Chapter 3

Sophie and I had grabbed a seat in the cafeteria on Monday, talking about the weekend and laughing over River's antics again. I didn't notice when Eleanor had joined us, till she was standing right in front of us, "Hello, what are we talking about?"

Eleanor had swiped some beautiful bright eyeshadow and contour on her face perfectly, not a spot unblended. Her lips were coloured pink like a baby rose, the highlight was popping and the soft white dress was making her look all too much like an angel.

"What's with the makeup?" Sophie asked before I could.

"Well, I thought about everything that has happened, and I have come to a conclusion."

That didn't explain what was going on, and the confused look on our faces communicated everything to Eleanor, who let out a frustrated sigh, "Do you remember when Noah said I wasn't good enough before Miss Feminist went off on him?"

We nodded, so she continued, "Well, so now I will make sure Noah knows what he's missing out on. I am good enough and he has no rights to tell me what I am and what I'm not."

It stunned me for an entire minute before I could formulate a response to that. Sophie was eating Eleanor's ear off about why she was wrong, and Eleanor was countering her arguments with her own twisted beliefs.

"You guys are very hypocritical," she complained, settling down on a chair, "You keep saying women are free to make their own choices, and when I have made my choice, you won't let me do it."

Sophie was explaining to her the distinction, but I knew there was no learning for Eleanor. She'd have to see it on some Instagram influencer's page to realise this, and I knew no Instagram influencer would ever post anything about this. No woman wanted to be associated with the angry feminist tag until they wanted to make it their only identity. The moment you identified yourself as a feminist, you automatically cease to be an environmentalist, a teacher, a doctor, a nurse, a woman. You're just a bitch, a rage machine with legs.

"Guys?" Sophie muttered low enough only for us to hear, "Don't look up but Noah is here."

Mouth full of rice from the lunch I had carried, I half looked up, and accidentally met his gaze. My cheeks heated as I took in his squared jawline, the small but prominent dimple on his right cheek as he half-smiled, looking straight at me.

"You've got rice on your lips," Sophie brushed it off the corner of my mouth, my cheeks warming again.

"Guys, is he looking here?" Eleanor was holding her phone in her hands, screen blank, but pretending to type.

"I don't think he's looking at you," I gulped my food down, before breaking away the eye contact.

"Well, shit. I'm gonna go get coffee so I get a chance to walk around here. He'll notice me then, right?"

Sophie nodded unenthusiastically, but Eleanor was not one to care. She squealed, grabbing her wallet and running away.

I looked around again, to see Noah settle down a few seats away, right in my vision line. Not for a second had his gaze wavered from me, making me uncomfortable.

"Seriously, can we set Eleanor up with someone else?" Sophie moaned, burying her head in her hands, "I almost feel some form of apathy creeping on me about the whole Noah thing and I don't know for how long I'll be able to keep this up."

I agreed, "She's literally only ever talking about him as if he's hung the stars in the sky. It's pissing me off."

"How about Benjamin? From Communications class?" She suggested. I didn't see it honestly, but I hadn't seen Noah and Eleanor either and that happened.

"I don't know why she even went out with him. It wasn't like he ever had plans of dating her."

I rolled my eyes, "As if Noah Sterling would ever go on a date."

"Okay, but seriously though, what if you could pick your ideal date? Where would you go? What do you want to do?" Sophie was excellent at dropping conversations, an art that was certainly lost on me.

I thought about her question for a moment, "I think I want a romance novel type of date," I sighed, "You know, the ones where they drive out of the city, away from the crowds... He can pick me up, and then take me to see the stars."

"There needs to be extra blankets though, in case you get cold," Sophie added dreamily.

"Yes, how considerate would that be? And caramel latte too, so I can feel warm inside," My dreamy ramblings were cut off when a text notification lit my screen.

@noahsterling: You look beautiful today

@noahsterling: Yellow is definitely your color

@noahsterling: You look cute when you're smiling :)

I opened the messages and closed the conversation again, coming back to what Sophie was saying about her dream date, "...fancy, but not too fancy. You know, like, I don't want to go to freaking McDonalds on a date, right?"

"Ugh, have you ever gone on a date to McDonalds?"

She nodded solemnly, "Jacob from middle school. He was a total gentleman though, pulled my chair for me and everything."

"Aww," I cooed, "please tell me you guys dated afterwards!"

"No," she made a disgusted face, "He had lice in his hair and didn't bother warning me."

We laughed at the awkward turn of events when Eleanor dropped back in her seat unceremoniously, "Well I was walking around for a whole of seven minutes, but he didn't even look at me. He's on his phone, he's staring into space, I don't know what he's doing, but he's definitely not looking at me."

"Well, I suppose you can take your lesson from it and understand that he doesn't want you the same way?" Sophie suggested testing the waters. Eleanor's glare was answer enough, so Sophie backed away from that conversation.

@noahsterling: I'm having a party on Friday, you should come.

@briannabananas: Apologise to Eleanor for what you said yesterday.

@noahsterling: Ah, so you know how DMs work?

@noahsterling: Not doing that.

What was wrong with that asshole?

Sighing in exasperation, I locked my phone, and while maintaining eye contact with Noah, dumped the device into my bag. I was not going to respond further to this guy. He smirked, as if enjoying this little game, before typing something on his phone. Too bad I wasn't going to even see the message right now.

I broke away from our wordless exchange, turning in my seat so I did not have to see him anymore.

Eleanor's squeal was loud enough to make heads turn, "Guys!"

"What happened?" One moment she had been scrolling through her Instagram and then the squeal was followed by her dropping the phone in her lap. Carefully composing herself, Eleanor pushed her fringes away from her face delicately before picking up her phone again, "It's a DM from Noah."

My jaw hung open in surprise. Sophie recovered quicker than I could, "What does it say?"

"He's having a small party on Friday at his place. He said bring your girlfriends along, isn't this great? God, you guys should see his house. Plus, you can actually say sorry to him, Bri!"

"Why on earth would I say sorry to him?" I protested.

"Well you did say some mean things to him," She rolled her eyes.

Brianna out.