Inked [oney x oc]

7 - Noelle Joins the Party

"Are you gonna come to Chris's place tomorrow?" Zach asked on the drive home from Olive Garden.

"Yeah. He invited me. I should go," I shrugged, keeping my eyes on the road.

Zach took a sip of his to-go soda and nodded. "Cool. Y'know, I think you and Chris would be really good friends if you just actually talked to him once in a while."

"I try to. I get nervous."

"What do you mean you get nervous? It's Chris. He and I have been friends forever," Zach chuckled. "It's not like he's a stranger."

"I dunno. That's the thing, though. He's your friend. He's someone I always thought was cool but I just.. feel like he hates me," I confessed.

"What? Why? Chris doesn't hate you. He thinks you hate him," Zach explained. "He genuinely thinks you hate his guts or something which is why he doesn't talk to you much."

"What? But I don't hate him! I think he's cool! I really admire his work and I watch all his videos," I confessed. "I just think he's intimidating. He's internet-famous and really tall, Zach."

Zach let out what could only be described as a chortle. "You're intimidated by Chris because he's tall and has some internet credibility? Don't be fooled by all the smoke and mirrors, he's an idiot. Just talk to him. I think you guys would mesh well. I'm tired of having to talk between you to get you guys to interact. Also, you're fucking... 5'6", you're not that short, so don't be so freaked out by Chris's gargantuan size."

"Okay. Okay," I laughed. "I'll try making actual conversation with him tomorrow. If it doesn't work, don't keep trying to force me to be friends with him, though."

"I won't! If it's not meant to be, then it is what it is. Hey, what's on your arm?" Zach asked, squinting. I looked down at my arm quickly to see what the hell he was talking about.

My heart sunk in my chest. He noticed the soulmate messages after I'd just lied about not having a soulmate that I talked to.

"Uh, I got some eyeliner on my arm when I was doing my makeup in the bathroom," I quickly covered.

"Oh. How'd you get it on your arm?" Zach chuckled. "It can't be that hard to do eyeliner. Or maybe it is, you know, what the hell would I know?"

"Yeah, uh, I wiped my eyes and forgot I had the eyeliner on. I'm a dumbass," I shrugged, adding an awkward chuckle for effect.

Zach bought it. He didn't exactly have a reason not to. I felt bad about lying about my soulmate, but I just wasn't ready to talk about it with him.

I needed to get smarter about hiding my soulmate - and fast.

———

The next day was a long and dull one. Coding was my passion, but it was also my greatest enemy. It was so easy to screw up something, and doing constant bug tests to troubleshoot problems was sometimes a nightmare.

I got to clock out at 4pm on the dot, though, and I excitedly but nervously headed over to Chris's house after texting Zach that I was on my way.

I was gonna try being friends with Chris today. Zach had told me that Christ thought I was "standoffish" and "that I hated him", both things that weren't true, but things I needed to change nonetheless. I really did want to be friends with him.

I was a nice person, I was just shy and easily intimidated. It wasn't the most ideal set of personality traits, but I didn't know how to give myself enough confidence to be friends with people cooler than I was.

I pulled up to Chris's house and parked along the side of the street like I usually did when I was being Zach's chauffeur, only this time, I also parked and got out. I walked up to the door and knocked politely, waiting for someone to come let me in. I hoped they weren't recording or anything.