This is War

Chapter 30

Chapter 30 - Natalie's P.O.V

The door swung open, revealing Noah. He was smiling for once, not the trademark smirk of arrogance that always seemed to adorn his face, but an actual, real smile was plastered on.

"Hey," he greeted.

I nodded my head in acknowledgement, "Hi."

He stood in the door frame, staring at me while I was freezing my f*cking ass off, mind you. Finally he snapped out of it, "Oh, uh, sorry. Come in. I, uh, honestly didn't think you'd come."

I furrowed my eyebrows and stepped inside, "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Good," he answered, "definitely good."

He led me into the living room that I had sat in awkwardly with him and my brother and I set my coat down on the love seat.

"So, anything specific that you wanna do?" Noah asked me, scratching the back of his neck in a sheepish manner and I cracked a smile.

I shrugged, trying to cover up the smile, "Do you wanna watch a movie?"

He nodded, "Sure. Any specific one?"

"Horror." I answered without a second thought.

Noah smirked, not in arrogance or with cockiness, but a sort of adoration that was both confusing and plain at the same time, "Nice choice."

"Alright, we can go up to my room and watch it in there. All of the movies are up there anyways," He exhales deeply and stands up, hands stuffed in his pockets. 

I nodded in agreement and followed him up the stairs, down the hall and into what was presumably his bedroom. I don't know what I was expecting, perhaps the cliche story of his room being shockingly clean and neat with dark blue and tan and all of that, but I couldn't help being a little surprised. 

There was a pile of clothes lying in one corner of the floor of his bedroom, with a king sized bed standing in the middle of the room but against the wall to the right, a white comforter and sheets in a tangled mess on top. The black pillows were kind of tossed anywhere on the bed in a sort of unorganized and nonstrategic manner. 

The walls were a kind of off-white color, a miniature chandelier hanging from the ceiling to lighten up the room. There was a large plasma TV mounted on the wall directly across from his bed with several gaming systems and an entertainment system hooked up right underneath it. 

My eyes widened as I took all of it in, "Wow." 

I guess his parents really were rich. Then again, his mom was a part-time house wife and part-time lawyer and his dad was a round the clock CEO of the state-wide chain department store, Hall's. 

"It's alright," Noah stated awkwardly, once again rubbing the back of his neck. He began digging through the DVD's that were carelessly thrown into a large wooden basket next to the whole entertainment center on the ground. Finally he pulled one out, "Feel like watching the original Texas Chainsaw?" 

Grinning, I nodded excitedly, "Hell yes!" 

He put in the DVD and we both sat on his bed, rearranging the pillows as well as ourselves. There was an unspoken agreement that we would have a pillow in between us, so that we weren't so close to each other that our arms were touching. Honestly, it was like one of those moments in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when that f*cking bitch, Dolores Umbridge declares "Boys and girls must stay at least five inches apart" or whatever. 

Bringing my knees up to my chest, I smiled as the movie started. 

~

I sat on the beanbag next to Noah, slamming into him on purpose as I turned with my controller, trying to get my little Yoshi guy to turn before getting stuck in the mud. And, yes, if you guessed that we were playing Mario Kart, you were right. 

And right now, I was crushing him. 

So far, I had won nine matches and Noah has won zero. 

Just one more lap to go and I'd win all ten matches. Getting a burst of speed, I cheered as I crossed the finish line and dropped the Wii remote on the beanbag, "Suck it, Hall! I just owned your ass!" 

He scowled and muttered, "Whatever." 

I laughed. 

Just then the door opened and the devil himself appeared. He cleared his throat, but he still hadn't looked up from his phone, "Hey, Noah, we're here for family dinner and your mom practically forced me up here so-- Natalie?" 

Looking away from Duke, who was coincidentally Noah's cousin, I picked up my jacket and coat, "I should probably get going." 

"Yeah, see ya," He called out as I hurried past Duke, down the front steps and into my car. 

 Shivering in the cold, I cranked up the heaters as usual and drove home, feeling too drained from my surprisingly fun day with Noah to meet back up for the remainder of girl's night. 

We had warmed up to each other's presence, so to speak, during the movie when we made fun of practically every character in the movie. I mean seriously, some people are so stupid when it comes to horror movies. But that's not the point; the point is that Noah and I had a good time. So, after the movie we had played normal video games like Call of Duty and Halo and he kicked my butt about 75% of the time, but I made up for it in Mario Kart. 

Running the quick, cold distance from my car into my house, I breathed out in relief when I got indoors and back into a heated building. 

Slipping past my parents who were sat in the living room, I made my way up the stairs and stopped in Nate's open doorway, "Hey." 

"Hey, stranger," He smiled, pulling out his earphones. "Did you need anything?" 

I shook my head, "No, just felt like talking to you." 

Nate smiled, "Well thanks." 

Nodding, I pushed myself off the door frame, "I should go to bed. It's late." 

"Goodnight, sis," He called, a little louder than necessary now that his earbuds were back in. 

Chuckling a little, I shook my head, "Goodnight, Nate." 

Walking into my room, I changed into a sweatshirt and sweatpants, braided my hair down my back and slipped under the covers, wrapping myself in a blanket burrito. Hearing my text tone go off, I groaned and wiggled out an arm to grab it and open the text message. 

Noah Hall 

10:53 PM

I had fun tonight. 

I smiled and replied instantly "me too". 

He didn't answer, but I didn't mind, it wasn't exactly a stimulating conversation; it was a total of six words, but that didn't matter. 

For some unknown, mysterious, crazy reason, I fell asleep that night with a smile on my face and none other than Noah hall on my mind. 

∞

a/n: Hey y'all! So, how'd we like this chapter??? Good? Bad? Okay?? Comment and let me know, I love hearing from you guys! Even if you just want to babble something random, either comment or send me a message in my inbox -- you guys are great! 

SPOILER: Back 2 school && two someones get confronted about something... BIG. ;)