chapter six, solace

           FINDING SOLACE in painting gave some sort of purpose to her life. Knowing well that her existence was a waste, she felt content that she would be able to leave something beautiful behind. Something that would make people think that she wasn't only defined by allergy. That she had a side of herself no one understood. No one wished to understand. 

           She painted landscapes just the way she saw them. She didn't wish to fix the broken branches of the trees or deepen the waves of an ocean. There was a certain honesty in realism that many people didn't wish to see. But she loved it. It was so soothing to paint all the imperfections of nature, knowing she was broken through and beyond. 

           The dark forest outside her window was lulling her with the secrets and she itched to paint them all. That's why she went outside, to paint it until her parents came back from work. There was loneliness in her life that she didn't know how to fill it. After the incident, when she was eight, her parents didn't leave her alone for a second. They both slept with her in the same room, only on a mattress on the floor. 

           She grew tired of being watched constantly and her parents had to come back to work. It was hard to be with herself, with her own thoughts for the first time truly. But she found solace in that. Because when she was alone, her only concern was her own thoughts. She didn't have to present herself in front of her parents that she was fine. They knew she wasn't. She knew she wasn't. But they got stuck in a lying game. 

           Noelle was painting the forest while it wasn't raining or snowing. It was a rare occurrence in Forks, and she had already noticed it. The clouds were sorrowful, illuminating the forests with dark shadows, making them look even creepier. But she wasn't afraid. She just wanted to express that loneliness, that slight creepiness of it on the canvas. 

          All of a sudden, her immerged mind was interrupted, by a phone ringing in the pocket of her jacket. Placing the palette on her lap, and pushing the brush into the cup with water on the grass, she fished her cell out of the jacket, accepting a call from an unknown number.

           "Oui?" 

           "Hey, Noelle! It's Eros. I got your number from Bella. I wanted to know how you have been doing."

           Hearing his voice made warmth grow on her face, she pinched herself to concentrate and answered: "Hi... I'm doing better. I plan to come back to school on Monday. My dad will pull out the stitches before that. How are you?"

           "I'm fine. Come back to biology, I cannot keep doing that dreadful work on my own," he joked, and she could even imagine his smile. "I actually have collected schoolwork from the teachers, and I thought about giving it to my dad so he could give it to your parents, but... I thought that I could see you if that's okay with you?"

            "Oh." She didn't expect to hear this. "Yeah, if it's not hard for you. You can come over – I'll send you my address."

            "I'll see you in a bit, yeah?"

            "Bye." She hung up the call and looked at the painting with wide eyes, not understanding what had just happened.

           Maybe, just maybe, she didn't scare him off with her allergy. Maybe this time was actually different.

           She quickly texted the address to him, saving his number in her phone. She rose from her seat, taking the easel with canvas inside, placing it beside the back door. Coming back for the palette and the jar with her brushes, she got it all inside. Taking off her jacket, she hung it neatly in the closet beside the front door and walked to the kitchen. 

           Brushing off the fact that she was in her pyjamas, she didn't feel like changing. Her pyjamas were in soft plum, a bit oversized and made from silk. It was the way her skin preferred to be covered so her irritation and her scars wouldn't itch as much.  

            A friend will actually visit her!

            Not knowing what to do now since her house was clean, she leaned on the kitchen counter, drumming her fingers on the surface. Soon enough, she heard tires against the gravel of her front yard, and she turned around as soon as she heard a distant knock on the front door. 

           Walking to the door, Noelle unlocked it and opened it, revealing a familiar face with a frowny face. It started to rain. Eros had a bag over his left shoulder as it was just the time after the lessons, his left arm behind him. 

           "You brought rain," she noted with a soft smile, moving further from the door. "Come on in."

           Eros winced from the thought that he was the one that brought rain. He moved inside, noting it wasn't warm inside, but the contrast of the temperatures almost made him shiver. Or it was just the fact that he was wet from the rain. As she closed the door behind him, he was happy to see that she was doing well. Extending his left arm to her, there was a small bouquet – bluebells with colorful baby's breaths all around it. 

           Her face lit up from surprise as she looked at him, not knowing what to say. 

           Eros cleared his throat: "Right... I don't even know if you like flowers, but... I'm happy that you are alive and that you will come back to school."

           Noelle was speechless. She gently opened her mouth, but nothing came out of it as she was just amazed. Looking at the gorgeous flowers, her heart made a few leaps as she didn't remember the last time she got flowers. Not only any type of flowers but her favorite – baby's breath. 

             Carefully taking the wrapped bouquet from him, making sure she wouldn't touch him, she pushed her nose into the blossoms, inhaling the gentle scent of sweet soap that baby's breath had. Retracting her nose, her gaze softened as she looked at him with a smile: "Oh, Eros... I'm actually speechless... Thank you so much for the flowers. How did you know these are my favorites?"

           Eros shrugged, "Went with my gut."

           Looking at the flowers again, she sighed in excitement. "They are so beautiful." She raised her eyes back to him, noting the smile sitting on his lips. "Thank you... Come on in. I baked muffins today; would you like to try them?"

           Taking off his jacket and hanging it beside the door, he nodded. "How did you know muffins are my favorite?" he asked, jokingly squinting his eyes as if he was suspicious.

          He took a moment to look at her. He hadn't noticed this at school because she always wore sweaters with a turtleneck, but now he noticed her bare neck and he understood why she had covered it. There were scars on her neck. Splattered in all directions as some of them were old and others were still healing. They were a sign of skin being burnt there as the skin had lost its smoothness. The old scars were slightly wrinkled and the new ones were slightly irritated around the edges.

           Noticing that he was staring at her neck, she quickly realized that it wasn't a pretty sight to see. "Oh, sorry!" She mumbled quickly as she opened the closet beside the door, taking out a scarf.

           "No! No... That's not necessary. I am sorry—I was just gawking... You don't need to cover them up." He quickly stopped her and mentally cursed himself for staring at her scars. "Don't cover them up." He asked instead, his voice smooth as if made of honey. 

           Hesitating, she pushed the scarf back to its place, sliding the closet door shut. "They can be a lot to other people. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable seeing them."

          "I wasn't uncomfortable seeing them," he immediately disagreed with her. "I just—I can't believe you have been through so much pain."

           "Yeah, it's..." She quickly averted her eyes, feeling that she was about to break down in front of him. "It's fine. They are all scars now." She tried to contain herself and she turned to him, plastering a small smile. "Come on in."

           Eros noticed the pain in her voice, but he knew his place. At moments like these, he wished he could read someone's mind like Edward could. He didn't understand the extent of her pain and there was a part of him that wished to know it. Living with such pain, with such a burden... He wanted to know more about her. Because he was finding some pain in her that he had been holding in his heart for many years. 

           Following her into the kitchen, he noticed how lovely her house was. It was clean and the design was very home-like. There were many plants in the living room behind him as the kitchen was minimalistic, but very cozy as well. There were different types of mugs placed in a row on the counters high above and all designs were overly dramatic. Each mug was from a different city, with their names placed in various fonts, maps here and there, and some famous sightseeing places peaking in the back. 

          Noelle grabbed a vase from a counter, filled it with water, and placed the bouquet in the vase. Noticing that Eros was looking at the mugs, she smiled: "We have this tradition of buying a mug from a tourist shop whenever we travel, or we move. It must look stupid and all over the place."

            "Good luck finding one of those in Forks."

           She scoffed, "Don't underestimate my ability to find a mug in the deepest, darkest corners of local shops. I have an eye for it." she said proudly. Turning to him, "Tea or coffee?"

            "Tea," he sat down at the kitchen table. "I already had two cups of coffee today." He admitted as if those two cups of coffee made a huge difference to him. 

           "Black or green?"

           "Green."

           "What's going on in school?" she asked as she poured water into the kettle. 

           Placing his elbow on the table and pushing his cheek on his hand, he answered: "Well... The whole school was talking about the incident all week long. Tyler was the one in the van if you didn't know... He has been swooning around Bella with apologies, but then he heard about your seven stitches... I think he's gonna ask you to prom."

           "I'm guessing his plans got ruined when the principal invited you all to the gym?" Noelle asked, taking out two mugs out of the cupboard. 

           Eros was at school that day when the principal gathered all the students to talk about Noelle's allergy. By the reaction some people had, he understood why she wanted to keep it a secret and pretend she was a germaphobe. Some people were disgusted, and Mike Newton had the audacity to whisper 'Damn, she's hot though...' Eros wanted to rip his head off, but Alice, who was sitting beside him, somehow knew that he wanted to do that. 

           "Actually, he has been all and through with the planning committee to make the prom more available to you," Eros shrugged, looking at how she put tea bags in the mugs, taking two containers out. 

           Turning to him, she deadpanned. "Is he planning to make a corner in the room, covered with a fence where I would just stand?"

           Eros pushed his mouth into his palm, hiding his chuckle: "What would be your reaction if I said he suggested exactly that?"

           Her nose crinkled and she turned away, taking out two big plates, and placing the muffins on them. "I'd say he probably got a concussion."

           "Instead of a fence, he offered like those thingies that separate the VIP areas."

           Offering him a side glance, she shook her head: "That doesn't make it any better."

           "He just feels guilty."

            As she poured hot water into the mugs, she placed them on the kitchen table alongside two plates of muffins, taking a seat at the other end of the table. "Well, I think my allergy screams a clear message that there will be no prom for me."

           "I am sure he can change your mind... He's very persuasive," he chuckled, grabbing the hot mug between his hands, and enjoying the painful warmth of it. 

           Tilting her head, she squinted her eyes slightly: "Since you're defending him so much, why don't you go to the prom with him?"

           "Oh, man..." He sighed dramatically. "Why do you think I'm telling you all these things? Maybe I am jealous that he wants to bring you to the prom and not me..." Averting his eyes as if he was sad, he moved his head down. 

            Giggling, she pushed both plates closer to Eros, shaking her head slightly: "Message clear – I won't be stealing your guy," she joked. "So, on the right, we have red velvet muffins with vanilla buttercream and on the left, we have simple chocolate muffins."

           Taking the red velvet one, he took a huge bite, burying his nose in the buttercream. He leaned back and rolled his eyes upward, pushing his free hand on his heart. "Oh my God," his voice was muffled. When he swallowed, he basically stuffed the rest of the muffin in his mouth.

           Watching him with wide eyes, she couldn't help but laugh – he was so theatrical. Covering her mouth, she shook her head: "You have buttercream on your nose."

           Wiping it with his thumb, he licked the remaining buttercream off his fingers, making Noelle immediately avert her stare down to her tea before she got flustered.

           Eros hummed in pleasure: "The texture is so moist, and the sweetness comes gently from the buttercream while the muffin is so delicate. It's absolutely delicious!"

           Raising an eyebrow, she took a careful sip of the hot tea. "Seems like someone is watching a lot of cooking shows."

           "What can I say..." He leaned back on the chair comfortably, looking at her with those beautiful doe eyes. "I enjoy cooking myself" He shrugged.

           Being surprised that a guy of her age had an interest in cooking, she softly nodded: "Well, I'm glad you liked it."

           "I loved it," he corrected her, taking a chocolate muffin now. "But talking about prom. Since my prom date is not available because she doesn't want to be stuffed in a corner with a fence around it, maybe she will want to watch a movie or just go out somewhere?"

           As soon as she understood that he was talking about her, her body suddenly became warm, and it wasn't from the hot tea. Raising her eyes from the table, she tried to contain herself: "You wanted me to be your prom date?"

           "Ever since I saw you in the library," Eros shrugged.

           She felt her cheeks get even redder and she wanted the Earth to swallow her whole. She had to calm down. Clearing her throat, she furrowed her eyebrows a bit as she asked, "What about..." But she grew silent. 

           "What about who?" He asked, interested.

           "I didn't say anything," she brushed it off.

            Inching forward in his seat, he chucked: "You mean Jessica?"

           "You said it out loud, not me," she shrugged it off defensively.

           "She's nice. But she's not you."

          Noelle's heart stopped for a second. He surely didn't say that! Trying to not show how much his words affected her, she said jokingly: "Well... Who told you I would've said yes?"    

           Eros placed his hand on his chest, frowning: "Ouch."

           Cheekily smiling, she enjoyed his dramatic moves. "Maybe I wanted to go with Tyler. Maybe you're not the only one head over heels for him," she joked. "I don't think I've even met him," she honestly said, thinking about it. 

           "All talks aside from our undying love for Tyler... What about that prom night?" Eros asked.

           Fidgeting with her slightly itching fingers, she softly smiled: "The prom is like in forever, but yes. I'll watch a movie with you."

           Offering her a wide smile, he took the bag, which he had placed on the floor, pulled out a handful of sheets, and placed them on the table: "That's all the material I've gathered for you... And about you going to school..." Suddenly he became serious, almost startling her. "If anyone will try to give you any trouble, let me know."

           Her expression softened. "You already did so much for me... I mean, you saved my life. I can't ask this of you."

           "You're not asking anything," he shook his head. "Listen... I remember what you said about people being cruel and I understand why. Seeing you sit here, in front of me, as if you are not in pain is—just..." He didn't know what word to use. "The least I can do is to try and keep those morons away from you."

           Noelle didn't understand where this was coming from. She didn't understand why this was important to him. "Why?"

           A glimpse of pain flashed in his brown eyes. "There was a time when all I had around me was pain, when I couldn't breathe properly. When it hurt as if someone stabbed me repeatedly. No one deserves this kind of pain. And you are just—not being able to touch someone... But what I saw that day – your burning skin," he turned his eyes away, closing them for a second. "No one should experience this kind of pain. Especially not you."

author speaks—

do you know the feeling when you meet someone and you're instantly friends? like there are no awkward phases or talks, it's like you've known each other forever? yeah, that's eros' and noelle's dynamic (your honor, i love them)

Anyways, enjoy this sweet chapter of our babies since the pain is coming😇 But how are we feeling? We are getting into the book slowly!

(also noelle always being on the brink of completely BREAKING in front of people who ask her how is she just shows that our baby is far from fine)

Please don't forget to vote and leave a comment or two! Your support keeps me motivated!