Chapter 2

***

Author's notes:

Hi everyone, I thought I'd introduce myself real quick. I'm S. and I'm a total newbie to the KB fandom and to Wattpad. I landed here after watching all three KB movies in one go and looking to find a bit more closure after the ending of KB3. I had some ideas swirling through my head and thought I'd add another take at Elle and Noah's post-canon story to the many awesome fanfics here. This story won't be epically long (I'm thinking around 8 chapters?) and I plan to update once a week, maybe more often, if time permits. I hope you'll find this story worth your time and will enjoy the read. I'd love to hear back from you :)***

NOAH

Friday comes and goes. Or Friday creeps by, rather.

Noah tries to get some work done, dodges questions from the office – "What happened? Are you okay? Why are you staying in LA?" – and a couple of times, he falls asleep on his keyboard for a minute or two.

He considers calling her, wants to, but he doesn't really know what to say. Or maybe he knows too much to say. He makes it to 3 p.m. before texting. "10 am tomorrow? Meet at that greasy diner for breakfast and then head up?"

She takes three hours to answer. Three.

Maybe he's coming on too strong. They'd only talked about the ride, maybe the breakfast part is too much. Maybe she'll cancel. Maybe she isn't looking forward to this nearly as much as he is.

When she does answer, he thinks that his phone lighting up might be the most magnificent thing he's ever seen.

"Yeah, sounds good :)"

He wants to ask how she's doing, how her day is going, how he ever lived without this.

":)" he sends back instead and wonders when he started using emoticons.

He gets through family dinner without having to answer a lot of questions. The reason he gave for his staying longer must've been more convincing than he thought. Even Lee hasn't said anything. Not a word about the carnival, about Elle, about anything regarding last night. It's almost weird.

Both Lee and Noah volunteer to clean up the kitchen, earning them pats on the cheek from June. Noah is loading the dishwasher when Lee throws a dishtowel at him.

"What?" Noah asks.

"Weird night last night, huh?"

"Yeah." Suddenly the salad bowl needs Noah's undivided attention.

"How was it, seeing Elle again?"

"Fine."

"Oh come on, you fucker!" Lee laughs.

"Mom, Lee called me a bad word!"

"Yeah, yeah. So?"

"So what?" Noah decides to rinse the bowl one more time. Can't hurt.

"Dude."

"We're going on a bike ride tomorrow," he says, side-eyeing his brother. He wonders if Elle told him already.

"I see." Lee grins and Noah considers punching him in the arm.

"What's going on, you two?" June asks. "Do I need to dust off the swear jar?"

"Noah ran into Elle last night and they have a date tomorrow!"

"Lee!"

Noah throws a quick look over his shoulder and sure enough, June's eyes are widened in surprise. She doesn't say anything and Noah reaches for the dishwashing liquid.

"Honey, I think the salad bowl is clean enough now. Thank you." June takes the bowl from Noah's hands. "Are you okay?"

Noah grabs the towel Lee threw at him and dries his hands. "Yeah. And I don't know if it's a date." He wishes he knew.

"Huh," Lee says.

"Wait, did she... say anything?" Noah asks, all pretense out the window. "Did you talk to her?"

"Oh I talked to her." Lee grins, reaching into the bowl of nuts on the counter. "Dinner was great, mom. I'm gonna head over to Rachel's now." He turns and heads for the door.

"You're a dick, you know that?!" Noah yells after him.

He can't believe he's back to this. Hounding his stupid little brother for info on Elle. It's like fucking high-school all over again.

His mom gives him a sympathetic look. "Do you wanna talk?"

"Thanks, mom. Not tonight." He pecks her cheek and heads towards the stairs. He's already halfway to his bedroom when he decides to head to the garage instead.

The bike is just how he left it. Covered up and waiting in the back corner of the garage. He sighs. It's been at least half a year since he's ridden it, probably longer. It's high time. High time for a lot of things.

He grabs the cover on one end, pulls, and watches as the dust swirls through the air. Noah decides to start it – just a quick check before tomorrow. He might run a wet towel over it, check the oil. He's glad he can do something to prepare.

He thinks about that time on the pier, when he taught her how to kick-start it. He wanted so badly for her to enjoy their bike rides. He wanted her to share this with him, to love the wind in her face and the road ahead of them. And finally, after weeks of him trying, she did. 

Still does, apparently.

He thinks about the times they snuck out together, Elle hopping on the back with a quick kiss to his cheek. He thinks about how they drove for miles, just to get away, just to be together without anyone seeing. He thinks about how free those days felt. How happy he was.

Noah shakes his head and pushes down on the kick-start. But nothing happens. He tries again. Again. And once more.

He gives up after the seventh try and almost wants to push the bike over. He stops himself, cursing and grunting instead.

It was just his fucking luck.

***

ELLE

The ravioli taste okay, the tv show kinda sucks, but her mind is somewhere else, anyway. It's been a long day. Working an 11-hour-day is definitely easier when you've had a couple of hours of sleep beforehand. 

She pushes the last ravioli around with her fork, the pesto leaving a creamy trail on the plate. She jumps a little when her phone gives a "ding!".

She can't help but smile. Can't help the flutter in her chest.

"Hey, I have to take a rain-check on that ride. My bike won't start. I'm so sorry."

Oh.

She decides to let him off the hook easily. "Don't worry about it. Maybe some other time," she writes.

When he doesn't text back for 30 minutes, she opens the shopping list in her phone and adds "ice cream". Looks like Ikea will get to see her, after all. She adds "meatballs" to her shopping list, too.

It's Noah. If he really wanted to see her, he'd make it happen. She knows this. He couldn't have changed that much.

She's not usually one for playing it passive and having the guy take the lead. But this time, it's Noah. And she's got too much to lose.

After 35 minutes, another "ding!" comes.

"Can we do something else tomorrow?"

Elle puts the last ravioli in her smiling mouth and carries her plate into the kitchen. A couple of minutes and two sips of her cheap cooking wine later, she returns to her chair and grabs her phone.

"Sure, if you really want to," she writes.

"Shelly. I want to."

It's been forever since anyone's called her Shelly.

"I haven't been to the pier in forever. Do you wanna go?"

She considers saying no. Considers hitting the break on this, whatever it is, now. Just in time.

But she does want to go.

***

Elle tells him to meet at the pier, to not pick her up. The reason being her fake errand.

She tries to stay calm – she's not a high-school girl anymore – but fails. Miserably even, she realizes, when he shows up ten minutes early.

She hates how he probably didn't spend one minute thinking about his outfit, knowing he would look fantastic either way, while she changed three times this morning.

"Hey," he says, grin wide, hands deep in his pockets.

"Hey yourself." They smile at each other for an awkward moment. "Ice cream?" she proposes.

Noah laughs. "Sure." They don't discuss that it's only 11:00 a.m.

The awkwardness passes more quickly than Elle expected. She's glad.

They spend the next few hours walking around the boardwalk, talking about their jobs, families, laughing at shared memories. They leave out any of the more delicate ones.

It's well into the afternoon when Elle buys fries and they share them while sitting on the beach.

"So, tell me about your new apartment," Noah says, rubbing at the ketchup stain on his shirt.

"What do you want to know?"

"Whatever you want to tell me. Lee said something about you moving a lot?"

Elle wiggles her toes in the sand. "Ha, yeah. Lee thinks I'm crazy. I've moved four times in the last three years." People always ask her why and she never really knows how to explain. "Every time I pump myself up to finally go buy and put up curtains, I move again."

"How come?"

"I don't know exactly. I work a lot, so I don't spend that much awake time at my place. And when I do, I kind of don't wanna put the time and thought into furnishing. And after a while, it starts bugging me and I start looking again." Elle shrugs. She doesn't tell him that none of the places ever felt like home. "But here's hoping for the current one!" She holds up her crossed fingers. "How about you? Do you like your place in Boston?"

Noah laughs and shakes his head. "It's kind of a shithole. I'm still in the same off-campus apartment I moved into in my third year of college."

"How come?" Elle asks back.

Noah grabs another couple of fries and puts them in his mouth. "I guess I never really have time to look for something else."

"And now you'll be leaving Boston anyway, right?" Elle feels his eyes on her and she drops a fry.

"Looks that way."

Elle wants to ask if he's made any headway on his decision. If he's decided between New York or LA. If he might be coming back. Instead, she takes a big gulp from their shared soda.

"Eww, it's warm."

"I'll get us another one. Be right back."

Elle thanks him with a smile and remains seated in the sand. She looks out into the distance and watches the waves dance. The air smells of salt and seaweed and she missed it.

She really should come to the beach more often. She should ask Lee. The beach used to be one of her happy places, after all. It held so many good memories.

She takes a quick look to see Noah still waiting in line for the soda.

When she turns back to the water, the memories appear, sharp and colorful: Him running after her in the shallow water, catching up to her, wrapping his arms around her. Kisses that tasted of sun and saltwater, his fingers running through her damp hair.

Elle thinks of that night at Pacific Park, when Noah showed up not-so-surprisingly while she was out with Lee and some friends from school. She smiles, remembering how they all stood in line for the ferris wheel, how she timed it so Noah and her would end up riding together. How they acted like they weren't all too happy about it. 

They held hands for the entire ride, stealing a couple of kisses every time they reached the very top when they were sure no one could see. Just before getting off, Noah pressed a quick kiss to her palm.

It was one of those nights where she would lie awake in bed, still not fully believing she was dating Noah. Still surprised by how much of an effort he made, how thoughtful he was, how amazing he made her feel. How he'd look at her when they were alone.

The sneaking around seems kind of ridiculous in hindsight. But it was also some of the best times of her life.

"Here you go." Noah is standing next to her, holding out the cold soda.

"Thanks!" she answers quickly. "Hey, do you wanna walk around some more? I think I've got enough sand sticking to me." She moves to get up but winces.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, just, my leg fell asleep."

"Here." Noah offers his hand.

Elle smiles up at him and takes it. She doesn't expect such a strong pull however, and stumbles a little.

But his arms are right there, steadying her, and she blinks at the sudden closeness. She doesn't want to but puts her hands on his upper arms, her throat suddenly dry. Or maybe she does want to.

She looks up and just as expected, he's staring down at her. He still hasn't loosened his grip and Elle feels a flush creep onto her face. The smile tugging at his lips isn't helping.

She waits for him to let go. Waits for the moment she will have to stay upright fully on her own again.

But he doesn't let go. Instead, he draws her closer. Closer still, until she feels his breath on the side of her face. She listens as he breathes, his nose in her hair, his forehead leaning against her head. Elle closes her eyes as his scent fills her nose.

And then, he's gone. He's pulled back, his grip around her loosening.

"Well, uh, thanks." Elle picks up the soda from where it fell. "Shall we?"

"Yeah," he says, running a hand through his hair. 

They grab their shoes and Noah almost falls while bending down. Elle reaches out but he's already composed himself again.

Noah shakes his head, dusting some sand off his feet. "So, you were gonna let me fall on my face? After I saved you?"

"I'm sorry!" Elle laughs. "I swear I was just reaching out to help you!"

"Sure you were." He smirks.

They walk back towards the boardwalk and Elle is relieved that he too has to concentrate on his steps now.

She didn't know that almost falling could feel this nice. She also didn't know she'd want to spend a whole day with the person who broke her heart.

***

NOAH

Noah doesn't want the day to end. But time is clearly not his friend. Hasn't been in a while.

Spending the day with Elle has been all he's imagined. Well, minus the physical part. But it's not the right time for that. 

He's still not sure if she's onboard. If she's as hold-tight-jump-in ready for this as he is. 

If she's forgiven him.

He knows they'll need to talk about all that at some point. He's avoided it all day. But it's Elle. Of course she's thinking about it. Of course she needs some closure. Just as he does.

"How much longer are you staying?"

Noah watches as she rubs her palms up and down her arms. It still gets chilly after sundown.

"I leave Monday morning," he says and hates it. He wants nothing more than to stay. To see where this goes. But he's pretty sure that civil court won't care about the turn of events in his private life.

Noah hates that he has to say goodbye to her in a parking lot. They reach her car, and he can't put it off any longer. "Can I see you again tomorrow?" he asks.

He watches as Elle looks down on her feet. For a moment he doesn't know what she's going to say. For a moment, his gut clenches.

She probably has stuff to do, people to see. She probably has a full life without him in it. She doesn't have a boyfriend. Lee swore that she doesn't. But knowing Elle, she probably has a hundred friends wanting to spend time with her on Sundays. And he can't blame them.

But when she looks up at him again, she's smiling. "I'm busy during the day but I'm free after 7."

He lets out the breath he's been holding, not caring that she noticed.

"Great!" he says, biting his lip to keep from laughing at himself. He'd slept with this woman many times, shared his very thought with her, told her he loved her time and time again. How can he be this nervous?

"Great!" she mimics, and her smile makes his skin tingle.

"Will you let me pick you up this time?"

"Noah, my place is totally out of the way. No matter where we go. Really." She says it like Noah could possibly care.

"I really don't care. Just text me the address." Noah assures, then gets serious. "I won't get car-jacked though, right? Should I come get you in mom's old Subaru?"

Elle rolls her eyes and slaps his shoulder. "Don't make me reconsider."

Before he knows what he's doing, he grabs her hand just as she starts pulling it back. He looks into her eyes while pulling it to his face and pressing a kiss to her palm.

He watches her reaction while holding onto her hand for a moment longer.

He thinks her cheeks are a touch pinker than they were before, but he can't be sure. Her soft smile does something to him, though. Of that he is sure.

"I'm gonna go," she says, fishing her car keys from her purse. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"You will." He nods.

He watches as she gets into her car and drives away. He waves, even. Because he's a lost cause.

At home, he takes a cold shower. Because apparently, the scent of someone's hair gets him hot and bothered these days. Because he's a lost fucking cause.

When he gets into bed, a message from Elle is waiting for him.

"Quick question. You don't happen to have a girlfriend back in Boston (or somewhere else), do you?"

"You're crazy," he writes back. Because come on.

"Well, had to ask."

"Well, I don't. And you're crazy."

"You're stupid."

"I'll give you that one."

"I've missed this," reads her next message and Noah can't believe his luck. 

"I've missed this more."