."

Wait so, I was asked to come here to be a rebound for a guy whose girlfriend just passed away? My heart sank and any excitement I had felt from meeting him fell out of me like a waterfall. Amy offered her condolences and continued the conversation in a different direction. I heard some talk about school and where they were from. Playing with my drink's straw, I opted to play out the rest of the date politely and without a hitch. Noah is attractive and completely my type, but I didn't want to be the rebound. I also didn't want to be compared to a dead girl.

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My phone buzzed lightly and lit up beside me on the couch while I zoned out, watching YouTube. I didn't bother checking. It was probably a scam caller or something. I swiped to decline the call while not moving my eyes away from the TV.

My phone buzzed again.

Sigh, I'm not having the greatest of days after being rejected by what could potentially be my dream guy, can't these scammers leave me alone? I looked down at my phone.

It was a local area code, but it didn't seem like a scam number, the first three digits of the number didn't match mine like they usually do.

I picked up the phone and swiped to answer.

"Hello?"

"Is this Rea?"

Wait, Noah? This is the same voice that I was hearing all night. My heart thumped in my chest.

"N-Noah?" I stammered back.

"Hey, sorry for the sudden call" he sounded a little excited? Was I imaging it? "Rich got your number for me from Amy since I didn't get to ask before we left the bar."

"Oh, yeah no problem." Goddammit Amy, of course. She probably knew that I was infatuated with this guy from how I was looking at him.

"Do you have some time to meet up right now? I wanted to explain why I wanted to meet you a bit more but I didn't get the chance before the conversation shifted. Sorry that it's so sudden, but I didn't want to leave without explaining myself."

"Wait, right now?" I stood up and ran to the bathroom mirror.

"Yeah, you live in campus housing right? I'll wait at the dining hall."