half a heart » noah foster

two

"oh my god, aurora?" brooke's eyes widened as she stood up to hug me. i hugged the girl who was formerly my best friend.
"hi, brooke." i said, and she pulled out of the hug.

"how are you holding up?" she asked.
"i'm not holding up. at all." i shook my head, being honest.
"aw, rory." brooke frowned.

i looked past brooke to see two girls and two guys. one of the girls i recognized.
"you're emma, right?" i asked, attempting to smile at her. she nodded.

"yeah, and you're will's sister, aurora." she stated.
"will talked about you as if you put the stars in the sky." i joked, remembering how happy she seemed to make my brother.

her lips curled up into a delicate smile.
"oh, and this is audrey, noah, and kieran." brooke said, pointing to each one.
i looked at all three of them.

"are all belmonts just naturally attractive people?" the girl, audrey, asked. i smiled at her, feeling heat rush to my cheeks.
"so...how did you guys know will?" i asked, sitting in between emma and jake.

"we all went to gwhs." the one who brooke said was kieran answered. i looked at him and nodded.
"i went there, but only for half of my freshman year." i said, hoping that no one asked why i only went for half.

"why'd you move away?" noah asked, looking at me. i started to think about the incident that happened, how everything happened.

"i don't really like to talk about it." i said, looking down at my hands. i felt a hand rest against my knee, and i looked up to see brooke's hand on my knee.

"its okay, rory." she said with a comforting smile.
"i'm sorry, i didn't mean to say anything to trigger any bad memories." noah said.

"no, its fine. i need to go to the bathroom anyways, i'll be back." i said, leaving the patio. walking inside jake fitzgerald's house, i found the bathroom and went inside.

i took a deep breath in as i stared at myself in the mirror.
"you're going to be okay. you can trust these people. if they were will's friends, they can be yours too." i spoke to myself.

i opened the door to leave out of the bathroom only to be greeted by noah.
"hi, again." noah said.
"hi." i responded.

"i'm really sorry for asking you that question, aurora." noah said.
"noah, its fine." i said. we walked back onto the patio and rejoined with the group.

"so, aurora, let's get you all caught up." brooke said, and everyone turned to look at me.