Chapter 30 Noah
Thirty: Noah
Dancing in the Moonlight - Toploader
The last few months have flown by. Our team is top in the league by a landslide.
Having Audrey along for most games has made a world of difference in how Connor and I play, proving how great of a lucky charm she truly is.
Most of the time, I can’t believe Audrey and I have been together for almost four months. It all feels like a fever dream.
But between her being a nanny for Poppy part-time and her online store having constant orders, she’s having to miss games more often lately.
Having numerous big athletes and their families sharing about it on social media and shopping from her has helped her business take off more than any of us could have predicted.
She loves it though, and she’s happy so that’s all that matters to me.
She’s still living with Connor, but spends most nights at my place when I’m home. I’m glad we didn’t rush into moving in together right away, though nothing beats falling asleep and waking up next to her.
I was gone for the weekend, so I’m glad to be back with her, and tonight is a perfect excuse to take her on a date.
“Can I have a hint?” Auddie asks impatiently from the passenger seat, a blindfold over her eyes. “You’re not planning to murder me, are you?”
Letting out a chuckle, I squeeze her thigh. “Not tonight.”
“She gets to live to see another day, huh?”
“We’re here,” I tell her as the sign comes into view. I pull off to the side of the road. “Keep your blindfold on and I’ll come collect you from the other side.”
I guide her to the sign, grateful that there’s no traffic coming.
“Noah?” She sounds anxious, but her smile grows as she grips my fingers tighter.
“Okay, stand here. And take your blindfold off.” She does as I say, blinking with confusion when I come into view. But when she sees the crack in the pavement and the sign for Kansas City comes into view, she gasps.
“Auddie, you are officially in–”
“Two places at once,” she cuts me off, jumping into my arms with a giggle.
“Yes ma’am.”
She kisses me urgently before planting her feet back on the ground with tears in her eyes.
“Noah …”
“This is your dream date. I know Auddie,” I finish for her, kissing her forehead.
I pull out a disposable camera to take a picture of her straddling the line, before she makes me pose too.
The smile on my face hurts my jaw and her smile is just as big.
“We must move along, there are many things on the agenda tonight, my love.”
“Okay, Landon Carter, I see what you’re doing.” She lets out another giggle with a skip in her step.
“What can I say? I wanted to give you ‘A Walk to Remember.’”
She shakes her head with a laugh, smacking my chest. “God, you’re cheesy.”
She has no idea.
We get back into the car and when an outdoor restaurant comes into view, Audrey’s expression grows even more excited.
“I love you, I love you, I love you!” She all but bounces up and down in her seat.
We eat dinner before I point towards the dance floor. Audrey stands up excitedly, and when we step onto it, Dancing in the Moonlight starts playing and she gives me an amused smile. “Did you pay the DJ extra to make this happen?”
“Sure did.”
I twirl her around the dance floor, the two of us laughing and smiling from ear to ear the entire time. Hours seem to fade away as the sky turns dark.
“You have two options for the evening,” I tell her as I open the passenger door for her.
“Why can’t I have both?”
“I guess that’s an option. But it will mean you’re not going back to Connor’s tonight.”
Audrey licks her lips, giving me a playful grin. “Wasn't planning on it.”
Okay then.
“I have temporary tattoos, and I may have brought a telescope … I also have a collection of movies for us to watch.”
She cuts me off with a long kiss, followed by a giddy laugh, before she taps her chin. “Tattoo first, stars second, then movies?”
“Deal.”
“So which one do you choose?” Audrey teases.
“The butterfly on the shoulder, obviously. Have you not seen my favorite movie enough times to know that?” I reply playfully.
“I just wasn’t sure how cliché we wanted to be?” Audrey retorts with a sheepish grin.
“Full cliché, Auddie. Always full cliché.”
“I like this one.” She points to a blue butterfly, like I assumed she would.
“That’s my girl. I would’ve chosen that one too,” I tell her as my fingers run along her shoulder, tapping a spot. “Right here will work.”
I kiss her skin before I place the tattoo face down on her skin, patting it with a damp napkin.
“I get to give you one too, right?” she jokes.
“Yeah, I told you my choice already,” I tell her matter-of-factly.
“I thought it was a joke.”
“Full cliché, baby. We both gotta get one,” I say with a nod, pulling the tattoo wrapper off when it’s set, blowing on her shoulder for good measure.
“Okay, butterfly on your shoulder too, then!”
I shift my shirt so she can have access.
She sets it in place, dabbing at my shoulder. “You know what’s funny?”
“What?”
“The night Connor went to the hospital, when we watched this movie together, I always hoped we’d end up here … Not necessarily with me tattooing a butterfly on you, but reliving my favorite dates from my favorite movie.”
“Movies, you mean. Well, the good news is we have a lifetime to make it happen and a list to build off of.”
“What are you talking about?”
I reach into the glove box and pull out a wrinkled piece of paper.
“Read it.”
Audrey unfolds it and laughs when she sees her preteen handwriting staring back at her. She starts to read the list out loud.
“Noah Benson Bucket list
Find out what shampoo he uses and get mom to buy it for me
Find some way to get his phone number
Convince mom to let me get a phone
Start a rumor about Melissa because she likes him??
No, that’s mean … bake him cookies?
Play truth or dare with Noah and dare him to kiss me.”
The list goes on in a steady stream of ideas that seem to make Audrey rotate between laughing, cringing, snorting and wiping tears.
“Where did you find this?” she asks.
“Your mom asked me to bring the recycling out to the garage when I visited them a few years ago and I found this tucked under a stack of newspapers that had fallen behind the workbench.”
She shakes her head, baffled. “I threw it out before college, when I was getting rid of a few of my ‘Auddie loves Noah’ things.”
Sadness tugs at my heart, wondering what else she may have thrown out.
She looks down at the list and hesitates.
“What?”
“Was this in your bedside table at Connor’s house?”
A slow smile creeps across my face. “Were you creeping through my things?”
“Maybe. I just saw your book and the paper. I didn’t pick them up or open them, I promise.”
“Remind me to show you something when we get back to my place,” I tell her before grabbing something else out of the glove box—a notebook and pen. “Ready to start a new bucket list?”
Audrey grabs the pen and opens it to the first page writing:
Auddie and No’s Bucket list
Go home and watch A Walk to Remember
“Whose home?” I ask, even though I know she’s been hinting at wanting to move in for a few weeks now.
“Our home.”
“Are you moving in?”
“It’s about time I do!” She nods with excitement before pulling my face towards hers, kissing me hard. “Unless you’ve changed your mind.”
“Nope, never!”
We kiss for a while before she pulls back. “So what do we put on the list next?”
I look down at the blank page. “Hm, you could ask for my phone number?”
Audrey pokes me. “I already have it, silly.”
“Fine, then how about this …” I write down: 2. Always love each other.
“That’s too easy, Noah. It’s impossible not to love you.” She grabs the pen from me and writes down: 3. Become Mrs. Noah Benson some day.
Our eyes lock and I can’t help but smirk as I rub my thumb across her cheek. “I like that idea. I’ll have to think about it though.”
She rolls her eyes but we both let out a long laugh.
“Home?” I peek in her direction as I start the car.
“Home.” She places her hand on my thigh, resting her head on my shoulder as I pull out of the parking lot.
“Do you think this is the part where the credits would roll if we were a movie? Like ‘The End’?”
“Nah, this is still the first half of the movie, the fans would want a fifty part movie about our life. Beginning to end.”
As the breeze passes through the window on our drive home, I picture what the next few years of my life will look like, it’s as if I’m in a cliché movie ending.
I don’t mind though, we both deserve the “happily ever after.”
And I know we’ve both found it.