The Echoes of Solitude

Chapter Nineteen

"Ally, Noah is here." Mrs Webber called out, her voice drifting from the front door all the way upstairs to the bathroom, where I was currently standing in front of the mirror, nervously biting my lip.

After getting home late from Martha's last night and feeling emotionally drained from crying on Mrs Webber's shoulder. I fell asleep as soon as my head touched my pillow, with no dreams or nightmares interacting with me throughout the night. It was the first peaceful sleep I had in a long time, so when I had woken up this morning, completely refreshed, I had completely forgotten about the date with Noah until Cora interrogated me about it on our way to work.

She had asked me multiple questions, like what was I going to wear? What accessories? Where were we going? Etc. And as much as I wanted to ask her to stop because her questions were giving me more anxiety on top of my already existing anxiety, I couldn't because, for the first time in a while, I felt like a regular teenage girl, discussing the rules of dating with a best friend and freaking out over all the endless possibilities. It was such a normal experience that I loved so much.

Smiling to myself, I pulled myself out of my thoughts and answered Marie.

"I'll be down in a minute," I called out, trying desperately to hide the nerves that were floating throughout me. I gave myself another once over as I took in my appearance. I fluffed up my hair to give it a little more volume and then grabbed the lip gloss that was on the counter and applied it to my lips. In a smooth motion, I guided it against my lip, then closed it up and placed it in the little over-the-shoulder clutch that I would be taking with me. With one final glance in the mirror and a forced smile, I made my way downstairs to Noah... and Marie.

After talking to Cora earlier on in the day, and going through multiple options with Mrs Webber, I had finally chosen an outfit which we both deemed appropriate to wear on a first date. We all decided nice, cute and casual was the best as we had no idea where I was actually going. Cora had tried persistently to get it out of Noah after she had finished work but failed miserably, she said something along the lines of him slamming the door in annoyance in her face and telling her to bugger off. Thus, I ended up wearing one of the black dresses that I bought with Cora on my shopping trip, topped off with a denim jacket from my second-hand store from the last house I was at, gold sandals and a gold arrow necklace. Something we all agreed was casual but nice and could be perfect for a lot of the ideas that Cora had suggested as possibilities.

I slid a strand of hair behind my hair as I reached the bottom step and took a calming breath. Noah was standing at the front door, facing in my direction but talking animatedly to Mrs Webber. His head popped up when he saw me and a huge smile appeared on his face, reaching his eyes. In his navy blue henley (which stuck to him nicely) and dark jeans, he moved to the side of Marie and greeted me.

"Ally, you look... you look amazing." He said as we approached each other, I could feel my face reddening at the compliment. He extended his hand and held out a bundle of flowers, "these are for you."

My eyes dropped down to the flowers. I held them up to my nose, closing my eyes I smelt them, sighing at the pretty smell that danced under my nose. I looked up at him and smiled. "Thank you. These are beautiful."

"Would you like me to place these in a vase for you, dear?" My eyes snapped over to Mrs Webber, blushing at the thought of forgetting that I was in the room with her.

"Please. That would be wonderful." I answered as I handed them over to her, then looked up at Noah, "Really, thank you. I have never been given flowers before." I said honestly.

"You're very welcome, Ally." Noah said, "Shall we go then?" He asked with a smile.

I looked over at Mrs Webber who was smiling at me and nodding her head in encouragement. "Have fun you two."