From Mine to Ours

28: Invasion of Privacy...

I can't believe this...

There's no way...

We were all by ourselves, how did someone manage to snag another picture of us?!

"Hey hey, what's with the tears, Noah?"

"They got another picture of us, Lucy, but-" I cut myself off. Saying the words would only make this whole situation a whole lot more real than I'm ready to acknowledge.

Her fingers nimbly take my phone out of my tight grasp and her lungs expel a quick bout of air at the sight. "That's your front door..." She scrambles off of my desk, running to Sarah's office with my phone in hand. It's in this very moment that the problem manifests itself into my reality and I come crashing down. Hard.

Feet on the chair, knees holding my head and arms up and ready to let my hands tug at my hair. They know where I live.

The place I've called home for almost a year now and I already have to give it up. How am I supposed to feel safe in a place that, well, simply isn't. How did they figure out my private address? Wouldn't this situation classify whoever's behind this as a stalker?

Where do I go? I can't sleep there tonight...

"Noah..." Lucy's voice echoes through my scrambled head briefly. Her warm hand squeezes my shoulder and her warmth tethers to the last fiber of control left in me. "Come on, let's take a break," a silent warning that I'm most definitely not alone in this room full of people and offices.

I follow after her silently, my head down to avoid the silent whispers and furrowed brows of either pity or concern, both of which I do not need.

"You can stay with me for as long as you want, you know that, right?"

Yes, but that would put you in danger too. Whoever's doing this definitely still has their eyes on me.

What do I do?

For the first time since starting at the company, I'm worried if I made the right choice. Did I underestimate others or overestimate myself?

How could people want to do this to someone?

I've taken to locking myself in a dark and small janitor closet. I need to just be away from everyone right now. Maybe scrolling through the comments was a terrible idea because seeing some people excited to "finally" know where I live is almost scarier than the actual picture.

Despite it all, I do feel some sort of relief deep down knowing that we didn't do anything that could fuel the conspiracy of my sexuality. We're simply standing out there, talking...

"Thank you for tonight, guys, but you really didn't have to walk me home," I say that, but the large smile making my cheeks very sore is definitely happy that they insisted.

"Are you kidding? As if we would ever let you walk home alone like that," Asher scoots a bit closer to me, sending a humorous wink my way to lighten the mood even more.

On our way home, we definitely strayed from any more heavy topics. It's been nice getting to know them on an even deeper level and I'm glad they feel comfortable enough with me to open up more now.

"We really like you, Noah, we want you to know that," Sebastian says first after a few seconds of silence and staring. His hand reaches out, grabbing a hold of the free hand not being squeezed by Asher.

Julian runs a nervous hand through his ponytail, "if you ever doubt that, even for a second, please..." he pauses, closing his beautiful eyes for a second or two before opening them with a small smile showing on his face for the first time since we left the field. "Don't hesitate to tell us, we'll talk."