The next time I woke up it was morning. Light filled the room. Noah never seemed to pull his curtains. Maybe he liked to wake naturally with the rising sun. Or maybe he liked seeing the stars in the dark.
I sat up in bed and looked around, not wanting to leave the room and possibly face Vee. The memory of her pushing over my shelf and tearing at my books hit me, and I started to cry again. My possessions weren’t much but they were all I had. I sat like that for long minutes, just quietly crying until the door handle turned, and someone pushed the door open a smidge. No one entered. Instead a disembodied hand appeared holding a smartphone. Music played from the speaker, and I recognised the intro to “Magic Dance” from Labyrinth.
I frowned, confused as to what was going on as I wiped at my wet cheeks. When David Bowie started to speak, Noah appeared. He clutched the phone like it was a microphone and lip synced about the power of voodoo.
My only reaction was a weak, surprised laugh. Noah Dylan was being a goof, and it stemmed the flow of my tears, pieced together the parts of me Vee had crushed last night.
I remained sitting in the bed as he shimmied towards me, doing his best impression of Jareth the Goblin King. I had no words. He held the phone in one hand and reached out with his other to pull me from the bed. He spun me around, and a giggle escaped me. This was just too bizarre. Shivers slithered down my spine when he slid one arm around my waist and swayed my body from side to side. I realised he wasn’t merely lip syncing, but quietly singing along. The ridiculousness gave way to a weird tingly sensation in the pit of my stomach.
He had a really nice voice.
“What are you doing?” I asked over the music.
Noah didn’t answer, just continued to sing. I knew what he was doing though. In his own strange way, he was trying to cheer me up, and it was working.
As the song ended, my cheeks began to heat from the proximity of our bodies. The brush of fabric, the faint warmth that travelled from him into me. The music ceased, and Noah stepped away, a smile touching his lips as he asked, “Did you sleep okay?”
I shyly tucked some hair behind my ear. “Yes. Surprisingly, I did. Thanks for, um, letting me sleep in your bed.”
“Don’t worry about it. Go get dressed. You’re coming with me today.”
“I am?”
“Would you prefer to stick around here with my demon-hearted sister?”
I shivered. “No. Definitely not.”
He surprised a yelp out of me when he gave me a playful pat on the bottom. “Get ready then. I’ll meet you downstairs in twenty minutes.”
What was that?! I didn’t have time to react to the pat, nor the tingles it solicited all through my body, as he shuffled me out of the room and closed the door. He seriously confused me. One minute he was tender, the next abrupt.
Trepidation in my gut, I went downstairs and entered my bedroom. I gasped when I saw how everything had been tidied up. Did Noah do this? My heart jumped in my chest when I noticed he’d salvaged what he could. My books were in a pile next to my resurrected shelf. The ones Vee tore had been cellotaped back together. Even the holy texts Noah gave me were damaged, and I knew there was some serious bad karma in store for Vee for tearing those. Clean sheets had been put on my bed, and several brand-new seashells sat on my pillow next to a note in Noah’s messy handwriting.
Fuck Vee. Make something new.
I touched my fingers to them in awe, my heart not knowing what to do with itself. He’d gone out onto the beach and collected shells for me? The thought made me feel way too many things.
I took in the space once more, and a feeling of panic hit me. What if Vee found where I’d stashed my money? I dashed for the loose floorboard and pulled it back, relieved when I saw the cash was still there. I slotted it back into place and went to quickly wash and dress myself.
Noah was waiting for me by the front door when I finally came downstairs. His eyes wandered from my feet all the way up to my face before he nodded to the door, and I followed him out. He climbed astride his bike and silently offered me the helmet. I put it on and climbed on behind him, wrapping my arms around his waist without hesitation this time. Being close to him soothed me, so I allowed myself the indulgence.
Noah drove us outside of town and onto the dual carriageway where there was a small food van in an empty lot just off the side of the road. It appeared to cater to passing laborers and truck drivers as there were several work vehicles parked along the hard shoulder leading into the lot.