"I will always love you."
4. love song
day IV: the deal.
its been a long, boring four days. i havent gone anywhere, besides the living room to watch tv or the kitchen to devour whatever was left in there. but, lately, the only thing on my mind was college and preparing for it. i wasnt the smartest in my school but, i was very intelligent nonetheless. so, i was semi-surprised to find out that i made it to my dream college. stanford university.
ironically, ive always dreamed of becoming a successful psychologist, helping others with their mentally instabilities and really getting to know what makes a person what they are today.
but, that dream would never become even half-way successful without a college education. therefore, ive been really putting a lot of time and effort into making this whole college thing work. unfortunately, i cant legally attend a college because of my...yknow...criminal record. but, fortunately, i have a master-minded and well renowned counterspy. so, we both agreed that with my new appearance and a little more work when the time comes, it will be best for me to change both my name and background information when i go to college.
so far, our plan has worked successfully. as far as stanford knows, i am 18 year old, jade valentine. lets just see how long i can keep this act up before someone starts to recognize me.
"come on, kid! you may hate me but you know you cant resist jughead jones!" paul shouted up at me from the first level. and as bad as i wanted to prove him wrong...he was right. im unhealthily obsessed with riverdale and a single episode missed will leave me in an enormous and very dramatic depression.
so, almost immediately after he announced that, i threw my covers off of my body, followed by my legs being thrown off of the sides of my bed. and from there, i jumped out of the comfort of my bed and sprinted out of my room and down the stairs, eventually belly flopping onto the living room sofa.
paul laughed at my ridiculous actions as he took a seat right next to me on the leather cushion, holding his bowl of freshly popped corn in his hands as he then took the remote into his possession soon after. then, he raised the remote up and clicked the power button, moments later, revealing a half naked odell beckam jr in the shower as he acted beautifully in a head and shoulders commercial.
not even a minute later, we were blessed with the intro scene of the newest episode of riverdale. and for the next fifteen minutes, we sat in comfortable silence, appreciating the beauty of my show, not wanting to ruin anything with unnecessary conversation. and then, there was a commercial break. and paul and i were left to sit in an atmosphere filled with uncomfortable silence.
my heart sped up the more I noticed paul staring at me from the corner of my eyes. "...hey, kid. listen, I know you might hate me right now and you have every right to but-" I turned my head to face him. "i could never hate you." I admitted, adding a pitifully small smile. "then why do you ignore me like you do. you missed my world famous pancake palace because you been hiding in that room for seventeen years already." he exaggerated, jokingly.
I laughed, him soon joining in. "come here, peanut." he said before enveloping me in a bear hug, kissing my head in the process. and whilst the rest of the commercial break played out, we stayed positioned like that. my head resting effortlessly on his arm as I draped around the top of the sofa.
"...I know he misses you too, kid. he's crazy about you." paul assured me, reading my mind, as he usually did. I smiled at his words. "you think?" I asked him, rhetorically. that's when, I immediately sat up; an idea popping into my head. "hey, you think I'd be possible if finn could-" my brilliant idea had to unfortunately come to a halt when the sound of banging on the front door filled our ears.
my eyebrows furrowed in confusion as my head shot in the direction of the door. then, it snapped back to look at Paul. his eyes were widened and alert. "you get it." we both whispered at the same time. then I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion and anger at that man. "me? what the hell, Paul! I'm like four! what if I die or something!" I yelled at him in a hushed tone.
"come on, kid. remember when I fished your earring from the sink last month and I said you owe me? well...nows your time." he told me, causing me to gasp. and right before I could get a chance to scold him for being so immature, there was another series of vigorous banging at the door once again.
"fucking hell." I uttered to myself as I quickly got up from the couch and marched to the door, grabbing hold of the closest umbrella in arms reach. and from there, I gripped the knob tightly and turned it, soon being able to swing open the door. my arm was already rose back, prepared to attack whomever was behind said door, which resulted in me to immediately hit the figure behind the door with the umbrella, harshly might I add.
"what the fuck do you wa-" my words immediately came to an end as I finally noticed that the person was finn. he was already drenched from head to toe from the heavy rain outside but, now, he's holding his head in his hands, groaning in pain. "goddamn it, Norah, what the hell!" he yelled out in agony, immediately causing me to drop the umbrella and pull the boy indoors, instantly examining his head and apologizing for attacking him.
"oh, finn. I am so sorry, hun. are you alright? is your head bleeding? oh god, it's bleeding, isn't it? I'll go get bandages." I offered, instantly turning on my heel, heading towards the bathroom to get the first aid kit. but, finn then grabbed my elbow, stopping me from going anywhere.
then a small laugh escaped his mouth. like an innocent giggle from a child. "Norah, I've been shot before. this is nothing, okay?" he told me, but I still didn't believe him. but chose to change the subject. "wolfhard?" Paul questioned, clearly confused as he tried to process what was going on. damn it.
"h-hey paul. look, I know this is weird coming out of the blue and all but-there's something really important that I have to tell Norah." he explained to Paul, his body shivering from nervousness and the fact that he was standing out in the rain for quit some time.
"well, go on then." he told the boy, crossing his arms over his chest. Finns head then snapped back to me, him swallowing down hard. "...it's official." he told me with no further explanation. I looked at him, clearly confused. "what's official?" I asked. "you said we couldn't be together if I kept doing what I was doing...so I quit, for you." he finally explained to me, causing my face to light up like a bulb.
"don't fuck with me, wolfhard." I warned him, causing him to shake his head and smile widely at me. "w-whoah whoah whoah. do you know what you're doing, kid? do you understand what you just did?" Paul asked him, worriedly. Finn nodded his head at the man, swallowing down hard once again.
"it was an extremely hard decision to make but, I knew I'd rather be broke and homeless than live another day without Norah." he told me, making direct eye contact. and at that moment, I smiled widely and harder than I ever had. at least for a while now. "I-I would hug you but...I don't wanna mess up your clothes." he told me. and as soon as the words left his mouth, I rolled my eyes playfully and jumped into his arms, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling of my previously dry clothing slowly getting drenched in water.
