Midnight Love || ✔️

11:55 pm

xviii || eighteen

Noah's PoV

NOAH CALLED Ella fifty-one times, leaving a voicemail every time, and countless text messages, which he estimated to be about sixty or so. The rest of the group have also called and texted, and while Noah was afraid that the constant attempts would annoy her, by day three, he stopped caring.

It had been a week since Noah had asked Ella on a date, since he dropped her off at her house and left with a light heart, with hope. He still remembered the smile she gave him before she got into the house, and the flutter of his heart at the curve of her lips. He remembered thinking that he got a date with Ella Ali. He remembered already agonizing over where to take her, how to make it special. He was already planning on talking to the rest of the group to brainstorm ideas.

He was happy. He was excited. And he could have sworn Ella was too.

But then she didn't answer his call that night, and he thought maybe she got tired and fell asleep.

Then she didn't answer his other calls the next day. Or texts. The same things happened on Monday morning, and he thought he would just talk to her at school. But she wasn't there. She wasn't there on Tuesday either. Or Wednesday. Thursday. Friday.

Noah was freaking out by Saturday. Not even his parents' fighting could distract him from his worry. Ella had never ignored him like this, and it seemed like a blown out of proportion way to decline his date. He didn't think it was a small thing, something must have happened to her for this to happen.

He agonized over the decision to come to her house all week. He wanted to respect her privacy, she told him how precious her house was to her, how she didn't like anyone coming in or knowing about it unless she trusted them wholeheartedly. That it was her safe haven. Noah didn't want to intrude on her there. Didn't want her safe haven to feel less.

Noah almost gave up on her. Even her sister wasn't answering her calls, and she was ignoring him at school, darting out of the way whenever she saw him coming to talk to her. When he cornered her after school, hating himself for what he was doing, she gave him a bullshit excuse about how she was down with the flu. But Ella had been down with the flu before, and she still texted.

It was Gaven who finally made him go over to her house. It seemed that Ella had grown on him, and he was worried about her. In fact, everyone was worried about her, and Noah's heart squeezed when he saw that they cared about her. Truly cared about her.

She deserved people who care about her.

With Gaven's words in his mind, he drove his car to her house and parked in the driveway. There was never another car parked, and when he asked Ella about it, she said that her dad worked a lot and want home during the hours they hung out. She had said it casually, but Noah had detected a tone of . . . sadness? Envy? Regret? It was so well buried that he couldn't decipher it.

Noah got out of the car, locking it and moving with slow movements towards the front door. His heart was beating very fast inside his chest, and he frantically thought about the "what-ifs."

What if she was fine and really just sick with the flu? What if she was sick of him? What if she found him coming to her house uninvited a violation of her privacy and hated him for it? What if she changed her mind about him?

And the really scary thought: what if something bad really did happen to her?

He took a deep breath and rang the doorbell, hoping that she was okay, that nothing was wrong. That there was a perfectly harmless explanation to all this. But deep inside his mind, Noah knew that whatever happened was bad, because Ella wouldn't fall off the face of the earth like this.

After a few moments of no answer, Noah prepared to ring the doorbell another time when the door was yanked open and Rose, her hair in a messy bun and body clad in sweatpants and a Queen's University sweatshirt, stood with an exasperated expression.

"Seriously, dude? I told you to leave it alone. She's sick, that's all."

"Something is wrong, Rose," Noah said, "She's not answering any call or text since I dropped her home last Saturday and I refuse to accept the excuse you gave me. She wouldn't ignore everybody just because she was sick."

"Oh, yeah?" Rose asked. "And how would you know, Noah? You've known her for three months, maybe, I've known her for sixteen years. She would do this, and she is doing this. So turn your ass around to your house and leave us alone," and with that, she shut the door in his face, and he heard the lock, finalizing the action.

Noah stood at Ella's front step for minutes after the door was shut in his face, bewildered and embarrassed. He knew he should have respected her privacy. How could he have ever thought that this was a good idea?

The thoughts blur and swirl in his brain, one thought after another attacking him. The guilt and shame filled him, and he hurried towards his car, backing out of the driveway for the first time without the intention or hope of staying a little while longer.

Noah's thoughts consumed him as he drove, his hands and legs going through the motions with little thought from his brain. He was too busy freaking out to realize where he was gone, and it wasn't until he parked at Gaven's driveway that he snapped out of his daze. He turned off the car and locked it, knocking on the door using one of those old lion-shaped knockers.

Gaven's family was well-off than many others, and his house was huge. It was all slick angles, glass, and steel. The interior decor was styled professionally, beautiful and impractical. His parents were both corporate lawyers, but they cared about their kids. They almost never fought, according to Gaven, and "were so in love it was gross." But Noah often wished for the gross love, for it triumphed his parent's lack of tolerance of each other.

Gaven opened the door quickly, and with one look at Noah's face, he let him in, leading him to the basement. Riley, Gaven's boyfriend, was already there, sitting among open binders and strewn paper. Gaven and Riley were both seniors, and university and college applications were fast approaching, Noah remembered with a pang of guilt for disturbing them.

"Oh, you guys are busy," he said. His voice was low and lifeless. Gaven frowned worriedly at him.

Riley smiled, his eyebrows slightly furrowed at Noah's tone. "We were finishing up. No worries, Noah."

Noah smiled. Riley didn't often hang out with the group, since he went to another school and was busy with extra-curricular all the time, but he was well known and liked. He was a sweet guy, who was nothing but kind and helpful. The guy volunteered, even though he finished his required hours for graduation.

Gaven sat him on the couch, settling himself beside him. "You went to Ella's?"

Noah nodded, and launched into a summary of what happened at Ella's house. Gaven was frowning throughout Noah's story. He sighed and pursed his lips, his brows pinched together. "I don't like it either, and I wish we could do something. But she doesn't want you near her sister. Maybe what she's saying was true," Noah started to argue when Gaven put up his hand. "Maybe it's not. All we can do it wait and see. Hope she comes around. Continue texting her, but don't over do it. I know you sent her like seventy texts already."

"Seventy-two," muttered Noah.

Gaven sighed, and patted Noah's back. Then he handed him a controller. "You need to take your mind off things. Come on, let's play."

Nothing could take his mind off Ella, but he allowed himself to be pulled into the false world of the game.