Welcome back to Different Winters, my Differences in a Family Tree Legacy! Not too much to say this time around, so I’ll get right to story telling! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy it!!
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Do you know why they call it a crush? I mean, of all the words that could have been used to describe the feeling of liking someone so much that you want to be with them as much as possible- they chose crush? Do you KNOW what crush means? Basically, it means to squeeze to smithereens, to destroy. So why in the world would they choose such a violent word to describe warm fuzzy feelings in your heart?
BECAUSE CRUSHING ON SOMEONE IS PAIN!!!! I never even realized before! You don’t think of a crush as causing severe emotional and physical pain that makes your heart feel like it’s being squeezed to death, your stomach feel like it’s twisting within you, and your head feel like it’s pounding- no! You think of happiness and butterflies and swooning and giggles! Turns out, the first description is 100% spot on, while the second is a blatant LIE.
As I plucked apples off of one of my many plants that were ready for harvest, I couldn’t get over just how sick I felt. I’d think of Noah (yes Noah, ugh) and his beautiful eyes and that stupid smile and how warm he made me feel inside and then my stomach would lurch and my heart would twist around, squeezing my veins and arteries and I wouldn’t be able to keep myself from thinking WHAT THE FU-
Okay, okay, I needed to calm down, but no matter what I did, Noah was never far from my thoughts. I’d garden, but I’d find myself wishing Noah were helping me out; I’d fish, but I’d think of how much Noah liked to; I’d eat, and then wonder what his favorite dish was; I’d- well, yeah, I guess you get the picture. You’re also probably confused. I thought this guy annoyed you? I thought he was the bane of your existence?
HE IS! And he still is! But I can’t deny the way he makes me feel. I can’t deny that it takes everything in me not to touch him whenever we’re together. Oh right, I forgot to tell you about that. Lately, Noah and I have been hanging out more often. It started when I ran into him at the lake one day, and then we agreed to meet up for lunch another day, then a tour the next, then off to the beach to fish once again….it’s been wonderful. For the first time since moving to Neverglade, I wasn’t alone. I had a friend, finally. A wonderful friend.
And now my heart had to go and mess it up! Nothing good ever came from crushing on your friend!!! But…the thing was, that wasn’t entirely true, right? Sometimes, it worked out. And sometimes, honestly, I would want to admit to Noah how I felt, just to see if he felt the same or not so we could either get together, or I could move on, but I was so afraid of losing him. His companionship was the only I had here. And I really did like him. So here I was now, caught wondering, should I, or should I not? It was enough to drive anyone insane.
On the bright side, my garden continued to thrive and I began to get more money for my crops. It took a while, but I finally saved enough to expand my house so it didn’t feel so claustrophobic. Don’t get me wrong, I did like my old house, after all, it was the first that I had ever owned, but I really needed more space.
The end result was lovely little home that I adored to pieces. What made it even better though was the fact that it had been made possible with MY money and MY hard work. It was a pretty incredible feeling.
The only downside was that now, I couldn’t help but feel like my house was too big for just me. I wanted someone to share it with. Of course, my first thought was of Noah, which once again made my heart lurch and my stomach twist. I already missed him so much and I had just seen him yesterday when we met up for another picnic. Ugh, this was getting insane. I needed to get out of here and get this off my mind!
So I went to the town center to see what was going on and explore some. Anything to get my mind off of Noah. I stared up at the massive fountain they had in front of city hall, just admiring it. I began to wonder how they got this fountain in here or whether they had just built it right here when I heard a familiar voice. My heart leapt in my chest happily and I immediately turned in the direction of the voice. I was about to yell “Hi!” to get his attention when I quickly noticed that someone else already had it.
I didn’t think too much of it at first. I was just nervous now about approaching because I didn’t want to bother him if he was hanging out with a friend. The young woman Noah was with kept giggling and smiling at him, but I couldn’t quite see the look on Noah’s face. I hoped that he was as annoyed by her as I was. In fact, I had the sudden desire to go up there and punch her in the face, but all I found myself doing was staying frozen in place, watching this scene unfold. Please don’t find her interesting, please don’t find her interesting…I kept thinking to myself. Of course, that was going to be hard, seeing as how she was gorgeous. Damn it!
Finally, after standing there like a creeper for what felt like ages, I mustered up enough courage to walk up to them, but I hadn’t even gone three steps when I noticed her touch him. And…and hug him.
I let out a cry without meaning to and nearly jumped out of my skin when I noticed Noah look over in my direction. Panicking, I immediately turned around and began walking away as fast as I could without seeming too obvious. Pretend nothing happened, pretend nothing happened, PRETEND NOTHING HAPPENED.
“Aubrey!” I heard Noah call, followed by hurried footsteps behind me.
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay? I have to head back! Kind of in a hurry!” I said quickly, not slowing down by any means. Hot tears were beginning to spill down my face. I needed to make sure that he never, ever saw them. Please just leave me alone.
“Aubrey, please stop! Can we talk for just a minute?” he asked, desperation in his tone. I ignored him and continued onward, but soon I felt a warm hand on my shoulder, holding me back and gently turning me. “Aubrey…please,” he whispered.
“Please let me go, Noah,” I said as stoically as possible, looking away from him at all costs.
“No, I refuse. Not until I clear this up. Aubrey, it wasn’t what-”
“I thought it was?” I cut in bitterly, finally meeting his gaze angrily. “Oh come on, could you be any more cliché? That’s such a likely thing to say! Well, you know what? I don’t want to hear any of your bullshit, Noah. Just leave me alone!”
Noah looked at me in alarm. For a moment, he looked incredibly devastated, but that look went away so fast I began to think I had imagined it. Now he just looked furious. “No, I will not leave you alone, Aubrey! It WASN’T what it looked like and I would have thought that you trusted me enough to know that I wouldn’t lie to you. Aubrey, I-”
“Stop saying my name!!! I never want to hear your stupid voice say my name ever again!” I shrieked. “Get away from me!”
“I can’t believe it! You’re so childish!” Noah yelled back, looking pissed.
“SO WHAT IF I AM?” I screamed. “I may be childish, but at least my mom doesn’t spit in people’s faces!”
“What?” Noah asked, genuine confusion on his face.
“Or get sheared for harvest.”
“Are you implying that my mother is a llama?”
“Damn right I am!”
“You have got to be kidding me! Are you sure you aren’t insane!?”
“Yes I’m sure! Jeez! You just tick me off so much!”
“Why?” Noah asked flatly, seeming to deflate before my eyes. He looked at me closely, a sullen, but questioning look on his face.
“You just- you just do!” I spluttered, feeling highly self-conscious of his gaze. “You think you’re so awesome, but you’re not!”
“I’m not?”
“No! You just- you just-,” I couldn’t take it anymore. Tears welled up in my eyes and I had to grit my teeth to keep from sobbing. In fact, I was gritting them so hard I was afraid they’d break. “You…you didn’t tell me you had a girlfriend.”
“I didn’t because that’s just it. I HAD a girlfriend. A long time ago actually. What you just saw was me saying bye to her. She’s moving to Bridgeport and wanted to say goodbye before she left, jeez. What does it matter to you anyway?”
“It doesn’t,” I sniffed, wiping my eyes hastily. “I was just…trying to change the subject.”
“Off of my mother being a llama?”
My face fell as I felt an overwhelming amount of guilt hit me all I once, but I quickly pushed it away and maintained my composure. “Yes,” I said simply.
“And that was the only reason?” Noah asked, stepping slightly toward me.
My heart started beating wildly and my palms suddenly felt clammy. Oh god, oh god, oh god. “Y-y-yes,” I said, my eyes welling up with tears again. Don’t! Don’t lose it, damn it!
“Aubrey….” he said softly, meeting my eyes.
My lower lip trembled and my vision got blurry from all the tears forming. No, no, no, no. Oh god and he was getting closer! He was so close that I could see the tiny yellow flecks in his eyes and I could feel his breath soft against my cheek. I closed my eyes as a single tear finally escaped from its confines and I felt Noah’ lips graze my cheek.
I felt a sudden rush of cold air as he pulled away for a moment and I was about to open my eyes when suddenly I felt his lips upon mine, fast but firmly. My head swam and my legs turned to jelly and my heart flopped over and I thought I was going to just die these feelings were so intense- and then just as suddenly he pulled away, leaving me frozen.
“…Aubrey?” he inquired, sounding worried.
I slowly opened my eyes and realized my limbs were frozen at a weird angle and my face had gone all weirdly slack. Great, I bet I looked positively stunning. Not. I was about to yell at him again, but I just couldn’t. That had felt so…perfect and he looked so nervous right now that all I wanted to do was hug him and never let go…
“I love you,” I said in a rush, the words tumbling from my lips before I could even think them.
Noah looked surprised for a moment and then smiled big. “I love you too, Aubrey. I really do.”
I grinned and then jumped on him, pulling him into a hard kiss. Warmth flooded through my veins and my heart pounded and my head swam as we continued to kiss each other, hard and desperately. I had wanted to do this for so long, had imagined this moment so many times. Never would I have guessed it would be so incredible though.
Noah pulled away slightly after a moment and chuckled softly. “I almost forgot we were still out in public,” he whispered, amusement in his voice.
My cheeks turned crimson and I quickly glanced away. A guy nearby gave us a thumbs up as he walked by. Oh godddddddd, how embarrassing! “Sorry,” I said quickly, stepping away some. “I, I forgot too,” I admitted, feeling stupid.
“Don’t be sorry,” Noah said seriously, catching my lips in one more kiss.
“Now I just have a quick question,” Noah said once we had pulled away. He took a breath and then looked up at me, taking my hand gently in his.“Would you do me the honor of being my girlfriend?” he asked quickly, meeting my eyes.
“I would love to,” I said with a grin. Noah returned my grin and kissed me passionately.
“Now could I ask you one more question?” he asked, this time pausing to allow me to answer.
“Yes, of course,” I responded, looking at him questioningly.
“You’re going to think I’m absolutely crazy. And I probably am. But never have I been so sure of something as this. I knew it from the first time I saw you that you were something special. When I watched you step out of that grocery store…when I saw your eyes light up like that, when I heard you sing…I fell so hard for you. And I knew I needed to get to know you. And then I did and you were more amazing than I ever could have imagined and I fell in love with you, fast. Even when you were yelling at me, I knew. I knew that I was meant to make this work…that this was it and that it would be worth it.”
“What are you getting at, Noah?” I asked, my head feeling light and my heart pounding so hard I was pretty sure he could hear it.
Noah smiled and grabbed my hand tightly. His was shaking. I wondered what had him so incredibly nervous, but then he began to get down on one knee, and he took a small box out of his pocket, and I knew. I knew so fast I felt like I had been whacked in the head with a sack of potatoes.
“Aubrey Winters, I love you more than words could ever accurately describe. Will you marry me?”
“Are you insane?” I cried, looking from his face, to the gorgeous, sparkling ring before me, to his face again.
“Insanely in love?” he responded with a nervous grin.
“Well I guess…I guess I must be too,” I said with a tearful laugh. “Because I would like nothing more than to be your wife, Noah. Yes.”
Yes. My answer reverberated within my very soul as our lips claimed each others’ once more. Of all the yeses that I had ever said before, this was the one I meant the most. I loved Noah with all of my heart…and the best part was, he loved me too.
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AN: Liked it? Loved it? Hated it? Let me know! Thanks so much as always for reading! I’m not entirely sure when the next chapter will be up, but I’ll aim for within the week, like usual. In the meantime, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! =D Until next time! Bye! ^_^
Different Winters 