after noelle had walked luke to his apartment, she couldn't help but notice that he lived alone. no family, no pets. nothing.

with this in her mind, she felt weird - guilty, almost - entering her house and immediately being greeted by her dad.

she didn't get that warm fuzzy feeling when her mom kissed her head and asked about her day and she couldn't bring herself to laugh when her younger brother teased her about being gone all day with someone without saying who it was.

"i'm fine, just tired," was her response when her family noticed her lack of emotion that night. needless to say, they believed her.

noelle knew that luke wouldn't have.

she knew that he'd immediately call her out for lying to him. "that's bullshit" he would've told her and all she would be able to do is agree because they both knew he was right.

the fact that a boy she'd met not more than 72 hours ago could read her better than her own family bothered her until she was lying in silence, watching her digital clock.

11:30

she blinked.

12:00

she shut her eyes and tried to sleep.

2:15

that's when her phone rang with luke's name flashing on the screen and she felt relief wash over her.

"hello?" she spoke softly.

"i couldn't sleep," was all he told her and by his slightly wavering voice, she knew that he wasn't telling her the whole story.

"neither could i."

but she knew not to ask, so she didn't.

then they talked about everything and nothing, both of them unaware of the time that ticked ever so consistently.

"reason two," luke said during one of their comfortable silences where all they would do is listen to each other's soft breathing.

"what about it?" she asked.

"this should be it."

"i thought i was the one giving out the reasons here."

but secretly, noelle was glad that he was starting to see the good things in life; starting to create reasons of his own to live.

"you mean...you aren't just having this phone call with me just to prove a reason?" he sounded genuinely shocked and she felt her heart clench.

"no, luke, of course not. i want to talk to you, believe or not."

he went silent for a minute before speaking again. "is it bad that i still don't believe you?"

"if you want this to be a reason, then fine. it is one," she sighed in defeat. "late-night phone calls. reason two. awesome."

"no," he groaned, "don't be mad, please."

"who said i was mad?" she huffed.

"your tone of voice is making it pretty fucking obvious."

"i'm not angry, alright? this is reason two, just like you said, since you can't really believe anything else."

"noelle..."

"this is a good reason, i suppose. i mean, it's late at night when you can just call someone up and talk about anything. it's at 3 in the goddamn morning when you can both fall into silence and no one would think it was awkward because, hell, you know you're with each other."

she inhaled sharply, having spewed that whole thing in one breath. luke was quiet on his end, though she could hear his bed squeak as he shifted on the mattress.

"i'm sorry for upsetting you," he whispered finally.

she bit her lip and shut her eyes for a quick moment as she calmed herself down.

"i'm sorry for getting upset."

"you are something else, devereaux," he chuckled, effectively erasing the tension from their conversation.

"i hope that's a good thing, hemmings," she retorted.

"it is. believe me, it is."

~

noelle shot awake at the sound of knocking on her door. she could hear luke's deep breathing on her phone, but she quickly shoved it under her pillow as her mother walked in.

"mom?" she acted as groggy as possible, hoping to god that luke stayed asleep.

"good morning, honey," her mom sat on the edge of her bed and kissed her head gently. "i was just wondering if you were going anywhere today."

"um, i was planning on it, why?" she nervously clenched her cellphone in her hand.

"do you think you could cancel? your father and i are going somewhere today and someone needs to watch your brother."

the younger girl shot up, making sure her phone stayed hidden in her lap.

"b-but this thing is kind of important. can't you just have grandma come over?"

"from all the way across town? that's unreasonable. what's so important that you can't cancel?"

"my friend! he-he really needs my help and-"

"a boy?" her mom cut off disapprovingly, "is that what this is about? you're meeting a boy?"

"mom! it's not because he's a boy, it's more than that!" noelle felt her eyes narrow in irritation.

"it doesn't matter if it's 'more than that'. what is with you lately? you're never like this."

"like what, mom? imperfect? i'm sorry for actually caring for something other than what you want me to."

she stood up in astonishment at her daughter's harsh words, backing up a few feet as if she'd been threatened.

"noelle leanne, what is wrong with you? you're going to cancel this meeting and that is final. do you understand me?"

"wait-"

"i said, do you understand me?"

she bit her lip and nodded solemnly, her anger diminishing, "yes."

"good. we'll be back before 7. i expect your attitude to be fixed by then."

with that, her door was slammed shut and noelle was left sitting on her bed, a mixture of emotions swirling around inside her chest.

she'd never spoken that way to her mother before. but the thought of being kept from luke caused an unknown feeling of rage to well up in her stomach and she didn't like it.

"you there? noelle?" his slightly muffled voice emitted from her phone and she hurriedly pressed it to her ear.

"hey," she greeted him slowly. "so how much of that did you hear?"

"i heard enough," he sighed audibly and she could imagine him running his hand through his hair. "you didn't have to argue with your mom for me."

"i didn't have to. but i needed to. you're my priority right now, luke," she admitted, falling back onto her pillow.

"you don't have to put me above your family just because you pity me," he told her and as she opened her mouth to defend herself, he quickly began again. "and don't you dare say you don't pity me. a part of you does, you're just in denial."

"i'm not in denial about anything," noelle sounded extremely childlike, unwilling to admit that he was partially right.

"whatever you say," his smirk was so obvious that she could almost see it. "anyways, don't ruin your relationship with your family for me. you don't know when you're gonna lose them."

she could hear the sadness that she was so used to hearing in his tone, but as he spoke about family, it was even more prominent than usual. that brought the girl back to the question of what exactly happened to his own family.

it was clear that they weren't just away on some business trip. there was more to the story than she would probably ever find out.

"i still want to see you today," she diverted the topic away from family as subtly as possible.

"how do you propose you do that?"

her lips pursed as her mind reeled with all the possible scenarios in which she could get out of babysitting. none really stood out to her, so she decided to go the opposite direction.

"i have a plan," she giggled, relishing in her idea.

"am i going to regret this?" he questioned nervously.

"not at all."

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yay i updated. sorry i've been having extremely bad summer laziness. it's great but it's not healthy, so i'm going to try and write more often to get rid of itttt.

thank you guys for reading! it means a lot to me. almost 70 reads???? whaaaaat. it may not seem like much but it means a lot, so much love to all of youuu. please comment/vote if you enjoyed :-)