Chapter Text
Noah gulped and shut his eyes for a second, then reopened them.
“Gwen?”
Cody’s jaw dropped. Gwen? That was Gwen? The girl he had a crush on all those years, who never returned his feelings or even cared. Gwen?
From the looks of it, she had left the goth look in the dust and dyed her hair blonde. She wore a purple tank top and shorts under her apron. Gwen looked stunning- even more beautiful than she had before.
No, I don’t like Gwen. I gave up on her years ago.
But Cody’s unrequited love was never fulfilled- so his feelings remained, just a little.
Oh come on, I don’t care about her anymore.
***
What are the chances? This is really just my luck. Why now, why here, why at all? Noah’s mind raced as he thought of all the terrible things that would come out of this. Of course, he’d have to explain why they were here together with a, “Oh, we’re together,” and then there’d be this disgusted look on her face. After that, she’d fake a “That’s great.”
That’s how they all acted.
“So, why you guys here?” Gwen started, smiling.
Did I call this or what? Noah tensed up.
“It’s ah- a nice place to go out to- I mean, uh, go to.” Cody managed to spew nervously, and not very convincingly. I should have said something, Noah thought.
“So you guys are still friends after all these years, huh?” Gwen poked at their relationship.
Noah quickly dodged the question with a, “Mhm.” and asked Gwen, “How’s Duncan? Are you guys still dating?” (Like he really cared, he just needed some time to think through what he’d say next.)
Gwen looked down at her feet. “We broke up about 3 years ago. He’s going out with that stupid CIT girl again.”
She may have ditched the goth look, but she still had the same attitude. Noah noticed.
“Haven’t you guys been keeping up with the gang? Come to think of it, haven’t seen either of your faces in the news recently.”
“We’d like to keep it that way.” Noah brushed off Gwen’s comment as neatly as he could.
“Ah, well, seems fair enough.” Gwen started, “Either of you want anything? Coffee?”
“Coffee’s fine, thanks.” Noah said with some kind of attitude even he couldn’t describe. Gwen was acting... weird. He had no idea why. The feeling of suspicion creeped up on Noah and grabbed him by surprise.
Gwen glanced over at Cody, who had been sitting in silence for a while. “You want anything, Cody?” She offered.
Cody shook his head no in a childish way. There was always something about Cody that was just so adorable to Noah. He wanted to grab Cody by the shirt, pull him across the table, and kiss him right there in front of Gwen. That’d stick it to her.
Out of all the people Noah had met on TD, Gwen was one of his least favorites. He hated her for the way she treated Cody. Anyone would be lucky to have such a cute guy crushing on them, in his opinion. Noah sometimes felt a little like Sierra when he thought stuff like this. I bet Sierra and I’d be able to carry on a long conversation with each other about both of our favorite subjects... Cody. Noah imagined the thought, then dismissed it. Sierra was too crazy for him to manage. WAY too crazy. Thank god there’d been no sign of her in years.
“Okay.” Gwen said, giving some kind of strange look to Cody that Noah noticed. Cody remained emotionless, like an unresponsive statue across the table. Gwen left to go get Noah’s coffee, which he didn’t really feel like drinking anymore.
“What was that about?” Noah whispered to Cody as soon as soon as Gwen walked away.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “It was kind of weird. Should we tell her about us?”
“No way. The media’d be all over it the minute Gwen spilled the news.”
“But what if she doesn’t tell anyone?” Cody questioned.
“One thing I’ve learned from that terrible show- Don’t trust anyone. They could turn around and stab you in the back at any moment.” Noah explained. Gwen had already done it before to Courtney, what’d be stopping her this time?
“You know that’s just your cynic self talking, right? Like Gwen would ever do that to us! She’s so nice...” Cody trailed off. Noah glared at him harshly.
“You don’t have feelings fo-” Noah began, but was cut off mid-sentence by Gwen, coming back with the coffee, leaving Noah to wonder if his boyfriend still had feelings for the girl he liked all those years.
“Cody, you don’t seem to be talking too much... Anything wrong?” Gwen asked in a kind way, but Noah observed that she seemed to come on a little too strong.
Cody gathered himself and spoke up. “Okay, okay, me and Noah are dating.”
Why in the world would he tell her? Noah now wanted to grab Cody by the shirt, pull him across the table, and slap him. The poor geek felt pressured, I guess. I can’t be too mad at him... he’s still cute.
Gwen examined the both of them and said, “Oh, really, that’s great.” with a tang of fake enthusiasm. She wasn’t even trying. Noah sighed. This had turned out just as he thought.
“Well, I’ll leave you two to it.” Gwen said as she walked away from their table awkwardly.
I know something bad will come out of this. Noah clenched his fists under the table.
“I’m sorry, Noah. I- uh, felt really bad.” Cody gave a nervous half-smile to try to liven the mood. “And, to your question, no. I don’t like Gwen. I like you. In fact, I love you.” They both leaned in a little to kiss, but then drew back because they didn’t want to make a scene.
“It’s okay. Let’s just hope Gwen doesn’t leak it to those depraved stalkers on that show Celebrity Manhunt.” Noah shuddered at the thought of all the people who would hate them both for it.
“Yeah, but I really can’t see her doing that.” Cody argued in a soft way.
“Do you remember what she did to Courtney and Duncan? Like I’d ever trust anyone who did that to someone.” Noah huffed as he folded his arms.
Cody sighed, not wanting to bicker with Noah about the mistake he’d just made. Just then, the sound of heavy rain clicked on the roof of the tiny cafe.
“Oh god, I swear, life hates me.” Noah left a ten dollar bill on the table, barely touching his coffee, and began to leave.
Cody mirrored him nervously. I don’t like Gwen, I don’t like Gwen. Cody told himself over and over as he and Noah strolled in silence through the downpour.