Hacker

Chapter Nine

"So you can hack a bank no pro—"

"Keep your voice down, you idiot. Someone might hear you. Do you want me to get arrested?" I scolded Noah.

"Right. Sorry." He lowered his voice. "My point is, you're some kind of hacker extraordinaire. Can't you, like, speed up the flight a little? Or at least make the wait more interesting. I'm thinking you make all of the speakers in the whole airport play Heathens by Twenty One Pilots."

I rolled my eyes. "It doesn't work like that. And I'm not going to use my hacking skills on something like playing Heathens across the whole airport. Every time I hack, I risk getting caught and I don't wanna go to jail because I played Heathens across the whole airport."

"Worth it." Noah said.

I ignored him. "Anyways, what's your specialty? You have to have one," I asked.

"Combat." Noah said. "Don't worry, though, darlin'. I won't ever use my skills on you. I would never hit a girl- especially one as beautiful as you."

I slapped him across the face, attracting a couple glances, including one from a nearby police officer.

Worth it.

Noah rubbed his cheek, which was now red. He looked at me with a look of sudden awe and admiration. "Wow, darlin', you can pack a punch."

"Don't call me that." I gritted my teeth.

"Sorry, sweetheart." He said, teasingly.

I was tempted to slap him again, but I didn't like the look that police officer gave me the first time. So, I refrained.

We were currently sitting down in the airport, waiting for our flight (if you hadn't gathered that already). Noah is incredibly impatient and a huge pain in the neck, but of course I already knew that. He's giving me a headache just listening to him whine out of boredom. He's like a little kid.

"I'm bored." Noah informed me for the ten thousandth time.

"I know." I rolled my eyes. "You know, you're a real pain in the a—"

"Love you too."

"I despise you."

"Well, aren't you just a sweetheart?" Noah's tone was dripping with sarcasm.

"Ross, I'm about as much of a sweetheart as you are modest." I said.

"You know the relationship is serious when she calls you by your last name." Noah smirked.

"We're not in a relationship, Noah." I sighed.

"Shut it. We're OTP." Noah said.

"Quite the fangirl, are we?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Fanboy, thank you very much." Noah said. "However, it's been years since I was last addicted to something. I used to love DC Comics... However, that was before... everything."

I nodded in understanding. "What was your life like? Back then?"

"Well, I lived with my mom and my younger sister. A couple months after my sister, Sadie, was born, my dad left my mom and found a house in a different state, completely leaving us behind. No contact, no visits, nothing. I was four. I didn't understand. I blamed it on myself. My mom raised Sadie and me on her own from then on, and it was just the three of us. We were a happy family. I loved Sadie with everything I had. I mean, sure, we had our arguments, but... She was the best sister I could ever ask for." Noah said, looking down at the floor.

He used past tense when talking about his sister.

"Your sister, Sadie... Where is she now?" I asked.

Noah swallowed. "Heaven."

"Noah, I'm so sorry..." I apologized.

"She was diagnosed with cancer when she was nine. She died a year later, just after her tenth birthday." Noah bit his lip. Then, he looked up at me with an obviously forced smile. "Anyways, what about you? Surely you've got a story."

I shrugged. "Not really. Just the typical orphan story. My parents died when I was really young. I spent my life running away from orphanage after orphanage and living as a starving thief on the streets until John took me in. When John... died.... I went back to my old habits."

"Wow." Noah said. "I'm sorry."

"Look, I appreciate the pity, but it's not wanted." I shrugged. "I'm used to not having a family."

"You could join the Alliance." Noah said. "We would be your family."

"Nice family. They all got themselves arrested and there's probably no hope of getting them back, and the one that's not in jail is a complete and utter imbecile." I snapped.

A flash of pain shot over Noah's face. He tried to hide it, to mask it, but I could tell that my outburst had hurt him.

I had gone too far.

"Noah, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to— I went too far." I said.

"You got that right." Noah said coldly.

"I'm sorry." I repeated.

Noah ignored me.

"Flight 102 is now boarding. I repeat, Flight 102 is now boarding." The loudspeaker came on, announcing our flight.

Noah got up without a word and boarded the plane, with me following silently, because I knew he wouldn't listen to anything I said.