Home and Holidays

chapter 19

"Bryce?" Noah said in disbelief, causing both both Ella and Bryce to look over at him.

"Noah? You know him?" Ella asked Noah in confusion.

Noah sighed. "Yeah, I know him." he admitted.

That's when Bryce spoke up. "Yeah, I've let him stay over at my house a couple times because he didn't wanna be at home or something. I try to do nice things like that when I can." he claimed, purposely trying to make himself sound good in front of Ella.

Noah tried hard not to roll his eyes at that, knowing that Bryce had conveniently left out any details about that topic that would make him look even remotely bad.

"I mean, I'd rather have you in my house though if you get what I'm saying." Bryce flirted with Ella, smirking at her as he moved closer to her. He didn't seem to notice or care that Ella had awkwardly moved back a little, becoming visibly uncomfortable with his advances on her.

Noah, however, instantly noticed and was quick to put distance between them. "Hey, give her some space, Bryce." he said, gently moving Ella away from him as he stepped in front of her.

"I didn't hear her complaining." Bryce arrogantly countered, crossing his arms.

"That's because you're too busy focusing on hitting on her, and you aren't paying any attention to how she feels. Can you not tell that you're making her uncomfortable?" Noah reacted, clearly upset.

"Chill out, alright? I was just walking around the area and I saw her and wanted to say hi. You act like I was being disrespectful to her or something. What's it to you anyway? She's your little friend or something?" Bryce said.

"She's my best friend, and she's even more than that to me." Noah firmly stated. He wasn't exactly sure how to describe his current relationship status with Ella, since they were technically 'dating', but they weren't officially girlfriend and boyfriend yet. "The way that you were talking to her was disrespectful, Bryce. Maybe you're used to talking to girls that way all the time, but you're not gonna talk to Ella like that. Not if I have anything to say about it." he continued.

"Look, it's cool that she's so important to you or whatever, but I can talk to whoever I want." Bryce rudely claimed.

"Yeah, well, not her. Not like that." Noah sharply said. "I'm not gonna let her be mistreated by you. I've seen the way you treat girls, and it's not right. No girl should be disrespected like that."

Bryce rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Oh please, how would you even know what girls like? You've never even had a girlfriend, probably never brought a girl over to your house in your life. You're too conservative for your own good."

Noah paused for a moment, his face heating up as he suddenly remembered that Ella was standing not too far behind him, hearing this entire conversation. He took a deep breath to calm himself before speaking. "I don't need to sleep around with a bunch of girls to know that they deserve to be respected." he replied.

Bryce seemed visibly annoyed by Noah's response, letting out a dry, sarcastic chuckle before speaking. "So that's why you're upset that I was talking to her? Because you think I was just trying to get her to sleep with me?"

"I didn't say that, but you kind of implied it with the things you were saying about her body. I heard the way you were speaking to her, I'm not stupid, Bryce." Noah reacted, feeling extra protective of Ella as he glared daggers at Bryce.

"You're not stupid? Yeah, says the guy who dropped out of school for no reason because he knew he wouldn't graduate. but yeah sure, you're not stupid." Bryce sarcastically remarked, just resorting to insults now.