Home and Holidays

chapter 25

After all of the cleaning was done, David, Lisa, and Noah were finally headed home. Noah had asked Ella to take the canvas and art supplies home with her so David and Lisa wouldn't see it. He wanted it to be a complete surprise to them, since he was going to use that to make a Christmas gift for them.

"We're so proud of you, Noah. Valerie told us about people wanting to buy your paintings." David mentioned on the drive home.

"And she also told us that you donated the money from it to the church and the fundraiser. That was such a kind thing to do. I can't tell you how proud I am." Lisa said, glancing back at Noah with a smile.

"Thanks, guys. I just felt like it was the right thing to do. I see why you guys volunteer for the community so much, it feels nice helping out." Noah stated.

"It's a good thing we all ended up volunteering at the same place too, I feel like that's what brought the three of us closer together." Lisa happily pointed out.

"Um by the way.... about that.... I feel like I should tell you guys...." Noah trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck as he grew nervous. "The truth is.... that day that I told you guys I was at the community center to volunteer for the fundraiser, I.... I kind of made that up last minute. The real reason I was there was for the food drive. I was just trying to get something to eat, because I knew if I didn't, then I wouldn't be eating at all that day. But I didn't want to tell you guys that, since I thought you might judge me, or ask a ton of questions about my situation." he confessed, looking down at his hands.

David and Lisa looked at each other with subtle, understanding smiles on their faces. "We know." David told Noah.

"What?" Noah asked, sounding completely surprised.

"We knew that you were there for the food drive that day. We saw you take some cans off of the shelves, and the fact that nobody came to pick you up from the community center the night before kind of told us something was up." David gently explained. "But we didn't say anything about it because we didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable. I'm just glad that you did go through with volunteering there. I feel like it turned out really great." he said, giving Noah a warm smile through the rearview mirror.

"Me too." Noah replied, finally smiling himself.

Noah spent the next couple days doing things with David and Lisa to get ready for Christmas, like putting up last minute decorations, and shopping for groceries to make Christmas dinner. And soon enough, Christmas Eve had arrived, and Noah had realized that he hadn't finished or even started on making David and Lisa's Christmas gift. So today he was going over to Ella's house to do just that, telling David and Lisa that he was just going there to hang out with Ella.

"Thanks again for letting me work on this painting here, Ella. I want to make sure it's a complete surprise to David and Lisa." Noah said once he arrived at Ella's house. The two of them were currently in Ella's room now seated on the floor next to each other, the canvas right in front of them on the floor along with various paintbrushes and jars of paint right next to it.

"You're welcome. This is such a creative gift idea. I can't wait to see it when it's done." Ella excitedly replied.

"It might take a while, I know exactly how I want it to turn out but I can't rush it." Noah said, staring at the blank canvas with anticipation.

"Do you want me in here while you paint? Or do you need me to leave? I don't want to mess up your creative process by distracting you." Ella checked. As much as she loved being around Noah all the time, she didn't want to intrude.

"No, you can stay." Noah instantly replied with a smile, overthinking his words a little afterwards, hoping he didn't sound too clingy. "I mean, if you're ok with that of course. I'd prefer if you stayed but I don't want to bore you. This'll probably take a couple hours." he swiftly added.