NOT EDITED *

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▲ Emma Atwood’s Point of View ▲

“Wow, Noah got some last night. Why didn’t he tell me this?” Callum asked incredulously with a deep frown set on his face.

Paige dug her elbow into his ribs and ignored his groan of pain. “Shut it, will you? I don’t even know why you’re here.”

“Maybe it’s because I’m your boyfriend.”

“Well, that doesn’t mean we have to be together twenty-four seven. Now shut up because it’s Emma’s turn to talk.”

I was thankful today was a holiday because I was suffering a minor hangover. Although it was only a slight headache, I still felt horrible about what I’d done behind Evan’s back. I couldn’t stay at home and look him in the eye when I knew I was recovering from a night of drinking and was forced to lie to him about the fictional story that I slept over at Paige’s house last night.

I also didn’t want to deal with the conversation he obviously wanted to have about our screwed up parents.

So here I was, babbling to Paige and Callum about how I’m the biggest humiliation of all time over cookies at The Pit. Leon refused to come because he almost got into a fight with Noah last night and was angry that Paige was dating the “enemy”.

“I’m so embarrassed,” I groaned, smacking my palm against my forehead continually. “I told him everything, Paige. Everything!”

Paige smirked. “Is that the only reason you’re embarrassed?”

“Yeah,” Callum interjected in between bites of his cookie. “I mean, you got drunk, called him to tell him how handsome he was, wore his shirt like a dress, kissed his neck, and woke up with your drool all over his arm.”

“Gee, thanks for reminding me, Callum. You’re a wonderful person,” I replied sarcastically.

“Oh, I think I’d be reminding you about this for the rest of your life.”

“Paige, please tell your boyfriend to shut up.”

I groaned when Paige smirked too. “No, he’s right. There’s no way I’m going to let you forget about this. It’s just gold!”

“I can’t believe how much of an embarrassment I was.”

God, I had a headache. All I wanted to do was sleep. At least we didn’t have school today.

I snuggled closer to my pillow and squeezed it tighter. There was something different about my bed and room … and pillows today. My bed wasn’t this soft and my sheets certainly didn’t feel this silky against my skin. I didn’t hear the normal blare of my alarm clock or the hum of my air conditioner. Instead, I heard soft snores that didn’t come from me. And I really didn’t remember my pillows being this hard, smelling so good, and having the ability to breath.

My eyes snapped open in alarm.

Ignoring the nauseating way I felt, I eyed my attire with wide eyes. The male’s shirt that I was wearing rode up to my belly and my embarrassing watermelon underwear was in full display. Horrifyingly, someone’s warm arm was slung across my bare hips. This person’s arm was also underneath my head like a pillow and my drool was all over the sun kissed skin.

I sprang up from bed once my eyes landed on Noah’s sleeping face. Although I was awed by the way he looked so innocent and peaceful when he slept, I couldn’t help but freak out. Noah woke up in a jolt at my sudden movement.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh,” I said redundantly, rubbing my temples to ease my headache. “What the hell is going on? Why am I here? What did I do last night? Oh my gosh, Evan is going to kill me for – “

“Emma, calm down,” Noah advised, sitting up from bed to stretch his arms over his head. He slightly cringed when he noticed the drool on his arm. Discreetly, he wiped it off on his t-shirt.

I desperately tried to block my bare legs from his view. My cheeks burned red with embarrassment. “Calm down? I can’t calm down. I don’t even know what I’m doing here. What am I doing here? Why am I in your shirt and sleeping next to you? Oh my gosh, what did we do last night? What did I do last night?”

Noah rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, you …”

And everything he said after that horrified me even more.

“It wasn’t that embarrassing,” Paige said, breaking me from my reverie. “At least you didn’t do something stupid like ask Old Lady Jenkins for her underwear.”

My cheeks flamed and my eyes widened. “Who told you that?”

Callum choked on his coffee. “You’re joking right?”

“Gosh,” Paige sighed and shook her head. “You are an embarrassment.”

“I don’t need to be reminded,” I responded while my phone rang in my purse.

After fishing out my phone, my heart thudded at the number. I groaned as I felt embarrassed all over again. I really didn’t want to deal with him today.

Answering the call, I said, “He – “

“Come outside,” Noah demanded.

“What?” I asked puzzled. “Why?”

“Just come outside. I need your help with something.”

“Okay?” I frowned. I grabbed my belongings and stood up from the booth with a slight frown when Noah hung up. “I have to go, guys. Noah needs something.”

Callum smirked. “Maybe he wants you to kiss him again – sober this time.”

“Please tell your boyfriend not to come next time,” I hissed at Paige while throwing a balled up napkin at Callum’s face.

Noah was outside, leaning against the banister of The Pier. The clear blue sky, cool air, and blossoming flowers were a clear sign that it was spring time. Although lapping water was noisy at this hour of the day, I found it calming.

“We need to go to the ice cream parlor,” Noah stated, grabbing my wrist and pulling me along.

I came to a halt and pulled my arm out his grip. “Wait, why? You can’t just drag me along without telling me what’s going on.”

Noah groaned, dragging his hand down his face. “I’ll explain when we get there.”

The ice cream parlor was a small shop with a few ice cream selections. It was sandwiched between a barber shop and the bowling arcade and was walking distance from The Pit. Small round tables and iron chairs were scattered across the black and white tiled floor.

Business was slow most days, but the shop did have a few busy days. It was the only ice cream parlor in Beaufort. They sold everything from shaved ice to banana splits to milkshakes. However, their only problem was the lack of flavor variety.

Jesse O’Neil, a dark skinned womanizer with a slightly goofy attitude, sat behind the register in the blue and yellow striped uniform. He twirled a coin across the counter in boredom due to the fact that there were no customers. However, he hasn’t seen us because Noah hid us behind a wall – which completely confused me by the way.

“Whoa! What are you doing?” I jumped when Noah pulled my v-neck t-shirt down so my cleavage was slightly popping out. With anger, I pulled my shirt up and crossed my arms over my chest. “That was … very inappropriate.”

Noah sighed and motioned a hand towards Jesse. “I need you to flirt with him.”

“And why would I do that?” I asked incredulously with my eyebrows hitched upwards. “He’s a junior who plays with girls. I’m a senior who’s obviously not the slutty type he’s into.”

“Oh, trust me. He wouldn’t shut up about how nice your ass was during gym class last year. I think he stared at it the whole time you were stretching out.”

My frown deepened. “Okay, I did not need to know that. What a perv! I’m completely grossed out right now.”

“Can you please just go in there and ask him if he wants to go drinking with you – since you obviously drink - and if Nick comes up, just go with the flow. I trust you with this one. And you don’t literally have to go drink – “

“Wait, hold up,” I interrupted, holding my hand up to stop him. “One, last night was the first time I drank. Two, I will never do it again because – well, look what happened. Three, I still don’t understand what you want me to do.”

“Just do it,” Noah demanded in anger. “What’s so hard with flirting with a guy and fishing for information?”

“No, I’m not doing it.”

“Please?”

“No, Noah!”

“Please. I really need this information and Jesse and I aren’t exactly on the best terms,” Noah pleaded with exhaustion. “I promise that’s all I’m going to ask you to do.”

I’m not sure why I made such a stupid decision after what he said. Was it because I heard how desperate he was just to get some stupid information or was it because I was curious as to why he wanted to know anything about Jesse’s business with Nick? I chose the latter.

“Fine,” I mumbled reluctantly, tugging my shirt down so my black bra was peeking through and picking my floral skirt up a little higher.

My cheeks flamed in embarrassment as Noah’s eyes fell lazily to my breast. His eyes wandered off to the side as if he was trying to hide the fact that he was looking at it. Laughing inwardly, I tossed that thought aside because it was a ridiculous assumption. Why would Noah check me out?

My breasts were existent, but it wasn’t big enough to be proud of. In fact, I was so insecure about my boobs that I felt pathetic standing in front of Noah right now.

“You owe me for this,” I hissed while I strutted my way into the ice cream parlor.

Jesse looked up when he heard the ding of the bell above the doorway as I opened it. His eyes landed on my breast first. I rolled my eyes and resisted the urge to gag as he stared with absolutely no shame. However, I had to plaster on a fake smile as his eyes finally landed on my face.

Jesse stood up straight with the biggest smile he could muster. “Well, hello Emma. Leon’s not here, but I’d gladly take your order.”

Leaning against the counter so he had a clearer view, I giggled although I was growing sick in the inside. Lying was easy for me so getting into character was a breeze. “Yeah, he’s off today. But, I’m glad you’re here.”

He smirked, leaning over the counter too so he was closer to me. “So what can I get you?”

“A date with you.”

“Really?” He asked with raised eyebrows. “What’d you have in mind?”

“There’s this small party tonight and my friends are bringing drinks. I heard you’re the best guy to drink with.”

He was clearly shocked. “You drink?”

“Yeah,” I semi lied, twirling a blonde lock of my hair with my index finger. “So what do you say?”

“That’s a very tempting invitation – especially from you,” Jesse said. He leaned back with a sigh and drummed the counter with his fingers. It was obvious he was fighting an inward battle with himself. “But, I don’t drink anymore.”

This information genuinely surprised me. What I said about him being the best guy to drink with was an actual comment from everyone he partied with. Although he was a junior, Jesse was East Carteret High’s best partier.

“You’re kidding right?” I frowned slightly as an act. “Since when did you stop drinking?”

“About four months ago,” Jesse replied, shifting his weight from one foot to other.

“Why’s that?” I pressed on.

Jesse was obviously uncomfortable. His smile faltered just a little as he continued to shift his weight from one foot to the other.

“It’s a long story,” he answered with an edge to his voice. “My friends and I were stupid one night. I’ve stopped drinking since then.”

My curiosity was at its highest level. About four months ago was around the time of Nick’s death as well. At that precise moment, I knew that Noah was up to something. This wasn’t just to find answers. This was one part of the whole thing.

I cocked my head to the side. “You guys did something stupid?”

“Yeah,” he mumbled, leaving no room for any other questions on the topic.

“Well, that sucks! I heard that the only two people worth drinking with around here are you and Nick, but Nick’s not around …”

“Yeah, Nick was a good guy. He was a very fun guy to hang around.”

“You knew Nick?”

“Yeah,” Jesse gulped, fidgeting in his spot. “But I’d rather not talk about him. It’s kind of a touchy subject. Hey, why don’t we hang out sometime else? Can I have your number?”

I tried not to hide my disappointment that the conversation ended so quickly and I didn’t even find half of the missing puzzle. “Sure,” I nodded my head.

Just before I could write a fake number on the palm of his hand and find a way to find out more about Nick, Noah stormed into the ice cream parlor.

“Hey, Emmy – Emma,” Noah said forcefully and rubbed the back of his neck. His eyes landed on my hand as it froze in the middle of writing random numbers on Jesse’s palm. “What are you doing? I’ve been waiting for you for almost an hour.”

I really wanted to slap Noah right now. Jesse was going to connect the dots soon. We were just talking about Nick and Noah had to waltz his way in here and claim that I was with him. How obvious could he be?

Jesse slowly withdrew his hand, frowning at Noah. “You’re with him, Emma?”

“Yeah, we’re working on our class project that’s why,” I lied. I turned to look at Noah and meant it wholeheartedly when I glared at him. “Would you mind? I was trying to give Jesse here my number before you rudely interrupted.”

“Can we go?” Noah asked forcefully.

Jesse didn’t look too happy in the presence of Noah. “Why don’t you go? Emma could stay if she wants. If it isn’t obvious, nobody wants your ass here.”

Noah knitted his eyebrows together in anger. “Fuck off, will you?”

“You’re the asshole who’s cock blocking right now.”

“I’d only be cock blocking if you actually had a cock, O’Neil.”

I put a hand on Noah’s chest. “Whoa, okay, just calm down. We’re leaving now.”

Noah sighed down at me and simply nodded his head. “Fine.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay?” Jesse asked disappointingly.

“No, we have to go,” I said, pushing Noah out the door as quickly as possible. “I’ll call you later though!”

Jesse smiled, obviously happy that I would call him later. He was a complete idiot because he didn’t even give me his number. However, I was more than happy that I didn’t have to deal with him anymore.

“It was nice talking to you,” Jesse called out as I walked out. “You look good and you seem different – it’s a good different!”

Once we were out of view from Jesse, I gagged in disgust and pulled my clothing back into place. Noah walked slightly ahead with stiff shoulders.

“Noah, what’s wrong with you?” I asked in annoyance as I quickened my pace to keep up with him. “I was doing perfectly fine with everything until you had to show up. That was a close call. He could’ve known we were up to something. ”

“It looked like you actually enjoyed yourself. You even gave him your number,” Noah replied, raising a single eyebrow. “When’s your date?”

I snorted at Noah’s assumption. “Never. I gave him half of a fake phone number. He was more interested in my breast than what I had to say. I wouldn’t enjoy myself with him even if he were the last guy on the planet. He’s not worth it.”

“Right,” Noah grumbled. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Never mind about him. What’d you find out?”

I informed Noah about the last time Jesse drank, what he said about Nick, and the reason why he stopped drinking. A light bulb seemed to turn on in Noah’s head as rage filled his face.

“I knew it. He was there,” he muttered, pacing back and forth in front of me.

“He was where?” I asked in confusion.

Noah sighed and shook his head. “You don’t need to know.”

I looked at him with incredulity. “I don’t need to know? You’re kidding right? I need to know. You cannot just string me along and keep me in the dark. No way.”

“You shouldn’t be a part of this,” Noah fought back.

“What? You made me a part of this ever since you asked me to flaunt my pea sized boobs in Jesse’s face!”

“Just drop it, Emma.”

“I’m not going to drop it. You either tell me what you’re up to because I’m not letting this go.”

“Seriously, just drop it! I knew I made a mistake when I asked you to help me.”

“Well, now you’re going to have to face the consequences of your mistakes. I think I deserve the right to know. What’s going – “

“I’m trying to find out who killed Nick, okay?” Noah replied with a frustrated sigh. He began to walk away as I stared at him with wide eyes. “There. You got what you wanted.”