(Asta x Noelle) Happiness is a Butterfly

Chapter Ten: Drunks & Jealousy Part 2

When Noelle awakes, she has the most pounding headache she's ever had. Or at least the worst one she could remember. Her hand immediately goes to her head, while her eyes shoot tight, adjusting to the light. She groans and tries to sit up, which only ends up with her sitting herself up on a pillow.

"You got drunk last night," speaks a voice from beside. Noelle turns, and from the corner of her half-lidded eyes, she sees Nero. "I did..." Noelle recalls, remembering how much she had drunk the night before. She couldn't really remember anything after that though; only everyone making her drink far out of her capacity. Everything else was blurry and unsure of. Being in the state she's in now, she's reminded as to why she doesn't drink. Her first and last time drinking was her 21st birthday, where she was also with everyone, and then she couldn't hold her liquor. What made her think she could hold it now? She had to remind herself though, she was only going to take one shot.

At first anyways.

But as they encouraged her to drink more...it actually became better. She forgot. She forgot almost everything in those moments. All the trauma, pain, torture, and heartbreak she had been through was washed down the drain and replaced with the once-found happiness she used to have and exert. It was nice, to be honest. But still, she'd try to make it her last time drinking. The headache she currently had plus the sick feeling was enough for her to never want this again. That, and she deserved to remember certain stuff; the humiliation, grief, anxiety, and especially leaving and hurting Asta...she deserved it all. The tattoos on her shoulder and back, the ones that reminded her of not just Asta, but also her deceased baby were evidence that she needed to remember. So yes, drinking and forgetting were fun, but it wasn't for her.

And then, suddenly, it dawns on her. It seems like some random, sudden recognition takes off in her head as she realizes that she was far too drunk to return to her room on her own. There was no way she could've gone back by herself so who took her? It was a scary thought, one that made her shiver, but she discerned that it was more than likely either Vanessa or Nero since they were her roommates. Probably Nero, since Vanessa was more than likely drunk.

"Did you or Vanessa take me back to the room?" Noelle decides to voice aloud, and how she wishes she didn't. How she wishes that she would've just stuck with her idea that Vanessa or Nero helped her come back. That it was just them, and how it didn't involve a boy- well a man now, who had ash blonde hair and a muscular build.

"Neither of us took you back. Actually, it was Asta," Nero says, and Noelle hums and nods, not taking accountancy of those words until moments later. "W-wait Asta?" she questions, well, more like screams. And Nero nods, simply. They're so many thoughts running through Noelle's head, like "Why Asta?" and "Was I embarrassing?" and once again, "Why Asta?" because why was Asta the one to take her back? She was drunk! Anything could've happened! And like she told Yuno a thousand times, she was no homewrecker!

What if she said something wrong? What if she acted weird? What if she let something slip, like something about the baby or why she left? I mean, he did deserve to know, and maybe just maybe she'd tell him someday but that someday was nowhere close. She had just gotten Asta back into her life and if she let something slip out of her mouth like that, how would he feel about her? Would he dislike her? Would he leave her this time? She knew that if he did, he had a very good reason to but, was it selfish of her to not want him to? She didn't know. She didn't know anything anymore. Everything seemed to be outside of her brain limit.

"W-was I weird...?" Noelle decides to ask.

"Well, define your definition of weird," she says, and Noelle almost wants to facepalm. "It seemed to me that you were far more outgoing than you usually are,"