Another Reason To Live (Watty Awards 2014)

Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

"So where have you been all day?" Noah asked me as I walked through the kitchen. He was standing at the counter, layering sliced turkey and lettuce onto some bread.  

I sat on the counter next to his sandwich station and grabbed a piece of lettuce. "I was out taking a walk." 

"A three hour walk?" he asked with a hint if suspicion in his voice. He glanced up at me with his eyebrows raised.  

I shrugged. "It's nice outside." 

He layered some more lettuce as he replied, "Or do you mean that you went and saw Gerard?" 

I paused my chewing on the piece of lettuce as Noah said this. He immediately took this as a sign of affirmation, so a wide smile spread on his face.  

"Ooh, does Scarlette have a little boyfriend?" he teased.  

"He's not my boyfriend," I quickly replied, "he's a friend." 

"Mhm," he murmered as he finally finished his sandwich and reached past me to a cabinet to get an empty cup. "You spend an awful lot of time with him." 

"You know why I am," I replied quietly.  

Noah glanced at me again as he filled the blue cup with water from the tap. I could see that he regretted what he said, but I knew that he didn't mean to touch on the sore subject.  

"Okay, fine, I did see him today," I changed the subject, "but he found me when I was on my walk." 

"He found you?" 

"He was driving by and saw me." I explained.  

Noah nodded and smiled. "So where'd you two go?" 

I followed him out of the kitchen and to the table. He sat at the end of the polished table, while I seated myself next to him.  

"He took me to an abandoned park. We sat on the play equipment and he showed me some of his artwork." I recalled, although it happened just a short while ago.  

"An artist, is he?" Noah replied as he took a sip of water.  

I nodded and thought of all of the different pieces of artwork that he had made. "He drew one of Batman and one of a little boy at a piano, and he even drew me." 

Noah smiled a sincere smile at me before picking up his sandwich. "It seems like he really cares about you." he commented before taking a bite. I smiled a little, but didn't say anything, since he was eating.  

After Gerard had shown me the drawing of me that he made, he let me watch him as he quickly sketched the platform we were on, with our legs stretched out towards the bottom of the page. I was fascinated by how well he drew and how creatively he thought.  

We ended up laying down side by side on the platform, just talking as the gray clouds passed overhead.  

"I want you to meet him soon," I said, suddenly remembering how I had met Mikey and how Gerard never met Noah.  

Mid bite, Noah seemed somewhat startled by my sudden exclamation. "Who? Gerard?" 

I nodded. "I'd like you to meet him. I think you'd understand why I like being with him." 

He chewed thoughtfully before replying, "Of course. I'd love to meet him." 

I couldn't help but smile. "When are you free?" 

"Um," he hummed as he looked away in thought. For a moment, we sat there in silence as he thought and swallowed his food.  

"Well I'm busy this weekend, and then this afternoon I'm going to Monica's house to see her new dog, so I don't really know." he replied, squinting as he answered as if it were written in tiny letters in front of him.