*The panic call*
409 Words
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*CRASHING INTO YOU*
*Chapter 15*
*NOELLE'S POV*
It was 10:47pm.
I was pacing in my room.
Dinner had ended an hour ago but my heart still hadn’t slowed down.
_Invite him over for dinner. So we can appreciate him properly._
Grandma’s words were on loop in my head.
Tomorrow.
She meant tomorrow evening.
My phone felt heavy in my hand. Ethan’s number was saved as `Ethan Cole` — no contact photo, no notes. Just the man who proposed to me 2 days ago.
I bit my lip and hit call before I could talk myself out of it.
It rang.
Once.
Twice.
“Hello?”
His voice was low, calm.
“Ethan,” I blurted. “Hi. It’s Noelle.”
A pause. “Noelle. Is everything alright?”
“Um. Yeah. Yes.” I laughed nervously. “I just... I need to ask you something. Could you... could you help me tomorrow?”
Another pause.
“Help you how?”
I closed my eyes. “My grandma. She wants to meet you. For dinner. At the villa. Tomorrow evening. She said she wants to ‘appreciate you properly’ for saving me.”
I could hear him breathing on the other end.
“Appreciate me,” he repeated.
“It was my fault,” I rushed. “I mentioned you. I told them I had someone in mind and it was you and now Grandma is already planning it and I’m so sorry it’s so last minute but... could you come? Just to help me get through it?”
“Slow down,” Ethan cut in. But he didn’t sound mad. Just... thoughtful.
“So your family wants to have dinner with me. Tomorrow.”
“Yes.” My voice cracked a little.
The line went quiet.
Outside, the garden lights were on. Downstairs, Mom and Grandma were probably picking a menu for tomorrow.
And here I was, asking a man I barely knew to pretend to be my boyfriend in 24 hours.
“Okay,” Ethan said finally.
“I’ll help you.”
My knees almost gave out.
“You will?”
“Yes,” he said. “Send me the time and address. And Noelle?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t panic. We’ll get through dinner together.”
The call ended.
I stared at my phone.
He said yes.
Tomorrow evening, Ethan Cole would be at my family’s dinner table.
Helping me.
Pretending to love me.
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- Writer
