Concealed

twelve

Noelle and I munched on our breakfast and sipped on our coffee all morning watching I Survived... which happened to be one of my favorite shows. We chatted a little amongst commercial breaks, and that was really our morning. I was grateful that she came back, adding some life to my Saturdays. I rarely do anything, because half of the time I'm recovering from my Friday night hangover.

"We should do something today," Noelle suggested after our show concluded.

"Oh yeah," I smirked at her. "Like what?"

"I don't know," she shrugged. "It's too cold to do a lot of things."

"What about ice skating?"

Her green eyes lit up, and she nodded her head. Her bruise stretched across her face, and she quickly went back to a neutral expression, relieving the pain.

"I love ice skating, I didn't even think about that."

I got up from the coach, carrying our trash with me, throwing it away. I got out the sticky notes and a pen and wrote a note to my dad.

Went out for the day, be home later.

-H

Not that he'd see it anyway, my subconscious reminded.

I gathered my keys and wallet as well as a navy beanie, my jacket, and some thick socks. We got into my car and I pulled into Noelle's driveway, turning off the ignition and following her inside.

"Harry you don't have to come inside," she said jamming the key into the knob and unlocking the door.

"Yeah, but I like your grandmother," I shrugged. She scoffed and rolled her eyes, and peeled away from my path, trotting up the steps. I walked down the tile lined floor into the kitchen where Janet was washing dishes at the sink. I cleared my throat.

"Need help," I offered. She jumped and turned around facing me, placing her hand over her chest.

"Well hello Harry," she smiled catching her breath.

"I didn't mean to scare you," I said walking towards the clean dishes on the rack. I grabbed the rag sitting next to it, and began to swipe the moisture off of the plates, glasses and silverware.

"Oh dear, you don't have to,"

"No it's my pleasure," I smiled.

"So, what brings you here," she smirked dunking a plate into the sudsy water, wiping it with a double textured blue sponge.

"Noelle and I are going ice skating," I shrugged.

"Ooh that sounds fun," she mocked in a gossipy middle school girl tone. "She needs to be back by ten though, she has to work later tonight."

"If you don't mind me asking," I said riding the glass from water. "What does Noelle do? She hasn't told me."

There was a long pause of silence, where she continued to dunk dishes and I continued to dry them.

"Harry, have you ever heard the saying, the less you know, the better you sleep?"

"No, I don't recall that one,"

"Well, it fits for this situation. Noelle hasn't told you for a reason. What she does is... Dangerous, if I put it simply. And since her-"

"Hi grandma," Noelle said sneaking behind her and planting a kiss on her cheek.

She now modeled a plum beanie, and a black pea coat, as well as black ripped jeans and thick socks with boots. She had a matching plum scarf snakes around her neck, and black gloves.

"I'll be back later," she spoke. "For work." Noelle tugged my arm, and I finished the last of the dishes following behind her.

"Nice seeing you again Harry!" Janet shouted.

"You too!"

And again, I was left confused, unanswered.

***

I paid for me and Noelle's skating admission as well as rental fee. We both got out skates and laced them up at a table. She didn't know how to tie hers, so I laced them up and wrapped them around the back of her ankles, bringing it around to the front to tie in a bow.

Once we were finished, we stood up and she gripped my bicep for support considering we were walking on cushioned floor, with narrow skates on. I learned she doesn't have the best balance or coordination. She tripped multiple times even though we weren't even on the ice yet.

I opened the rink door, and she slid on the ice, picking up her pace moving her right foot out, and balancing on her left for support. She can definitely skate better than she can walk.

She was far ahead of me, flying gracefully over the frozen water. By the time I was situated, she had already lapped me once, shaving the ice with her skates to slow her speed to meet me.

"Hey slow poke," she said poking my shoulder. I gripped the wall, mocking Noelle's foot actions. "I thought you knew how to skate?"

"I do, but it's been a while," I said clearing my throat. I regained my balance and eased off of the wall, skating freely.

She linked arms with mine, so we could skate together at the same pace. Other people were skating around us, enjoying the frozen atmosphere. The speakers came on and started blaring music.

Noelle sped up, dragging me behind her and I couldn't keep up resulting me to fall on my ass. She stopped, and laughed as soon as she saw me.

"Haha very funny, now help me," I said, sitting there helplessly. She slid over to me, grabbing my glove covered hands in hers and hoisted me up. I lost my balance again, just ending where I started. I just laid there, while people gave me dirty looks, maneuvering around me.

"Now I'm lying on the cold hard ground, oh!"

The song blasted through the speakers. Noelle laughed at the coincidence of the lyrics along with my actions. She helped me up once more, bringing me to my feet.

Maybe she's finally starting to warm up to me.

AUTHORS NOTE- lol at the little haylor reference I threw in there. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. But anyways, Sorry if this chapter sucked it's kind of a filler. Please comment and vote, I update faster that way. xx

-Shelby