Circles

Chapter XIV

"When is Alister coming back?" he asked Lizzie the next day while she kept him company during lunch.

"I thought you didn't want to see him."

"I don't want to see him, that's why I'm asking."

Lizzie looked at him with a mocking smile.

"And...?"

"Should I tell you?"

"Lizzie!" he pleaded, looking at her with puppy eyes.

"So, even you can make that kind of face," she teased. "From what he told me, which wasn't much, the trip will last approximately a week."

"But you're staying here, right?"

"Yes, but he only ordered me to stay until he returns."

Noah looked at her strangely.

"You must care a lot about him," he muttered with his mouth full.

"What was that?" Lizzie asked.

"You trust him blindly... he didn't even tell you exactly how many days he'll be gone. I'm just saying that it's something..." The boy looked at her for a moment and then shrugged.

"Hey, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have to stay."

"Well, Alister sent him too, didn't he? You should stop worrying and go home..."

The phone started ringing insistently in the living room.

"What are you talking about? You know I can't do that," he said as he left the room and rushed downstairs to answer the call.

Noah continued eating slowly, distractedly looking around. He didn't miss Alister. He didn't miss him at all, and he wouldn't either.

The following days passed slowly, and every so often Noah really thought that time had stopped. Lizzie took care of him during the day, and at night, "he" would come to keep him company. "He" never told Noah his name, but at least now they could talk more normally. He didn't trust him, but was sure that "he" had known him at some point in his childhood, as the guy knew stories that Noah could barely remember. Sometimes, when he had trouble falling asleep, it seemed like "he" noticed and would talk about something funny from his past to distract him. Like the time he and Alister caught a lizard and hid it from their father. They had always wanted a pet, so Noah kept it hidden in his room. It had lived there for a few days, and he and Alister had worked hard to find insects all over the garden to keep it fed. One day, when they came back from school, the lid of the box where they keep it was open, and the lizard had disappeared, so they spent the whole afternoon looking for it. They never found it, but Noah always thought his father would see it at the most inconvenient moment, in his coffee cup or something, and that made him smile.

Sometimes, Noah wondered how he and Alister had ended up separated for so long after he left home. It's not like he didn't understand it, but it hurt that he hadn't looked for him... or had he? He wasn't sure about anything anymore. Alister always did things according to what he believed was best, regardless of what happened to others. Noah knew that very well since he was a child, and yet he trusted that he would never harm him with his irrational decisions. Or so he had thought until the incident with Andrew.

"Do you want to help me decorate the tree?" Lizzie asked one day, popping her head into his room.

"Sure," he smiled cheerfully. "Hey Lizzie, did Alister call or anything?"

The girl fell silent for a moment.

"He hasn't," she replied finally as both of them went downstairs.

"Oh."