And now, the much awaited fourth installment! =D
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Noah and I become closer and closer as time goes on. I even start telling him the more embarrassing things about me; when he found Jerry, my stuffed emu my mom gave me when I was little, I didn't make up some lie. I didn't say "Oh, my little cousin must have dropped that in my suitcase." I told him flat-out that I still slept with a stuffed animal.

Even more surprisingly, he didn't ridicule me (like anyone else would have) or rip Jerry to shreds, like anyone else would have threatened to do. He just laughed, a real laugh, not a semi-sadistic chuckle like he usually did. I can't help but smile when he laughs like that, in that way that he only did around me.

And he told me a few things that no one knew about him-- how horrible his parents were being lately, a few other things. When he told me about his best friend from back home, Joey, I could feel a bit of jealousy. I know it's selfish, but I wanted his feelings for me to be the strongest. Either way, we begin to just get closer and closer... But, underneath it all, I can tell that he's keeping some huge secret from me, something... not normal. I can't tell what it is, but I know it's there. I can feel it.
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It's not until Harold arrives that things get even weirder. He was always strange, but I didn't realize how strange until he got a room just above mine and Noah's. I'd hear thumping at night, with random screams of "Gosh!" One night we weren't tired, just annoyed, so Noah and I went up to Harold's room to tell him to knock it off.

Harold doesn't open the door. "Who is it?" he asks. We tell him. He cracks the door, looking between the two of us like we're carrying weapons. "What do you want?" No 'hello'. What happened to being polite?
"Hi, Harold." I say.
"Knock it off with all that damn noise." Noah says, not bothering with introductions either.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Harold says with a nonchalant shrug, "Good bye." He tries to close the door, but Noah puts his foot in the way.
"What are you doing in there?" I ask.
Harold sighs. "Fine. Come in." He lets us in to the perfectly normal room. Unlike when I first came to Noah's room, there are posters and other things all over. It seems like any average room, except for the black box on his bed which is sealed with a combination lock.

"See? I'm not doing anything strange." Noah lingers in the room for awhile before turning to leave, and before I can follow him, Harold pulls me into his room and locks the door. I can feel something inside me sink when he leaves, and I sigh.

"Look, Cody, I trust you." Harold says. "Not so much Noah."
"O... Kay?"
He pulls out the piece of wood, sharp at one end. My eyebrows scrunch in confusion. He tells me, "It's a stake!"
"You carry around a wooden stake." I state the obvious.
"Only recently, since I started to study the art of creature slaying."
"Creature slaying? That sounds like something out of a bad summer movie."
"Don't poke fun at me!" he looks both ways suspiciously and pulls me in close. "We humans are not alone. Not on the planet, and not in this resort. The supernatural are afoot!"
I push him away, "You sound like an overly-dramatic Hollywood movie character."
"You really think I sound like a Hollywood movie slayer character? Because I've been practicing that line for a long time. I also have a list of battle cries and catchphrases, just in case they want to make a movie of my epic journey!" he sounded very proud of all this.

"Um... Good luck with that, Harold." I back up, slowly, until I'm sure he's not watching me anymore. Then I bolt from the room, back to my room. Once my door is closed, I drop to the floor and start laughing.
"What?" Noah asks, looking up from the book he was reading. I sit next to him and tell him all about 'Harold, the Vampire Slayer.'
Noah laughs a little, "Wow. That's just pathetic." he looks down to his book again.

Some of his dark hair falls over into his face, making him look so-- You are not going to think that I hear in my head, but it's so faint that I don't care anymore. I feel my stomach doing flips. I know what I feel, and what I want, and what I want is Noah... So I push the stray hair out of his face.

I expected him to pull away, look at me like I'm insane, maybe even yell at me. But instead he reaches up and touches my hand, bringing it back down onto the bed. I smile sheepishly. I know my face is bright red, like a traffic light, like a fire truck, like all kinds of other random things.

Noah smiles at me. My hearts pounding even louder. "S-sorry. I just, um... Yeah." Shut up! I yell at myself. Then I remember what Izzy said-- You have to talk about it sooner or later! And she's right. As uncomfortable as it makes me, I have to bring up the elephant in the room, because I don't think Noah is going to.

"Do you remember..." I trail off, wishing I hadn't started that line of thought.
"What?" Noah asks.
"Why did you kiss me back on the island?" I blurt out like the flustered idiot I am. His smile drops off of his face and he pulls his hand off of mine. Despite all we talked about-- family or friends or video games or whatever else came to mind-- this was one subject we steered clear of.
"I was asleep, Cody," he says.
"That's not a good enough answer."
"Well, then what kind of answer do you want?" he was slipping away; being reserved and cynical again. I didn't want that, I wanted him to be open, to treat me as his best friend. So I try to look him in the eyes when I say, "Did you like it?"
"Did you?" he asks sarcastically.
"What if I did?" Shut up! I yell at myself again.

He moves closer to me. I can feel his eyes boring into me, trying to read my emotions. He didn't think I'd say that-- he probably expected something stupid and childish. We just sit there and look at each other for a while. I remember what happened with Beth, how wrong I felt. But this, being with Noah, was the total opposite. And that's when I realize I want Noah, not Beth or anyone else. I want to make out with my best friend, despite the fact we're both boys. I just don't care anymore. It's torture for him not to hold me, it's torture for him not to kiss me, it's just plain not right that we're just friends.

If this were a movie, I would lean in and kiss him, and everything would be perfect. But of course, this is real life, and real life sucks. We're just an inch or two away, and I can feel that it's going to happen-- when the door flies open and I jump up guiltily. Strangely enough, it's Chris McLean.

"We weren't doing anything!" I say immediately.
Chris looks confused, but then smiles wide and says, "I'm just checking up on every room to make sure all the losers are doing alright."
"At midnight?" I ask.
"Yes. At midnight." Chris says.
"Since when do you care about anyone but yourself?" Noah asks in an annoyed voice.
Chris just shrugs and leaves. I can hear him laughing down the hall. "That fucker did that on purpose." Noah mumbled.
"Did what on purpose?" I ask, even though I know what he's talking about.

He studies me for a while, and I can swear I see something flash in those eyes. A chill runs through the air. "Something's not right about you." I didn't mean to say it out loud, but there it was. He stands up and smirks. I'm not sure if the chills down my spine are because he's hot, or because he's scaring the piss out of me. Noah walks past me and out of the room, leaving me.

I fall down onto my bed and groan. It was easier with Gwen-- with Gwen, I'd hit on her and she would deny me. With Noah, I have no idea if this is going to go anywhere. The way he hates the sun, the strange feelings he gives me that have nothing to do with my... crush. There, I said it. My crush on Noah.

I sigh, wondering what he's doing right now. Wondering what he's thinking of and how he feels about me. I don't remember when, but soon I've fallen asleep, trying hard to keep myself from dreaming of Noah. But I know I will.