The New Kid: a Noah Beck Fanfiction *completed*

24

If Griffin was worried, he didn't let it show. We walked to the car together, and when we were finally locked in, I turned to look at him.
"I haven't been a very good sister lately, Griff."
He shrugged. "You've got your own shit, and that's fine."
"Griff, I know about Dixie."
His face fell. "I fucked up on that one. That one is all my fault."

"Griff, what happened?"
He looked at me. "I don't even know how it all started. We had gotten into some stupid fight like always, and when she went home, I had a DM from some girl. There was no thinking. I just did. Nothing actually happened, but I betrayed Dixie's trust."
By now we had pulled into our driveway, and Griffin pulled the key out of the ignition. "We both fucked up, huh?" I asked.
He nodded wordlessly and went inside.

When I got up to my room, I decided to do some investigating, even though I knew that whatever I found would tear me apart. I scrolled through Instagram and came up empty-handed. Noah hadn't posted since the night we went on our first date. Dixie's page was empty, and I assumed that she had deleted all of her posts after the breakup with Griffin.
Twitter didn't give me much to go off of either. There was a picture of Dixie and Noah at a Halloween party, but as far as I knew, Dixie and Griffin had still been together, so I didn't think that meant anything.
Frustrated, I threw my phone off the bed, laying back on my pillow. I didn't have time to try and figure out what Dixie's relationship with Noah was; I needed to figure out what I was going to get Noah for Christmas.

My phone rang, and I answered it. "Hello?"
"Oh, hey. I meant to call Griffin," Noah's voice said on the other end of the phone.
"How did you call me instead?" I laughed.
"I don't know," he laughed. "How are you?"
We hadn't talked since the day after homecoming, so this was surprising, but I certainly wasn't going to question it. "I, um, I've been okay, I think. How are you?"
It felt like old times as he told me about the finals that he was worried about. "Sorry, you don't want to hear about all that. I have to call Griff anyway. It was nice to talk to you, Grace."

That didn't help any part of my situation, so I called Blake.
"Hey, Blake. I was calling you about my Secret Santa."
"Oh, hey, Grace. Sure, what's up?" I quickly explained that Noah was my Secret Santa, and Blake chuckled. "That sucks, Grace. How can I help?"
"Well, I figured that, since you guys are so close, you could give me some ideas. I've got nothing."
Blake laughed again. "You're overthinking it. I'll send you the link to these shoes that he was looking at the other day. Just get him those."
I thanked Blake and awaited the text. I ordered them as soon as the link popped up on my phone.

I went downstairs and found Griffin sitting in the kitchen. "What are you doing, bubba?"
"Well, I was scrolling through Instagram, and Dixie added a picture of another guy to her story," he replied, avoiding eye contact. I had a feeling that the other guy was Noah, but I don't think that I really wanted to know. "I know that I messed up, but I never expected her to move on that quickly."
"I get it, Griff. She was with Noah, wasn't she?" His lack of an answer told me everything that I needed to know. "It's gonna be okay," I said, wrapping him in a hug. "Everything is gonna be fine."

Griffin decided to change the subject. "Have you thought about what you're going to get Noah for Secret Santa yet?"
"I already bought it," I replied, nodding. "Blake gave me the idea, so I just bought it without thinking about it."
"Lucky you. I got Addison, and I have no idea what to get her."
"There's this really cute bag that she wants. It's on sale, and I have a coupon code for the store that sells it. I can send it to you if you want?"
"That would be great. Thanks, sis. I don't really feel like cooking. Do you want to go grab Chipotle with me?"

We were getting more comfortable with the silence that surrounded us when we were alone. I didn't know if it was because we were actually comfortable or rather that we were both too focused on our own shit.
"What are you thinking about over there?" he asked, breaking the silence.
I shrugged. "Three months ago, we were starting what was supposed to be the best year of our lives together. In some crazy turn of events, I feel like I'm drowning. It's almost like you tried to save me, and I just pulled you in with me instead."
"Hey. You cannot think like that, sis. I'm supposed to be here for you. That's my whole job as your big brother."

I didn't argue. When Griffin thought that he was right, he wouldn't think the opposite no matter what happened. We pulled into the Chipotle parking lot, and I turned off the car. "Let's go, 'big brother,'" I joked.
We sat down at a table with our food, and Griffin decided that he wanted to bring up what I had said in the car. "When you say that you feel like you're drowning, you would tell me if that was more than just a sentence, right?"
"If you're asking if I'm depressed, the answer is no. I was sad, Griff, but I've got it under control. I'm happy for Noah. Am I upset that it's not with me? Yeah, a little bit. Things happen, and I'll be okay."
Griffin shook his head. "I get it, but I need you to promise that you'll talk to me."
"Griff," I began, "I will talk to you every day, and I will call you the entire time that you're across the country at ISU. You're my twin brother, and there's no way that you're going to be able to get rid of me that easily," I said, smiling at him as I took a bite out of my burrito bowl.