Chapter 3

***A/N: Thank you so so much for the comments and votes so far! I hope you'll enjoy this next part :)

Quick question from a Wattpad newb: I went back to the first two chapters to fix a couple of typos and the like and noticed that the publishing date was updated. I hope nobody who added this fic to their reading list got any notifications because of that? That would be mucho annoying, I assume. Please tell me if that is the case and I'll try to refrain from changing anything after publishing a chapter. Thank youuu!***

NOAH

He's five minutes early but he doesn't mind waiting. He'd wait hours if he had to and still feel lucky. Because this is already the best night he's had in years.

"Hey," she says when she hops in the car only three minutes late.

"Hi."

"Why are you grinning like that?"

"No reason." All the reasons, he thinks.

Elle smiles. "So, where are we going?"

"Not too far."

The trails are surprisingly empty and surprisingly beautiful. The view is a dream. Once again Elle wonders why she never comes to these places that are right there, ready to be enjoyed.

"I haven't been to Griffith Park in forever," she says. "I think it's been at least ten years."

"Yeah, same."

They turn around a corner and stop at the new view.

"You wanna sit down?" he asks.

They sit in silence for a bit, both staring at the Hollywood sign from their spot on the bench.

"Have you been over there since...?" she asks.

"No. You?"

"Me either."

"God, that sucked," Noah says, leaning back against the bench. "Sucked" didn't even begin to describe it. It was easily one of the worst days of his life.

"That it did." She chuckles.

He watches her out of the corner of his eyes. She's smiling, but it's sad.

Noah looks down on his hands, rubbing them on his jeans now that they've suddenly become sweaty.

He has to do this. He has to try. So he takes a deep breath.

"Listen, Elle, I'm really... fucking sorry about that day. I—"

"I know," she cuts him off.

"...What?"

"I know you're sorry. I know you." She turns to look at him. "At least I think I do, still. I know you probably beat yourself up over the whole thing."

Noah swallows the rock in his throat. "You're not wrong."

She smiles that sad smile again and Noah hates to have anything to do with it.

"I appreciate your bringing it up. I do," she continues. "And while I still think that you didn't choose the best way to go about ending things..."

Noah scrunches his eyes shut for a moment. He knows this.

"I know why you did it. I probably wouldn't have been able to let go otherwise. I loved you too much. We would've dragged it out. We would've been miserable."

Noah kicks a pebble under the bench.

"Look at me," Elle says and takes his hand in hers. "It was the right thing to do. I needed to sort out my future. And you needed to go live yours." She turns to look off into the distance but Noah doesn't let go of her hands. "It wasn't the right time," she adds.

Noah watches her, stunned. He'd learned early to never underestimate Elle but he didn't expect this. He's grateful, yes, but there's also something else. Like his gut clenching at the heavy use of past tense.

Loved you. Like it's a thing of times gone by.

***

ELLE

They sit in silence for a while, after Elle said her piece.

She means it all, too. Because she does know him. And she knows that what he did, he did mostly for her. Even though it hurt like hell. Still does sometimes.

Especially now, when they're walking next to each other, with some things still left unsaid and hearts bruised.

Noah almost slips on some gravel and curses like a sailor. Elle can't help but laugh out loud. After glaring at her for a second, he joins in and it turns out it's just what they needed.

A moment later he's interlacing a couple of fingers with hers, loose and soft, and Elle is reminded how fucking close pain and joy lie when he is close. How nobody has ever made her feel the way he did.

Noah rolls his eyes when he's asked to take pictures of some people for the second time but then proceeds to give them directions as to not block the Hollywood sign, anyway. Elle thinks she even sees him tinkering with the picture settings on one woman's phone.

"You should start charging people," she says.

"Nah. They're all gonna turn out bad. It's too dark already."

It's not too dark for spectacular views form the observatory platform, tough. With the city beneath them, the air feels crisp and promising.

They joke about that time Lee almost fell from their tree house with his telescope, about how June grounded all three of them for weeks but then forgot about it and it felt like Christmas.

"I still can't believe he's actually engaged. Like, to be married. Lee!" Elle says after a while, grinning.

"It's crazy." Noah chuckles. "Has he made you best woman yet?"

"Not yet but he better! I already have the best idea for his bachelor party."

"I'm sure you do."

"Well, it's top secret, though. So don't even try."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

Elle nods and looks back out into the distance. "I'm so happy they found their way back to each other." She realizes what she said and bites her lip. This is dangerous territory. "I love it up here," she adds, hoping to change the subject. But she has a feeling he won't be playing along.

"Hey Elle?"

"Hm?" She turns to look at him but he's studying his own hands.

"You said that it wasn't the right time, then."

Elle's throat feels dry. He lifts his head then, eyes boring deep into hers.

"Do you think... the right time might be now?"

She wants to look away, wants to stop her heart from beating faster. The weight of his eyes on her, searching, is almost too much.

"I... don't know," she says truthfully. She doesn't know what this all means. How it could work. But... "It might be."

Noah's smile makes her insides hurt in the best way.

Without thinking about it, she takes a step towards him just as he does the same. Excitement fills her body as she looks up at him. She curls two fingers into his front pocket and listens to his breathing quicken.

"Excuse me! Sorry to bother you, but could you take a picture of my wife and I?"

Noah grunts, but the couple doesn't hear it.

For a second Elle thinks he's going to go off on them. But he doesn't. He just looks frustrated. She laughs and tells him, "Go."

She takes out her phone and snaps a quick selfie with the city glowing behind her and sends it to Lee. While she waits for the photo to go through, she watches Noah's annoyed expression as the wife waves her phone in front of him. She quickly takes a photo of them and sends it to Lee, too.

"Okay okay, I got it. Can you please just get into the shot," she hears Noah grumble and she bites her lip.

She turns, cranes her neck, and sure enough, she can see the Hollywood sign behind her.

Things really do look different from here.

***

NOAH

They end up buying tickets to one of the planetarium shows. It was Noah's plan from the beginning but after the talk they'd had, he wasn't sure Elle would be up to it.

But she loves the idea and gets really exited once they're in line. Noah waits patiently while she tries out a couple of different seats until she thinks she found the ones with the best view.

"Venture through Space and Time" the announcement promises as the lights are dimmed. Noah takes another look at Elle and hopes that they'll come through. He reaches for her hand and doesn't let go for the entire show.

Later, back in the car, he feels like time has turned against him once more. Maybe space, too.

He's considered faking an issue with the car, taking a couple of wrong turns or flat-out telling her not to go. But he turns into the parking lot in front of her building anyway.

"So, when's your flight tomorrow?" she asks, already opening her seatbelt.

For a second, he hopes that the seatbelt won't open and that it will trap her. "At seven."

"Right." The belt clicks open like the shitty accomplice it is.

"Aren't you gonna ask when I'll be back?" he teases.

"I don't wanna assume anything. And you might not have the time or—"

"Shelly. Why do you keep doing that?" He reaches for her hand for the third time that night because he can't help it. And because she lets him. "I want to come back. Soon. I'll make plans tomorrow and let you know."

She smiles. "Okay."

"Is it okay if I call you?"

Her smile gets bigger. "Sure."

"Good." Noah smiles back. He wants to talk about the job offers. About how he has to decide. About how she has to decide.

But he knows she needs more time. More certainty.

"Well," Elle starts gathering her things. "Thanks for tonight. I had a great time. I'll see you when you get back." She presses a quick kiss to Noah's cheek and before he can say or do anything, she's out of the car, waving and heading towards her building.

What just happened? 

Noah thinks he waved back, but he's not sure. Two raindrops land on the windshield and he watches them trickle downwards. One, two, three drops more. His windshield wiper suddenly springs to life, startling him. It's ridiculous that it activates after five single drops of rain.

He should be mad that she continues to doubt him. Mad that he missed the chance to kiss her on the viewing platform. That she rushed off like that, after the day they'd had.

But he can't have her slipping away. So he gets out of the car, leaving the keys and every bit of hesitation behind.

The windshield wiper works away, screeching against the much too dry glass.

***

ELLE

Elle is five steps from her apartment door, reaching for her keys, when she hears footsteps echoing along the hallway. She turns around.

"Noah, wha—"

And then his lips are on hers and his hands are on her back. The tingling, though, is everywhere. She feels her shoulders make contact with the wall as Noah presses against her. His scent is the same, unmistakable, and her body knows it, too.

She opens her mouth to more and he takes everything she's offering.

Elle slides her hands under his shirt, lets her fingers dance along his sides. She eats the soft moan off his tongue and feeds him one of her own when he grabs her ass.

Her breath hitches when his lips leave hers and trail down her neck, sucking at her pulse. She shivers when he whispers her name, hot and moist and perfect.

And then he's pulling back. They both stare at each other, breathing hard.

"Sorry for ambushing you like this. But I didn't want to leave it like that."

All she can do is nod. He kisses her again, slow and perfect, and Elle is glad the wall is supporting her.

"I'll be back soon, okay?"

"Okay."

He's gone no two minutes later, leaving her in the hallway.

Elle takes a couple of deep breaths, trying to wrap her head around what just happened, before picking up the keys she must've dropped.

The subtle ache doesn't leave her body even after a scorching shower. It's still there when she wipes the fogged-up bathroom mirror with a towel. It's very much there when she touches her fingers to her lips, watching her reflection.

It's the ache for something she thought had long faded. But it's still there. Engraved in her body long ago, waiting, just to be called upon again six years later.

***

NOAH

He really needs to go to sleep. But June finds him in the kitchen at 3:00 a.m. anyway.

"Can't sleep?" she asks.

He shakes his head and takes a sip from his tumbler, cringing at the taste.

"Did you get into your dad's whiskey stash?"

"Sorry."

"Honey, are you alright?" June sits down on the barstool next to his. "Noah."

"Huh?"

"What's going on?"

"I don't know." It's true. He left Elle's feeling elated, like the world – the tiny sliver of it that mattered – could belong to him again. But when he got into bed a couple of hours later, the questions started their brutal assault. And he doesn't know how to stop them.

"You saw Elle again today, didn't you?"

Noah nods.

"Did something happen?"

He doesn't want to get into this right now. But he's also lost. He rubs two fingers over his mouth and hopes the memory of her lips will never leave again.

"Noah?"

He thinks for a moment, then folds his hands on the counter and rests his forehead on them.

"It's still... I'm still... so in love with her."

"Oh, honey." June puts her hand on Noah's arm. "And now?"

"I don't know how it's all going to fit together. And if she really wants it to."

"You have to give it time. It's only been three days."

Noah lifts his head and leans back. "No, it's been seven and a half years. And I don't have time." June waits but Noah doesn't feel like elaborating.

"The job, you mean?"

The job, too. "Yeah. I need to make a decision."

"I see."

"All I want to do is take the job in LA. I've been wanting to since the minute I saw her."

"But... you don't think it's a good idea?"

"What if it doesn't work out? What if she doesn't want the same?"

"Did she say that?"

"Not exactly. But she's... holding back, I know it."

"And how do you feel?"

"Like... not holding back." He sighs. "I know we need more time to figure things out. And I don't want to leave."

"You'll work it out. And you can be back in a couple of weeks, can't you?"

"That's the plan."

They sit next to each other for a while.

"I'm proud of you, Noah." June kisses the top of his head and gets up. "And I'm looking forward to having you here more often."

He smiles at that. "Me too."

"Now off to bed with you. You've got an early flight."