I don't end up fixing Noelles hair.
In fact for the first time since i've known her I was sitting on her bed allowing her to slowly brush my hair. She says it always calms her down when she's exhausted, and if anything would ease my nerves.
She wouldn't allow me to put that sweater back on, instead substituted it with one of her hoodies to give me a bit more comfort. It was the first time that I looked at another girl the way I always looked at Jordan, and I never expected it to be Noelle.
Occasionally we'd hear the boys yell or drop something heavy from the garage. And for the last two hours I didn't think about being in the same house with Gilinsky. In fact since the bathroom he's been the last of my worries, and if i'm not thinking about Jack im not thinking about what im keeping from him.
"How are you doing?" Noelle questions lowly, her fingers tangle at the ends of my hair.
"Good," I answer simply, "Just tired is all."
"If you want, you can sleep over?"
I turn away from the low volume tv to look over to her, she appears softer in the warm lighting of her room. I smile friendly, this is the nicest i've felt someone be to me for the last week.
"Thanks for the offer but my parents..."
She nods her head before I can finish my sentence understanding, "Well you shouldn't drive back yourself."
I shake my head, "I'm fine Noelle."
"So you keep telling yourself," She mutters, she shuffles across the bed till she's sitting directly under her bedroom window. Hidden in the curtain she pulls out an ashtray, she looks over to me and I quickly look away like i've been caught.
"You want a hit?" She questions.
The lighter flicker catches my attention, "I can see why you and Gilinsky get along so well."
She smiles lightly lifting the burning paper to her lips, "Smoked my first jay with him. I think I should pass it down to you."
She offers the joint and I hesitate to deny her offer. Just two days ago I had denied Jack's joint simply because i didn't want to get high then. But now I officially had nothing left to loose, and it'd just be another thing I was hiding.
I accept it fixing my position on her bed. I turn my back towards the tv and facing Noelle, she reaches over to hand me the fragile paper. I lightly grab it keeping the tip in between my thumb and pointer finger. I stare up to her as if im waiting for approval to hit it and she just nods her head.
I've watched Jack inhale enough smoke to get the idea on how to do it. I bring it to my lips inhaling for a total of eight seconds, I feel the burn in my throat along with the filling of my lungs. I fill the space between the two of us with smoke, and even though i've heard Jack hack his lungs out afterwards I keep the cough down.
mostly in amateur embarrassment.
"Wow, I'm blushing," She teases, we break into a small laugh in unison. I pass the paper back to her but she denies, "You should hit it more. It'll probably help with all the stuff you got going on right now."
I nod my head and silently doing what she insists. I'm about six hits deep before she finally accepts it back, I don't realize how much of the paper burns. She takes a lot bigger and more casual hits than I do and the space around fills with smoke.
