Falling - NOAH CENTINEO

ch. 29 | Aftermath

"Can you please describe what happened?" Officer Tina asked.

I looked around me for some sort of guidance, but my mother was talking to a different officer and Noah and Rita were giving their own statements.

I nervously tucked my hair behind my ear.

"Anthony's been harrassing me lately. He blackmailed me and forced me to go on a date with him." I breathed in sharply. "But I woke up to him shaking me and uh, I saw he had a gun in his hand."

"Where do you think he would've gotten the gun?" She asked.

"His dad hunts," I shrugged. "It could be one of his but I have no idea."

"Alright, what else happened?" She asked again.

"So he was holding the gun and he just kept telling me to be quiet because my friend was sleeping next to me."

"Rita Jones?" She asked, writing this down on a notepad.

"Yes, ma'am."

She nodded and I continued my story.

"He was saying I should be with him and if I didn't want to be with him, then he was better off ...dead." I mumbled. Tears welled in my eyes once more.

"It's okay, sweetie. Take your time."

I breathed in sharply, trying to calm myself.

"Um, then I was just trying to talk him out of it. I told him I loved him and he shouldn't do this, stuff like that." I said.

"Then, Noah Centineo came?" She asked.

I nodded my head.

"So Anthony had thrown the gun on the bed and then picked it back up to point it at Mr. Centineo?" She asked.

"Yes." My voice cracked.

"Okay," She said, writing things down. "We called Anthony's parents and it looks like hes been prescribed anti-psychotics, but he hasn't really been taking them consistently for it to work." She explained. "It might explain his behavior."

"Really? I never knew about that." I said, shocked.

"Theres probably alot of things you don't know about him." She said, walking away.

I breathed heavily. How was there so much I didn't know about him? It felt crazy to me that he had this whole seperate alter ego that I never saw while we were dating.

Then, I spotted Noah. He leaned against a cop car and shot me a small smile.

I lost it and burst into tears, running to him.

He met me halfway and embraced me. I cried hard into his chest, releasing all of the emotions that I had been holding in.

He stroked the back of my hair. "It's okay, baby." He whispered. "You're okay now."

"I don't know what would've happened if you weren't there." I sobbed.

He stroked my hair and held me close to him. "It's okay, it's over now." He said.

I pulled away from him. "How did you..."

"I couldn't sleep and saw his car outside your house." He said, calmly.

"Thank God you did." I breathed out, wiping my tear-stained face.

"B, what was he saying?" He asked, quietly.

"He said that if I wouldn't be with him, then he didn't want to live anymore," I burst into tears again. "He almost shot himself in my bedroom." I cried.

Noah brought me into his chest once again. "It's okay, B. It's over now, he didn't hurt himself."

"But what if he did? What would I have done?" I cried.

I could tell Noah didn't have words for an answer. How could he? So, he just held me close to him and let me cry into his chest.

I didn't go back to school for a week. I had been staying at Noah's house because my home didn't feel safe anymore. Even though Anthony had no way of getting to me, I still couldn't bring myself to go back into my room.

Once Tuesday rolled around, Noah had to go back to school, which I understood. But just knowing that everyone knew what had happened, terrified me. I couldn't bare the thought of facing their whispers and glares.

So, I stayed at Noah's house. Not sleeping, which had become practically impossible, but just reading. I tried to escape my own world and put myself into a new one. It worked half of the time, but the other half, I was just staring at pages while I relived the whole night over and over again.

I know someday it will just be a distant memory, but right now it consumed all of my thoughts.

"Hey, B." Noah said, tossing his backpack on the floor.

"Hey. Is it 3 already?" I asked, looking at the clock.

"Yea." He laughed. "Read any good books today?" He asked, climbing next to me on the bed.

"Not really." I said, closing the book I was holding.

"Hmm," He said. "How are you feeling today?"

"Alot better now that you're back." I said, curling into him.

He put his arm around me and held me close. "I'm sorry that I have to leave you." He said, kissing the top of my head.

"It's okay. You have to go to school, I get that. I'm just...not ready yet." I mumbled.

"Of course." He whispered in my hair. "It's gonna get better, Blake." He said.

"I know. I just don't know when."