All Chapters of Something Like Elena : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Why do we keep repeating the same mistakes, even when we know how they end, how they always end? My heart doesn’t have a brain. So it doesn’t know that skipping at the sight of Noah early in the morning, casual in jeans and a hoodie, hair pushed back just right, is wrong. So very wrong. But it skips anyway. And my eyes? They linger too long these days. There’s nothing new about him, I see him every day, yet I still stare. I still shiver when his fingers brush mine as he passes the salt or the bowl. “Morning,” Noah says, and my heart keeps jumping. People say I have a blank face. I’ve heard it my whole life. But I blush too easily. And I know I’m blushing now. I look away. Noah glances over, grabs a slice of French toast from the table, takes a bite. “What’s wrong?” “What?” I blink, forcing the blush dow

I run into Peter at the supermarket, and my mind is blown. Janet hadn’t been lying when she said he’d grown taller, but she left out the extra fifty pounds of muscle. Peter is fit. His blonde hair is cut short in that fashionable, city-boy way, and his T-shirt hugs his body in such a delightfully obscene way that I have to fight the urge to stare. When he sees me, I brace myself for the usual lines: “You look just like Elena! You must be her twin!” Or the more jarring one: “You gave me a heart attack, I thought Elena came back to life.” That one’s rare, but it still happens. Two years isn’t that long, and Elena warmed this town’s heart in a way I never could. I’ve made my peace with it. But Peter doesn’t flinch. He smiles, strides over with purpose, and says, “Gorgeous as ever, Ray.” I smile, slow, like I’m just realizing it’s my cue. I stare at him. “You remember me?” “Babes, come on,” he says with a fake frown. “How could I ever forget? The girl who had my heart in a chokeh

She snorts. “Yeah, no. I’m totally stuffed. Peter bought me so much food I had to get it to go. And since someone doesn’t want it, I’ll just stick it in the fridge.”I make a noncommittal sound, a low hum of agreement, and watch her move. The fridge door swings open. I shouldn’t say it. I know I shouldn’t, but it’s burning a hole on my tongue. “You must’ve had a lot of fun,” I say. Light. Casual. Harmless curiosity.She hums as she sits, nonchalant. Will shuffles over and climbs onto her lap like it’s the most natural thing in the world. She settles him there, her eyes on me as I move around the kitchen. “It was fine.”My hands tighten around the handle of the saucepan. “Any plans for another date?”God, why am I even asking. I told myself I wouldn’t go there. This, this, is none of my business. Ray can date whoever she wants.She lifts an eyebrow, mouth curling. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”That look, teasing, testing. The one that always comes out when she wants attention. Or mayb

Noah’s been acting strange.It’s the weekend, and Will’s been asking me about the picnic Noah half-jokingly promised earlier in the week, when we’re going, if it’s still happening. He looked so genuinely excited, bouncing around the kitchen with that spark in his eyes, that I actually started thinking, why not? Nobody really goes on picnics anymore, but maybe that’s exactly why we should.I searched for a spot, something close by, something pretty. And I found it, a lush stretch of green just outside the city, with wide open fields and a small glistening lake tucked into one side. Even I felt a little giddy looking at the pictures. It seemed… perfect.Now Will and I are stretched out on our stomachs across the living room rug, scrolling through the images together on my tablet. The late morning sun pours in through the windows, warming the floor beneath us.“I’m gonna run all over this!” Will says, tapping at the tablet screen with a sticky finger, pointing to the open grasslands in t

Neither of us can meet the other’s eyes for a whole week.Noah keeps to his side of the house, I keep to mine. And I try not to think about it. Not the moment, not the look, not the impossible weight of what almost happened. It was crazy, stupid, really, to even let the thought linger. No matter how starved I am for him, no matter how much of those old feelings still burn under my skin, I can’t cross that line. I shouldn’t even think about it.Elena may be gone, but she’s still his wife. And Noah? He still loves her.No one would understand. No one would be okay with it. Not my family. Not his. Not the world. Who would look at me and think, Yes, good job taking care of your sister’s husband and her kid, and oh, while you’re at it, go ahead and fall in love with him too?What would that make me?His girlfriend?The thought makes me laugh. It’s ridiculous. The kind of absurd that curls my toes in secondhand embarrassment. Me. Noah. It’s not going to happen. Not even if he isn’t just see