Noelle||Jordan Parrish

Chapter 18

I groan in annoyance and wipe the light layer of sweat off my forehead. I glare at my boyfriend, who is standing across from me, a smirk on his face. I go at him again, bringing my fists towards him, only to have each of them blocked. We've been at this for about an hour, he started with teaching me the proper way to punch and kick, and now we're onto the hand to hand combat.
"Arms up. This way you can block attacks to your face and your head while always keeping your eyes on your enemy. Ready?" He asks once I have my arms up my my face. I nod and we begin again. He swings two punches, and a kick my way, to which I successfully block, until the fourth hit, when he hits me lightly in the head, letting me know I didn't cover my face well enough. I let another groan of annoyance, backing up from him.
"It's alright. You're not going to be perfect after only a few tries." He reassures me.
I let out a sigh, pushing a few stray hairs from my face,"I'm okay. Keep going."
His face grows slightly concerned,"You sure? Maybe we should stop after a few."
I frown in confusion,"Why?"
"I don't want your stitches to get un-stitched." He says with a smile.
I shoot him a reassuring smile,"They're fine." I unzip my jacket, and show him my bandage. "See? No blood." I say as pull off my jacket completely, leaving me in a bra and leggings. This causes Jordan to take his off too, his muscles flexing as he does so. I can't help but admire him, he's ridiculously attractive.
"Ready when you are." I tell him, holding my hands up, a wave of determination running through me.
We start again, and I do pretty well at dodging his punches. That is until he grabs me, pulling me into his chest, facing away from him. He wraps his arms around me and picks me up, pulling me back like I weigh nothing.
"What did you do wrong?" He asks, his mouth by my ear.
"Uh, I forgot to keep my arms up." I reply wincing slightly.
"Right. But don't worry. Your muscles have memory. With enough practice, they'll remember for you." He tells me as I lean into his touch, not really able to concentrate on what he's saying. My senses are in overdrive with his warm arms wrapped around my waist, and his hot breath on the side of my neck, sending shivers down my spine. I let out the breath I was holding, resting my head on his shoulder. I dare to move my gaze to meet his, to see his eyes filled with lust. He swiftly turns me around, pulling me flush against him, leaning down so my lips meet his. We move in sinc as I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him closer.
He pulls away,"Jump." He instructs, his voice lower than I've ever heard it. I comply jumping up and wrapping my legs around his waist, my lips meeting his again. I feel his hands run up my thighs, sending shivers down my spine once again. I feel my back collide lightly with a hard surface. We begin moving, and soon we're in his bedroom.
After that, we get dressed, and begin again, training that is. He teaches me more moves, and soon I get better, and I'm able to almost keep up with him. Now the sun was beginning to set, and we both were pretty tired.
"Alright, that's enough for the day. Let's go find something to eat." He says, panting slightly.
I nod,"I'm gonna take a quick shower."
He nods, and I go into the bathroom and take quick shower before getting dressed in one of his black t-shirts, knowing we probably won't go anywhere. The rest of the pack is at Scott's house reading the book, but since I've already read it, I decided to stay here.
I walk into the kitchen, the smell of pizza engulfs me. "It smells amazing in here." I say, making my presence known.
He looks over at me smiling,"Have I told you how great you look in my clothes?"
I smile,"Only a few times."
He walks over to me, wrapping his arms around my waist, pulling me closer. "I love you."
I smile even wider,"I love you too."
After we eat, he takes a shower, then we watch a movie, then head to bed.
I run as fast as my legs could take me, Scott ahead of us, Stiles and Lydia running right beside me.
"Noelle...Lydia, I can't." I hear Stiles say, I turn around and see him falling to the ground. I worried about him deeply, and I could feel the pain he was feeling, making me worry more. I looked up and saw Scott continue to run down the long corridor. I desperately wanted to help Kira, Allison, and Issac, but I had to stay here with Stiles. I had just gotten him back, and I wasn't about to lose him again.
I turned back to Stiles, tears forming in my eyes as he struggles to keep his eyes open. His skin was deathly pale, he had huge bags under his eyes, and somehow, he looked worse than when the nigutsune was inside of him.
"Stiles, keep your eyes open. You have to stay awake." I tell him, shaking his shoulder to keep him from closing his eyes. But it was inevitable, soon his eyes drooped shut, and Lydia pulled me into a hug. I check his pulse, breathing a sigh of relief when I felt it. It was really weak, but it was there, and that was all that mattered.
Suddenly my heart drops in my chest as I feel myself being torn from reality, and brought to where Allison, Kira, and Issac were fighting the Oni. A couple of them had Issac surrounded, and were about to kill him. Until Allison shoots her final bow, striking one of the Oni in the chest. His sword clatters to the ground as he soon disappears. She smiles in victory, until another one of the Oni puts his sword through her stomach. "Allison!" I scream.
I am then pulled back to the tunnel with Stiles and Lydia. I hear Lydia's loud scream, she's screaming Allison's name, and I then know, one of my best friends was about to die. I am now full on sobbing, as I look down at my stomach, and I can see a large amount of my own warm blood, seeping though my shirt. In all my times of enduring the pain my pack has felt, I've never actually physically had their wound. I couldn't feel her pain, but I could see the wound was there was there. I sob even louder when the wound stops bleeding and my skin goes back to normal. At that point I knew, I knew that one of my best friends, an amazingly strong and kind girl that I was honored to call my best friend was gone. I lay my head on Stiles' chest beside Lydia, sobbing loudly, feeling my heart get ripped in two.
"Noelle!" Someone yells, shaking me.
I shoot up straight, heart pounding wildly, and tears falling freely down my face. I look over to see Jordan sitting up next to me, a concerned look on his face. He pulls me into a hug, rubbing my back trying to get me to calm down. "Shh baby, it was just a dream."
I shake my head, more tears falling down and I pull away to face him,"No it wasn't. It was real."
He frowns in confusion,"What do you mean."
I take a deep breath, stopping myself from crying. "I used to have nightmares about it all the time, but they eventually went away after a while, but ever since I read that damn book about the Dread Doctors, the night that Allison died keeps running through my mind. It's been haunting my dreams, this one was the most vivid I've had, it was like I was reliving it all over again."
He pulls me into another hug and we stay like this for a long time. I hold him tightly, him hugging me is comforting me more than anything he could say would, and I think he knows that too. I'm so great full for him in this moment, and I snuggle up closer to him, thanking God for giving me him. He's my refuge.
"You know, I remember that day." I hear him say after a while.
I pull away and look up at him frowning in confusion,"What?"
He nods,"You, Lydia, Scott, and Issac came to the station after it happened, so we could question you. I questioned you guys, and I remember that you were hugging your Dad, crying as I talked to Scott and Issac. I felt for you guys, and I knew how you felt. I knew you guys were around the age that I was when my Dad died. All I wanted to do was hug you myself, and tell you I knew how you felt."
I shuddered thinking of the memory, that was definitely one of the worst days of my life. "I wish I would have gotten to know you sooner." I tell him.
He smiles wiping the tears from my face,"I do too, but I'm I got to know you. When I first moved here, I didn't have any friends. Everyday I went to work, and went home, the same thing, and it got lonely. Look at me know." I smiled thinking back to the day we officially met. It wasn't that long ago, but I feel like I've been with him forever, in a good way. "Lets go back to bed, you've got school tomorrow."
I let out a groan, laying my head on his chest. "Don't remind me."
My eyelids get heavier, and soon I fall back asleep in the arms of the man I love...I sound like a total cheeseball.
I groan in annoyance as I hear my alarm go off. I get out of bed, feeling cold when I leave Jordan's chest.
I grab my bag and go into the bathroom, getting dressed in a maroon long sleeve with a criss-cross pattern on my chest, dark wash ripped skinny jeans, and some tan heeled boots.
Once I'm finished getting ready, I walk out into the kitchen, seeing Jordan dressed in his uniform, holding two granola bars in his hand. I grab my bag and my phone walking up to him. He hands me one of the granola bars,"We're running a bit late this morning, sorry I couldn't make breakfast."
I shake my head smiling,"It's ok, really."
We both go to our cars, saying our goodbyes, before heading our separate ways.
"What if we need some kind of trigger? Wasn't Malia driving when she remembered the crash?" Scott asks as him, Kira, Stiles, and I walk through the hallway.
"Yeah, but how are we supposed to trigger a memory that we don't remember?" Stiles asks.
"Maybe it's a delayed thing. Maybe you have to wait a couple hours to see what happens." Scott suggests.
I shake my head,"I finished it before we went to Eichen House, and I'm not getting anything."
The lights flicker above us, causing us to stop and look up, frowning in confusion. We turn to Kira, questioning looks on our faces. She shakes her head,"That wasn't me, I swear."
"We have to keep an eye on each other today, okay." I suggest.
"Yes, and keep an eye out for eight other potentially homicidal Chimeras," Stiles adds.
"And keep an eye out for the Dread Doctors." Kira continues.
Scott, Kira, and I walk off, heading in the direction of AP Bio. "Starting to see the appeal of a third eye." Stiles calls out.
"So, while introducing the African cane toad sounded like a good way to deal with Australia's infestation of the gray-backed beetle, unfortunately, the toad also decided to eat everything else in sight. And everything that tried to eat the toad, from crocodiles to household pets, quickly died from the poison they secreted. A perfect example of an invasive species. One hundred and two toads introduced in 1935 became 1.5 billion by 2010. Once an invasive species is introduced, everything changes." Mrs. Finch explains.
Suddenly Sydney stands up abruptly, grabbing her stuff, and making her way to the front of the room. She sets down a drop form on Mrs. Finch's desk.
"Wise decision, Sydney." She says to her, causing Sydney to run out.
Lydia gets up walks to the front, ready to follow after her. "Lydia, you know it's for the best."
Lydia nods, but heads out of the room anyway. I wanted to follow her out, but I knew Lydia could handle this herself, so I sat through the rest of class.
After class, I follow Theo and Scott to Lydia's mom's office to see her lying on the ground unconscious.
"Lydia," I say, shaking her shoulders.
Her eyes shoot open, and she looks up at us. "Are you okay?" Scott asks, grabbing her hand to stop it from shaking.
"I'm okay. I'm fine." She tells us, sitting up.
"You remembered something." Theo states.
"Not about the Dread Doctors. Nothing about them or the surgery." She tells us.
"What was it?" I ask as Theo and Scott help her up off the ground.
"My grandmother. At Eichen House." Lydia starts. She stops when her mother and Sydney run into the room.
"Lydia! Oh my God, what happened? Are you alright?" She asks Lydia, who is now sitting down in a chair.
"Mom, I'm fine. It was nothing." Lydia replies.
"Was it a blackout? Did you faint?" Her mother asks.
"Yeah. Yeah, I fainted. Mom, I'm fine. I promise." Lydia replies.
"Okay, then what are we doing here if you've already had your suppressed memory?" Stiles asks as we get out of Lydia's car, which is parked outside the hospital.
"It wasn't the right memory. I remembered my grandmother in Eichen House. There was nothing to do with the surgery, nothing to do with the Dread Doctors. So if I've read the book, why don't I have the full memory of my experience with them?" Lydia asks.
"We're not supposed to know that, are we?" Stiles asks.
"No, something happened during the surgery. And now it think maybe it has more to do with me being a Banshee. It's not my memory, guys. It's someone else's." Lydia tells us.
We then make our way to the exact operating room Lydia was in.
"Can you turn the light on?" Lydia asks.
He goes over to the light switch, flipping them on, but nothing happens. "In, not going on."
Lydia sighs in annoyance,"Ask someone."
"Okay, I thought this was more of an auditory thing." I state, confused.
"I still want to see what I'm hearing." She replies.
"Makes sense," Stiles mutters, before pulling me out of the room with him.
We find our way to Melissa, who I'm really happy to see, seeing that I haven't seen her in a while. "We've been having issues for the last hour. Maintenance is coming to check it out. For now that floor is down to back-up lighting. I thought you said this was more of a hearing thing." She stated as we follow her down the hall, stopping in front of a random room.
"Auditory, yeah." I state.
"It's also a Lydia thing," Stiles adds as Melissa walks away.
Stiles and I go into the elevator, ready to go back to see how Lydia is doing. As soon as the door closes, I see the reflection of a woman, with dark brown hair over her head, and she's in a hospital gown.
I elbow Stiles lightly, trying to get his attention. By the time he notices her, the elevator opens, and she slides past us, walking away.
"Lets follow her," I tell him, before slowing following the woman. I get a quick glimpse of her face, and my heart begins to beat fast as I realize who it is.
"Mom." Stiles and I say in sinc.
We continue to follow her, ending up on the stairs to the roof. We push open the door, and walk outside. Our mother is standing by the edge of the roof, faced away from us.
"Mom?" I call out as we walk closer.
"Mom, what are you doing?" Stiles asks.
"Claudia?" I hear a voice from behind me say. Our Dad walks around us, not acknowledging us at all, and walks towards our Mom. "What are you doing up there?" He asks calmly, walking closer to her.
"I couldn't stand to be in that room anymore. Not with them looking at me like that." She says while waking up to him.
"Claudia..."
"They're trying to hurt me. I don't care if you don't believe me, but they are. Stiles, Noelle, they're trying to kill me." Claudia tell him, whimpering. Tears begin to form in my eyes, as I feel Stiles grip my hand. How could she think that?
"No, that's not true. Come here." Our Dad says, pulling her into a hug. He lets out a sigh,"You have to remind yourself that it's the disease. Remember what the dementia does? It gives you delusions. It makes you think that people are out to get you."
"You don't see the way they look at me." Our mother says, shaking her head.
"Claudia, they're 10 and 11 years old." He says to her.
"They're trying to kill me." She says before looking over at us. I wipe the tears that have fallen from my eyes.
"Stop looking at me like that. Stop it! Stop looking at me!" She yells before running at us.
She begins attacking us, and we try to block her hits. "Mom!" Stiles yells, but it does nothing.
"Mom, please stop!" I yell, as more tears fall down my face.
She tackles us to the ground, and soon the image of her attacking us flashes to this werewolf on top of us, and that's when I realize it was just an illusion. But my heart still hurt. It was bad enough having to loose our mother at a young age, but to have memories of that as the last time we saw her, is worse. Stiles and I try and get away, as the werewolf, who we thought was our mom, continues to lash at us. Suddenly Theo comes in, and begins fighting it. That's when I see the flashes of electricity, this must be a Chimera. Stiles pulls me away from the electric sparks, as we continue to watch the fight in front of us. We watch as Theo grabs the Chimera's throat, and pulling out, severing his main artery. He falls to the ground dying as we look at him in shock.
"Stiles, Noelle, you can't say anything. Please don't say anything." Theo begs as I look at his hand, which is coated in the Chimera's blood.
"Why not?" Stiles asks.
"Because I never said anything about Donovan."
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Thank you guys for reading! I couldn't resist, I put extra Joelle in this chapter, developing their relationship to a new level!! I have big plans for the rest of the season, and more. Please don't forget to comment, telling me how you feel, and vote. I can't tell you how much it means to me when I see that someone commented or voted, so keep it up! Thanks
-S