The midyear swimming competition was completely out of the picture for me, now.

I was sent home from the hospital later that day, with painkillers and antibiotics for days and even though I wasn't told to be on bed rest, I might as well have. I brought an actual handwritten and signed letter from the doctor, saying I should stay away from swimming practice until my wound was totally healed. Which it's going to take weeks.

I rolled in bed, turning to the other side and pulling the bed sheets over my head at the same time, in an attempt to cover me from the sunlight peeking through the windows.

However, my eyes opened wide when I heard the sound of the doorbell ringing. We weren't expecting anyone today, at least not to my knowledge, which led me to think this was probably an impromptu visit from someone who'd heard about my little trip to the hospital yesterday. Could be my uncle or aunt, or Harper or Kyle. But I did not feel like talking to anyone right now.

Tiptoeing my way out of my bedroom and into the hallway, I overheard my dads talking to Noah. My eyes opened wide for the second time in the past five minutes.

Second guessing myself, or maybe just double checking my hearing capacity, I tiptoed back to my room and looked out the window.

Yep, that's Noah's jeep.

I moved back to the corner in the hallway that allowed for the perfect spot for eavesdropping without being noticed by anyone.

"I just want to say, I am so sorry for letting this happen to Zoey."

"Come on, Noah. This wasn't your fault."

Noah's feeling guilty about this?

"Then why does it feel like it is?" Noah let out a dry chuckle. "She was with me and I didn't keep her safe."

"Let me tell you a story," My dad started and I let my head drop and my forehead hit the wall, as I tried to brace myself for whatever it was he was about to tell Noah. "When Zoey was about nine months old, we had a visit from the social worker responsible for her and her adoption process."

"Oh, are those like the surprise visits they do? I've seen a movie where that happens."

My dad laughed, and I suppressed a small chuckle as well. "Uh... No, the visits are usually planned a couple of days ahead. They'll call you and ask you if you're home on that day, at that time. But what happened was... We forgot."

"What?" Noah sounded appalled. "Oh no!"

"Yeah, we..." My father Jack trailed off, probably reliving the whole scenario in his head. "See, we'd agreed on Halloween weekend, 'cause we knew we'd be home, but, um..." He laughed. "With the whole Halloween shenanigans, we completely forgot that the social worker was dropping by and by the time she rang the bell, our house looked like it had been hit by a hurricane!"

I overheard my other dad laugh, before he took over. "We had fabrics and costumes laying around, thrown into every corner. Our kitchen looked disgusting, since Gavin here decided to cook a Halloween themed breakfast. Poor baby Zoey was sitting in her playpen, crying her eyes out because she was teething and when I opened the door and saw the lady from social services, my jaw dropped to the ground."

Noah chuckled. That very vivid, genuine chuckle that shakes your insides just by hearing it. Classic Noah.

I couldn't help but step closer to the living room and choose a spot that allowed for the perfect angle to spot the three of them as they chatted away.

"I thought that Zoey would be reassigned to another family right then and there, and that we had lost her for good."

"What happened?"

"Well, we didn't lose her. Clearly." My father pointed at the framed picture of the three of us that laid on the coffee table.

"The social worker just asked us a bunch of questions. You know, regular stuff like how were we adjusting to Zoey and how was she adjusting to us, how were we managing our work and personal life now as parents... and turns out, our house looked like the house of two very well adjusted dads who had just adopted a baby girl!"

Noah smiled widely, but deep down, his worries were still there. And my dads picked up on it too.

"All we're trying to say is... Things happen. Messes happen, that's just... how it is. That's life, it's a part of it. And they only make it more beautiful and special."

"Yeah. First and foremost, it was Zoey's decision to get a tattoo in the first place-"

"But I didn't stop her." Noah cut my dad off. "And knowing her condition, that's what I should have done."

"And you showing up here today, says a lot more about yourself than anything you could have done."

I froze in my spot. I don't know why, exactly. Maybe it was because those words carried on a deeper meaning than I'd been prepared to understand. Maybe it was because I agreed with them. Or maybe it was both.

"Look Noah, Zoey is seventeen years old. She grew up with this condition and we've always warned her about the risks and what to look out for. She was more than capable of taking care of herself and choosing not to get a tattoo, knowing all too well what could happen."

"You shouldn't beat yourself up for this."

"I kinda do." Noah said, sounding shy and sad. And I hated that he'd felt that way because of me.

"Believe me, we know all about what you're feeling right now." My dad said before changing the subject and managing to rip a smile out of Noah's face. "But we're not who you came here to see, am I right?"

Time to go.

I tiptoed back to my bedroom and lost track of their conversation. But I'm guessing they told Noah where my room was, because a couple of minutes later, I heard a knock on my door and when I opened it, he was standing there, right in front of me.

Wide, beaming smile. Glistening brown eyes. Tanned skin, sprinkled with tiny golden freckles.

"Hi." He said, softly. "How are you feeling?"

"Good." I said before shrugging my shoulders. "I've been better, but I'm good."

We remained silent for a while, just staring into each other's eyes while eventually showing one another a hint of a smile.

"Do you want to come in?"

"Sure." Noah stepped inside my bedroom and I closed the door behind him, aiming for some privacy between us.

"This looks like a mess, I'm sorry." I said, talking about my room, which was filled with t-shirts thrown into a chair that was only meant to be used to study and had a couple of pairs of sneakers scattered around the floor.

"Nah, don't worry about it." He said before turning around to face me.

Without warning, his hands came out of the front pockets of his washed out jeans and his fingers wrapped around my own, while he dipped his head and his lips caught mine.

It was a soft and quick kiss, but it was enough to make us both blush and smile nervously.

"I'm so sorry."

"What for?"

"This." He said as he gently picked up my wounded wrist and looked at the dressing.

"Stop it. This is not your fault." I looked deep into his eyes, catching all of his attention. "I wanted to do it. And even if you had told me not to, it wouldn't have mattered 'cause I would have gone ahead and done it anyway."

He chuckled, this time I heard it so close to me, I could feel it inside me, just like I had before.

I sat on my bed, with my back resting against the pillow and patted on the mattress, right next to me. Noah got my hint and he took a seat by my side.

"Check this out." I said as I pulled my phone out of my pocket to show him the picture I had taken of our wrists, side by side, with the same tattoo on them. I took it on that day, right before he dropped me off.

Noah smiled brightly at the image but his smile quickly fainted.

"I wish there was a cure for your condition. A way to improve your immune system, so that this wouldn't happen."

"Actually, there might be one."

The words rolled out of my tongue so fast, I couldn't stop them. But now, there was no turning back. I had started this, and I needed to finish it too.

Plus, Noah and I are different now. I don't know for sure what we are, but we are definitely more than friends. And that put things into a whole other perspective that helped me tell him what I was about to tell him.

"You remember that day we ran into each other at the hospital? He nodded. "Doctor King came to me with a... proposal."

Noah looked intrigued, but remained silent, allowing me to take my time to continue.

"He told me about this clinical trial. He thinks I'd be a great fit, I meet all the required criteria and it's a pretty promising trial, it's supposed to show some great results."

"So, uh..." He hesitated before asking his question, sensing how uneasy I was feeling about this conversation. "Are you doing it?"

"I don't know." I replied, those three words were as honest as they could be.

"It sounds like a no-brainer."

"Yeah... I've got to do something before taking a part in the trial."

"What is it?"

"I need proof that my biological parents were HIV positive when they had me. And the only way for me to do that..."

"... Is to look for them and meet them." Noah completed my sentence, seeing the big picture now, the way I see it.

I simply nodded in agreement.

"Look, I could never understand how divided you must feel about this decision."

He wrapped one arm around me, draping it around my neck and having all of my attention.

"But Zoey, this is your health. Your life. That is what you should be thinking about when making whatever decision you'll make."

"So, what you're saying is this is a no-brainer and I should go for it."

Noah sealed his lips, pursuing them into a tight line. "I'm sorry if that's not what you were hoping to hear."

It might not be what I was hoping to hear, but it was definitely what I was expecting to hear from Noah.

"I don't know... That decision will open so many can of worms."

"Hey," Noah whispered against my ear, and I felt a tingle down my spine. His fingers grazed my skin, and, moving closer to him, I turned into his embrace, so we were face to face. "Whatever you decide, I'll respect and support that decision. And I'll be there for you every step of the way. That's a no-brainer for me."

* * *

author's note: noah wilson, you got my heart, and THAT'S a no-brainer 🖤🖤🖤

what do you think zoey is going to do?

sounding like a broken record here, but if you liked this chapter, don't forget to vote, comment and add this story to your reading list so you don't miss out on any updates!

xoxo, mars