What Her Dad Doesn't Know(3)

“Noelle?”

It’s my rescuer. I look up and I’m so surprised my jaw drops. What the hell is he doing here?!

“A-Andrew?”

I can feel the burn beneath my cheeks and my voice rises to a squeak by the end of his name. God I sound stupid. Of course it’s Andrew. I couldn’t mistake that face if I tried. It’s been burned into my brain from years of hormonal teenage desire. He’s changed his hair, letting it grow out since the last time I saw him. There’s a few more creases on his brow, and he’s in a suit, but it’s definitely my dad’s best friend. I remember the broad shoulders, his body sculpted and lean from being outdoors. The smile’s the same too, dashing and playful, as if the two of us are sharing a secret. He’s always been like that, friendly and charming, ever since I can remember. When my friends were arguing over whether they should be on Team Edward or Team Jacob, I was busy daydreaming about Team Andrew.

Not that I ever really said much to him. He’s my dad’s friend, which meant he is definitely too old for me. I tried to stay out of the way because I could never maintain eye contact or string two sentences together around him. It was just a silly high school crush, and when he started up his own company and became too busy to hang around my family anymore, I thought I got over him. But clearly, judging from my reaction, this isn’t the case. I still want him with every part of me. But this was not how my fantasy usually goes. I look like an idiot and I want to just melt through the floor. His eyes flicker over my outfit before coming back to my face. I self-consciously cross my arms over my vest, but it just shoves my boobs higher, so I put them down again.

“What are you doing here?” I blurt out in a rush. I wish I didn’t sound so high pitched. It makes me sound young, and the last thing I want is for him to think I’m still a girl. It’s just so unexpected. Andrew just doesn’t seem to me like the kind of guy who visits these kinds of establishments. In fact, I’m a little upset that he does.

“My friend is trying to convince me to invest in the concept. I didn’t expect to see you here though.”

Crap! I forgot that I wasn’t supposed to be here. My brain skitters, trying to think up some kind of explanation. But I suck at thinking on my feet. Everything just blanks.

“Please don’t tell my dad,” I say instead. “He’d have a heart attack.”

Andrew and my dad have a weekly golfing session. They’ve never ever skipped it. The two of them go way back. They were both foster kids in a terrible neighborhood, and Andrew kept the other kids from beating up my dad. After high school they joined the army together. They didn’t expect to end up in Afghanistan, but they did. My dad still never talks about it, but Andrew always said that my dad saved his life there. To say that they are best friends is to downplay the bond between the two of them.

“I’m not going to say anything,” he says at last. “But it sure is good to see you Noelle. You’ve... grown up a lot.”

“Thanks,” I say, playing it cool. Did he notice that I’d finally developed some curves? Or did he just mean I wasn’t wearing braces anymore? “Congratulations on going public with your company by the way.”

“You’ve heard?” he sounds surprised but pleased.

“Dad mentioned it.”

Of course, it wasn’t just that. I’ve been following Andrew and his company for years now. It’s like a little hobby for me. When I’ve got a spare moment at the bus stop, or sometimes between classes I’ll just look him up and see if there’s any news. It took me almost 3 hours to decide to friend him on Facebook back in high school. I agonized over the seconds, wondering what he thought of me until he had accepted a few hours later. And then it was like I’d gotten the keys to the kingdom. I binged on his photos, his wall, his posts, learning all I could about the man I’d been mildly (okay maybe not so mildly) obsessed with since I could remember.

There was that one time when he’d put up a picture of him with some other woman. I couldn’t figure out if that meant they were dating, and I scoured her profile too. I even dyed my hair red like hers. I was a kid with a crush, and I had it bad. Even now the memory makes me cringe. I hope I hadn’t been too obvious.

Who was I kidding? Of course he had to know. When has a teenage girl ever been subtle about their crushes?

“I’m thinking up some new projects. I might head into venture capitalism instead. Building up a company is much more exciting than running one.”

“Oh, of course,” I say, nodding along like I actually know all about how to build a company from scratch. “Totally more exciting.”