Same Old Love / Noah & Elle Fanfiction

Chapter Four

When I wake up in the morning, I'm still wrapped in Noah's embrace. I can still hear the inhale and exhale of his soft breathing, and the rhythm of his heartbeat. He's warm, and for the first time in a while, I feel safe. Noah starts to stir awake, and I suddenly don't know if I should still be laying on his chest or if I should move away from him. But when he strokes my back with the hand he has wrapped around me, I instantly relax.

"Good morning, Elle," Noah says and I mumble a "good morning" back into his chest.

He starts to stroke my hair with his free hand. "How are you feeling now?"

"I'm okay," I say, although I'm still a little shaken up.

For a little while, we just lay there in comfortable silence, Noah stroking my hair and tracing little patterns into it. I wonder if he can feel my heart beating against his chest because I feel it's beating 100 times faster than it usually does. I briefly wonder if Noah wants me to move or if he doesn't want me to be on top of him anymore, but if that's the case, he doesn't say anything.

Around 11 a.m., Noah finally says, "We should get up," and although I wish I could never move from this spot, I agree. We both get up, get dressed, and get ready, and when I finally make my way into the living room, Noah has already poured me a cup of coffee, which I am incredibly thankful for. "Thank you," I say, and he smiles.

"So, I was thinking, maybe it wouldn't be such a horrible idea to go to Walmart and pick up a few things."

I smile, and Noah says, "We're running a little low on food too, so I guess you were right."

I laugh as he says that, but can't help but feel a little victory knowing that I was right. It'll be nice to go out to the city. I haven't really been anywhere since I got here, besides the little shops just down the boardwalk about 5 minutes away.

I agree to let Noah drive my car because he's too lazy to put gas in his that has been parked in the garage since before I got here. The city is about an hour away, so I figure that I should use this time to talk to Noah about the fact that Lee really wants to come down and visit me.

"So," I start, "Lee is pretty worried about me."

Noah side-eyes me a little bit. "Yeah, I mean, Elle, it's not a good thing you went through."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, it's just," I sigh, "he keeps talking about coming to see me, and checking on me. And I can't really tell him not to. Obviously, I want to see him, and he wants to see me, but I don't want to rat you out to your family or anything if you truly aren't ready to tell them."

Noah is quiet for a few minutes and I start to think that maybe he's mad and that I shouldn't have brought this up yet, but then he half turns to me, and says, "Do you know when he wants to come down?"

I shake my head. "He just said whenever he gets a break at school."

Noah nods his head slowly but then says, "I mean I have to tell everyone eventually. Maybe Lee will be a good test run," Noah laughs, and I can't help but smile. I don't know why I was so nervous to tell Noah, but now that I have, it feels like a weight has been lifted off my chest.

The rest of the drive is spent in comfortable silence, and when we pull into the full parking lot of the Walmart, I start to regret my decision to come here. "It's going to be packed," I say, but Noah just shrugs, and gets out of the car. I follow him out and up to the doors of the store.

When we get inside, the store is littered with easily hundreds of people. Noah must feel me tense up behind him because he grabs my hand and pulls me along with him. There's absolutely no way that Hayden would be here, but for some reason, I'm still scared that he is.