Prism - By Rachel Moschell Page 0,30

gaze back to her. His grip on her hands tightened. And he was staring at her. Wide-eyed and staring.

“I have something to give you,” he finally said, releasing her hands hastily and digging around in his pocket. Wara’s gaze spiraled to the floor, still dizzy with shame in spite of Noah’s reminder that she was forgiven. Nice words, yeah. God could forgive, but how could he ever feel same about her, seeing what she had done? It was one thing to not punish her for her sins, and quite another to still like her, to want to spend time with her.

The same for Noah. He was witness to her worst moment. Maybe several worst moments. He could still be nice, but he would never look at her without thinking about…that.

Her heart was aching when she felt Noah slide closer, wrapping one long arm around her shoulder. Wara inhaled sharply and met his eyes, completely confused.

Noah was touching her? He was supposed to be repulsed. He sat like that in silence for a full minute, eyes flickering, obviously running through something in his head. Then he slid his arm from her shoulder and scooted back to his own seat, fist tightly closed around something in his left hand.

“I have something to…to ask you,” he announced, and the goofy grin that began to spread across his face caused Wara to blink. “Now might not be a good time. In fact, you just might kill me. But we’ve known each other for a really long time now, so I just…” Noah’s voice faltered and Wara sniffed, completely mystified.

He better not be about to ask me advice about some sin problem he has, now that we’re on the subject and he happens to have a friend here who is quite familiar with sinfulness!

“…I just have this…for you,” Noah was going on. “Feel free to laugh at me, as long as it makes you feel better.”

Wara’s eyes focused blankly on a silver ring engraved with Arabic letters that Noah was holding out towards her, glimmering in the faint light from the front of the bus.

“Wara, I…” Noah shot her a lopsided smile and murmured to himself, “You’re doing this all wrong.” He leaped to his feet, almost banging his head on the bus’s dark ceiling, and managed to get down on one knee in the aisle. Wara’s eyes popped and flashed between the silver ring and Noah.

What? Had he gone crazy?

“Ok, now I’m sweating,” Noah said, rubbing a hand across his face and sucking in a deep breath. “I’m kind of messing this up. This ring is something I got in Egypt when I studied there for a semester when I was twenty. I kept it for a while, to give to the unlucky girl I will attempt to trick into dating and then marrying me. It says,” Noah held the ring out towards Wara again, on one shaking palm, “’My beloved is mine and I am his’. I wanted to ask you if you would consider thinking of me like that…if you would like to be with me…get to know me…think about marrying me someday! If you didn’t get sick of me while we’re dating, you know.”

Noah’s hands were shaking, though he tried to smile, and he actually seemed on the verge of tears. Wara’s jaw went slack as Noah quickly added, “I mean, you don’t have to decide right now, but I would like us to get to know each other. I want to be with you, Wara!”

“What? You can’t. How could you…” Wara tried in vain to think of something to say, jerking around in her seat as scattered applause broke out from the back of the bus.

They were watching! Why was Noah on his knees?

He’s crazy!

He said he wanted to be with me…

Is this a joke?

It’s not a joke—he’s sweating and waiting for me to answer! He looks like he really…still likes me?

In reality, Noah’s eyes said that he still loved her.

“Of course, I love you,” Wara blurted. “But how could you…”

“Ssshhh…” Noah hauled himself out of his scrunched up position in the aisle, laughing but looking stricken. “Are you serious? You actually love me?” Noah sat down next to her again, and Wara gaped at him, dumbstruck. She nodded.

“Ok then,” he said nervously. For a moment no one spoke, and Wara’s heart pounded in her ears like a tom-tom. “We, my dear, have a lot to talk about. But not now. Let’s just rest, ok. Come here…just rest.”

Noah put his