Soulmates by Holly Bourne Read Free Book Online Page B

his pupils blazing into mine. “I liked it.”
    All I could do was stare back. He still had his hand on me. It felt like a thousand watts were sprinting through my body, like when you touched that static machine in primary school science lessons. I felt a little sick again.
    He spoke again. “Will you come out for a drink with me tonight?”
    My brain was foggy. All I wanted to do was say yes. But something stopped me – the deal I’d made with myself yesterday, up on the common, when Noah wasn’t there to distract me.
    I analysed what he’d said. He
liked
that I was rude to him. Scepticism began to replace the adrenalin. I’d become a challenge. I hadn’t fawned on him like he was used to and that intrigued him. My self-preservation superpowers kicked in. Once Noah had won me over, he would lose interest and piss off. It was textbook stuff. Well, if your textbook was
Cosmo
magazine.
    Ignoring every physical impulse in my body that wanted him, I opened my mouth to speak.
    “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” And for a moment, that actually felt like the truth – because suddenly an instinctive part of me was telling me to leave. Get away. Now.
    Noah looked shocked. More than shocked. His eyebrows stretched up across his forehead in disbelief. This was probably the first time he’d ever been refused.
    “Not a good idea?” He tried to smile, laughing it off. “Why not? I’m not going to drug you or anything. I just want to take you out for a drink.”
    I forced myself to look directly into his eyes, ignoring the feelings it stirred. “I’ve got class in a minute.”
    His face wavered with anger but he controlled it and pushed out another forced smile. He removed his hand, and shook it, like the movement would dislodge his embarrassment at even touching me in the first place. My skin still tingled from where it had been.
    “Yeah, of course, sorry,” he murmured. “I should let you go.”
    I stepped past him towards college. A few groups of students were milling around, wasting time before the bell went. I made about three metres’ progress before he called after me.
    “Oh, Poppy?”
    I hated myself for smiling when I heard him call my name. I quickly arranged my mouth into a more neutral expression before I spun round.
    “What is it, Noah?” I tried to sound nonchalant.
    He jogged over. “Hey,” he said, running his hands through his hair. “Maybe I was too…forward. Sorry about that, I’m not used to being turned down.”
    I scowled and he noticed.
    “Okay. That sounded really big-headed, didn’t it?”
    I giggled. “Just a bit. Okay, a lot. Just because you’re in a band doesn’t make you an irresistible Adonis, you know.” I thought of Ruth, and smiled, wrinkling my nose. “Well, not to everyone.”
    I was bluffing, of course. He
was
an irresistible Adonis. Anyone with a pair of working eyeballs could see that. But the bluff appeared to be believable. Noah didn’t look happy.
    “Yeah well, I realize that now.”
    I paused, waiting for his next move. The bell had just gone and all the other students had disappeared, but it didn’t seem important.
    “Well, if the thought of going on a date with me is so repugnant, how about a drink with friends then?” He attempted another grin.
    I shifted my bag from one shoulder to another. “I don’t understand.”
    “After college,” he said. “I’m meeting the band in the Lock and Key for a few drinks. You could come along? Bring a few of your mates as well?”
    I thought about it. The girls would kill me if I said no. Yet I was nervous. Seeing more of Noah wasn’t exactly going to help me exorcize this crush.
    “I don’t understand
why
,” I asked.
    “God – to be friendly?” he snapped. Then he shook his head. “Sorry, this is going all wrong. I shouldn’t have just sprung out on you like this. It seemed like a much cooler idea in my head. I just feel bad about what happened and I want to make it up to you and get to know