It had been two weeks since I ditched the training wheels. Noah and I couldn’t wait to get home each day, finish our homework, and take to the road. I was allowed to go as far as the Porter’s house, which was three houses away from mine. Noah was allowed to ride all around our neighborhood.
He had been riding his Schwinn red and black BMX for over a year now and he was awesome on it. Not only could he do forward and backward wheelies, he could do the Bunny Hop, the one hander, and jump a couple of trashcans. Noah was so cool. I wasn’t cool. This was clearly shown by the fact that I was 8 years old and had only been riding my bike sans training wheels for two weeks.
I had been satisfied with riding to the Porter’s house, but after two weeks, the temptation to go further was eating me alive. I begged Mom daily for permission to ride around the block to Noah’s house. She kept telling me no because I had only been riding without training wheels for a short time. She wasn’t comfortable with me going farther away just yet.
I knew Noah was getting tired of riding up and down the same small portion of street I was confined to. He didn’t complain, but he and I never needed words to pass between us to know what the other was thinking or feeling.
“Tweet, don’t worry about it. Really. I can still practice my tricks. Your mom will let you ride to my house soon. You’re riding really good now.”
Soon, but not soon enough to suit me. I had an itch that needed to be scratched.
I rode up beside him keeping my voice low. “Let’s do it.”
“Do what?” He asked confused.
“Let’s take these babies for a spin around the block to your house.”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea. Your mom will be mad and we’ll get in trouble.”
“She’ll never know. We’ll only go one time and then, come right back. Pleeease, Noah. You said I was riding really good.”
He looked away then back at me and said, “We’ll ride to my house then back, but that’s it.” I nodded excitedly, agreeing with anything that came out of his mouth. “One time. I mean it, Tweet. Promise me.”
“I promise,” I said, crossing my heart at the same time.
We made sure my mom wasn’t peering out of any windows. Then we started to ride. It felt the same way it had for the past two weeks, until we went past the Porter’s house. The excitement started to build. I was really doing this.
Adrenalin pumped through my veins as my heart pounded against my chest. Noah stayed ahead of me, making sure the road was clear. We rounded the corner. The wind was whipping through my hair. It felt amazing, like I was flying.
Noah rode up alongside me cheering. “You’re doing fantastic. Tweet! We’re almost to my house.”
He rode off, returning to his position in front. It made me so happy to know Noah was proud of me, there was no better feeling in the world. Then it happened.
I don’t know what I did, but all of a sudden the handlebars shook, and I lost control of the bike. In a split second, I was face down on the road. My legs twisted around the bike. Noah must have glanced back and saw that I was no longer behind him.
I heard him yelling, “Tweet!”
He rode over to me as fast as he could, jumped off his bike, and let it fall to the ground. The palm of my hands started to burn, and I could feel the blood dripping down my left leg.
I heard Noah’s panicked voice. “Hold on, Tweet. I’m here. Can you move?”
He pulled the bike slowly away from my knotted legs and tossed it to the side. He knelt beside me and helped me sit up. Tears and sobs started coming out of me. My hands felt like they were on fire. I held them up as Noah blew on them, trying to cool them off. My left cheek was red and covered with dirt and gravel. Taking the bottom of his shirt, he wiped as much of it off as he could. My left knee was the worse casualty. The skin was completely scraped off and hanging to the side. The knee was covered in bright red flesh with blood oozing from it. When I looked at it, I started to cry harder. Noah wrapped his arm around my shoulders, trying to calm me down.
Pulling me into a hug, he whispered, “I’m so sorry, Tweet. I should have stayed with you. I’m going to take care of you. I promise. Can you walk?”
He helped me try to stand. I put my weight on the left knee, pain shot through me like a knife, and my knee gave out.
It was hard getting the words out through my sobs. “I can’t walk. It hurts too much.”
Needing to get out of the street, Noah helped me as I limped to a neighbor’s front yard and sat on the grass.
“Will you be okay here while I go get your mom?”
I shook my head rapidly. “No, no, no, you can’t tell my mom. Please, Noah. She’ll take my bike away and ground me forever.” I held my breath, waiting anxiously while he made his decision.
The next thing I knew, I felt his left arm under my knees, his right arm against my back as he scooped me up off the ground. “Grab around my neck.”
I did as he said. I rested my head on his shoulder as Noah carried me down the street. “I’m not too heavy for you to carry me?” I asked. I was still a lot smaller than Noah, but I had grown a little taller over the past year.
“You’re light as a feather,” he said, smiling at me.
“Where are we going?”
“To my house, we have a first aid kit.”
Noah’s parents were out back doing yard work, so we were able to sneak into his room, unnoticed. He gently sat me down on his bed and left to get the first aid kit.
As I sat waiting for Noah to return a million thoughts ran across my mind about how my mom was going to punish me if she or my dad found out. The sound of the bedroom door opening distracted me from my thoughts of impending doom. Noah closed the door quietly and sat down on the bed in front of me. He stared down at my knee. When he looked up, his eyes appeared watery. He leaned in and draped his arms around my shoulders as mine found their way around his waist.
“Thank you, Noah,” I whispered.
“For what?” He said into my hair.
“For taking care of me.”
Wiping his eyes, he sat back on the bed, and began to gently clean my face with an antiseptic wipe. As the alcohol hit my raw skin, I winced in pain. I saw Noah cringe each time he started to wipe my face.
“I promise, I won’t let anything bad happen to you again, Tweet”
I gave him a small smile. He opened another wipe and cleaned my hands and knee, trying hard not to hurt me.
Once he finished, my face and hands didn’t look bad at all. A lot of the redness and burning had gone away. My knee was the worse injury. Noah gently applied antiseptic ointment and a large Band-Aid. I stayed in his room while he left to put the first aid kit back. It felt like a lot of time had passed before he returned. Finally, the door opened and I breathed a sigh of relief. “Where’ve you been? You were gone for like an hour.”
Shaking his head he smirked at me. “I was gone for like twenty minutes. I had to go get our bikes. Then my mom stopped me in the kitchen when I was getting this for you.” He had a huge piece of chocolate cake with a fork sticking out of it. He handed it to me. “She wanted to know what I was up to.”
“What did you tell her?” I said with a mouth full of cake and frosting.
“That you were here. Then she wanted to know if you were staying for supper. My dad’s grilling hamburgers.”
“I need to call my mom and let her know that I’m over here and ask if I can stay.” I could feel tears sitting behind my eyes. I was scared Mom would know something was wrong the minute she heard my voice.
“You don’t need to call her. Mom said she would check to make sure it was alright if you stayed.”
I let out another deep sigh. This bought me a little more time for my knee to feel better and for the redness to go away from my hands and face.
I noticed Noah staring at me while I ate the cake. I held the fork out to him. “You want some?”
“Nah, you need it more than I do.”
I pushed it closer in his direction. “Have some,” I insisted.
Grabbing the fork, he took a big bite while I held the plate for him. We passed the fork back and forth until the cake was gone.
After setting the plate down, Noah laid back on the bed, lacing his fingers behind his head. “Feeling better?”
“Yes. Much better,” I told him.
“Good. I figured that would help.”
“What?”
“The chocolate cake.”
“Yeah, why’s that?” I asked with curiosity.
Noah smiled. “Cause chocolate cake takes the hurt away and makes everything better.”
Your world can change in an instant when you see someone through another’s eyes.
We were at the final baseball game of the season. Noah was the star player for the city league, the Tigers. It was his last year playing for them. We were starting our freshmen year in high school in a few months. Noah was a great baseball player, so there was no doubt he’d make the high school team.
The extent of my baseball knowledge was practically nonexistent. I had been coming to these games forever. You would’ve thought I’d have retained some information through osmosis at least. It’s supposed to be America’s favorite past time. I’m an American, and it was never my favorite past time. The only reason I came was to support and cheer for my best friend.
Noah started playing T-ball when he was 4 years old and quickly fell in love with all things baseball. Even though, I never understood the game, there wasn’t a better way to spend a Saturday than watching Noah out there on the field. Baseball made him happy and excited. I loved watching him. It was worth sitting through a game I didn’t understand to see how much joy it brought him.
I decided to invite Beth Sanders, a potential new friend of mine, to the game. Her family had moved in next door to us about three weeks ago. She was still in her friendship trial period. I hadn’t even introduced her to Noah yet. So far, she had done pretty well.
She was exotic looking with her deep tan, long jet black hair, and emerald green eyes. She had really sharp facial features, her nose, cheekbones, and jaw were all well-defined, unlike mine. My face was round and my cheeks were chubby, at least I thought so. Beth was taller and thinner than me, with legs that went on for miles. She was fun to hang out with, a little boy crazy, but certainly not on the road to becoming Queen of Whoreville.
“Wow, I’m going to love living here. This place is crawling with hotties,” Beth said, as we carried our food up the bleachers to our seats “Who is that?!”
I turned towards the field. “Who?”
“The batter, Stewart.”
“That’s my Noah.”
“Your Noah? I thought you just had an older sister and your last name was Kelly.”
“Not brother, best friend,” I said.
“Your best friend?” She scrunched up her face confused. “You can’t have a guy as your best friend.”
“Why not?”
“It’s unnatural. Weird,” she said, her lips pursed into a straight line.
It was hard for me to think that there was something unnatural or weird about my friendship with Noah. Everything with us had always felt like the most natural thing in the world.
Beth continued to ramble on. “…and you especially can’t have a guy who looks like that as your best friend.”
“A guy who looks like that? What are you talking about?”
“Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed how scorching hot he is?”
“I never thought about it.”
She huffed. “I don’t believe you,” she paused for a moment. “Are you a lesbian?”
“No!”
“I’m just asking because a lesbian is the only type of female, who wouldn’t think Noah was hot.”
“I don’t know if you and I are going to be friends,” I deadpanned.
She smiled at me. “Oh, come on. Look at him. His body is insane.”
“I think you’re insane.”
“He’s a perfect triangle. Broad shoulders, thin waist, amazing ass.”
“I’m beginning to think you’re an amazing ass.” I was getting more than a little annoyed at the way she was talking about Noah.
“I haven’t even gotten to his arms and legs.” She was almost panting.
I held my hand up, hoping to stop her diarrhea of the mouth. “How do you know him?” She asked, breathlessly.
“We grew up together. There hasn’t been a day in my life that I haven’t been with him. Our families even take vacations together.”
“Where does he live?” Beth was becoming too inquisitive about Noah.
I narrowed my eyes at her, not answering.
“Does he live in our neighborhood?” I remained silent. “Oh! My! God! He lives in our neighborhood. Why haven’t you introduced us? You’ve been holding out on me. You have to introduce us.”
Once she started talking about Noah, her words came out at such a rapid fire speed that I could barely keep up. She was talking so fast and excitedly, I had the urge to punch her in the neck just to slow her down.
“Yeah. I’ll be doing that real soon,” I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.
I didn’t know Beth well enough to make a judgment call, but she appeared to be in need of some sort of medication.
“Come on, Amanda. I need to see if his front is as amazing as his back.”
I looked at her in annoyance, shaking my head.
For the remainder of the game, Beth sat there ogling not only Noah, but every guy she deemed hot, which was the majority of the team. She even thought Coach Sawyer was hot, and he was old. He had to be at least forty.
The game was almost over. It was Noah’s turn at bat. The score was tied. If he scored with this run, the Tigers would be city league champs for the first time.
The crowd grew quiet. The pitcher took a few seconds and then, threw a fast ball straight at Noah. The sound of the bat connecting with the ball was so loud that it sounded like a cannon had just fired. Noah dropped the bat and took off running faster than I’d ever seen him run before. He rounded first, then second, then third. He slid feet first into home plate. When the ump yelled, “SAFE!!” my Noah became a city league legend, leading his Tigers to their first championship. The crowd went crazy, jumping up and cheering.
I stood and looked on the field, watching as Noah’s teammates ran over, picked him up, and placed him on their shoulders. They started to chant, “STE-WART! STE-WART! STE-WART!” as they turned him towards the excited crowd.
Beth gasped. “Oh yeah. His front is definitely as amazing as his back.”
I shot a piercing glance in her direction.
The cheers got louder and the crowd began to chant, “STE-WART!” Noah looked up into the bleachers. His eyes locked with mine. He had the biggest smile across his face, matching mine. He took off his baseball cap and waved it in the air, looking at me the entire time. He was the only one I saw out there on that field, and he looked at me like I was the only one he saw in the bleachers. Warmth coursed through my body as I stared at him. He really was nice to look at.
I was overwhelmed with pride and joy for him. Beth was wrong. There’s nothing unnatural or weird about the connection Noah and I shared.
We descended the bleachers and walked toward the field where Noah was standing. A large crowd had already gathered around him, shaking his hand or slapping his back in congratulations. I stood off to the side with Beth. I wanted to watch him enjoy his moment. After several minutes, the crowd began to thin. Noah looked past a few people and spotted me. He shook a few more hands, but never took his eyes off of me.
When he reached me, his arms immediately wrapped around my waist, and he lifted me off the ground. He spun me around a couple of times, causing me to squeal.
“Can you believe it, Tweet? League champs!” Excitement ricocheted off of him.
I felt a shiver radiate through me when my body slid down his as he placed me back on the ground. I swallowed hard as I steadied myself.
“I know. Congratulations! You did it! I’m so proud of you.”
He took his cap off and placed it on my head. It was soaked with his sweat, but I didn’t care. I beamed up at him for a few seconds before I was startled by the clearing of a throat.
“Oh, Noah, this is Beth. She just moved…” I trailed off.
I wasn’t sure why I didn’t tell him she lived in our neighborhood. I wasn’t trying to keep it a secret. Besides, Beth would tell him where she lived eventually. I just felt very protective of him all of a sudden. I didn’t like the way she looked at him or talked about him. Beth would have to find her own Noah. This one was taken and he was mine.