Hide Away

The love

Dianna was sitting across from Shane during their lunch. She tried to chit chat continuously to keep Shane engaged.
Everyone in the school now knew that Noel had disappeared. Her parents were in the school today looking out of the place with heavy after crying eyelids and puffy faces. Inspector Reid was with them. They interrogated a bunch full of students and a couple or two teachers on the matter.
And Shane, he was completely lost during all this.
Dianna couldn't imagine what he was thinking exactly but she could tell that it was about Noel all the time. Even his eyes reflected Noel though she was nowhere around.
And of course, it wasn't just friendship, but a whole lot more.
At such a point of time, she couldn't think about giving him even the least bit of sympathy. She wanted him to be strong to face the rest.
She stared down at his still full plate of food. He hasn't been eating for long. He looked horrible. Almost a ghost. With dark patched under his eyes and a very feeble but husky voice, the kind you get from sleep deprivation, not eating and crying alot.
All efforts of persuading him to eat failed.
'Dianne, can you tell me something?' Shane asked.
Dianne shrugged. The way she always did when she meant yes but with no other choices.
'Who was the guy?' he asked. 'The guy you set Noel up with. For the blind date.'
Dianne said nothing. She stared down at her plate of half eaten salad.
She took a bite, made loud crunchy noises and shifted her gaze out of the window. Like she heard nothing.
'I am talking to you. Dianne? Who was he?'
Silence. For a couple of loud minutes.
No one said another word. The question mark Shane painted, still hanging from the fork Dianne was nibbling her salad with.
'You were Noel's best friend, right?,' she snapped at him all of a sudden, 'are you sure you didn't know?'
Shane shook his head.
'You always said there are no secrets between you two. And you still are sure that you don't know that guy, you  got her dressed up for. Right?'
Shane's gaze fell. Lower then the ground could offer.
'What kind of best friend were you? The one who didn't know what he's sending her off to.'
He said nothing.
'The one who had no idea where was Noel going that night. Who was her date after all.'
'Or are you the guy who did not care about her enough to bother?'
She paused a moment.
'Or are you the one who was too busy being burned up by his love that he became blind. That he didn't see the love in someone else's eyes.'
That was not what he heard.
Did he just hear it?