After (The After Series)

Part of me knows he is somewhat serious. But I laugh and say, “I should be
worried about you wrecking mine!”
He tries to open the curtain, but I pull it closed again and hear him chuckle.
“Just think, babe, after today you will be in your own shower every morning.”
His voice carries over the water as I rinse the shampoo from my hair.
“I don’t think it will really hit me until we are actually there.”
“Wait until you see it; you will love it,” he says.
“Does anyone know that you are getting an apartment?” I ask. I already know
the answer.
“No, why would they need to know?”
“They don’t, I was just wondering.”
The faucet creaks as I shut the water off. Hardin holds a towel open for me as
I step out and wraps it around my soaked body.
“I know you well enough to know that you think I am hiding the fact that we
are moving in together from my friends,” he says.
He’s not wrong. “Well, it does seem a little odd that you’re moving out of here
but no one knows.”
“That isn’t because of you—it’s because I don’t want to hear their shit about
dropping out of the fraternity. I will tell them all—even Molly—after we move
in.” He smiles and wraps his arms around my shoulders.
“I want to be the one to tell Molly.” I laugh and hug him back.
“Deal.”
After multiple attempts to keep Hardin’s hands off me as I get ready, he hands
me the keys to his car and I leave. The moment I get in the car my phone
vibrates.
Be careful. I love you,
the text reads.
I will. You be careful in my car :) I love you. xo
I can’t wait to see you again. Meet me at five. Your crap car will be fine.
You should watch what you say or I may accidently hit a parking
median
in yours.
I smile to
myself as I send my reply.
Stop pestering me and go to work before I come down there and peel that dress off you.
As appealing as that sounds, I put my phone back onto the passenger seat and
start the car. The engine gently purrs to life, unlike the loud roar of mine. For a
classic car it drives much smoother than mine; he really takes care of it. When I
turn onto the freeway my phone rings.
“Jesus, you can’t go twenty minutes without me?” I laugh into the phone.
“Tessa?” a male voice says. Noah.
I pull my phone away from my ear and look at my screen to confirm my
horror.

---

“Um . . . sorry, I thought . . .” I stammer.
“You thought it was him . . . I know,” he says. His voice is sad and not at all
hateful.
“I’m sorry.” I don’t deny it.
“S’okay,” he says.
“So . . .” I am not sure what to say.
“I saw your mom yesterday.”
“Oh.” The pain from Noah’s sorrow-filled voice and the reminder of my
mother’s hatred for me causes my chest to ache.
“Yeah . . . she is pretty pissed at you.”
“I know . . . she threatened to stop helping me with college.”
“She will get over this, I know she will. She’s just hurt,” he says.
“She is hurt? You’re kidding me, right?” I scoff. He cannot be defending her.
“No, no—I know she is going about it the wrong way, but she’s just angry that
you are . . . you know with . . . him.” The disgust in his voice is evident.
“Well, it isn’t her place to tell me who to be with. Is that why you called me?
To tell me that I shouldn’t be with him?”
“No, no—Tessa, it’s not. I just wanted to make sure you are okay. This is the
longest we have gone without talking since we were ten years old,” he says. I
can picture the frown on his face.
“Oh . . . I’m sorry for snapping at you. I just have a lot going on right now and
I thought you were calling to—”
“Just because we aren’t together anymore doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be there
for you,” he says, and my heart aches. I do miss him; not my relationship with
him, but he’s been such a huge part of my life since I was a child, it’s hard to let
that go entirely. He was there for me through everything, and I hurt him, without
even calling to explain or apologize. I feel terrible about how I left things with
him, and tears well up in my eyes.
“I’m sorry for everything, Noah,” I say softly and sigh.
“It’ll be okay,” he says back, equally softly. But then, as if needing to change
the topic, he says, “So I heard you got an internship,” and our conversation
continues until I arrive at Vance.
When we get off the phone he promises to talk to my mother about her
behavior toward me, and I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from me. Of
anyone, Noah could always manage to get her to calm down when she was at her
worst.
The rest of my day goes smoothly. I spend the entire day finishing my first
manuscript and making notes for Mr. Vance. Hardin and I text on and off to nail
down the details on where to meet, and before I know it the day is over.

---

When I arrive at the address Hardin sent me, I’m surprised to find that it’s
about halfway between campus and Vance Publishing. My drive would only be
twenty minutes if I lived here, when I live here. It still seems like such an
abstract idea, Hardin and I living together.
I don’t see my car when I pull into the parking lot, and when I try to call
Hardin’s phone I get his voicemail. What if he changed his mind? He would tell