The Prince's Soulmate - S01 E20

5 months ago

The Prince's Soulmate - S01 E20

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 20

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"Take cover!" I yelled, ducking behind the counter.

Noah quickly realized what was happening and managed to dive under the table just in time as the experiment exploded, releasing a fog of hot, white fumes. Again.

"What are we doing wrong?" I groaned, fanning the air around me.

"Maybe we're getting the measurements mixed up," Noah frowned.

"But this was our fourth try," I protested. "Let's do it again."

"Again?" he asked tiredly. "Maybe we should call it a day."

I glanced over at him and couldn't help but smile at the desperation in his eyes. I guess for someone who detested Chemistry, this wasn't exactly a fun day.

"What's going on in here?"

We turned around to see Linda, our lab supervisor fanning away the fumes as she entered the room. I handed her a mask with a sheepish smile.

"Are you two trying to burn the place down? I heard an explosion."

She gave us a demanding look and we explained the situation to her. She frowned as she inspected the chemicals we were using.

"The experiment will never work," she stated.

"What? Why?" I asked. "We did everything we were supposed to. We mixed 25cm3 of hydrochloric acid with-"

She held up her hand to cut me off.

"If only this was hydrochloric acid," she sighed. "The lab tech mixed the labels up. I forgot to tell you."

I frowned. "But then what about the experiment?"

"Leave it until tomorrow," she suggested. "It's pretty late and Mr. Warren here looks drained." she laughed as Noah dramatically collapsed into a chair.

"Yes. Yes, I am," he laughed. "Let's finish this up tomorrow, Queen E."

"Fine," I conceded with a sigh.

It hurt me to walk away from a failed experiment, but Noah did look exhausted and we'd been at it for more than two hours.

Linda walked out with a nod. I shrugged out of my lab coat as Noah gathered his stuff together.

"Woah, woah, whoa," he said coming over to me.

He sat on the lab stool beside me and pulled me closer to him. "You got hurt. You must have hit your hand on the counter just now. I'll get you an ice pack."

I glanced down at my arm. The bruises that Nicole left were still visible. When I had taken off my lab coat, the action caused my sleeve to roll up a little.

"We don't have any ice packs," I reminded him.

"We have ammonium nitrate and water. That's good enough."

"I still don't understand how you know so much about Chem when you hate it that much."

"If I didn't get good grades, then my mom would have killed me," he said as he rummaged around for the ammonium nitrate for the makeshift ice pack. "Which meant hours of stuDYING until I knew my stuff. Looks like it came in handy," he grinned. "I get to save you."

"As much as I would love for you to save me, the bruise is from earlier."

"Earlier," he frowned. "You mean after the first explosion?"

"No, at school."

He froze and his eyes travelled to my arm again. I rolled down my sleeve, but it was useless. He came back over to me and inspected my arm. His lips were drawn into a thin line and his brows furrowed.

"Did you bump into something?"

"No."

"Did someone do this?"

I gently pushed his hands away. "Don't worry about it, Noe."

His eyes darkened and his fingers drummed along the sides of the counter.

"Noe..."

"If someone is bothering you-" he started, but I shook my head.

"It's nothing I can't handle. It was just a misunderstanding."

He stared at me incredulously and I nodded.

"Just a girl being jealous. It's fine."

"It doesn't look fine," he muttered. "What kind of jealousy would make her do this?"

"She thinks I like her boyfriend." I couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous that whole situation had been.

"Her boyfriend? But you don't, right?" His green eyes bore into mine.

"Ashton and I can't stand each other. So trust me, there's nothing going on there."

"Ashton," he murmured. "He's that guy who saved you at the party."

"Yeah."

"Maybe..." he searched for the words. "Maybe he likes you."

"He has a cheerleader girlfriend," I dismissed. "Besides, other than the one good thing he did for me, he's just been doing bad."

"Oh," he said.

He looked conflicted. "I'm very angry with him for being mean to you, but I'm glad there's nothing going on between you. I'll always be here for you."

I beamed at him. "Thanks for looking out, Noe."

He grinned.

"So shall we go, Queen E?" he asked, extending the crook of his arm to me.

"Why yes, kind sir," I played along, taking his arm.

We got into his car and took off for the arcade.

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YASMINE WARREN

Age: 16

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Noah stared at the three smiling faces in front of us and then turned to me with a confused expression.

“Did you invite everyone?”

I nodded. “You said you wanted to hang out, and I know you’ve wanted to meet my friends. So I called them up and asked Yasmine to come too.”

“I thought we would…” he trailed off.

“I should have asked you first,” I frowned. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” he said quickly. “They’re your friends.”

“Hey, Jabba the Hutt.”

Noah turned to me. “But did you have to invite my sister?” he groaned.

Yasmine rolled her eyes at him. “I’m not here for you.”

She glanced behind me eagerly and I looked back to see what she was searching for.

“Isn’t your other friend coming?”

Melissa chuckled at my confused expression. “She’s been waiting for Kevin.”

“Oh,” I smiled apologetically. “I don’t think he’ll come.”

“You said you’d invite him,” she groaned.

“I tried,” I said, giving her a small hug. “He’s probably busy.”

“So you came here to see some guy?” Noah scoffed.

She shoved her phone in his face and pointed at the pictures on Kevin’s Instagram page. “He’s not just some guy.”

She sighed wistfully. “I think he’s my future husband.”

“So does everyone else in the comments,” he taunted. “Go home.”

“You’re not the boss of me. Besides, I’m here to see Lizzy too,” she linked arms with me, pushing Noah out of the way.

“So we finally meet Noah,” Callie said with a smile. “Thanks for taking care of our baby, Liz.”

“How long will you be in the country?” Melissa asked.

“For the rest of the year… maybe longer,” he said, giving me a small glance.

“Stay here forever,” Yasmine stated. “I want to be an only child.”

“Seriously, why did you invite her?” he groaned and we laughed.

“So tell me, Noah,” Callie, said sidling up to him. “Do you have a girlfriend?”

“Uh,” the tips of ears turned pink at her direct question. “No.”

“Callie,” I scolded, but she only grinned.

“Okay, okay,” she laughed and winked at me.

We walked into the arcade. Yasmine trailed behind us, sighing longingly as she scrolled through Kevin’s posts.

The evening went by in a flurry of fun. Callie chewed on a slice of pizza while Melissa chatted with Yasmine who wanted to know all about Kevin.

I was watching Noah, who was shooting some basketballs. It felt so nice being with him again, just like old times.

He was so satisfying. Like popping bubble wrap or untangling earphones in one quick swoop. Or peeling the plastic off a new phone.

Okay, maybe those weren’t the best comparisons, but you know what I’m getting at.

He finished the game and stepped aside proudly, hands in the air.

“Tell me I’m not the best.”

“I can do better,” I grinned, flipping my hair for emphasis.

He threw me a basketball. “It’s all yours.”

“This is how the pros do it,” I smirked, shooting the ball. “You gotta get’cha head in the game.”

It missed the net completely. I blushed as Noah snickered behind me.

“Yeah, the NBA is gonna be drafting you real soon.”

“I only wanna play for the Wildcats,” I laughed. “I missed on purpose.”

“Sure, you did.”

He moved closer to me, his eyes shining with amusement.

“Why don’t I give you a lesson.”

He positioned himself behind me, bent down to my height and placed his hands on mine.

“You have to keep your eyes on the target,” he breathed. “It helps to bend your knees a little and spread your fingers apart.”

I nodded, as his warm breath fanned my face. We were so close. I could feel the muscles under his shirt tense as he moved. If I turned my head even a little more to the left, we would be kissing.

I could smell the all familiar scent of vanilla and sandalwood and my mind whirled a little. I almost wanted to lean into him and take a nap.

Almost.

I shot the ball and it actually went into the net this time. Oh yeah, Wildcats here I come!

“I did it, Noe!”

I whirled around, excitedly, forgetting about how close we were. Noah’s breath hitched in his throat and he bit his lip. I backed up so I wasn’t all up in his space.

He cleared his throat. “That was great.”

“Right!”

I giggled and he let out a sharp sigh and then smiled.

The others had all gone ahead to the food court, so Noah and I wandered around the arcade trying different games. I sucked at most of them, but it was so much fun I didn’t even care.

The virtual reality games were the best because the simulations were so exhilarating. My sides hurt from laughing so much. We completely lost track of time after we finished playing them.

“A toast to a night of games and laughter,” I said, raising my cotton candy in the air like a champagne glass.

“A toast to the best girl I could spend the night with,” Noah mirrored, lifting his cotton candy too.

“Hear, hear!”

I laughed as we tapped the cotton candies together.

I cuddled the large teddy bear Noah had won for me and we went in search of the others.

Our footsteps synced with each other and our hands brushed slightly as we walked. I linked my arm with his and leaned on his shoulder. This was just right.

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