Dating: On the Rebound

by Stephanie Street

  “She has this hair. It’s dark and thick. She wears it down and uses it as a curtain to hide behind. We sit together in biology and most days all I can see is that curtain. She’s shy sometimes, but others she’s-” What? “She’s a pistol.” I’d heard my grandpa describe my grandma that way one time and it stuck. Tierney was a pistol.

  It was damned annoying to be honest. And attractive. I remembered our kiss and Dad motioned for me to continue and I knew I had to put a lid on that kind of thinking.

  “I thought about buying her some of those rubber band things girls use to put their hair up,” I told him as he spooned more broth into his mouth. “You know, as kind of a joke. She gets really mad and it’s hilarious.”

  Dad’s eyes narrowed on me.

  “What?” I asked.

  “You like her.”

  “What? No, I don’t. I don’t even know her. We just have class together and have to work on this stupid dance.” A year ago I would have never had a conversation like this with my dad. Lately, though, I’d been thinking about the reality of his disease. I could lose my dad. I’ve never been one to think too far into the future, but faced with the reality of a future without my dad, well, it had me considering all the things I wouldn’t be able to share with him if the worst happened. I was learning to open up. But that didn’t mean I was going to admit to my Dad that I’d kissed the girl.

  “You know she’s beautiful, that’s something,” Dad murmured.

  “But not everything.” My parents had always taught me to look more than skin deep. I wished I’d paid more attention when I was dating Trina.

  “No.” Dad took a deep breath and sat back against his pillows. “But a beautiful woman can catch your eye long enough to make you look deeper, find out what else is beautiful.”

  I thought about his words and thought about Tierney. Maybe Dad was onto something.

  “We’re supposed to have children together.”

  Dad made a choking sound that might have been a laugh. “What?”

  I grinned. “It’s for an assignment.”

  “Never had any assignments like that when I was a kid,” he muttered.

  “Things are a lot more progressive these days,” I told him with a straight face.

  He wasn’t fooled but at least he’d smiled. I let him off the hook and explained about the monster genetics assignment Tierney and I would be working on in a couple of days.

  “When do I get to meet this girl?” Dad asked.

  I picked a basketball up off the floor and spun it on my finger. “Sunday afternoon if you’re up to it. She’s coming over to work on our project.” And hopefully I’d have a chance to convince her to like me. I’d been working on a plan all day since biology and she told me she hated me. I didn’t think she really hated me, but it still wasn’t fun to hear.

  “Hmm.” Dad closed his eyes and let his head fall back on his pillows. His face was tense and I knew enough now to realize the food was making him sick and he needed to rest.

  “I’ll talk to you later, Dad.” I lifted the tray from the table and rolled it off to the side so it wouldn’t be in his way if he needed to get up.

  “Make sure you bring your girl in to see me.”

  His words made me smile. My girl. I liked the sound of that. “I will.”

  12

  Tierney

  Noah Jacobs kissed me.

  Wait. Let me try that again.

  Noah.

  Jacobs.

  KISSED.

  ME!

  That was all I’d been able to think since it happened. For days I’d been reliving the moment his lips touched mine and kept touching them for several long minutes. That and the events that had led up to the kissing. Noah’d been nearly crying in that empty hallway. And I’d walked up as he was dealing with the emotions. Kissing me was an outlet. That was it, I’d been a distraction. A way to escape whatever was going on with him. A toe-curling-best-kiss-ever-escape. At least, it was once I got over the shock and kissed him back. I couldn’t believe I did that, but man, was it worth it.

  Mr. Perfect was a perfect kisser, too.

  I wasn’t delusional, however. I knew those kisses didn’t mean anything. Noah said when we talked on the phone that he didn’t regret kissing me and I can honestly say I didn’t regret it either, but standing on his front porch today, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t battling with the desire to kiss him again.

  No!

  Just no.

  There would be no more kissing. That’s what we agreed on the phone. Neither of us were in a position to start a relationship. We had too much going on. School. Homework. The dance. Noah had basketball and I needed to finish my story. For goodness sake! We were seniors. Starting a relationship right now was just plain stupid. And there was no way I wouldn’t end up with a shredded, good for nothing heart if I opened it to Noah now and we had to break things off later. I’d experienced heartbreak before, but I knew even that would be nothing compared to losing Noah after having him for any length of time.

  So, no.

  Just. NO.

  And that wasn’t even taking into consideration that Noah came with his own crazy stalker. I would be lucky to stay away from all that drama. But I couldn’t. At least, not today. Because today we had to work on our stupid biology assignment. Which was why I was still standing on his front porch giving myself a pep talk instead of knocking on the door.

  No more-

  The door swung open and Noah, looking amazing in a pair of worn jeans and a tight fitting t-shirt, stood with a careful expression on his face. “You gonna come in or stand on the front steps all afternoon.”

  -kissing. Even if he did look good enough to eat.

  I held up the grocery sack filled with some of my favorite snacks. “I brought food.” Great opening line. But it was infinitely better than Kiss me, I’m yours, before falling into his arms like I wanted to do.

  Noah grinned. “Awesome.” His expression sobered and he stepped out onto the porch with me and closed the door behind him. “Hey, I need to talk to you about something.”

  That sounded ominous. “Ok-ay.”

  Noah cleared his throat, his eyes on his stockinged feet. “So, um, my dad has cancer.”

  The words hit me out of nowhere. I was not expecting that. “Oh, Noah,” I breathed. “I’m so sorry.” I reached a hand to his arm. It felt warm and strong under my cold fingers.

  “It’s okay. I mean, it isn’t but-” he stopped. “Anyway, he wants to meet you, but I didn’t want you to be surprised.”

  I frowned a little. His dad wanted to meet me? Did that mean Noah had talked to him about me? My eyes widened. Did he tell him about the kiss? Would he do that?

  “Is that alright?” He misinterpreted the look on my face. “You don’t mind meeting him, do you? I’m sure he’d understand-”

  I held a hand up between us to stop his verbal vomit. “I don’t mind at all.”

  His shoulders relaxed with visible relief. “Good. I mean, thanks. I told him we were working together on the dance and for biology, too. He just-” Noah shrugged, his cheeks turning a little pink. “He just wanted to meet you, that’s all.”

  “Well, let’s do it then.” I waited for him to invite me inside and had to tease him when he didn’t. “Or we could stand out here. It’s a little cold, though.”

  Noah’s grin was sheepish. “Sorry, come on in.” He opened the door and held it for me to pass through first, but his body blocked half of the opening so I had choice but to brush against him as I passed through. It was just my shoulder running across the breadth of his chest, but the sizzle from the contact was as quick and hot as a bolt of lightning. I focused on not tripping. Or melting in a heap at his feet.

  Noah lived in a middle class neighborhood. The two story house was well maintained and had a homey feel I appreciated. I liked the house my mom and I lived in now with Doug and Hannah, but it was so big sometimes it didn’t feel as comfortable as the run down apartment Mom and I had
shared for most of my life before she’d met and married Doug. Not that I really missed that place, just the feeling I had there. Noah’s house, on the other hand, felt like home the second I walked through the door.

  He led me into the kitchen. It was decorated in farmhouse chic, white with rich wood trim. Signs with cute sayings decorated the walls and baskets made of chicken wire held antique looking wooden utensils and gadgets. Right away, I could imagine him growing up here, sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cold glass of milk and eating a plateful of cookies.

  “Wow. This is great,” I murmured taking it all in.

  Noah scowled but I could tell it was mostly for show. “Yeah, you can say that because you didn’t have to help remodel it to look like this.”

  “Are you ever going to let that go?” Noah’s mom stepped into the room and cuffed him lightly on the shoulder. She was petite, only coming up to Noah’s shoulder. Her long, golden hair was swept into a ponytail high on the back of her head. It would have had the effect of making her look younger if not for the dark circles and worry lines around her eyes.

  Noah shook his head. “Never.”

  His mom rolled her eyes as she moved further into the room. “Too bad because the downstairs bathroom is next.”

  Noah hammed up an exaggerated shudder as he turned to me with wide eyes making me giggle despite the awkwardness between us. His mom stood beside me and spoke out of the side of her mouth.

  “Gotta put all those muscles to work for something other than basketball,” she said.

  “Mom!” Noah looked scandalized and his cheeks turned pink. I didn’t think Noah could get any hotter, but embarrassed looked good on him.

  She waved her hand in the air. “Oh, stop and introduce me to your friend.”

  Noah sighed as he wiped a hand over his face. “Mom, this is Tierney my lab partner and co-chair for the Homecoming committee. Tierney, this is Mom, master humiliator.”

  “Nicole, but you can call me Nic,” his mom corrected, scowling in his direction before turning to me with a smile. “It’s so nice to meet you.”

  “You too.” I accepted her hand.

  “Well, I won’t bother you guys, but don’t forget to introduce Tierney to your father, Noah.” Tina pinned her son with a look.

  Noah saluted, earning himself another light smack on his broad shoulder as she passed by him and out of the kitchen.

  “Yeah, so that’s Mom,” he said looking adorable chagrinned.

  I smiled. “She seems awesome.”

  Noah’s grunt was noncommittal which made me smile even more.

  “Wanna meet Dad now or later?” he asked as he took the grocery sack filled with graham crackers and a jar of peanut butter as well as a bag of chocolate and some other stuff I knew I’d need to get through the day, like jelly beans, and set it on the table while I hooked my backpack over the back of a chair.

  “Whatever you think.” I had no idea how sick his dad was, but there was a definite smell of medicine and illness that hung in the air underneath the spicy scent of pumpkin and vanilla coming from a warmer on the counter. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous to meet Noah’s dad. I didn’t know a single person who had had cancer, nor had I ever been around anyone who was sick like that.

  “Well, I think he’s awake, so let’s go now. He might not be later.” Noah led me down a hallway off the kitchen. “Come on. He’s been asking me all week when you were going to come over.”

  “Why?” What on earth had Noah told his dad that would make the man so anxious to meet me? “What did you tell him?” I thought about the kiss again. How embarrassing!

  Noah frowned. “Not whatever you’re thinking. Jeez, Tierney. It’s my father, not a firing squad.”

  I might be better equipped for the firing squad a this point. At least they’d put me out of my misery. “Okay, but why does he want to meet me?” It seemed like a weird thing, right? Noah and I barely knew each other.

  Noah shrugged and for the second time since I’d walked through the front door, his cheeks turned pink. While I still thought he looked hot all embarrassed, this time I was a little more nervous about the reason for it.

  “I was joking around the other day and he thought it was funny. It’s kind of boring being stuck in the house and I, um, I,” he stuttered, stopping in the middle of the hall.

  “You…what?”

  “This is so dumb,” he mumbled under his breath before inhaling deeply. “Look, it’s no big deal. I was messing around. Let’s just go say hi and then we can get to work on our stuff and be done.”

  He was avoiding my eyes and that made me anxious, but he was right. It was just his dad and I was overreacting. “You’re right. Let’s go.”

  Noah started walking again and I followed, more slowly because I was distracted by the photographs hanging on the wall. There was no doubt that Noah was an only child. There were collages of photos of just him as well as a bunch of him with his parents. Nicole had aged well. She didn’t look a day older today than she did in the one taken when Noah was a baby. The only thing that had changed was her haircut. Noah’s dad was a good looking man. It was easy to see where Noah had gotten his own good looks.

  After checking out the pictures, it was a shock to see the man reclined in the family room in front of large flat screen tv. Where Noah’s dad had been muscular with an athletic build like his son in the photos, now his body was much thinner, his handsome face, pale and gaunt. I didn’t even know him and it hurt my heart to look at him.

  I was taken aback by the light shining in his eyes when they fell on me.

  “You must be Tierney.” His voice was stronger than I expected.

  I had no idea how to respond other than to nod, because I was indeed Tierney. I shot a look at Noah, who seemed perfectly at ease sitting on the floor at his father’s feet. He picked up a basketball and set it to spinning on his finger. I had a feeling I was getting a rare look into Noah’s life. It was obvious he spent a lot of his time sitting in that spot on the floor and I was hit with the realization of how little I knew about him. Seeing him everyday at school I would never have guessed this was what was going on at home. There was no way this was easy for anyone in this family, but Noah went about his life like normal. Or, it seemed like he did. The first indication I’d ever seen that Mr. Perfect’s life wasn’t so perfect was the moisture filling his eyes seconds before he kissed me the other night.

  Holy cow. This was why he’d been crying.

  “I see what you mean about the hair.” Mr. Jacobs’s voice startled me out of my thoughts and I turned to face him with a question wrinkling my brow.

  His lips curved the slightest bit. “Noah was telling me about a curtain of hair you liked to hide behind.” He pretended to study me more closely. Or maybe he wasn’t pretending. “I can see he was right.”

  My eyes snapped to Noah who rolled his eyes but otherwise kept his face impassive as he slapped the ball spinning on his finger making it going faster and faster. “Gee, thanks, Dad. Way to throw me under the bus.”

  Mr. Jacobs chuckled. “Have a seat, Tierney.” He pointed to the couch beside his chair.

  “Thank you, Mr. Jacobs,” I said making myself comfortable on the sofa.

  “Please, call me Brian.”

  I nodded, but as easy as it was to think of Noah’s mom as Nic, calling his dad Brian seemed a stretch for some reason.

  “Noah was right about how pretty you are, too,” Mr. Jacobs, I mean, Brian said.

  I turned wide eyes to Noah, but he just sighed and kept his eyes determinedly on the ball spinning on his finger. Idly, I wondered how long he could keep it going.

  I glanced back at Noah’s dad. He winked and the spark in his eye had me relaxing in my seat. It seemed we were going to engage in a little Noah teasing. I was on board for that. Besides, it didn’t hurt to know that Noah had told his dad he thought I was pretty.

  I leaned a little closer to Brian and said in a stage whisper, “He’s pretty good looking
himself.” I never would have been able to say something like that in front of Noah under normal circumstances, but something about sitting in this room with this sick man and his son had me feeling all kinds of emotions. Somehow I understood this wasn’t about me. This moment was about Brian. And about Noah. “I can see where he gets it from.”

  Brian did that chuckling thing again. “Ha. He looks just like his mother. She’s the beautiful one in the family.”

  “True story,” Noah finally spoke up. “She was Miss Indiana before I was born.”

  “Really?” That was impressive. Not that I cared much about beauty pageants, but it was still cool.

  Brian nodded. “I still don’t understand how a guy like me managed to hold onto a woman like her.” He sighed. “But here we are, twenty years later.”

  “I don’t think you’re giving yourself enough credit,” I spoke up and Brian smiled.

  “So, what’s this project you two are working on? Making babies?”

  I choked. “What?” I glared at Noah who smiled the first real smile I’d seen since walking into his house.

  “Monster babies, Dad,” Noah said, but I swore I heard him mutter unfortunately under his breath. When I snapped my eyes to his, he just smiled.

  Hmm.

  I’d deal with that later.

  “Oh. That’s right.” Brian winked at me again and I knew this had become tease Noah and Tierney time. That was okay too. I could handle it.

  We small talked for a few minutes about our assignment. Then, Brian asked me about my family and interests. I told him about the book I was writing and the scholarship. He’d acted impressed and interested, asking intelligent questions. After awhile Noah rolled to his feet in a quick motion. “We’d better get to it, Tierney.”

  I rose from the recliner. “Sure, yeah.” I turned to his dad. “It was nice to meet you, Mr. Jacobs.”

  He lifted one hand from his lap and pointed at me. “Brian.”