Page 132 of Best Friends for Never

We sidestep the mess Axel and his crew have made, careful not to touch anything, then make our way to the stage.

Noel helps me up, and we walk to center stage, sitting at the ledge and letting our feet dangle over.

It takes me back ten years to the last time he was leaving and we did this exact thing.

“So,” Noel says.

“So,” I echo.

We laugh, and the tension is broken.

“I still can’t believe you’re renovating this theater.”

“Me neither,” I say, looking around the empty room. “It’s going to look so different when you see it next.”

His feet stop midswing, and I realize what I’ve just said.

“You are, right? Coming back, I mean.”

“I am,” he says quietly.

“When?”

He considers the question for a moment. “I don’t know. I know we haven’t really talked about it, and that’s my fault. I didn’t want to fill youwith empty promises, so that’s all I have for now. I don’t knowwhenI’m coming back, but I know Iam. I wish I had a better answer, but I don’t.”

I wish he had a better answer too.

I wishIhad a better answer for the situation we’re in. But I don’t. We’re stuck until one of us decides to budge.

We sit on the stage for another half hour, then finally make our way back to my house. The walk that usually takes five minutes takes us twenty, both of us trying to stretch this out as much as possible.

I don’t bother asking Noel if he wants to come inside. He walks in behind me like we do this every night.

We go straight to my bedroom.

There are no words exchanged. We know exactly what’s happening here.

This is it. This is our goodbye.

Noel steps up to me, takes me in his arms, and kisses me like he never has before—like he never will again.

He pulls my shirt over my head, then undoes my bra with deft fingers before unsnapping my jeans. I shimmy them down my legs, kicking them aside.

Noel steps back, drinking me in with hungry eyes.

“You’re perfect,” he says. “So fucking perfect.”

Then he’s kissing me again, and we fall onto the bed. He crawls on top of me, fitting himself between my legs, then tugs his shirt over his head, tossing it aside before his lips are back on mine.

I unbutton his jeans, pushing them down as far as possible, and then he finishes the job. I sigh in relief when his naked body presses against mine.

He keeps kissing me as he slides inside me with a gentleness we’ve thrown right out the window the last few days. He thrusts into me slowly and softly, our lips never once breaking apart.

My orgasm barrels through me, and Noel’s follows soon after.

When he’s finished, he rolls off me, tucking me into his side.

I fall asleep, and when I wake up, Noel is dressing near the foot of the bed.

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