Love & Carnage✗Noah Foster [2]

Chapter Twenty-Three//War Paint!

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"Happy one hundred years of lying to yourself."

--Brooke Maddox

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Okay, so I didn't leave the Grindhouse. I had nowhere to go on a Sunday. I sat outside of the cafe, and blended in when I saw Noah leave alone.

I was drinking my hot chocolate, and scrolling through my missed texts. Most were from my mom, others were from Brooke. I felt bad for ignoring them, but I was just not in the mood. I really wanted to see Katherine, I did. But... I couldn't bring myself to look at her in that hospital bed. And Brooke... I felt bad. I knew about Jake, and I knew that if I saw her face, I'd have to spill.

The side of my head was flicked and I jumped up to see Audrey. "Busted." Audrey sat in the chair beside me. I rolled my eyes. "So, you wanna tell me why you freaked out and left?" Audrey asked me. I sighed. "Not really." I whispered. "Is this about Noah and Zoe?" Audrey questioned me. I didn't answer her. "I don't want you to worry about that. I meant what I said in there. You two... you're really good together." Audrey told me. I smiled slightly. "I want Noah to be happy. And I just bring him down." I revealed. "I don't believe that." Audrey whispered. "Yeah? Well--"

"There you are!" Audrey and I jumped as we looked up to see Brooke stomping towards us. She pulled out the chair in front of us and sat in it. "Brooke--" I tried to say cautiously. "No! I have been trying to get ahold of you for two hours! Why're you screening?! And, I can't find Emma." Brooke listed, huffing as she sat. "Wasn't she supposed to be working this morning?" Brooke asked. "She was supposed to be working, but we haven't seen her." Audrey shrugged. Brooke continued to stare at me with wide, scared eyes. "Are you okay?" Audrey asked. "I, um..." Brooke sighed. "I think I might have messed up."

Audrey and I looked at each other, then back to Brooke. "That's ominous." I scoffed. "You're dark." Brooke looked at Audrey. "Like, in a good way. I feel like maybe you would understand."

"That's even more ominous." Audrey answered her. Brooke sighed and leaned in. "So, last night, I handcuffed Branson to a bed, threatened to castrate him with scissors, and then left him trapped in a hotel room." Brooke told. I couldn't help but snicker. "Yo--you, what?" I laughed. "You went full Hard Candy on Branson and left him chained to a bed?" Audrey asked in disbelief. "Yeah." Brooke answered. "I don't know, I was just trying to scare him. I thought he knew something about Jake." Brooke told us. Jake... Shut up, Arielle. Shut up. I tried to act as if nothing were wrong. "Is he still there?" I piped up. Brooke grabbed something from her purse. A pink stick thingy. "What the hell is that?" I whispered. "It's the key to the handcuffs." Brooke said. "Oh, wow." Audrey snickered. "I'm serious. Don't judge me."

"No, no, no. Trust me, I'm in no position to judge, but... we definitely need to do something about this." Audrey told. "Yeah. Definitely." I whispered.

xxx

"Hey, Foster. If anything happens to me, it probably has something to do with Seth Branson. Oh, and I have Arielle with me, too. So double for her." Audrey said to Noah's voicemail. She then hung up. I rolled my eyes. "Audrey!" I nudged her, as we walked down the hotel hallway. "Guys, you did not have to come with me, really." Brooke assured. She stopped us at the door that must've been where Branson was. "He's gonna be weak and exhausted." Audrey and I stared at her. "Don't judge me." Brooke scoffed. "Look, the point is... we can take him together. Right?" Brooke fiddled nervously with her car keys. "Just open the door." I nodded at her. She turned to the door that read 187. She stuck the card in the door, and unlocked it. Brooke pushed the door open slowly, and I closed my eyes, but peaked through my left eye. But when she opened it. It was just an empty hotel room. There was no Branson. I huffed and opened my eyes fully. "Wha...?" Brooke squealed. A watch laid in the middle of the bed. There was something familiar about it. It was Branson's. I knew it.

"No way." Brooke said. Before any of us could react, I began to pace the room. "Okay, this is bad. Not gonna lie." Audrey said. "But Branson was bound to escape eventually." Audrey assured Brooke. "Yeah, but where is he? And who is he telling about what I did?" Brooke cried. "And what is that bizarre little display about?" I pointed to the bed. Brooke's phone dinged, and she looked at it. "It's Branson." I stopped pacing and watched her. "He wants me to meet him later." Brooke sighed. "Either I apologize or he says he's gonna turn me in." Brooke sat on the end of the bed. "He's gonna turn you in? Oh, he is pissed." I felt my head spin. I did not wanna deal with Branson again. "He even put "apologize" in quotation marks." Brooke said. "Ew!" I commented. "Creep!" Audrey made a face as she said the word. "I have to go meet him, right?" Brooke turned to us. "I mean, convince him not to tell anyone about this?" Audrey sat beside her on the bed, as Brooke was near tears. "But you're not going alone." Brooke's phone dinged again. "Okay, odd." Brooke said. She showed her phone to Audrey and I stopped pacing to go see.

Seth Branson:

Meet me at the school. My old Office. 2 hours.

"He wants to meet you at the school." Audrey said in a calm voice. "That is so messed up!" I shouted.

"He's a known predator! What's wrong with him?!" Audrey added. "It's... where we used to hook up. I think it's his idea of nostalgia." Brooke said calmly. "Or the perfect place to exact his revenge." Audrey said. "He's such scum, Brooke!"

"And he gave me a "B" on my report card! Like, as if he actually read my essay on Hester Prynne! I bet that if I did what you did, I would've gotten an "A"!" I shouted. "Don't... don't spiral on me, okay?" Brooke looked at me. "Trust me, he's not worth the anger."

"Let's just get this over with, okay?" Audrey looked between Brooke and I. Audrey grabbed the stuff from the bed and guided Brooke and I out of the room.

Back in Audrey's room, we waited for the right time to go meet Branson. This time, Brooke was the one to do the pacing. Audrey laid on her bed, on her phone. "Noah's on a date-ish." Audrey told Brooke. "Whatever it is, it seems to be going well 'cause he's not answering!" I snapped, throwing my phone down on Audrey's dresser. Brooke and Audrey both looked at me. "What?" I rolled my eyes. "Arielle, if you didn't want Noah to go on this date, you should've just said something." Brooke told me. "What was I gonna say? 'Oh, I don't want you dating anyone else but me, but I don't wanna date right now, because I already broke up with you.... are you good with that?'" I said, replaying the scenario in my head. "Well, I wouldn't say that." Audrey trailed off. I shook my head. "Nobody cares about that right now. What are you going to say to Branson? It's almost time."

Brooke began to apply red lipstick to her lips in the mirror. Something about the lipstick made my stomach turn. Audrey sat up on her bed. "Are you seriously putting lipstick on for that jerk?" Brooke turned around to look at Audrey. "This is war paint." Brooke told her, turning back to the mirror. "Look, if Branson starts getting weird, just deny that the hotel thing ever happened, okay?" Audrey coached her. "It's Branson we're talking about. No one's gonna believe him." I added. "Well, this town always believes the worst about my family and this happens to be true."

"Seriously, Brooke, just lie." I told her. "Trust me, guys. I know from experience with my dad. The longer you lie about something, the worse it gets." Brooke said. Brooke turned back to the mirror, and I looked at Audrey with a knowing look. Something along the lines of "Tell her. Tell Emma."

Audrey rolled her eyes at me, and looked down at her phone. My phone chimed suddenly and I turned to the dresser to get it. I unlocked it to see that it was a text from Unknown.

UNKNOWN:

Hi, Arielle.

Come to the school with Audrey.

I miss you two.

Or Brooke gets this.

It was a GIF of Audrey and I picking the tacs off of Jake's dead body. I looked up at Audrey, who was already looking at me. She gave me wide eyes. My phone chimed again.

UNKNOWN:

What will she think?

"Who is that?" Brooke asked me. "Oh... uh, my mom." I lied."Okay." Brooke said to herself in the mirror. "Time to go." She started towards the door, when I grabbed her arm. "You sure you wanna do this?"

"Yes, I have to. Come with me or don't." I released Brooke's arm and she turned and left the room, Audrey and I following after her.