Apartment 311

Ch | 39

Brooklyn Noelle Brankovich

Chapter Thirty-nine: "No good in goodbye"

10:23 PM My fist almost went numb from all the knocking I was doing at Noah's door. His phone was off, I learned, after trying endless times to call and text him. I figure it's dead, but what if he purposely turned it off to ignore me?

"Knock it off, lady, he's not there!" A random apartment-owner yelled at me from a few doors down.

"Piss off," I yelled back, matching her energy. She flipped me off and waddled back inside where she should exercise minding her own fucking business.
I huffed and shook that interaction off, continuing to knock until my fists gave out. I pressed my forehead to the door and groaned out my frustrations.

"Noah, please," I croaked, sniffling.

I knew he's probably pissed for my irresponsible behavior on the job, I don't blame him. He warned me and only tried to protect me like a good friend, but I took it as something else and didn't listen. I should've, now look.

Zane really shook me to my core. I didn't expect him to be so scary, but his message got through. Never before had anyone talked to me like that, not even my mother who I swore my whole life was, well, a bitch. I know it sounds childish, but that interaction with my boss scared me enough to make me miss my parents and sheltered home life.

And Noah, he saved me from getting hit. I couldn't believe Zane raised his hand to hit me! Who the Hell does he think he is? I'm hoping it was all a misunderstanding because no professional employee should ever resort to violence. Though, something told me he wasn't like most employers. . .

I whipped out my phone to send another text but it stayed on delivered.

My arms flailed. I stood at his door after dark dressed in an oversized basic grey jacket over my underwear, and a pair of chocolate Uggs. Once I got home after the meeting, I didn't do anything but mope. I called Venus to make sure she was alright after the whole ordeal. She told me she had more than enough money saved so I shouldn't worry, but she also said it wasn't safe for us to be friends which did worry me. I tried asking her why she said that but she told me this was all a mistake and apologized profusely. Before letting me say what I had to say - that she shouldn't have came onto me and I was just too drunk to function - she hung up. And I'm pretty sure she blocked my number and Snapchat.

A sudden snarl straightened me up. I sniffled and quickly rotated on my heels to see Noah limping towards me from the elevator. Oh, he looked beat. The clothes he had on didn't look like his own, and the grin he usually wore wasn't there.

Relief washed over me, seeing how he was alive after not responding to me all day.

"Noah! Are you okay?" I asked a dumb question, obviously he wasn't.

"Do I look-" he stopped himself and fixed his tone. "Yeah, Brooklyn, I'm fine. You care now?"

I watched him unlock the door and walk inside. Noah tried shutting the door on my face but I pushed it open and let myself in. He scoffed and limped to the living room where he fell on the couch in the dark and threw his bulky arm over both tired eyes.

When I tried speaking, my voice cracked so I swallowed and tried again. "I was worried about you," I spoke timidly.

He laughed obviously sarcastically, like one good "HA" in my face. "You seemed more worried about Danielle earlier," he barked, not bothering to sit up and face me.

I stomped my foot, feeling emotions coming up that I didn't want to express. "It's not like that, I just felt bad and wanted to make she was okay. You know how Zane is, I was scared-"