The College Boy | Noah Centineo Imagine
Summary: He was the boy everyone envisioned falling in love with the moment they laid eyes on him. He had the sparkling brown eyes, the hair with the perfect amount of crazy curls, and the smile that could save millions. And I was stupid enough to fall for him too.
It’s suppose to apparently come out of nowhere, and hit you hard without any warning. At least, that’s what everyone around me tells me. I’ve witnessed countless couples on this college campus fall in love, but you’d never expect them to be together. Like the bad boy that smokes and wears leather stands outside his 4.0 GPA girlfriend’s upper division math class just to ask how it was working with equations longer than their relationship. Or the shy science guy showing his sorority girlfriend how to work with chemicals in order to create a reaction, which causes one in her and she kisses him in infatuation. But when it comes to me, love just didn’t seem to exist. I was quiet, didn’t socialize a ton, and spent most of my time with my nose stuck in the books. Guys seemed to look past me, or only talk to me when they needed help with their biology. They were nice, but I knew they only needed me for my brain, never any other part of me.
“Y/N! Are you listening to me?” My best friend Nichole calls across the coffee table. I shake out of my daze, holding my warm beverage, and apologize for spacing out. “What’s got you so working up anyway?” She turns around in her chair to scope out the parts of the coffee shop she couldn’t see, and once her eyes land on him, she knows why I can’t seem to pay attention to anything else.
She spots the college boy that’s there every day, from 5pm to 8pm, with his typical drink of black coffee and a croissant, aside his bright laptop, a few textbooks and a notebook. His eyes fixated on the screen and page he’s writing on for whatever class he had that day. The way his hair just slightly fell over his eyes, he’d have to push it away sometimes but other times he kept it there because his studies seemed more important than whether he could see fully or not. His long fingers grip the pen he’s holding so hard that his veins pop out a little on top of his hands, and I could only imagine how big those veins could swell if he were to do something else.
“Oh, now I get it.” She winked at me. “Mr.Noah, at his typical spot doing his typical work. Isn’t that boy also on the football team?”
“And the debate team, and occasionally theatre club.” I said quickly, my eyes still looming over his dimly lit face.
But as if on cue, the bane of my existence, walks in. His girlfriend.
She walks over and plops her bag on the chair beside him, giving him a light kiss on his cheek to which he responds with a slight smile, looking back down at his paper. My eyes avert from where they were looking before and begin to look intensely at my coffee cup. Nichole does a quick turn around to see her, and gives me a sympathetic smile.
“You’re so much better for him, she’s just a passing phase.”
“Nichole, they’ve been together for 4 years now, no breaks, no nothing. If I was the better choice, they wouldn’t be a couple.”
“Not to bring you down sis but even if Noah was single, you wouldn’t even make a move. So you’d be stuck in the same position you are now, staring at him from afar like one of those romance novels you love so much.” It was a love/hate thing with Nichole’s blatant honesty, it was appreciated, but I hated it because she was always right.
I’ve been secretly in love with Noah for the past 4 years. We went to high school together, and everyday I’d study out near the football field just to watch the teams practices, but it didn’t help that his girlfriend Victoria was also a cheerleader, giving her allstar boyfriend kisses and cheering for him. We had a few classes together like biology and english, and occasionally he’d ask me a question to make sure he was on the right track, and all I would give is a simple nod then focus back on the lesson. It didn’t help my case when I found out the only reason he went to my college was because of a football scholarship, and that he’s my next door neighbor in the dorms, seeing as the buildings are co-ed. I could tell sometimes when we’d get home at the same time that he’d be waiting for a ‘hello’ or ‘how was your day’, but I quickly unlocked my apartment door and shut it, sighing with my back shoved up against it. Noah wasn’t meant to be with someone like me, so I never pursued anything.
I only wrote a single letter, addressed to Noah himself. His name beautifully written in cursive with little heart designs surrounding it, in a crisp envelope neatly tucked away in my english binder. Even Nichole didn’t know about it. I wrote it one night when I got home and saw Victoria leaving Noah’s apartment in one of his hoodies, giving him a long sweet kiss before she road the elevator to her own dorm. Noah and I made eye contact for a good 5 seconds before I practically ran into my apartment almost vomiting in the kitchen sink. You ever feel something so strongly that it doesn’t just stay emotional but becomes physical too? That the feeling of love is so strong inside of you that you don’t even know how to deal with it? Well my feelings for Noah make me sick.
Eventually I saw Victoria cuddling up to Noah as he was packing up his stuff, and those sick feelings started building up in my stomach and a sinking feeling caved in my chest.
“I need to go home now, please.” And soon Nichole and I were sprinting back to our apartment.
“Hey, Bryan just texted me right now, I’m going to head up to his dorm for a few, maybe even overnight. Don’t save any dinner for me.” She stayed in the elevator while I got off at our floor, walking back slowly to our room. It was just Nichole and I, which was nice because she was like my sister. We typically got annoyed with each other as two people would who spend so much time together, but we got over it quickly, and made up always. And because her boyfriend lived in the same building as us, she sometimes wasn’t home at night which left me to a quiet apartment where I could make the dinner I wanted and watch the movie I loved the most, before taking a relaxing long shower and finally falling asleep to peace.
I had just gotten to our apartment when I heard footsteps approaching down the hall. My head whips as I see the man of my dreams strutting down as if it was a runway. I quickly fumble with my eyes as I catch on to his gaze, and now he’s not only walking to his dorm door, but to mine. I look down and try to find the key that corresponds to our lock, and before I could even jam it in right, I feel his body heat radiating onto my exposed arms.
“Hi.” He simply says, with a smile on his lips.
“Hi.” I say back friendly, but continue to look for the right key.
“I was just going to ask you if you have the notes from English today? I’ve been distracted with football practices that I haven’t been paying much attention in class.” I gave up and slumped my shoulders, looking up at him while clutching my binder and give him a simple nod. “Do you mind if I borrow them? I promise I’ll give them back, maybe even later on tonight if you’re still up! And I’ll buy you a coffee tomorrow morning before your 8 am, your usual, 3 shots of espresso with soy milk and cinnamon on top right?” My eyes scrunched together, and I looked around to see if anyone was playing a joke on me right now. The, Noah, remembers my coffee order? “I hear you order it all the time, and I’ve seen the writing on the outside of the cup before, trust me I’m not some creep.” I put my hand up singling him to stop before he says anything else stupid.
“I’ll let you borrow my notes, no coffee, no charge. Just bring them back tonight, I’ll be up.” I opened my binder messily, and grabbing the notes from the front pocket, about 3 papers in total. I handed them to Noah and proceeded to open my apartment door, and before I could even close the door, he uses his sport strength to keep it open that much longer.
“I wish you wouldn’t always ice me out Y/N. You’ve been doing it since high school.” I sigh, setting my stuff down on our dining table and putting a hand on my hip before turning back to Noah.
“I’m not icing you out, I’m just not as social or talkative as you.”
“I would really like it if you went to the football tomorrow night, be social for a night. I remember seeing your face at our practices and games last year, and to be honest it made me work harder every time.” I almost choked on my damn saliva while also feeling like I had dry mouth, the things this damn boy does to me. My eyes went big and I instantly bit the inside of my lip almost drawing blood.
“Uh, w-what time is it?” Was all I could say back.
“We warm up at 6, going out and play at 7. First game of the season, and I’m leading it.”
“But I mean won’t Victoria be there? Cheering you on on the field?”
“So that means you don’t need me there.” He gave a slight chuckle, before looking up at me with those smizing eyes.
“Like I said, I play better when I know you’re watching.” The room fell silent, and I quickly went up to the door putting my hand on the knob.
“I’ll go if you leave, just slip the notes underneath the door when you’re done.” And slammed the door before he could intervene once again. I fell back onto it with a huge sigh and my heart beating a hundred miles a minute. My hands felt clammy and my head started to spin. He wanted me there. He had noticed me in high school. Where was all of this before? Why is he all of a sudden spilling these details out as if they mean anything now?
Before I could pass out from the thoughts, I stood up and straightened my stance, getting ready to make my dinner and start my nightly routine.
