~ noelle ~

After my eventful time with Oliver, nothing exciting happened afterwards. I had two more classes and then I went off to work.

I worked at a local bookstore 'BooksNBooks'. I went there a lot with Grandma when I was little. That's how we ended up befriending Freya Augustus — the owner of the bookstore. Lovely woman she is. As soon as I turned seventeen, she offered me a job.

It's usually pretty quiet, not only because its a bookstore but also because not many people come here. Now that you can read and buy books online, people much rather do that than come all the way here and not knowing if what they're looking for is here or not. That and the whole audiable apps— you don't even have to read, since other people do it for you.

I dread the day Freya closes the bookstore for good.

I finished the two homework assignments that two teachers managed to give today before pulling my phone out, only to find a text from Aspen, my best friend.

Don't forget our zoom call at 9. I have so much to tell you!!!   -A

Aspen and I have been friends since preschool, when some kid pulled on my pigtails. She pushed him and made him fall. From there I knew Aspen would always have my back. 

Aspen was one of those gifted athletes. In high school, she was in both, volleyball and track teams. They had different training schedules so she managed to do both, and her dedication wasn't left unnoticed by scouts. She ended up receiving a full ride to a university is Minnesota for her dedication, amazing skills and her sportsmanship.

I decided to stay behind to be close to my grandma, in case she ever needed me, and that meant being far from Aspen. That's why we decided to have mandatory zoom calls once a month. They were a must and neither of us could cancel or reschedule unless something big happened, for example, that Aspen had a match that day, or that my grandma was in the hospital. Other than that, there were no excuses.

I would neverrrr. I have some tea too.  -N

It was January and the snow was still decorating the city, alongside the freezing breeze that made your bones tremble. That's what happened to me at least, when I closed the bookshop at 8pm and made my way to the supermarket. I needed to buy some food for my zoom call—sleepover thing with Aspen.

I could barely feel my face when I arrived at the store. It was pretty empty, apart from the employees. No one wanted to leave their houses in this freezing weather.

Hm— what should I buy?

Chocolate – check

Popcorn – check

Ice cream  – check

I knew Grannie had vodka hidden somewhere around the house, so I already had my drink. Now, I needed to find a few things for Grandma.

Eggs – check

Milk – check

Oats – uncheck

I probably passed through every aisle at least once looking for my grandma's favorite oats. She loved them with a passion and she ran out of them this morning. I know that there wasn't much left to do, especially in this weather but the idea of my grandma eating something else that wasn't oats... made me feel guilty.

"Miss Davis?"

I looked to my right only to see Mr. Styles standing in the middle of the aisle, looking at me.

"Oh— hi, Mr. Styles" I softly smiled at him. "What are you doing out in this weather?"

He walked closer to me, stopping a few steps away from me before replying. "I could ask you the same thing. And please, outside of the university you can call me Harry"

"As long as you call me Noelle" I agreed. "And I was just buying some things for me and my grandma, but I can't seem to find her favorite oats so I refuse to leave".

"I see you're a stubborn one," he said. "Those oats... do they happen to be the oats with pieces of almond and chocolate?"

"Yes!" I exclaimed. "Did you see them?"

He shrugged. "Here."

Harry took out the oats out of his basket and offered them to me. I just stared at his hand, surprised he was even talking to me after his attitude towards me this morning.

"Take them, Noelle."

"But they're yours—"

"Its fine. I also grabbed some cereal. See?" He gestured with his head to the basket. Sure enough, the cereal box was peeking out of his basket.

"Okay, fine" I gave in, as I grabbed the oats from his extended hand. "Thank you, you just saved my grandma from a depressing breakfast".

"No problem," he said. "If you don't mind me asking, how are you getting home?"

"I walk"

"You seriously can't be considering walking with this weather, Noelle. It's not safe" he argued.

"It's fine, professor" I replied. "It's not my first time and will most likely not be my last"

He shook his head. "I'm taking you home"

Then, just like that, he walked away. With his long legs, I almost had to run to catch up with him. He went to the cashier and paid for his groceries, that weren't much anyways. I followed and did the same.

Harry waited for me at the exit and when I was close enough, he took one of the bags I had and gingerly jogged to his car. Again, I followed and did the same.

It was snowing again. It wasn't a blizzard but it was strong enough to make me freeze to death if I were to walk back home. Harry and I jumped on his car in a heartbeat.

He wasted no time in turning the car on and putting the air conditioner to it's hottest. We were freezing.

"Let me just get a little warm and I'll drive you home"

I nodded and we stayed quiet for a while. Harry and Mr. Styles were two different people. Harry was quite attentive and kind, whilst Mr. Styles was cold and intimidating. I sighed. This was probably the one and only time I'd get to see Harry.

"What's your address?"

I told him my address and he began to drive me home. We kept quiet the whole ride. I guess neither of us wanted to make things awkward or ruin our moment of truce outside the university. 

I pointed at my house when we were getting nearer, and Harry parked the car.

"Thank you for driving me, Mr. Styles" I said softly. "Please drive safely".

"No problem, Noelle" he replied, mirroring the softness of my voice. "And I will. Good night"

"Night Harry" I smiled at him.

I grabbed my bags and left the car, as I ran to my front door. I walked in but before closing the door I looked back and saw Harry's car was still there— maybe he was making sure I made it inside safely.

I smiled and waved at him. I barely saw it, but I saw him wave back before the car speeded off down the street.

I closed the door before calling my grandma.

"Grannie! The light of your eyes is back!" I yelled.

"I didn't know Cookie came back from the dead" she teased from the living room. Cookie was her cat, but he died two years ago.

I carried the groceries to the kitchen and began unpacking.

I snorted. "You're in denial, Grannie. But don't worry, I know the truth"

"And that is...?" She asked.

"That I'm the sun that lights up your days; the oxygen that fills your lungs and overall, the love of your life" I said smiling. I loved teasing. Yes, she loves me to pieces but I just find it funny to exaggerate things every once in a while.

"Yeah yeah, whatever lets that air-filled brain of yours to sleep at night, honey" she laughed.

"Hey! My brain is not filled with air" I exclaimed, the smile was permanent on my face. "What does it take these days to get some respect around here? Hm".

"Maybe... earn it? I don't know, just a suggestion." We laughed. We always did this. Different conversations but same dinamics. We were two peas in a pot. We were made of each other.

As soon as the groceries were where they belonged, I stepped into the living room.

"I love you so much, Grannie" I kissed her head.

"I love you more, sweetie" she replied. "Also, before I forget. Aspen called, she wants you to check your email"

My email?

"Um— okay? Thanks Grannie. I'm gonna talk to Aspen now. Yell if you need anything" I said as ran up the stairs.

I grabbed my laptop and opened my email as Aspen asked. Sure enough there was an email from her.

Aspen is inviting you to her zoom call....
ID 3827193847
Password: ad678s0p

"Noelleeeeeeeee!" was the first thing I heard as I joined Aspen's zoom call. "I miss you bitch. Where have you been?"

Her blonde curly hair was tugged in a low bun and she was in her pj's eating some pizza with a smoothie.

"I'm exactly where you left me, asshole" we laughed.

Soon enough, Aspen started spilling the tea. She was dating some basketball player at her university named Thomas. Apparently he was tall, dark and handsome... and had the biggest dick she's ever seen.

"I didn't need to know about his dick, Aspen" I rolled my eyes. "It's weird that I know that now".

"I just thought I should share... it might motivate you to jump in the BBC train or just BC train." She shrugged.

"Please tell me you're talking about Bogota Beer Company or just Beer Company and not—"

"Big black cock? Big cock? Yes,  that's exactly what I meant. And I stand by what I said" she said. "Please tell me you've got your eyes on some guy".

"Not really, no" I shrugged. "The only men I've met are Oliver, my classmate and my teacher, Mr. Styles"

"Hm," she eyed me suspiciously. "How many classes did you have today?"

"Four, why?"

"I just find it interesting how out of four classes you only mentioned Mr. Styles" she said as her smile grew into a creepy one. "Is this Mr. Styles hot or what?"

"Well, yeah but—"

"Noelle, don't tell me you have the hots for your teacher!" She screamed. "Wait, don't tell me if he's old. But if he's young, then you better spill some tea sis"

"He's twenty-nine, so no, he's not creepy old".

"Holy fucking shit— when you finally mention a dude he's nine years older than you?!" She exclaimed. "You sure are a surprising bitch Noelle Davis. I'll give you that"

"Can I just tell you what happen so you can shut up about your stupid ideas?" I laughed.

"Please do" so I did.

I explained to her everything. From my horrific entrance to Mr. Styles's class, to my little chat with Oliver and later, my little run-in with my professor and how he drove me back home.

"Bitch— all of that happened just today?" She asked, her eyes held so much amusement. "And you always complain about your life not being exciting enough".

"Well, I don't like him. He could be married for all I know, and it would be really weird if I fucked my professor"

Aspen laughed. "Just because you said that— now it's officially gonna happen. You know what the wise Justin Bieber said Noelle, never say never".

Let's hope this is not me foreshadowing.