Chapter 14

After I was done, I wrapped my self in a towel and stepped out, sticking my head out to first make sure he wasn't in his room. He told me he'd leave some clothes so I kind of had to leave the bathroom in nothing but a towel.
To my luck, he wasn't in his room. On the bed he had indeed left our clothes for me to wear which I was grateful for. I didn't expect him to be this... kind and welcoming, I guess.
I picked the clothes up and beaded back to the bathroom to change - just in case, when his room door open.
"Oh, wow! Fuck, my bad." Noah had come into his room, not seeing me for more than a second but noticing me in the towel and turning around so he couldn't see me.
Okay but that was sweet. I mean it was the normal and decent thing to do but don't guys usually take these moment to their advantage and ogle and stare rather than turn around.
"You're fine, Noah." I told him, not making it a big deal. I wasn't going to be one of those girls to freak out.
Noah cautiously turned around, his eyes travelling from the ground at my feet, all the way up until our gazes locked.
He cleared his throat when I raised my eyebrows and waited to see why he came in although it was his room so..
"Uh," he awkwardly walked over to me. I had one hand making sure the towel wouldn't fall while the other one held his clothes. "I was just going to leave a new toothbrush with the clothes."
"Oh. Thanks." I mumbled as I took it from him.
"Uh, yeah... um, you know - uh, sorry." He sputtered, blinking a few times but his eyes not leaving mine.
I chuckled, "Not a big deal. It's your room, you don't have to apologize for walking in."
"Yeah but you're, like uh-"
"I'm not filming a porno or standing naked in front of you, Ace." I quirked an eyebrow, now me being the one who was amused while Noah squirmed a bit under my gaze.
Noah was taken aback by my comment. It was weird seeing him all flustered and speechless.
"I'm gonna-" he took a few steps backwards, nodding his head lightly. "Yeah, I'm going to go now." He then scrambled out of his room, shutting the door behind him causing me to laugh at his flustered state.
I couldn't help but laugh before shaking my head and going bath into the bathroom.
I made my way downstairs and didn't have a chance to register what was happening because right away, a pair of arms got wrapped around me. I laughed as Luke hugged me, "Hey princess."
"Hi Luke," I pulled away from him. "Always cheery."
"You know it," he winked. We joined everyone else in the main lounge room.
"Hey," Jade came and sat beside me. She gave me a suggestive look, "nice outfit."
I looked down at the grey sweatpants that were baggy on me along with the white v-neck that was also too big on me. I gave her a flat look, "it's nothing."
"Whatever you say, Tiffany." She grinned.
I narrowed my eyes, "Seriously, it's nothing."
"But you spent the night." She noted, speaking in a quiet tone so nobody else could hear.
Joy came and sat on the other side of me, also joining us. "I heard that too. I didn't know you and Noah were a thing."
I looked at her in disbelief, "that's because we are not nor will be become one."
"But you spent the night," Jade retorted, as if that small fact would drastically change what I just said.
I gave her a flat look, "Yes because we were studying and then it got late and we fell asleep."
"But-"
"Okay," Leo stood up causing our attention to drift to him. "I'll go grab some snacks from the store around the corner."
"What are we going?" Jade asked as the three of us seemed to be lost unlike everyone else.
"We're just going to stay in today," Kai said, answering for everyone. "There's supposed to be a really bad storm coming in in a few hours anyways. May as well just have a movie day."
"Yeah," Leo grabbed his car keys off the coffee table. "I'll be back soon. Any specific food suggestions?"
"Gummy bears." Luke grinned, answering quickly. "Oh, Doritos too. And get ice cream but not cookies and cream because that's literally all the ice cream Noah ever owns."
Leo rolled his eyes, "any suggestions from anyone but Luke?"
Everyone else laughed and yelled out any chips or candies they wanted. Leo nodded and grabbed his coat off the couch as he headed to the door.
"Wait," I stood up, quickly finding an out from an awkward and unnecessary conversation with the girls. "I'll come with you. Keep you company and all."
Leo looked surprised but smiled and nodded, "might want to grab a coat, it's cold."
I looked at Charlie expectingly since he did say he would bring me a change of clothes. "Oh hell," he muttered when he caught my gaze "I completely forgot, Tiff."
"Here," Cade appeared in front of me and handed me a hoodie. I hadn't even noticed that he was in the room with everyone.
I looked at him in surprise, "Oh, hi. What are you doing here?"
He chuckled, "I live here too, remember."
"Coming, Tiff?" I looked at Leo who was waiting by the door and nodded. I quietly said thank you to Cade, taking the hoodie and leaving but not before catching the weird look on Noah's face as he looked between me, his brother and Leo, his eyes narrowed.
"You and Cade are friends?" Leo asked, glancing at me for a second before looking back to the road. We had only been driving for a minute. His tone was calm and friendly, clearly making small talk.
I shrugged, "kind of. We've only really talked once before but he's a nice guy."
Leo nodded, a knowing look in his eyes that made me curious as to what it was that he knew. "Yeah, he is."
I cleared my throat, "Why'd you chose to be on snack duty?"
Leo chuckled, "Every time Luke or Charlie go they end up only bringing what they like and forgetting about the half a dozen other people they were supposed to bring snacks for as well. Ezra went once too, he ended up not getting back for another two hours. None of us even knew where he ended up going."
I laughed, a small grin playing on my lips. "That sounds like him."
"So are you liking it here?" The ride was very short and we had already reached the convenient store. We got out the car, Leo grabbing a basket as we entered.
"In Long Grove? Sure. It's definitely a very new and different scene from the one I was used to my whole life but it's not bad. I needed a bit of..."
"Normal? Steadiness?" Leo offered, looking at me with an eyebrow quirked as he finished my thoughts.
"Yeah. I needed a bit of steadiness and things are easy here."
"They weren't easy in Saratoga?" He asked as we started picking out bags of chips. He wasn't asking like Noah did. Noah was curious and wanted to figure out me and what it was about me that made me the way am I - like he knew I was hiding something and wouldn't let it rest until he found out what. When Leo asked, he was just curious in a 'you're my new friend, let's get to know each other' way. A small talk, friendly conversation way.
I shrugged, "they could've been but like I said, it was a different scene, a whole other life. There was too much... history and stories there for it to be easy anymore."
"Is that why you moved here?" Leo asked as I followed him to where the candy aisle was. "I mean Charlie said you wanted to spend more time with you dad but something tells me you wanted to get out of Saratoga with more reasons than that."
I don't know what made it easy for me to talk to Leo about this because I wasn't one to go around sharing a lot about myself. Maybe it was because he asked so nonchalantly in a non-pestering kind of way like he was interested but wasn't really pushing me for information.
I sighed, grabbing some m&m's and gummy bears, "There was nothing keeping me there, anymore. In fact, everything was telling me to leave that place. I guess I thought moving here would sort of bring me to ease or something."
Leo nodded in understanding, "I get that. I moved here right when high school started because my dad died. My mom didn't want to move because we had a whole life we couldn't just walk away from but I convinced her we should because I couldn't stay there anymore with the constant reminders and memories of my dad that started to feel like they were haunting me. Yeah, I want to remember him and I always will but not like that. It just felt wrong because that life was with him and I didn't see any moving on but staying somewhere where he should've been too, you know? So we moved here and things did get a lot better, or at least easier."
I looked at Leo who was smiling lightly as he thought about his dad. "That must've been a hard thing. It's not easy loosing someone, ever. I'm sorry you had to go through that loss."
Leo looked at me and gave me a smile, "Thanks. I'm sorry... about whatever it is that you had to leave behind too."
I gave him a tight lipped smile. I was expecting him to ask me more about it but he didn't which I was thankful for. I guess I was right to let my guard down around him because he wasn't concerned about prying into my life and digging out whatever skeletons I had hidden.
We finished grabbing some snacks before Leo payed and we headed back to Noah's.
"Yeah, that's definitely going to be a harsh storm." Leo said, looking at the dark and cloudy sky as we walked up the drive way with multiple bags filled with a bunch of unhealthy junk. "Count to five and Luke will be jumping on you saying how much he missed you," Leo grinned, giving me an amused look just before opening the door.
Just like Leo said, Luke came over and almost made me fall when he hugged me, "You're back. I missed you."
I laughed and pushed Luke off me, "we weren't even gone fifteen minutes, idiot."
"So?" He asked innocently as he took some of the bags from me and walked back into the lounge with me. "15 minutes is enough to miss you, princess. That's how much we love you."
"Only you, Luke, only you." I mumbled, smiling as I sat down between Luke and Leo.
A couple of hours later, it was now the evening. I took my head off Luke's shoulder where I was leaning it on and was about to get up when Luke stopped me to ask where I'm going.
"I'm just going to go grab a drink from the kitchen," I said in a hushed voice because everyone was trained on the movie that was playing or were just busy with themselves.
Charlie and Jade were talking in hushed voices while Joy and Kai were cuddled up together. Cade had left by the time Leo and I got back from the store. Ezra chewed on a lollipop stick as he watched the tv screen, sitting on the recliner with his legs swung over one of the chairs arms.
"Do you want anything?" Luke shook his head as he gave me a sweet smile.
I got up and went to the kitchen, stopping in my tracks when I saw Noah sitting at the island, his back towards me.
He leaned over the island, his hands folded in front of him. His back muscles were lightly shown through the white v-neck he was wearing because it hugged his body.
I slowly walked over and sat down on the stool beside him. "Hey,"
Noah looked at me, surprised for a brief moment. He leaned back, "Hey sunshine."
"What are you doing sitting here alone in dull lighting like some sketchy guy from the 1930's? All you're missing is the fedora and cigar."
Noah started chuckling. We both sat in a comfortable silence until a loud strike of thunder broke it.
Noah exhaled a breath, "it's bad out there. I heard the roads are crazy because the wind is really rough and the rain isn't helping."
I frowned lightly. That meant accidents on the roads were probably happening. "Where are you brothers?" I asked.
"My brothers or Cade?" He quirked an eyebrow.
I narrowed my eyes, "well he is your brother but that's that supposed to mean?"
Noah shrugged and looked down at the hoodie I was still wearing, "Nothing."
I gave him a flat look before pulling the hoodie up off my head. I looked down and pointed between the shirt and the sweatpants I was wearing. "Your point?"
Noah grinned, seeming pleased now. "Cade at his friends, Braxton too which means he's probably getting baked. Adriel and Colton are with my cousins who live about two hours from here. They're staying there for the weekend."
"Empty house, huh?"
"If you don't count the eight people in my living room." He grinned smugly.
I rolled my eyes. "So... what are you doing sitting in here when everyone's out there?"
"My mom called me to make sure I wasn't out driving somewhere. Stayed here for a bit because... I don't know. The rooms getting stuffy, I guess. What are you doing here, sunshine?"
"I came to get water," I shrugged.
He nodded and then silence fell upon us again, for another few minutes.
"Hey, can I ask you a question?" Noah looked at me, his eyes soft. I shrugged. "Why'd you decide to get the raven?"
"I already told you, it sy-"
"I know," he cut me off. "I know what you said. It symbolizes bad luck which you think follows you around and goes where you do, although I think that's wrong, not true and disagree. But you believe that, right? So what I mean to ask is why would you want that constant reminder?"
I looked at him, taken aback by his question. I looked down at the counter in front of me, "It's a reminder of two things. First, of the bad luck itself so I know where my boundaries are and don't slip up because... well, because my luck is bad. And second, it's a reminder of what the bad luck brought and what happened. A reminder of things that I don't think I'll forget anyways but it'll remind me anyways so I don't forget about my own history and forget why I'm here in the first place."
When I looked at Noah again, his eyes were soft but held a sad look. "You can't really think bad luck goes where you do." His voice was quiet.
I shrugged, "I think it's been proven to me enough for me to believe that."
"You don't know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from." Noah said softly, in a way that would comfort me, like he was trying to help change my mind but in a subtle way because he knew it would take more than words to do that.
I stood up and walked to the fridge, grabbing a water bottle. Before I left the kitchen, I turned and looked at Noah who had his gaze set on me, "I don't think it could get much worse, Ace."