Chapter Thirty-Seven #2
He doesn’t even finish and I’m already running onto the stage with tears spilling down my face. I jump into his arms, kissing him like he’s the air I need to breathe.
The audience cheers and whoops, but I’m hardly listening to them. The only thing on my mind is this guy—my guy, my Noah.
When we finally take a breath, I press my forehead to his. “Noah,” I breathe.
His chest heaves as he tries to catch his breath. “I love you, Evie,” he whispers.
“I love you, too. Thanks for the song. I love it.”
He chuckles softly. “I guess my heart knew I wanted to be with you before I did. That moment in the gazebo was the start of everything.”
“No,” I say as I play with the hair at the nape of his neck. “The start of everything was when you kissed me.”
“Actually, I think it was when we got married,” he says. “Wait, are we arguing when we started liking each other? And in front of everyone?”
Laughing, I kiss him. “I guess. Noah, I thought our gig was tomorrow night.”
“No. It’s tonight. Sorry, I just wanted to surprise you. Are you ready to perform with me and the guys?”
“Of course I am. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be and no one else I’d rather do it with.”
Everyone cheers as we start singing the song Noah wrote for me.
Noah and I have already vibed well together, but now that we’re in love, our singing transforms into something more than magical.
It’s something so profound that there’s no word for it.
All I know is that this is the most incredible moment of my life so far and I know a lot has to do with the guy singing beside me, sending me sweet smiles as we belt out the words.
I know I want to do this with him for the rest of my life.
I’ll also do my art since that’s my passion, but I want Noah and me to share this.
We’ll have to say goodbye to Wyatt and Mateo and I’m not sure if Elliot will want to be in a band with us, but whatever happens, I know it will be great.
As long as Noah and I have each other, we’ll be a force to be reckoned with.
After we’ve killed it with the final song, the fans demand more and more. We remain on that stage well into the night and love every second of it.
I know the guys and I will have an amazing summer performing before we go off to college. And it’ll suck when we have to say goodbye. But we all need to follow our dreams, and I hope we all achieve them.
After the crowd has calmed down and the next band sets up, Noah and I hang out with the guys for a bit, then we get back on the dance floor and sway in each other’s arms.
“You know something?” Noah whispers in my ear. “For weeks I was stuck and couldn’t write decent songs. But now? The words just flow out of me like an endless well. Know why?”
“Hmm?” I ask as I snuggle up to him.
He presses his lips to my ear as he murmurs, “Because you’re my muse, Evie Hastings.
You inspire me to be better, do better, to write songs that will touch people.
” His voice lowers, “After you left my house last night, I was up for hours writing songs. And it’s all thanks to you.
You’re the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me. Thank you.”
I push away some hair that’s matted to his forehead. “You don’t need to thank me. I’m your wife.”
He laughs, pecking my lips. “One day we’ll make it official. And we’ll have a real Melly.”
My eyes widen. “Are you thinking way too far into the future again, Noah?”
He chuckles again. “Sorry, can’t help it. Because you are my future, Evie. I know we’re too young to know that, but I feel it.”
“I feel it, too. You know, we owe Mrs. Duncan a thank you. If not for her forcing us to get married, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”
He twists his mouth as he thinks. “No, I think it’s you we need to thank. If you hadn’t been missing credits, you wouldn’t have ended up in LRG class, we wouldn’t have argued, and Mrs. Duncan wouldn’t have made us get married.”
I laugh as I pull him by the front of his shirt and press my lips to his. “Sometimes it’s good to be lazy and reckless, huh? Maybe we should be reckless more often.”
He circles his arms around me, pressing his cheek to mine and releasing a soft chuckle. “Don’t push it.”
***
“Why am I up so early in the morning?” I demand as I meet Noah outside my house. It’s so dark the sun isn’t even awake yet.
Noah wraps me in his arms, placing a soft kiss on my cheek. “I told you, I have a surprise for you.”
A yawn practically slices my face in half. “Okay, but why does it have to be this early?”
Chuckling softly, he says, “You’ll see.” He slides his hand in mine, leading me to… somewhere. No matter how many times I ask him where we’re going, he refuses to tell me.
“This surprise better be worth it,” I mutter after another yawn.
He squeezes my hand in such a loving manner that my heart melts. “Oh, it will.”
He talks about different topics as we walk, but I’m too tired to pay attention. It’s not until we enter a park that I perk up a little. But I still have no idea what’s going on.
Noah gives me a sweet smile. “Almost there.”
We walk further into the park until we reach an area filled with many trees and several boulders. My eyebrows shoot to the sky as Noah directs me toward one of the boulders.
“Are we climbing this thing?” I ask.
Nodding, he carefully holds me close as we mount the boulder. “I won’t let you fall, trust me.”
“I do trust you. I’m just so curious what’s going on.”
“You’ll see,” he promises.
We’re at the top of the boulder and sit down side by side. There’s a light breeze blowing through our hair and I realize this place is very quiet and peaceful. Kind of romantic. No, very romantic because Noah is here with me.
“What?” he asks as his eyes circle my face.
Shaking my head, I laugh lightly. “Was just thinking this is very romantic.”
He leans forward to peck my lips. “Soon it’ll be even more romantic.”
I don’t have a chance to ask him what he means because the sky is suddenly painted in orange and red colors.
“The sunrise,” I breathe as I take it all in. “It’s beautiful.”
Noah stretches his arm over my shoulder, bringing me close to his chest. “Not as beautiful as my darling girlfriend.”
I rest my head on his shoulder. “Thanks so much for bringing me here, Noah. I love it and I love you.”
He dips his head toward my lips and I press mine to his. “And I love you. So was it worth waking up so early?”
“Totally worth it!”
He smiles so sweetly. “My dad brought my mom here when they were in high school and I always dreamed of bringing my special girl here, too.” He gazes into my eyes as his finger traces my bottom lip. “I’m so glad and honored to share my dream with you, Evie Hastings.”
My fingers get lost in his hair as I pull him even closer to me. “And I’m so glad and honored to help make your dream come true, Noah Barrington.”
We spend only a short while kissing because we don’t want to miss this spectacular view. I wish I could freeze time and stay in this moment with Noah forever. But there will be many more sunrises in our future.
And I can’t wait to share them all with him.