fifteen ; l.h.

her

after noelle had walked luke to his apartment, she couldn't help but notice that he lived alone. no family, no pets. nothing.

with this in her mind, she felt weird - guilty, almost - entering her house and immediately being greeted by her dad.

she didn't get that warm fuzzy feeling when her mom kissed her head and asked about her day and she couldn't bring herself to laugh when her younger brother teased her about being gone all day with someone without saying who it was.

"i'm fine, just tired," was her response when her family noticed her lack of emotion that night. needless to say, they believed her.

noelle knew that luke wouldn't have.

she knew that he'd immediately call her out for lying to him. "that's bullshit" he would've told her and all she would be able to do is agree because they both knew he was right.

the fact that a boy she'd met not more than 72 hours ago could read her better than her own family bothered her until she was lying in silence, watching her digital clock.

11:30

she blinked.

12:00

she shut her eyes and tried to sleep.

2:15

that's when her phone rang with luke's name flashing on the screen and she felt relief wash over her.

"hello?" she spoke softly.

"i couldn't sleep," was all he told her and by his slightly wavering voice, she knew that he wasn't telling her the whole story.

"neither could i."

but she knew not to ask, so she didn't.

then they talked about everything and nothing, both of them unaware of the time that ticked ever so consistently.

"reason two," luke said during one of their comfortable silences where all they would do is listen to each other's soft breathing.

"what about it?" she asked.

"this should be it."

"i thought i was the one giving out the reasons here."

but secretly, noelle was glad that he was starting to see the good things in life; starting to create reasons of his own to live.

"you mean...you aren't just having this phone call with me just to prove a reason?" he sounded genuinely shocked and she felt her heart clench.

"no, luke, of course not. i want to talk to you, believe or not."

he went silent for a minute before speaking again. "is it bad that i still don't believe you?"

"if you want this to be a reason, then fine. it is one," she sighed in defeat. "late-night phone calls. reason two. awesome."

"no," he groaned, "don't be mad, please."

"who said i was mad?" she huffed.

"your tone of voice is making it pretty fucking obvious."

"i'm not angry, alright? this is reason two, just like you said, since you can't really believe anything else."

"noelle..."

"this is a good reason, i suppose. i mean, it's late at night when you can just call someone up and talk about anything. it's at 3 in the goddamn morning when you can both fall into silence and no one would think it was awkward because, hell, you know you're with each other."