Chapter Thirty-One My Perfect Bad Boy
After Noah’s song, while he and the other musicians stand on the stage, Peter McCrae makes a speech about the potential for Cherrybridge to be fantastic, and the potential starts with youths.
Noah looks uncomfortable, but when his eyes meet mine, I give him a huge beaming grin, which makes him blush and chuckle.
He’s just too adorable. Finally Jason tells everyone to get some hot dogs and to come speak to him or Peter to learn more about their youth task force.
There are cheers, and I guess the rally is done. Everyone climbs off the stage. Jason comes right to Mom and gives her a big hug. Mom whispers something into Jason’s ear. I hope she’s telling him that she loves him and isn’t going to leave him after all.
“Where can I find a singer for me?” Nani asks. “I feel left out.”
I laugh, but then Noah is right in front of me, and my mouth goes dry.
“So about that talk…” He seems a little unsure. Like I might say no.
I roll my eyes exaggeratedly “Are you going to ask me out just to piss off my folks again? Because I already told you, it will never work. My parents like you.”
Mom laughs at that. “Yep! Such a nice boy. A bright future in front of him.”
Jason has his arm around Mom’s waist, and nods vigorously. “A role model, really. A strapping Cherrybridge boy. What more could we want for Meera?”
“All those holes in his face give him character,” Nani adds.
Noah looks at me, then shakes his head, laughing at my ridiculous family. He puts out his hand and I take it. Hand in hand we walk away from the crowd.
As soon as we’re out of earshot of anyone else, I squeeze his hand. “Okay, talk,” I say.
He takes a breath. “I got your text. Sorry I didn’t write back.”
He’s actually holding my hand right now. As if I care at all that he didn’t respond to a text. “It’s fine.”
“I was going to write this whole speech, but then I ended up writing that song instead.”
“The song was nice. Better than a speech.”
He chuckles. “It really was for you, Meera.” He stops walking and fully turns toward me.
“I probably don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I’m sorry I ran away the moment things got hard with us.
I’m sorry I gave in to my dad’s pressure to end things after that article came out. I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you.”
I take a deep breath in. “So, it was your father who made you dump me?”
Noah nods. “He was so angry. He said that a LeClair could never understand me. I shouldn’t have listened to him. I knew you understood me. It was him who said you were just trying to rescue me because of guilt, like Jason bailing him out. I… I shouldn’t have let our fathers’ feud get between us.”
“I get it, Noah. He’s your dad. Of course you’re influenced by him. And I meant it in my text. Sending Keeley that song was overstepping. I should have talked to you first.”
He smiles, and it’s beautiful. “Yeah, you should have, but I’m not mad about it. Look what came out of that.”
I smile back, squeezing his hand. “So our fathers are friends again?”
He laughs. “Apparently. I never thought I’d see it.
They all talked a long time and patched things up.
It really wasn’t just on Jason that the band broke up.
They weren’t ready—not mature enough for the music industry.
Jason apparently had his family lawyer look at the contract back then, and it was very exploitative, mostly to Jason as the front man.
Jason never told any of the guys this because he knew they wouldn’t agree with the lawyer, so they all blamed Jason for refusing to sign.
Then my dad let his bitterness get in the way of my dreams. He apologized.
We’ve done a lot of talking. With Aaron, too. ”
I chuckle. Seems like in our time apart, we were living parallel lives. “Yeah, my mom and I also talked a lot.”
“Jason said you were all at some luxury spa? What happened?”
“It’s a long story,” I say with a laugh.
“But it all has to do with the curse… that isn’t real.
For generations, every woman in my family has been putting way too much pressure on each other and ourselves to be perfect, all to overcome the curse.
We didn’t realize we were stifling ourselves from being who we really are. ”
He laughs. “I think I tried to tell you that you weren’t cursed.”
“Yeah, you did. You’re the smarter one of us when it came to that.” I smile before gesturing at his chest. “But there’s no curse, so you don’t have to wear that necklace anymore.”
His hand goes to the black tourmaline beaded necklace with the evil-eye pendant he’s still wearing. “What if I want to keep wearing it to remind me of you?”
I bite my lip, daring not to hope too much. “So, your father has stopped blaming Jason for everything?”
He thinks about it for a moment before shrugging. “It’s complicated. Dad’s taking more responsibility for their fallingout. And for his own crappy choices. After what Jason did for me, Dad definitely appreciates him more.”
I knit my brows together, confused, which makes Noah laugh and continue.
“Jason used his connections to get my acceptance, and my scholarship, reinstated at Toronto Metropolitan University. His father is apparently a big donor of the school. I’m going to university in a month.
” Noah looks so excited, he can’t keep his smile off his face.
“They even found me a spot in residence. A single room.” He wags his eyebrows.
I stare at him, with my jaw on the floor. Is this for real? Noah is going to university in September? In Toronto?
I’m so happy that I can’t help it, I launch myself at him and wrap my arms around his shoulders, smothering him in a tight hug.
While its reinstatement still came with the help of the LeClairs, Noah earned that scholarship fair and square.
It should never have been taken away from him in the first place. The LeClairs owed this to him.
Noah makes a surprised sound, then hugs me right back. I’m crying happy tears, because this is the future he wanted most. This is who he should be. He smells so good and feels absolutely perfect in my arms. We’re so close, and I want to be even closer.
He studies my face. “So, um, since we’re both going to be in Toronto soon, and since you’re apparently not cursed after all, should we get back together?”
Instead of answering, I put my hands behind his head and pull his face down to mine. When our lips touch, it’s as good as it always was.
He pulls away and smiles at me. “I’m not going to run away again. I love you.”
“I know. I love you, too.”