Page 30 of When We Were Young
Noah had to be dreaming. Because all he could see was Emily, young and beautiful and smiling. The smile that had captured his heart, the one he hadn’t seen in a year.
At least not directed at him.
If it was a dream, Noah figured he might as well let it come. Especially since it kept drawing him like a riptide back to the beginning. The time when he and Emily first met. Noah could feel the pillow under his head, but all he could hear was Emily’s sweet voice.
From the first day of the semester, Noah had noticed them, Emily and Clara getting their meals together. The gorgeous blond-haired girl walking close to the one with crutches, clearing random chairs and sliding tables out of her way. It was like she didn’t care about anything but the special-needs girl with her.
Noah figured the blonde must be the caretaker for the girl with crutches. Maybe she was getting her degree in special education. Something like that. But after a few days Noah could suddenly see what he hadn’t realized before.
The girls looked alike.
Not in their mannerisms or their facial expressions. But in every other way possible. Same hair, same skin tone. Same kind way with each other. And it hit Noah—the girls must be sisters. If that were the case, the blonde helping the other one along was doing all she could because she cared for her sister.
And if they weren’t sisters, Noah figured they had to be best friends.
Every night they sat at the same cafeteria table, the kind blonde and the sweet girl with the crutches. Sometimes over dinner, while his teammates talked in loud bursts and boasting voices about the blows of practice, Noah could feel himself tune out.
All he wanted to do was watch the beautiful girl across the way.
So when the day came that she was by herself, Noah spotted the situation immediately. Saw her from his place in line waiting for a cheeseburger. And then—just when he could imagine himself walking up and sitting across from her—he watched Karl Harvey take his spot.
Noah didn’t take his eyes off the two of them even after he got his food. He could tell a lot from the way the blonde held herself, the way she leaned back from the table a few inches.
She wasn’t into Harvey.
So he created a plan on the spot, and at just the right time he walked up and took a seat at the table. Like he belonged there, as if the two of them had been dating for a month. He said something clever to Harvey, something about leaving his girlfriend alone.
Whatever his words, the trick worked. Harvey slumped off to the football tables, and Noah had his first conversation with Emily Andrews. He could still see her pale blue eyes, the way they tried to stay distant and aloof. It hadn’t worked. Instead they had sparkled just enough to keep him there. Enough to give him the courage to suggest a walk to the café across the street.
That night, sitting across from her in a corner booth, he fell in love with her. With the spunk she showed when she told him he looked like a Nashville guy—the type to wear cowboy boots and a ten-gallon hat. He loved the way she laughed and how she played with her pretty hair when she didn’t seem sure how to answer his questions.
She was a dancer who had lived in Bloomington all her life. Close to her sister and close to God. She didn’t care about the Greek life and thought of herself as sort of an outcast. “I’m here for one reason.” Her smile warmed the air between them. “I need a degree.”
But there was something she never talked about, and Noah wasn’t going to ask. Not yet. She never talked about the girl with the crutches. And so as the hour passed, a story began to form in Noah’s heart.
The girl with the crutches had to be Emily’s sister. Which was maybe why Emily came across guarded, the reason she didn’t talk much about her home life or her family. Halfway through their time together that night, Noah was almost certain.
Emily was trying to protect her sister.
Either way, Noah had never met any girl like Emily. With every passing minute, he became more enamored, more taken by her presence, her laugh. By the end of the hour he made a commitment to himself, something he absolutely intended to see through, whatever it took.
One day, he was going to marry Emily Andrews.
It was all he could think of that night and through the next day. So that night, when he saw Emily with the girl at dinner, he made another plan. He was going to act like last night hadn’t happened. Let that be Emily’s call.
The move turned out to be exactly what Emily wanted. And yes, the girl was Emily’s sister. Clara. One of the kindest, most pure humans Noah had ever known. One of his favorite people in all the world.
Dinner that night lasted long after the rest of the football team left the cafeteria. By then he loved Clara as much as she loved him. Before they parted ways, Clara invited him to watch Emily’s dance practice with her.
That was all the encouragement Noah needed. And so he waited until the following afternoon—and when the football team finished early, he showered and headed straight for the dance hall. He found his way to the right studio and took a seat next to Clara. She beamed at him. “Like you, Noah.”
That’s all she said.Like you. But it was all she needed to say. The friendship between him and Clara was fast and certain from the beginning. Clara pointed to the dancers out on the floor and Noah turned his attention to Emily. For the rest of the rehearsal, Noah had to remind himself to breathe.
Emily danced like the wind, with the grace and beauty of a fiery leaf floating to the ground on an autumn breeze. She was the music to his song, and every movement was a note that filled Noah’s heart.
It became a routine for the next few weeks. Whenever Noah finished practice early enough, he’d go sit with Clara and watch Emily dance. Then the three of them would go to the cafeteria and make their way to Emily and Clara’s table. The guys on the team gave him a hard time, but Noah didn’t care. He sat with the players at lunch. Dinners were for Emily and Clara.
The first weekend after Noah met Emily, the football team had an away game at Ball State. Noah played the game of his life, but only because he wanted Emily to hear about it. So he could impress her. At least that’s how he remembered it. A home game against Southern Illinois was set for the following Saturday.
