Chapter Twenty-Eight: Connection
This episode is part of a larger story, Soft Touch. If you haven’t yet, you can go back and read it from the beginning right here.
“Woooooooow, Jamie.” Noah grins enormously at me, his grey eyes shining with laughter. “Wow wow wow. Good for you. And Aiden. And Francesco.”
“Oh, god, shut up,” I groan, tilting my head back as I follow him down the aisle of the grocery store. “Why did I tell you about any of this? What was I thinking? What did I expect?”
“Hey, I’m not mad at it. It’s fun, to watch ‘n be watched.” Noah flashes me another wide grin over his shoulder, then hastily adds – “Or so I’ve heard.”
“Yeah, okay.” I let out a helpless laugh, rubbing my eyes. “God, I shouldn’t have told you. What an unbelievable mistake. One sure to haunt me for years to come.”
“Shit, how could you not tell me? Something like that, you gotta brag. In fact, excuse me-” To my absolute horror, Noah addresses this to the guy behind the cakes and pastries counter. “Do you got any cakes celebrating glorious triumphs of a sexual nature?”
The guy pauses, blinking at Noah. “Um… we’ve mostly got birthday cakes… except I’ve got one with a duckling holding some balloons. That one just says Woo Hoo.”
“That’ll do it,” Noah says promptly. “Can you add some extra words in frosting?”
The cake guy reaches for a frosting bag, looking faintly alarmed, suppressing a laugh. “I guess so?”
“Excellent. Just have it say, in all capital letters, THIS DUCK SAYS CONGRATS ON THE F-”
“Okay,” I break in desperately, seizing Noah’s arm. I direct an apologetic look at the wide-eyed cake guy, blushing violently. “Nice to see you, Travis, I hope your mom is doing well, please forget about this – this whole thing!”
“You’re even friends with the cake guy?” Noah laughs, as I forcefully shove him in the direction of the coolers.
“Not friends, necessarily, but we do chat sometimes, so thank you so much for saying all of that in front of him, you madman.”
Noah extracts a cold six-pack from the coolers, still snickering. “That’s a Keane classic, right there.”
“This is a Keane classic, right here,” I tell him reverently, laying a hand on the six-pack.
“Amen.” Noah turns and leads the way towards the checkout, nudging my arm with his elbow. “We’ll drink a toast instead of doing the cake.”
“Come on,” I groan-laugh, running a hand over my blushing face as I fall into step behind him. “Look, it’s not our fault! Francesco is too powerful. Except against Ralph, who must be just planted at the farthest possible end of his side of the Kinsey Scale.”
Noah throws me a puzzled glance. “The what?”
“The – the Kinsey Scale, it’s a scale of sexual orientation-”
“Oh. Hell yeah, baby, put me right at the top.” Noah holds one hand up high to demonstrate. “Maximum sexiness. Level ten. Ultra Kinsey.”
“No, that’s not – nevermind.”
“Is the Kinsey like the Heisman? How many other guys do you gotta outperform to win?”
I let out a sputter of laughter. “You can’t win!”
“Says who, baby? I can win anything.” Noah slaps a hand on the beers. “Look at this. I’m winning right now. I got it all.”
“Lots of Heisman talk from you and Ralph and Aiden lately, huh?”
Noah tosses his head at the windows of the grocery store, at the moonlit autumn leaves drifting past outside.
“Tis the season, dude!” He grins at me over his shoulder again. “Also the perfect season for a games and ganj night with a friend.”
Given he only does those with me, this draws a happy smile onto my face.
“Couldn’t agree more, man,” I laugh affectionately, slapping his back. “But I’d say that in spring, summer, and winter, too.”
Noah slams the six-pack down on the conveyor belt hard enough to startle the cashier, then drapes himself over it, groaning loudly.
“Keane!” He punches a fist into the checkout stand, sounding agonized. “Don’t throw your – your little cupcake statements at me out of nowhere! In public!”
“He’s totally fine,” I assure the alarmed cashier. “How have you been, Amy? Is your dog doing better? Don’t mind my friend here, he’s just – something has gone wrong in his brain. Or he’s trying to make me look foolish in front of each individual employee at this store.”
“Well, he missed Gerald,” she giggles. “He’s all the way in the back.”
“GERALD!” Noah shouts, lifting his head from the six-pack.
“Nope, whoops, okay!” I clamp a hand over Noah’s mouth, using the other to quickly get out my wallet. “Let’s just pay for this, and then you can stop hollering incoherent nonsense at these innocent bystanders.”
“It’s making the late shift more interesting,” Amy laughs, scanning my card.
“See, Jamie? She gets it. Bet she’d understand about why we need the fuck cake, too. Oops-” Noah turns apologetically to Amy. “Sorry, ma’am, I misspoke. I meant the duck cake. You know which one I mean. The Woo Hoo.”
I seize the beers with one hand and Noah with the other, desperately trying to hold it together. “Thanks, Amy, have a nice night!”
She lets out a bewildered laugh, watching us go. “You, too!”
“You dumb idiot!” I groan, steering Noah through the door and out into the autumn night. “Do you think you could shut up about fuck cakes for one minute? At least until we get to the car?”
“I’ll try,” he answers, in a no-promises sort of tone.
“You animal. I shouldn’t even let you into my house.”
“We can’t go to my house, dude. Raj found an old linen cabinet he wants to restore, and that project is taking up a lot of the living room at the moment.”
“Of course,” I laugh.
I toss him my keys as we cross the parking lot. We took my car, but it’s always more fun to have Noah drive.
“No comments about the state of my car lately, I notice.” I run a loving hand over the blue paint, then grin at Noah. “Could it be because yours is worse?”
He points at me with my keys. “My car is a divine gift from the Wheel Gods, man, just waiting to break free from her rusty old shell. You just watch and learn.”
“Pretty sure-”
“Or wait and see, I meant.”
“Pretty sure that-”
“Both,” he decides, having given it some consideration. “Watch and learn, wait and see. Just do all of it.”
I bite my lip, struggling not to laugh. “Okay. You know what? I won’t argue. Partially because I can see that you won’t hear a word against it, but mostly because I have complete faith in you. I’m sure you’ll bring that car back to life.”
Noah, who had been all prepared with a retort, lets out a pained groan instead.
“More cupcake shit,” he grumbles, dropping into the driver’s seat. “Sprinkles and frosting ass ginger boy, fuckin’ little – keep it to yourself, won’t you? And get in the damn car.”
Smiling with silent laughter, I drop into the passenger’s seat as Noah starts up my car. Or tries to, anyways. The engine makes half the sound that it normally would, then falls silent in apparent confusion.
“Aw, no,” I groan, pressing my hands to the dashboard. “Come on, buddy, not tonight! I was just bragging to Noah about how much better you are than his car!”
“Nah, it’s fine. Battery’s just adjusting to the temperature. One more try, and…” Noah grins triumphantly as the engine turns over. “We’re out of here.”
“Thank god! I can maybe never come back to this place now.” I shake my head at him incredulously. “Don’t you give a single damn about what people might think of your behavior? Or the words that come out of your mouth?”
“No,” he says, so flatly that he startles a laugh out of me. “That shit is way too much work. Decided a long time ago to just say fuck it.”
“It shows,” I laugh affectionately.
“Who put them all in charge of me anyways, you know?”
“Mmm… yeah, fair enough.” I turn to hug the takeout buckets of fried chicken and our huge, frozen drinks, letting out an adoring sigh. “God, I’m so excited for this. It was nice to eat rich people food with Francesco, but this kind of food is really where it’s at.”
“Absolutely, bro,” Noah agrees wholeheartedly, without hesitation. “I’ve always said the best food comes in a bucket. Glad we’re on the same page. I’ll tell Melanie you’re with me, that should pretty much wrap up the win on that ongoing argument.”
“Okay, no, that’s not what I said. We’re not on the same page there at all, so don’t you dare tell Melanie that we are-”
“Please, dude,” he laughs, darting me a swift grin. “You’re still hugging the chicken bucket.”
I am. It smells so good. I inhale deeply, then let out a peaceful sigh.
“It’s good to be home,” I tell Noah.
“Yeah, I’m real glad to have you back,” he says, to my considerable surprise.
“Aw, dude! That’s so sw-”
“Don’t get excited, I wasn’t saying it for cupcake reasons. It’s just nice to know there’s a Guardian abidin’ in the town where you got your wife, husband, and baby. Takes a little worry off.”
To my mind that’s just as sweet, but I decide against telling him so.
“Speaking of Guardian stuff.” Noah shoots me a quick, searching glance in the rearview. “Had a question for you, Jamie. Something I was thinking about.”
“Okay?”
“So… a while back a guy in my union got pretty hurt on the job. There was an accident while he was doing some electrical work up on a mountain. He took a knock on the head, got separated from his team. Nearly slid right off the mountain face, according to him. Said he thought he was gonna fall the whole way down. But some first responders rescued him at the last minute, even though it was storming pretty bad. He tried to track them down to thank them, and no one would tell him who it was.”
“Oh.” I twist the malachite necklace in my fingers, carefully not looking at Noah. “You, um – you two are friends, or…?”
“No. I just met him ‘cause he was off the job and stuck in bed while he got better, so all the union guys who live around here were taking turns checking in on him and his girl to see if they needed anything. I had my turn a few times, brought them some dinner that Melanie made.”
“Aw! That’s a really nice-”
“And I was thinking… well, if I’m being honest, Raj pointed out to me…” Noah takes his eyes off the road just long enough to give me a meaningful look. “It was right around the time you dislocated your arm, Jamie. When he got rescued by some mystery people who won’t own up to helping.”
I hesitate, then give my shoulders a sheepish shrug. Noah opens his grey eyes very wide.
“Seriously? That was you guys? What the shit… you two went up on that mountain in that storm, dude?” Noah winces with his whole face. “And you let us make all those jokes guessing about how you hurt your arm, and you didn’t say a fucking word? Keane!”
“What was I supposed to say?” I protest. “You guys didn’t know about Aiden back then, I couldn’t tell you!”
“Jesus Christ.” Noah runs a hand down his face, then lets out a slow breath. “You two are in trouble way more often than I like. I got so many people in my roster to worry about these days.”
He says it grumblingly, then brightens up when he hears his own words.
But after a moment he looks worried again, his thumb tapping against the wheel in that way it does when he’s stressed out.
Somehow I can tell that it has nothing to do with me and Aiden. He hasn’t said anything about it, and yet I’m sure it has to do with his sister’s upcoming visit.
What, exactly, I don’t know. What I do know is that it’s no good pushing Noah to talk before he wants to. Still… I can tell that something has him deeply worried, and I am anxious to be helpful.
I’m still looking for a way to bring it up when I come out into the living room, holding two cold beers from the fridge, my red eyes blinking slowly. The joint has gone out burned about halfway down, but Noah still has it in the corner of his mouth. A smoke haze is spread across the air above his head. The night breeze coming in through the windows is slowly, gently pulling it away. It’s cold, but the fireplace gives off enough warmth for us to leave them open.
“Did you start the game without me, Noah?” I complain, dropping down beside him on the couch. “I missed the whole beginning!”
“The beginning was just a bunch of talking, dude.” He puts the joint back onto the coffee table, accepting his beer from me with a big grin. “Let’s get to the action, am I right?”
“But – what did they tell us about the quest, or the story, or whatever?”
“It’s fine, man, probably doesn’t matter.”
“Oh. Okay. I guess I’m just a little concerned because of that?” I point to the title of the quest in the top left of the screen. “See how it’s called The Doom Approaches? That makes me feel like maybe we should know what’s going on.”
“Alright, the seer guy was yammering on and on about horrors foretold, and something about staying away from the evil whispers, and how the fate of the world all relies on us, or whatever.” Noah sends our character trotting happily out into the dark wilderness at random, and at top speed. “Anyways, let’s go see if there are any sexy orc ladies around, right?”
I let out a stoned laugh, rubbing my eyes. “I’m sure they’ll be impressed by our dirty rags and level one practice sword. And why do we only have a helmet for armor?”
“I bought it by accident when I was leaving town. Figured if I have it I may as well put it on, right?”
“But it looks so stupid!” I protest, struggling not to laugh again. “What self-respecting orc woman would want us right now?”
“She’d have to be a real freak to be digging what we’re putting out there,” Noah concedes. “But that’s exactly what we want, isn’t it? Love me a real freak.”
“Did anyone even say anything about sexy orc ladies? Because for some reason I feel like that wasn’t covered in the prologue about the approaching doom. Did you just assume there would be some?”
“I mean – yeah, I did, but he said there’s all manner of creatures in these woods. Sexy orc lady is a manner of creature, no? So there’s got to be one.”
I let out a choke of laughter, then a groan of despair. “Shouldn’t we at least read what the quest-?”
“Read? Don’t be such a nerd.”
“Oh, my god.”
“Look, it’s fine, dude,” Noah says confidently, as our scantily-clad character wanders deeper into the dark, tangled forest. “We’re about to stumble across the sexy hideout, I bet you – did you hear that? Something’s whispering over there! That’s probably it.”
“No, Noah, don’t go towards the whispers!”
Too late. BATTLE BEGINS, the game announces, in bleeding red letters.
“Dude!” I groan helplessly, sweeping a hand at the TV. “The only instruction you remembered was stay away from the whispers! That was the one thing!”
“I’m sorry, I’m high, all I remembered was that whispers were important-”
There’s a vicious, ear-piercing shriek from the game as the enemy approaches.
“If that’s the orc lady of your dreams, she doesn’t sound happy to see you,” I laugh, pressing my fingers to my cheeks.
“Or, she’s really happy to see me,” Noah says hopefully. “Here she comes!”
“It’s not gonna be a sexy orc lady, dude, there’s no way-”
We both lean forward as the enemy steps out of the fog. The game identifies her as: SUCCUBUS Lvl 4.
“Heyyyyyyyy,” Noah laughs, grinning widely. “Alright, that’ll do. Shiiiiiit, girl, what’s up, how we – oh, god-”
I let out a gasp of laughter as, with her very first attack, the succubus picks up our helpless, pathetic character and ragdolls him against a tree. With a seductive giggle she leans in and sinks her claws into him, tearing him apart.
YOU DIED, the game informs us, followed by: All troops -1 morale.
“What – dude, we have troops?” I burst out laughing, seizing two fistfuls of my hair. “And we’re out here running around by ourselves, wearing half of an old sheet and a helmet?”
“Okay, maybe there was some stuff I should’ve listened to in the intro,” Noah admits, watching our character slide upside down out of the tree to the ground, where he crumples into a bleeding heap.
“Did that go how you hoped, Noah?”
“Like – not how I hoped, but it was still pretty hot. I’d do it again.”
“Should we just start the game over? This feels like starting a car race by getting hopelessly tangled up in your seatbelt.”
“Maybe. Maybe. No, we’re fine, it’s fine-”
Troop morale is dangerously low! One general has defected!
“Aw, man, what the fuck?” Noah frowns indignantly at the screen. “Some loyalty around here! One booty call gone wrong and my generals start defectioning? Some would say it didn’t even go wrong! I kinda liked it!”
“Okay, clearly we’re too high to handle this game right now. Should we go back to the alligator wrestling one where we just smack each other around? I don’t think our – our brains are advanced enough to do. Something with army management. At the moment.”
“No they’re advanced, dude, they’re advanced,” Noah assures me, then pauses, seeming to hear himself. “Hm. Yeah, maybe the gator game.”
“There we go,” I laugh, reaching for the other controller. “I think-”
Noah and I both look up sharply, hearing a clatter from the kitchen. The saucepan hops through the doorway, then pauses there, somehow managing to look confused.
“Oh – it’s smoke from something else!” I call out to it. “Don’t worry, we’re not cooking anything without you.”
The saucepan retreats into the kitchen with a noticeable air of relief.
“It gets a little jealous sometimes,” I explain, when Noah arches a bewildered eyebrow at me. “Always seems a bit hurt when we need the frying pan instead-”
I stop again, staring in surprised confusion as a rusty red tomcat strolls across the living room. I don’t know where he just came from. He pauses when he notices us staring at him, looking back at us warily.
“That’s – not what your cat usually looks like, right?” Noah asks, blinking slowly at the tomcat.
“No, that’s a cat Luna’s been hanging out with. I’m not sure what he’s doing in here.”
“Leaving after a nice hang out, looks like,” Noah observes, as the cat placidly resumes his journey towards the open window.
He springs lightly up onto the sill, shakes out his fur, and disappears off into the night.
“Hang on, let me just text Aiden.” I grab my phone, then type out loud. “The cat is back… and send. There we go. We were discussing whether we needed to put some flea prevention stuff on him, if he’s gonna be around whenever he wants to see Luna.”
“There’s always weird shit going on at your place,” Noah complains, then grins as the game loads up. “Now let’s slap some gators, baby!”
“How would you grade your performance in that other game? Just wondering, before we start this one.”
“Mmm… like a C+,” Noah decides. “If we’re going by high school rules, for me that’s equal to an A.”
“An A?” I ask, incredulous. “For that?”
“Hey, our troops may have deserted us, and I guess technically the horrors took over the world, but we sure had a sexual encounter we’ll never forget.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” I laugh helplessly. “Where’s our cake?”
Noah laughs, too, choking on the sip of beer he was taking. We exchange a grin, then both trail off into silence, focusing on the game. Luna appears around the side of the armchair and hops up onto it, innocently settling down as if she didn’t have any unapproved visitors tonight. She angles her head towards the fireplace, which is down to a soft, low glow.
I let a minute or two pass, then steal a searching glance at Noah.
“So, did everything get sorted out with your sister’s trip dates getting pushed back? Is her new flight all set?”
“Oh, yeah. I gotta talk to you about all that, since she’ll be here day after tomorrow.” Noah settles back against the couch and puts his socked feet up on the coffee table, keeping his eyes on the screen. “I was wondering if you and the rest of the boys wanted to meet her. I know you got to chat at my wedding, but that’s not really – you know, like-”
“No, I know what you mean!” I assure him, smiling as I reach for my beer. “Sounds good, man. I was hoping we’d all be able to get together, but I wasn’t sure if there’d be time. How long is she here for?”
“I don’t know. She works from home, so she’s in France when she feels like being there, in Ketterbridge when she feels like being here. She booked a one-way ticket here. For now, I mean. For this trip.”
“Oh, that’s great! Then sure, let’s definitely all hang.”
“Cool,” Noah murmurs, half to himself. “That should help.”
My puzzled eyes drift over to him. “Help with what?”
“Hm? Oh – nothing, just-” He gives his shoulders a casual shrug, his expression hidden by his long hair. “Think it would be good to show her that I got good people around me now. That’s all.”
I steal an affectionate glance at Noah. Man… he’s really trying. He’s keeping his thoughts mostly to himself, but it’s so clear to me how badly he wants this visit to go well.
“Anyways, I wanted to give you a heads up about something,” he goes on, still carefully keeping his eyes on the screen. “Noelle was sick for a while when we were little kids. I don’t think I’ve told you about that, have I?”
I turn my startled gaze on him, instantly losing track of the game.
“No, you haven’t… I’m sorry to hear that. That must have been hard on her. On you, too.”
“Oh, nah, I – I was fine. Just felt sorry she was going through it. And she’s all better now, thank fuckin’ god-”
I let out a heavy breath of relief. “Good.”
“Yeah, but she’s got some lasting effects, is the thing. Ones that won’t be going away. Sometimes she gets tired pretty easily, or real sensitive to what’s going on around her, or she needs to go lay down for a little bit. I just want you guys to know that in advance, ‘cause anyone who treats that like an inconvenience, or tries to convince her to hang out longer when she needs to leave, or in any way makes it a big deal, is gonna end up on my bad side.”
He casts me a warning look, and I spread my hands in immediate surrender.
“No, of course we wouldn’t! But I appreciate the heads-up.”
“Sure.”
Silence falls, and we return to the game. I let it go on for a minute, fighting with myself, then give up and just ask.
“Is something bothering you, Noah? You seem pretty worried, if I’m being honest.”
“What? Nah, everything’s fine.”
He bites his lip, silently playing the game – not at his usual standard of accuracy, I can’t help noticing – then abruptly sets his controller aside and twists to face me on the couch.
“Okay, so in this-” He tugs something out of the back pocket of his jeans and shows it to me. One of Noelle’s long letters, several pages covered in neat French writing. “This letter, the one she sent right before she’s gonna come home, she tells me she’s bringing her boyfriend with her.”
I sit back in surprise. “I didn’t know she had a boyfriend.”
“You and me both. And I know exactly why she waited ‘til the last minute to tell me.” The muscle in Noah’s jaw flexes sharply, his voice picking up a barely restrained growl. “It’s because I know this guy. He’s her ex from high school. She said they reconnected recently, and they’re back together. Said that even though it just happened, things are moving really fast, so she wants me and him to get to know each other better.”
“Okay…” I answer slowly, taking in the hard expression that came into Noah’s eyes when he started talking about this guy. “Someone from high school? Would I know him?”
“No, he’s not from here. He’s American, but him and his little brother went to an international school in France. Him and Noelle met there over the summer, dated until we left to go home to Ketterbridge. They were supposedly gonna do long distance, but he broke it off with her. Via text. The day after we got back. Like, his brother stayed in touch with Noelle for longer than he did.”
I’m trying to listen without judgment, but my lips twitch downwards at that.
“Oof… okay.” I angle my head to the side, watching Noah closely. “Kind of getting the impression that you don’t like this guy, Noah.”
He twists his mouth to the side, grey eyes darkening like storm clouds.
“Look, I don’t want to say anything to steer you in one direction or another, ‘cause I really want to hear your honest, unbiased opinion once you meet him.” He hesitates, tapping his thumb on the controller, then blurts out – “But I will say I never trusted the guy, and I could never make myself like him, and I’ve always kind of wanted to punch him, and if I think about him for too long I get mad. That’s all.”
I let out a sputter of startled laughter. “So much for letting me form an unbiased opinion!”
“I know, I know, I’m being unfair,” Noah sighs, pushing an inky hand through his long hair. “I’m the last person who gets to judge someone based on how they were in high school, and I haven’t met the guy in years and years. Maybe he’s way different now. I keep telling myself that.”
I grow serious again, narrowing my eyes in confusion. “I don’t get it, though – what did Noelle ever see in this guy?”
“He’s real good-looking, I guess, and he comes from a lot of money, so he’s always dressed up nice, but I think… it’s more about how proper and upright and all that shit he is.” Noah fidgets with his lip piercing, trying to think of how to explain. “You know, the Raunier family has a little bit of what you might call a wild streak.”
“Really?” I let out an affectionate laugh. “It’s not just you? I should have realized, based on that horrific hat your aunt sent you as a present. She managed to cause a huge deal of chaos without even being here.”
“Yeah, definitely not just me,” Noah says firmly. “Sometimes when I was a kid and I did something real dumb or ridiculous, my dad would point up at the sky and say he’d bet that gave my grandpa a big smile. And my great grandpa, too.”
I smile fondly at Noah, envisioning that.
“Noelle…” he goes on slowly, “I think she doesn’t like that she has it. Think she feels like no one will take her seriously anymore if she acts that way. And I can resonate with that, I totally get it, but I still think… I don’t know. I’d still rather see her with someone who, um – they don’t have to encourage it, I guess, if she doesn’t want them to, but I’d rather they didn’t actively, like…”
Noah pauses, shoots me a worried glance.
“All I’ll say is, if a guy knows the girl he’s dating has a brother watching out for her, and he looks at that brother like he’s an immediate enemy, I don’t trust him.”
I nod slowly, taking a second to turn this all over in my mind.
“Well… I guess it’s like you said. That was a long time ago. Maybe he’s different now.” I lift my gaze back to Noah’s. “I think just try to give him a real, fair chance, right? At the very least, that way it’s more likely that Noelle will listen to your opinion on him. If you were against him from the beginning, she probably won’t.”
Noah glances at me and pulls a face, but then falls silent, thinking. His eyes are still full of worry, visible even beneath the reflected firelight.
I understand it now. I’m feeling it myself. I’m trying my best to keep an open mind, but it’s hard not to dislike what I’m hearing about Noelle’s boyfriend. It makes me anxious, to know that Noah has always had a bad feeling about him. Noah’s a man who lives on his instincts, like Raj, and in my estimation both of them have good reason to do so.
“Alright, fine.” Noah lets out a pained sigh, pushing his long hair out of his face. “I’ll be good. I’ll try, anyways.”
“Just focus on you and Noelle,” I tell him encouragingly. “That’s what her visit is really supposed to be about, right? At least for you? And then maybe once you two have had some time together, you can talk to her about-” I cut myself off, realizing what I’m doing. “Oh, I’m sorry. You didn’t ask for my advice.”
“Sure I did, man,” he answers, picking his controller back up.
I look at him in surprise, then with deep affection. We both glance back at the game at the same moment, then let out a startled burst of laughter. We forgot about our gators mid-fight, and the way they fell it looks like they’re sitting on each other. Given their bouncing idle animations, that paints an unintentional picture.
“Aw, dude!” Noah laughs, slapping a hand to his heart. “Look at that. Our gators are making sweet sweet love to each other. Hey, and this time you get to watch, Jamie.”
“Oh, my god.” I reach out and spread my fingers at his face, trying my hardest to pull some articulate words together. “Jail. Jail. Go to silence jail.”
“Everyone deserves a cake tonight,” Noah chuckles, delighted. “Even the gators, now.”
“I’m taking a video of this to send to Aiden,” I manage unsteadily, unlocking my phone. “Wait, he sent me a bunch of question marks, why…? Oh.”
Noah arches an inquiring eyebrow. I turn my phone around and show him the text I sent Aiden, which I thought said the cat is back, but which instead says the orc is back. Which sounds especially stupid paired with the follow-up text I sent right after. Should I catch him and put the flea-prevention stuff on him?
“Great,” Noah snickers, reaching for the joint and the lighter. “Perfectly done, Keane.”
“Okay, if you want to talk about perfectly done things, why don’t we talk about your less than one minute long military campaign against the whispering horrors?”
“Harsh, bro! One could call it that, but one could also call it a one minute long extremely successful date with a succubus.”
I lift my eyebrows doubtfully. “Could one, though?”
Noah considers, then lets out a sheepish laugh. “Maybe not. Our guy wearing the helmet kinda killed it for me, for some reason. Level One Dented Helmet isn’t the sexiest of accessories. As it turns out.”
“I’ll be sure to note down that piece of wisdom,” I answer, rubbing my eyes and laughing as Noah lights the jay back up. “We paid a high price to learn it.”
“Look at our gators, man,” he laughs, through puffs of smoke. “Mwah mwah mwah – HI-YAH!”
“Oh, dude!” I seize my controller as he suddenly starts smashing my gator around again. “What the fuck, I thought we were in love!”
“We are, so it pains me to have to do this,” he says solemnly, then hurls my gator to the ground in a brutal knockout.
“Rematch right now,” I insist, accepting the joint from him. “And by right now I mean after I hit this. A few times.”
Noah snickers, stretching his legs out towards the fire and his arms up over his head. “Take your time. I’ll win whenever we start.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I blow out a thoughtful stream of smoke, still processing everything he told me. “You are still looking forward to the visit, though, right? To seeing Noelle?”
“Sure, man. Of course.” Noah fidgets with his lip piercing, then turns to stare distractedly into the fireplace. “Just kinda nervous. We saw each other at my wedding, but it was Melanie who convinced her to come, not me. And it’s not like that was a good time to talk things out, so we didn’t. Still haven’t.”
“Right, but all those letters she sends you… those really long letters-?”
“Those are just her telling me what’s going on with her, talking about her work and friends and stuff. We haven’t talked, not the way you’re thinking. I don’t actually know how much she wants me back in her life. I don’t even really know what she’s like now, or how we’ll get along.”
Noah looks terribly sad to say that last part, but it only shows for an instant. He clears his throat, gives his head a shake, and takes the joint from me.
“It’s fine,” he says, with some difficulty. “I – I can fix this. There’s still time. I can fix this.”
I twist the heist ring around my finger, resisting the urge to give Noah a hug. I know he’d hate it, but it’s still hard to stop myself.
“Even if she’s just talking about what’s going on in her life, she’s writing long letters to you,” I tell him earnestly, giving him a quick, comforting brace on the arm instead. “She cares enough to do that. I think that’s a really good sign.”
Noah glances sidelong at me, then nods, once.
“I hope so,” he answers softly.
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