Undeclared(56)

Noah must not have realized I was awake because he was trying to gently move out from underneath me, but stopping when I stiffened.

“Hey, sorry, shhh,” Noah whispered, turning to me after shutting off the alarm. “Go back to sleep.”

It was dark out, and not even a finger of dawn could be seen at the edges of the blinds that hung over the window in this room. “What time is it?”

“It’s four. Can you go back to sleep?”

“Four?” Confused, I asked, “In the morning?”

“Yes,” Noah’s response came back a little strangled, like he was trying to swallow a laugh. “Just go back to sleep, Grace. I’ll pick you up later to take you to campus.”

I was wide awake now, and I didn’t want to sleep in Noah’s bed without him, in this strange house full of guys I didn’t know, and who I’d be embarrassed to see over breakfast.

“No,” I protested, getting up and looking around for my clothes. “You’re going to campus now to work out? You can just drop me off at my apartment.”

Noah sat on the side of the bed, rubbing his head. “I don’t go directly to campus, exactly.” Then he stood up as if he’d made up his mind. “If you want to come with me, I’ll take you.”

“Um, okay?” I said. I wasn’t sure where he was taking me, but it sounded kind of intriguing. Besides, I was up and here was an opportunity to learn something more about Noah.

I pulled on my shorts and went to the bathroom. Noah was already in there, brushing his teeth. He stopped and squeezed some toothpaste on an extra toothbrush for me.

“It’s new,” he said, his words a bit garbled as he talked around the toothbrush in his mouth. Noah finished brushing and left me to the bathroom. I brushed my teeth, washed my face with his handsoap, and ran my fingers through my tangled hair. I tried not to contemplate why he had new toothbrushes at the ready.

Noah knocked a few moments later and said, “I have a clean T-shirt for you.” He handed me a grey tee identical to the one I was wearing. Faded, soft, with the letters USMC on it. No stash of female clothing somewhat ameliorated my pique over the clean toothbrush.

I pulled off the shirt I was wearing and exchanged it for its twin. I folded the discarded shirt and laid it upon the bed that Noah had already made. He was gone. I gathered he was impatient to start his day. Figures. Guys could be up and ready in five minutes.

Picking up my bag, I crept down the stairs. I didn’t want to be one of those rude overnight guests that the guys would complain about to Noah. I found Noah in the kitchen with an energy drink. He handed one to me, along with a bagel and took my bag. “Sorry I don’t have a better breakfast for you, but we can stop somewhere.”

I shrugged. I wasn’t terribly hungry but I really would’ve liked a shot of caffeine. “Is there caffeine in this drink you gave me?” I looked at it suspiciously.

“No. I’d make you coffee,” Noah said, leading me out into the driveway to his truck, “but I’ve been told my coffee has killed innocents, and I don’t want to harm you with my poor kitchen skills.”

I bit into my bagel a bit glumly and climbed into the truck. We drove only for a short five minutes when Noah parked at a small collection of stores just east of the main shopping mall. There was a dentist’s office, a yogurt shop, and a running store. Was he getting me coffee? But no, he parked around back of the mall, got out, and jogged around to open the door for me since I wasn’t coherent enough to coordinate movements like door opening. Noah seemed unaffected and just shot me a wide grin. “Come on, sleepyhead.”

I followed Noah into the back of one of the stores and we entered a small, spotless galley-like kitchen. Four glass-fronted freezer or refrigerators stood on one side. There was a large stainless steel table in the center and several contraptions on the other side. A small desk area was situated toward the rear, by the door we had just entered. I guessed this was the yogurt store.

“Welcome to my finance project,” Noah said, waving an arm around. “Can you do your hair up with a hair thingy?”

I nodded, pulled a hair band from my shorts, and wrapped my long, kind of snarled hair up into a pony. Noah handed me a white hair net that I put over my hair. He dropped a white apron over my head and spun me around to tie it. He then did the same for himself.

“Pretty sexy look for you,” I commented. Neither the white apron nor the hair net could do anything to reduce his masculinity. If anything, he looked more approachable.

“Had a lunch lady crush, did you?” Noah asked with disbelief.