In no time at all, the restaurant was behind them, and Charlotte didn't feel the slightest bit guilty to leave her friends behind with an excuse. She reasoned that she would see them some other time, and it wasn't every day that she met someone like Noah. Had she walked away and simply gone to brunch, she would have wondered about what could have happened, and the fun she could have had with someone new and so very interesting. This was for her own good, a choice Charlotte had made to benefit herself and no one else. It felt good. Even if she and Noah never talked again after that afternoon, her decision still would have been worth it.

“You caught me,” laughed Charlotte, pushing her long hair away from her face as the breeze blew in from the ocean. “I'm only using you for smoothies and pancakes.” The dark-haired girl was flattered though, and practically giddy to hear that Noah thought she was pretty. Charlotte didn't consider herself a vapid girl, but something about Noah made her that much more susceptible to compliments. She couldn't deny that the attraction was mutual, and those tattoos that she had originally thought to be a bit garish were growing on her.

The way he stumbled over his words was charming, and Charlotte couldn't hold her smile back. “I'm from Beverly,” she explained, “it's a half hour from here; suburban.” Something told her that Noah had never been there, and she couldn't really say that he was missing much. Beverly was quaint, homey, a regular small town with decent enough food, a few places to hang out and nice people. At best, it was an ideal place to grow up, and at worse, it was plain boring. Knowing that, Boston should have excited her a little more.