Intimate Friends Read Online Free Page B

suddenly. At the end of the deserted hall of lockers, he saw Emma, talking earnestly with a student. He couldn't remember her name— Katy? Kristin? --she wasn't in his class, but she looked familiar…awkward, tall, braces…definitely not one of the popular kids. She was crying, and Emma was talking softly, a bottle of cleanser in her hands, a roll of paper towels tucked under her arm. A second look revealed that her locker had been vandalized—he saw the scrawled words and crude pictures across the metal door, and as Emma continued talking, she began spraying the locker with cleanser, unrolling paper towels and scrubbing vigorously.
    Noah hesitated--his first instinct was to go and help, but he didn't want to intrude…didn't want the girl to be further embarrassed, having to explain her predicament to yet another person. So he stepped back a bit, in the shadows of the hallway.
    He grinned to himself when he realized that Emma was still talking, in that way she had when she was upset or nervous—ironically, she tended to talk the most when she was at a loss for what to say. She kneeled down and put the spray bottle on the floor grasped the paper towels in both hands, and leaned into the locker, scrubbing with all her might. After a few seconds, she pulled back and gave the locker a little kick of frustration, then yelped "owww," and giggled briefly. She said something to the girl, and they both laughed, the girl wiping her eyes quickly with the cuffs of her sweater. He saw Emma reach over and gently flip the girl's long, curly hair behind her shoulder and hand her the roll of paper towels. More spray, more towels, more scrubbing, a few more giggles.
    Noah closed his eyes, leaning back against the cold metal of the lockers behind him. God, he loved her so much. And all his courage and determination melted away, and he cut through the gym, out to his car, and left, like a coward.
     
     

 
    Chapter Six
     
    Emma heard the phone ring and closed her book, puzzled. No one would call her this late in the evening except Noah, and he was in Houston with the academic decathlon team. He wouldn't call her this late, would he? Unless something was wrong...
    Since their telephone conversation on Monday evening, things had been tense, but friendly. Emma had apologized for getting drunk and jumping him, and Noah had apologized for letting himself get jumped. She was scared to death that their play date in bed would ruin their friendship, but was hopeful that they could move past it. Moving past it was proving to be more difficult than she had anticipated, however, because every time she saw Noah in the hall, she imagined him naked, and sweaty, and rolling around on the rumpled sheets of her bed.
    She picked up the phone quickly. Noah's number. Her stomach did a little jump. What the hell was that about?
    "Hey, is everything okay?"
    "What? Oh, yeah, I'm sorry…I just…I couldn't sleep," he said . “Hotel rooms kind of freak me out.”
    "That's okay, I can't sleep either." She sighed. "I've been reading the same page for ten minutes." She hugged her book to her chest. “How'd the nerd squad do?”
    “Great, great...they go to nationals on June 12th.” There was a short silence. “I guess we'll both be traveling next month.”
    Why did he sound so sad? The kids had won, for Pete's sake.
    "So, you're reading in bed?" he asked.
    "Umm, yeah…"
    "What are you wearing?"
    " Noah …" she said, her voice stern, chastising.
    " Emma…" he mocked, making her giggle. "What are you wearing?" he repeated.
    "Well, actually, I'm in one of your old t-shirts. One of the ones you were going to throw out last summer, until I stole them." There was silence on his end of the line, until she heard him cough a little.
    "Noah?"
    "Which one?"
    "Which t-shirt?" she asked, looking down and pulling the shirt out in front of her, reading it upside down. "Uhh…looks like University of Texas."
    There was another silence, and she was about to call his name