The Failed Rejection

Dinner.

Noah’s pov

Noah was nervous about this dinner. He hadn’t talked to Penelope in almost a year. Not since that night. He had never been nervous, not around a woman anyway. Noah has always been charismatic and confident. However, with Penelope it was different, she was his mate. Penelope was endgame and he had already screwed up so much in regards to their relationship.

He spent all day going back and forth whether she would want flowers. Would she want him to pull the chair out when they reached to table to sit down. Noah ran a hand through his hair frustrated. Dating these days was a night mare. Especially with a girl like Penelope. She was so confident, and independent. Noah loved that about her, he loved everything about her. Finally he decided to call Liliana, and she nixed the flowers and chocolate.

Noah was already walking around aimlessly. He had just attended her graduation and was trying to kill time until tonight. He found himself in the shopping district unknowingly. He walked the streets looking at the window displays. There in a little boutique was a cute little necklace. He thought was perfect for Pen. It had the little diploma scroll on it, and the graduation cap. When he asked the price, it was only twenty dollars. It was perfect, it wasn’t too expensive so Penelope didn’t think he was trying to win her back and it was nice enough not to look cheap. He quickly bought it, and the sales associate wrapped it up.

Noah left the store and continued to walk and his old feelings washed over him. Noah had a lot of regrets and the night he spent with a random she-wolf to vent his anger about the mate bond was number one. Hooking up with a different random she-wolf the day that he met his mate was number two.

He picked up Penelope from her apartment and drove to the restaurant. Her sister Lili told him that she loved seafood so he picked a reasonably priced seafood place. Noah could afford the nicest restaurant in town but didn’t want her to think he was trying to buy her back.

“How did you know I like seafood?” She asked. “Wait-“ she stopped him before he could say “my sister. Yeah I don’t get why she’s helping you. She’s going through her own mate issues right now.” Noah got out of the car and went to go open the door for her but she had already gotten out.

“Well in her words, she first called me an ass. But then she said we needed to talk this out so she gave me some of your favorite things.” Penelope didn’t respond, so they walked into the restaurant and to the hostess podium.

“Reservation?”

“Yes, Logan for two.” The hostess gave him a flirty look that he ignored and he went to pull out his chair for Penelope. Then he sat down himself and opened the menu.

“Do you know what you would like?” He asked her as he looked over the menu.

“No,” Penelope said simply as she looked at the menu. An older waitress came and took their drink orders and Noah was glad that the waitress remained professional unlike the hostess. There was an awkward silence for a few minutes as they simply sat there waiting for the waitress to come back.

“What-“ Noah started to say but was cut off by the waitress putting down their drinks.

“All right do you know what you would like?” She asked looking at him with a kind smile.

Noah ordered a lobster while Penelope ordered shrimp fettuccine. The waitress promised their order to be back shortly and left them in awkward silence again.

“So have you decided where you are going to medical school?” Penelope who was taking a drink of water shook her head.

“I got accepted to a couple of places, but I haven’t decided yet.”

“You need to soon, where did you get accepted?” Noah asked deciding this was a good icebreaker.

“I got accepted here at Northwestern, university of Michigan, and Perelman.” Penelope told him with pride in her voice.

“Wow those are amazing schools, definitely a congratulations are in order for your acceptance.” Those three school were in the top fifteen medical schools in the U.S. Just getting acceptance was a hurtle in of itself.” Penelope blushed,

“Lili threw me a party after I got my acceptance to Perelman.” Noah laughed,

“So I’m guessing that’s your dream school?” He asked and the look on her face told him that it was.

“No it’s not necessarily that, I thought I didn’t get in, and it was the highest on the list that I applied to. So for me it just seemed like a failure when I didn’t get accepted. I had moped around about it for weeks, then when I got the letter, Lili decided we had to have a party.” Noah was jealous of her relationship with Liliana, while Noah had brothers the three of them were never super close.

“Well I can definitely relate to that. I didn’t think I got into Columbia. When I got my letter I thought I was going to have a heart attack.” The food just came, he thanked the waitress and looked back to Penelope.

“You went to Columbia?” She asked him.

“Yes. It was an experience.”

“What is it like?” Noah started to navigate cutting open his lobster as he decided to answer.

“Hard, and frustrating.”

“Frustrating, how?”

“Well I’m assuming you already do a lot of work at the pack infirmary?”

“Yes, I’ve been doing stitches for years.”

“Well the first year of medical school is just labs and workshops and lectures. It’s so boring for people like us who have been in the thick of it already.”

“Ya I became a paramedic a few years ago,” Penelope said offhandedly. Noah’s brows raised not knowing that fact about her.

“Really?” Penelope nodded,

“Yeah it looks great on a resume and the pay is better than anywhere I can get at my age.”

They ate and talked happily about what was to come for her first year of medical school. Then they moved to other topics like her family as well as his. This night went better than anything he had ever thought about, especially considering the way the two of them left things.

Noah was dropping her off at her apartment when he remembered he had a reason for this date.

“Penelope, remember when I told you I had something specific I had to tell you?” Noah asked with his heart in his throat.

“Yeah?” Penelope asked suddenly weary, her smile was gone and he hated that he had done that. His wolf started whining in his head.

“Can I come in?” Penelope unlocked the door and gestured him in the house. He sat down on the couch,

“I realized that I did a lot of things wrong with our relationship. The main thing was forcing you to accept the mate bond. I did a lot of soul searching and decided to give you some time and not interfere with your life at the moment.” Penelope was blown away, and he knew it was because he had never been so unselfish.

“I also decided that during this time I want to do something I have always done, I’ve signed up for Doctors Without Borders. They are shipping me out in a couple of weeks.” Penelope was clearly blindsided and he hated that he did this to her. Noah had thought about this for a long time after she had left.

“How long will you be gone?” She asked.

“A little over a year. Eighteen months.” Penelope was quite for a moment, and Noah decided to give the gift for her he had in his pocket.

“Here, I got this for you. I thought about getting you flowers.” Noah laughed. “I actually spent over an hour debating whether I should get you flowers or not. I was walking by the boutique and this caught my eye.” He handed her the necklace box. She opened it and he saw real joy on her face. Noah had gotten her several over the top gifts before and she would just plaster on a fake smile. But this, this smile was worth everything.

“Thank you, I love it!” Penelope took it out of the box and tried to put it on, but failed. Noah leaned forward.

“Here let me.” He took the necklace from her, and had some trouble of his own getting it clasped. Finally, after several tries he managed to get it secured. When he slightly pulled back, Penelope leaned back in and kissed him. The sparks where their lips touched were amazing! Noah brought his hand to her face, and was amazed by the sparks as always whenever he kissed her.

Noah finally pulled away, but Penelope followed him.

“Wait Penelope. This isn’t what I came here for.” Penelope gave him a smile and stood up.

“I know.” She held out her hand. “That makes it all the more special.” Noah stood up, took her hand and followed her to the bedroom.