Decisions | Noah Sebastian

Chapter 3

I can't believe I'm doing this, I'm an idiot. Noah came up a couple of minutes ago and slammed the door. None of the others have checked on him, so me being me, I've decided it's a good idea that I do it. With an inhale, I knock. I don't hear anything on the other side of the door, and am about to walk away when the door opens. Holy shit, he's... "Yes?" He asks. Noah is currently shirtless, his joggers hanging low on his hips, his tattoos bright despite the lack of light coming from his room or the hallways. I snap out of my trance and finally look up at him. "Hey, umm, you okay?" I know I'm blushing, I'm definitely blushing. He tilts his head slightly before smirking and leaning against the door frame with his hand raised to the jam. He towers over my 5 foot nothing. "I am now." His eyes cast down and I realize my shorts have ridden up again and I'm not wearing a bra. The red on my cheeks would put a firetruck to shame, and with the realization that he's checking me out my nipples rise into peaks. Abort mission. He can definitely see my nipple rings, and I'm definitely mortified.

"Okay." I squeak and immediately turn around to leave. Before I get far I feel his hand on my shoulder, turning me back to face him. My blush hasn't calmed down as I avoid his eyes. "What Noah?" "You knocked on my door to ask if I was okay. Is that it or are you offering an ear? Because honestly I could probably use a woman's advice." My mouth drops open, but I catch myself nodding and my feet are moving on their own. I finally remember to breath as I sit down on a computer chair in front of the desk in the corner of the room, farthest from the bed, crossing my arms over my chest. He closes the door and sits down on the bed before falling back, letting out an exasperated sigh.

"You okay?" I ask again, this time worry in my voice. He runs his hands down his face, sitting up and tucking his long tendrils behind his ears. "Yeah, well no. I don't know. Did Folio say anything to you about why I might have been in a bad mood when we arrived?" I just nod, waiting for him to continue. "Well, he got it wrong. I wasn't mad that I couldn't bring her. I was aggravated that I asked for space and she blew it up into this huge fight. Without going into it, she's become this horrible, jealous person, pushing my boundaries and embarrassing me in front of my friends." He shakes his head, I assume to try to decide what to say next. "I don't know why I thought for once she'd respect my request for space, I guess because I thought it was simple. When she called me earlier she said some...unnecessary things. I blew up and in short told her to grow up and that I was done. I feel like an asshole for the way I handled all of this but I didn't know how else to get her to listen." I nod, seeing where this is going. "Okay, so where does my advice come in?" He chuckles saying, "I'm not sure. I guess I just figured you'd be able to tell me if I did something irrational or shitty. Maybe a way to help her chill out like she was when we first started dating, but at this point I think I truly just wanted to be done." He gives a sad smile, looking over at me. "Sorry, I totally just dumped all of this on you. You have anything to counter any of that? Anything I could offer?"

I immediately shake my head. "No." We make eye contact as he just blinks at me. "Okay then. Well, I won't hold you up," "I'm sorry!" I interrupt. "I'm just not much of a talker and I'm still getting used to having all of these people around." I offer an awkward smile hoping that he'll understand. I stand up and go to make my way out of the room when he asks, "So what's that tattoo?" I stop and look down. "My legs or arms? Be more specific." I say, having a full sleeve on my right leg and both arms. "No, the butt tattoo. I hate to admit it but I noticed it when Folio was carrying you down earlier. I'm curious." I think I'm going to look permanently sunburnt for his stay. I stay quiet for a second, contemplating how I want to go about this.

Finally I just decide to show him and only explain if he asks. I walk over to where he's sitting on the bed, stopping about a foot away before I do a half turn so that my left butt cheek is facing him. I pull up my shorts enough for him to see it. It's a strange-looking frog with fly wings sitting on a sunflower. It's only about the size of my palm but I love it, when it's just for me anyways. I let out a sigh, waiting for Noah to say something snarky. But he doesn't. I look away so that I don't have to see his face when I feel his hands. One lands like a whisper on my stomach, the other on my lower back as he pulls me closer. I gasp at the touch, about to move, when I feel his finger tips barely brush the tattooed skin. I let out a high pitched noise and jump. "Hey! That tickles!" "Sorry." I barely hear it. "It's not that impressive, just a frog with some wings on a flower." I scoff. He's spending way too much time trying to figure it out. I finally turn to look at him and realize he's not looking at the tattoo anymore, I don't think he ever was. He's looking at the ugly gashing scars that are peaking out of where I have my shorts pulled up. I immediately pull them down and back up, facing him. He has this twisted look on his face. "Where did they come from?" He says, his tone cold and face blanking out. I keep backing up, shaking my head. "I'm sorry, Noah. I, um, my phone is ringing." I say, running out of the room. I can't believe I was dumb enough to show him that tattoo, I was dumb enough to even knock on his door!

The second I get my door closed I launch for my phone. Pulling up my message thread with Nick I send him a text.

Me- Nick, room, help. He saw.

I don't get a reply, but almost immediately I hear footsteps thundering up the stairs. The second Nick closes my door behind him the dam breaks. I crumble to the ground, sobbing. Nick runs over and pulls me into his lap and lays my head on his chest. "What happened, Emerson. What did Noah do?" He's trying to be calm for my sake but I can hear the anger building up. I start shaking my head violently while trying to speak between sobs. "Talked a-about...and tattoo...scars...I f-forg-got and he...he saw the scars." I can barely catch my breath as I explain trying to put Nick at easy when all I want to do is scream. "N-not his-his fault. I did-did it." He just shushes me and holds me tighter. They happened a while ago, I thought I was over it, thought I had worked passed that time in my life, but clearly not. "Tell me what you see, Dragonfly. Tell me five things you see." I take a deep breath as I start to look around the room. "Chair, window, lamp, door, shoes." I say, knowing he's trying to ground me. "Good. Now name three people in the house." "Jolly, Noah, Nicholas." He nods and places his face on the top of my head and starts to slowly sway us from side to side.

I can feel myself finally calming down, I can breath again. I close my eyes as I just allows the soothing motion to calm me. I feel so drained. I don't remember when, but I fell asleep.