Invisible To Her Bully (Jessa and Noah) novel Chapter 142

If my heart beat any harder, Benny’s vinyl booth was going to crack. I told myself to breathe, to act normal, to be chill – but apparently my body heard that request and decided to reject it violently, because I could not calm down to save my life.

Noah Carter asked me out.

And I was sitting here, across from him, eating fries and staring at the boy who used to roll his eyes at me and call me “Lombardi, seriously?” like I was a pop quiz he didn’t study for.

Except tonight, he wasn’t that boy.

Tonight, he was… different. Softer. More real somehow. His voice was lower when he talked just to me. He leaned forward like what I said mattered. He kept smiling like this was exactly where he wanted to be.

Which made no sense.

I dipped a fry in ketchup to keep my hands from fidgeting. “You really remembered I like strawberry milkshakes?”

He stirred his with his straw, eyes flicking up to mine. “Of course I remembered.”

My chest did a weird squeeze. I tried to breathe normally. Failed. “Well. Good memory.”

“Selective memory,” he said. “I remember what matters.‘

Okay, wow. Was I supposed to survive that line? Nobody warned me romance could give cardiac events.

I tried to sip my milkshake casually but nearly inhaled it. And he just laughed under his breath like he could hear every ridiculous thought in my head.

“So… are you nervous?” he asked.

“No.”

A beat.

“Yes,” I admitted instantly, face on fire. “So nervous I could walk into traffic.”

He choked mid–drink, laughing. “Please don’t. I’m trying to impress you here, not scrape you off the pavement.”

God. He was cute. Like, unfairly cute. Universe–cheating cute.

Eventually, he launched into a story about shaving a racing stripe into his hair in sixth grade because he thought it made him look “fast,” and I snorted so loud I startled myself. Did I want to crawl under the table and never re- surface? Yes. Did he blink or tease? Nope – he laughed harder, holding his stomach like it killed him.

If this was a prank, it was the most emotionally dangerous one in history.

1/5

Chapter 142

+25 BONUS

But every time his knee brushed mine, he didn’t pull away. He nudged i something in me wanted to believe him so badly it hurt.

– but deliberate. And

When we finished eating, we walked outside, and the air was cool and soft like it was trying to help me inhale again. Noah opened my door for me which nearly short–circuited my brain – and drove us to the overlook. I didn’t even ask where we were going. Something about the calm in his face told me I didn’t have to.

He parked, killed the engine, and climbed onto the hood like he’d done it a thousand times. I joined him, hugging my arms around myself at first instinct until the breeze settled and I let them drop.

–

The river below shimmered gold. Trees rustled. The world went quiet.

“This is nice,” I said softly.

“Yeah,” he murmured. “Feels like the noise shuts off up here.”

“Feels like breathing,” I whispered. “Like my brain stops screaming at me for five minutes.”

He didn’t laugh. Didn’t give that pity nod people do when they don’t get it. He just looked at me, steady and

warm.

“I like your brain when it’s loud,” he said quietly. “It means you feel things deeply.”

No one had ever made that sound like a good thing. Ever.

My throat tightened. I stared at the water, afraid if I looked at him too long I’d melt into the hood and never be found again.

“Can I ask you something?” I finally whispered.

“Anything.”

I picked at a thread on my jeans. “Why me? Why now?”

There it was the stupid, fragile fear I couldn’t swallow.

He didn’t look offended. Or confused. Just honest.

“Because I finally stopped lying to myself,” he said.

He leaned closer, searching my face like I held answers to something in

“Yes,” I breathed before he finished.

* +25 BONUS

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