Daybreak

III

It turned into an uncomfortably quiet walk as we went out, Noah had gone about thanking guests for coming and explained he was heading home for the night. Apparently, he lived not far off from my own street so even if we hadn't bumped back into each other at the gallery we were bound to have run back into each other some other time.

But that still didn't cover the off feeling I got when I was around him.

Even now, walking side by side down the sidewalk, I couldn't help the tight coiling at the bottom of my stomach, a tight sort of feeling I was having trouble distinguishing between good or bad.

Obviously, for right now, I was focusing more on the bad.

"The stars look nice tonight."

I snorted, not even bothering to look up. We passed a bustling café's open doors, the sound of tinkling cups and murmuring voices floating out into the warm air, "You can't see any stars in this city, too much light pollution," I felt a sense of pride in using the phrase, being an art student didn't really give much room for smart words-

"Well, I'm sure they still look nice, even if we can't see them from here," Noah chuckled, his tone more relaxed than I felt.

"You're not from around here, are you?" I asked with a quirk of my brow.

"Is it that obvious?"

"A bit, yeah."

He laughed again, the sound starting to drive into my ears, "Something tells me you don't like me very much."

"Wow, I hadn't noticed," sarcasm, obviously.

"Why not?"

I don't know, a not-good feeling? Bad vibes? Could that even be a reason?

"I'm not giving off bad vibes am I?"

How did-

"Because I assure you, that is not what I'm trying to convey," he sounded genuine with that statement, almost hurt at the implication that I didn't trust him.

I sighed, attempting to get myself to relax a smidge, "Okay, say I didn't not trust you." I faltered, trying to come up with a good question to ask.

You said you're not from around here, where are you from?"

"New Jersey."

I spluttered, "Are you serious?"

He laughed at my reaction, the sound light and soft, "You weren't expecting that, were you?"

I shook my head, "No, I mean, most people from New Jersey I've met are jerks."

He chuckled, "Well, we're not all that bad, I promise. What about you?"

I bit my lip, already knowing how country this would make me look- "Missouri."

To my surprise, he just nodded at my response, "A bit far from home, aren't we?"

I cracked a smile, "A bit, yeah."

"Do you miss it?"

"Heck no," I chuckled, stepping up onto a curb surrounding a sidewalk flower bed, I kept my hands in my jacket pockets as I balanced down the concrete ledge. "The town wasn't even that big."

"Small roots huh?"

I nodded, the word vomit already starting to form from his question, "I liked to joke with friends back home that we were in the middle of nowhere, there were larger towns to the north and south of us, both still nowhere, we were just in the middle of it."

"Middle of-" he broke off, actually throwing his head back and laughing. I felt my cheeks go red, "I guess that makes sense then. Okay but I do have one serious question for you."