Sadie, Enchanted

Chapter Eleven

It was pitch black. Sadie couldn't see anything, especially the root that her foot caught on and sent her sprawling on the ground. Noah helped her up and they continued through the woods slowly.

Sadie ran into a thin, bendy branch and angrily pushed it in front of her to pass, letting it fly backwards once she was through. She heard a smack and then Noah groan in pain. Sadie giggled and shook her head, continuing forward, but quickly realized that Noah wasn't following her.

She backtracked quickly and found him holding his cheek.

"I think you really got me. I'm bleeding." He muttered. Sadie slapped a hand over her mouth.

"Sorry," she squeaked sheepishly. She could only see the outline of Noah but could tell he was staring down at her. "Uh," she patted around herself. "Here," she said, realizing that her new dress had come attached with a thin apron. Mumbling complaints about the problem with gender roles and sexism, she handed the cloth to Noah so he could put it on his cheek. Satisfied that he would survive, she continued forward and heard him following behind.

They found the same clearing about 10 minutes later. They fumbled around in the dark a bit, trying to find twigs and rocks, but eventually Noah was able to start a tiny fire in the middle of the clearing. He quickly located a bigger log and added it to the fire. It caught quickly and suddenly it seemed that the whole forest was lit up. Sadie could see Noah now, golden light flickering against his face.

"Nice job, boy scout." She complimented. Noah ignored her and continued to add to the fire. When he was satisfied that there were sufficient logs to keep the fire going for a while, Noah sat in the grass, on the opposite side of the fire from Sadie.

They were both silent for a while. Sadie debated on just rolling over and trying to sleep, but she found that now that her and Noah weren't currently trying to accomplish some task, or arguing, she was curious about him.

"So what do you like to do for fun?" She asked.

"Why didn't you want to kiss me?" Noah asked at the same time. "What?" He asked directly after his first question, surprised that they had both spoken at once.

"Oh," Sadie breathed as his question registered. "Um..."

Noah scratched his neck uncomfortably. They were silent again, and Sadie knew there was no way she was speaking first. Finally, Noah cleared his throat. "I just mean, like...it wouldn't have been that big of a deal..." he trailed off awkwardly.

Sadie's face was bright red, but she hoped the glow from the fire didn't reveal that. "I mean..." Sadie's mind raced. "It would have been weird, right?!" She finally choked out, forcing a laugh to lighten the mood.

Noah gave her an incredulous look. "Weirder than me kissing a 90-year-old woman?!" He cried.

"...yes?" Sadie tried. Noah gaped at her. "It's not a big deal!" She protested.

Noah stared at her incredulously. "Not a big deal? You made me kiss a woman older than my grandma!" He yelled.

Sadie held up her hands in defense. "Well, between her and me, the choice was pretty obvious, wasn't it?" She barely noticed that the two were now standing, inching closer to each other as their voices grew louder in frustration.

"What? No!" Noah threw his arms up.

Sadie laughed humorlessly. "Oh, right, so you wanted to kiss me back there?" She scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"I don't know!" Noah retorted quickly.

"What?" Sadie cried.

"I mean, no, of course not," Noah amended, flustered. "You're...confusing me," he said quickly through gritted teeth, shaking his head. Seeming to realize the lack of space between the two, their faces mere inches from each other, Noah took two big steps back. Then, he turned around and stomped away.