Home and Holidays

chapter 15

Once they arrived at David and Lisa's house, Noah got out of the car, wanting to sigh in frustration when Rebecca also got out of the car and walked with him up to the front door, the rain having already let up by now.

Noah watched as Rebecca rung the doorbell with a smug look on her face, the door soon being opened by David.

"Noah, there you are. Where have you been? Are you ok?" David instantly questioned, relieved to see Noah.

But before Noah could even utter a word, Rebecca spoke up instead. "Excuse me, your son here was in the grocery store that I work at, and he was trying to steal food or something. He claimed that he didn't want to walk home in the rain, so I gave him a ride home. He's lucky I didn't call security on him." she outrageously claimed. "If I were you, I'd teach your son that it's not ok to steal. Or to lie about it. You don't want him growing up to be a spoiled, ungrateful brat who thinks he's entitled to everything, or doesn't know right from wrong." she rudely added.

Noah wasn't even looking David in the eye as he tried not to freak out about how Rebecca kept on referring to him as David's son. It made Noah nervous, since he hoped desperately that David wouldn't get upset and immediately deny the assumptions, or even deny knowing him at all. But Noah was surprised when he heard David's response.

"Um, excuse me, I don't appreciate you making assumptions about my kid, especially not when you're also insulting his character. Noah's a very grateful person and he knows right from wrong just fine." David stated, his voice remaining steady and calm, yet also firm and assertive. He directed his attention to Noah next. "Noah, is that true what she said you did? Were you stealing something from the grocery store?" he checked, purposely wanting to hear Noah's side of the story.

"No, of course not. That's not what happened at all, I promise. it was a misunderstanding because I wasn't buying anything." Noah said. He hadn't expected David to stand up for him like that, but he appreciated it more than ever.

"Yeah, that's what I figured. that makes a lot more sense." David replied, but he was glaring at Rebecca as he said it, causing her to scoff in annoyance as she looked completely appalled. "Come on inside, Noah. It's chilly out there." he told Noah, ushering him inside the house.

"Kids his age steal all the time and don't admit to it. Of course he's going to tell you that he didn't do it. But how do you know he isn't lying?" Rebecca smugly said, placing her hand on her hip.

"Noah doesn't steal. And I trust his word, if he says he didn't do it, then I believe him. He's an honest person." David confidently spoke.

"Well.... I'm sure a lot of parents think that way about their kids." Rebecca remarked, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, I'd hope so." David replied. "Listen, Rebecca," he said, reading her name tag that she was still wearing. "I appreciate you giving Noah a ride home. But what I don't appreciate is you insulting him and making degrading accusations about him even after he clearly told you they aren't true, and you have no real reason to believe otherwise." David sharply said.

"How would you know if I have a reason to believe otherwise?"

"Did you actually see him take anything?"

"Well, I mean, no, but-" Rebecca stammered.

"Well then, I think that you owe him an apology." David said, stepping to the side a little so that Rebecca was now looking directly at Noah. She let out a hefty sigh of exasperation before speaking.

"Fine. Noah, I apologize. I shouldn't have said those things about you." she forced herself to say, almost mumbling as she was now the one embarrassed.

"Thanks.... It's ok." Noah awkwardly replied.