Home and Holidays

chapter 3

Noah was seated on the floor next to David as they worked together to paint a sign for the fundraiser event. Lisa was helping them too, but they had run out of blue paint so she had stepped away for a moment to go get them some more. Noah had become so engulfed in what he was doing that he almost forgot about everything else. He was surprised that he was actually starting to have fun.

"That looks so good, you guys." Lisa beamed as she came back over to them with another can of paint.

"Thanks, babe. Most of the design and colors were Noah's idea. He's really good at this." David told her as Noah shook his head a little.

"Nah, I'm not that good at it. I just tried to pick colors that look good together. David helped a lot." he humbly stated.

"All I did was paint it the way you said to. And you literally drew all the designs and everything. You're really talented." David truthfully replied to him.

Lisa sat down beside them, setting the can of light blue paint down as well. "It looks amazing, Noah. You should be proud of yourself." she commented with a smile, placing her hand on his shoulder for a moment before beginning to help them with painting.

"Thanks." Noah simply said as his cheeks turned red, feeling a little awkward from all the compliments. "So, what is this fundraiser for anyway?" he asked, shifting the focus to a different subject.

"They're trying to make sure that kids from families who don't have a lot of money can still get gifts and clothes that they need for the holidays." David explained, dipping his paintbrush into a can of yellow paint before using it to paint the corner of the sign.

Noah smiled at that. It made him feel good to be a part of something that would help so many kids in need. Which was a little ironic considering that, in a way, he was a kid in need himself. He was pulled from his thoughts though when he heard a door open, looking up to see a girl walk in.

She was about Noah's height, maybe a little shorter, and her long, naturally wavy hair was in a ponytail with two pieces of hair hanging out in the front to perfectly frame her face. Noah watched as she took off her thick jacket with white fur around the hood of it and hung it up somewhere nearby while she talked to Valerie about something.

That's when David looked up and noticed that Noah had halted what he was doing, obviously distracted by something. Or someone.

"You ok, Noah?" he asked him.

"Who is that?" Noah couldn't help but ask in response, referring to the girl who had just walked in, his line of sight still pointed in her direction. He couldn't seem to take his eyes off of her.

David looked in the direction that Noah was staring, realizing who he was talking about. "Oh, that's our neighbor's daughter, Ella. She's volunteering here too." he explained.

"Really? She's gonna be volunteering here too?" Noah echoed back as a question, his eyes wide as he finally looked over at David.

"Yeah. She told us a couple days ago that she's been meaning to get into volunteer work for the holidays, and it looks like she finally got the time to come over here." he replied with a little chuckle at Noah's reaction.

"Come on, let's go say hi to her." Lisa said, standing up as David did as well, followed by Noah. He trailed behind them, unsure how to act as they walked over to Ella.

"Lisa! David, hi!" Ella instantly exclaimed with a huge smile once she noticed them, running up to give them each a hug as Noah stood there awkwardly.

"Hey, Ella. I'm glad you finally made it over here." Lisa responded. "This is Noah by the way. He noticed you walk in and wanted to say hi." she added, only making Noah cheeks turn even redder.