4am

four

Noah feels himself grin as he spots Saffron sitting on her window seat, intently focused on something. Her window is wide open, which is unsurprising considering the scorching early-August weather.

After hesitating for a moment, he pushes open his own window.

"Hey," he says, his voice coming out awkwardly, as usual.

Saffron looks up suddenly from whatever she was doing, eyes darting about frantically for a moment until they fall on Noah. She visibly relaxes, a small smile spreading onto her features.

"Oh, you made me jump," she replies. "Hi."

She glances between her lap and Noah. He pulls himself onto the seat, resting against the wall and stretching out his legs.

"I'm hoping you're not ignoring my text on purpose."

"No way!" Saffron exclaims, then quietens down, retreating back into her shell. "No, course not, I just haven't, like, checked it yet."

Noah's still smiling, probably looking like an idiot, but he doesn't stop.

"I just asked what you're doing today. Mum and Leila have spent the past few days going on constant shopping trips and spa visits. Mother-daughter bonding, apparently." He rolls his eyes. "So it's hot and I'm bored and you're here."

The smile still lingers on Saffron's face, she's almost giggling, as she holds up a sketchpad. Noah squints at it, it appears to be a drawing of a flower.

"Well, I've been drawing," says Saffron. "I found this fake flower a couple of years ago and I swear I must have done a hundred different versions of it since."

"It's pretty, but why don't you just draw something different?"

"I prefer observational drawing, but I don't have anything at all interesting that I can look at."

For a moment, Noah wants to respond with something along the lines of 'what about drawing me?'' but he knows he's not the right kind of person; it would probably just come out sounding weird and cocky, so he keeps his mouth shut.

He reckons he's now on friend terms with Saffron; he doesn't want to screw it up. Instead, he has another idea.

"Hey, you know you want something different to draw?"

"Mhm."

"I think I have an idea of somewhere you can go, it might inspire you a bit. I mean, I'm not an artist, but I love it there."

Saffron doesn't reply for a moment, she seems a little wary. He can't blame her, after all they did only meet less than a week ago.

At last, she nods and Noah floods with relief. He's not sure he could deal with being rejected.

"Sure, sounds good. Shall I text you when I'm ready?" Saffron asks with a gesture to her scruffy clothes and tangled mess of brown curls.

Noah nods, well aware that his grin has now reached toothpaste-advert territory.

✰

Adam [16:25]: Saff dont be like this

Adam [16:27]: come on babe

Adam [16:43]: stop being a bitch and reply already

Saffron groans, switching her phone off again. She knew it was a mistake to look at her incoming texts at all.

With a heavy sigh, she stands up and heads towards her mirror. On a small dressing table below it sits her minimal selection of make up. She scrabbles around in the bag for her well-used tube of concealer.