Before She Even Knows

Chapter 31 - I prefer happy beginnings

Five dates?

It's my time to raise an eyebrow to him, actually amused with all of this. "Are you serious?"

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" by the way he's looking at me, the answer is absolutely not. He's not joking. I'm so shocked that I actually don't know how to answer.

"Why five dates?"

"That way if you get sick of me, let's say, on the second date, I still have three chances to convince you that I'm the right guy for you."

I think if people around weren't paying attention to us, they might start now because my heart is beating so fast, I'm pretty sure everyone can hear.

I feel my cheeks blushing and I think he notices it, because his smirk is back.

I mean, the Noah Allen, the guy who doesn't date and almost never asks girls out a second time is asking me out on not one, but five dates. I might have a heart attack by any minute.

Call the campus ambulance, just in case.

I'm still looking at him completely shocked, while he takes a sip of his drink, acting normally, as if this isn't a big deal. What is his problem?

Five dates to realize he's the right guy for me? Let's be honest, I don't need five dates to figure that out. Well, with the way things are going, I don't even need one.

"The line was huge." I don't realize Mark is back until he sits and places the cups on the table. "So Noah, what's going to be? Are you going to do it?"

"I don't know. Am I doing it, Emma? It's up to you." He looks at me intently, a small smile plastered on his face.

I know exactly what he means and there's nothing to do with the plan.

Mark looks at us suspiciously. Olivia, who was back a few moments ago, doesn't know us enough to know something is off.

"You are, you totally are." Is all I manage to say.

What do I do next? I just went from 'okay, I like him' to 'let's go out on five dates'.

How can he act so normal? Maybe he's used to doing this, but for me is something new. To make it worst, we can't even discuss it, because we're still not alone and over my dead body we're talking about this in front of Mark.

I.Am.So.Freaking.Out!

Once we have it all covered and we're leaving, I finally think we'll have some time to talk about it, but I'm wrong. He says he has to go with Mark to his dorm to go through some other details or whatsoever. Worst-excuse-ever.

"You know we'll have to talk about what happened, don't you?"

"I'm not avoiding this conversation, but we do have a relationship to fix."

"Now you're excited about this. Ok, you're officially a weird person."

He laughs and pulls me in for a hug. Mark eyes us already from afar, so he also can't hear us.

He kisses my temple before letting me go and turning his back to disappear with Mark at the hallway.

I'm telling you, this boy is not good for my health. If my doctor ever asks me about my lifestyle, I'll definitely mention him as a bad habit.

I haven't seen him the rest of the day, what is making me freak out. We didn't really talk about what happened and it's driving me crazy. I mean, what if he regretted and that's why he's avoiding me?

He texted you, so technically, he's not avoiding you.

I know, but I want to talk about it.