Love, Secrets and War~

17. The New Normal

"Who is it?" Aria asks. Her bad temper giving away to curiosity. I hear her bare feet pad in the carpet as she makes her way over to me.

I say nothing as I look at the face. The light showing clearly who it is lurking outside our bedroom. My eyes roam his face for a few moments, hoping that I may decipher an explanation by staring before they settle on his piercing blue eyes.

"What are you doing here?" I repeat, "except looking like you are going to fall out of that tree."

Aria, who by this point had reached where I was standing, folds her arms across her chest. Her bad temper resuming as she looks at the intruder. To be fair, whoever it was would have to face her temper, it doesn't seem like this black mood is disappearing any time soon.

"Can I come in?"

I glance at Aria in the hopes that she keeps a firm lid on that temper before I gesture inwards and invite the squatter in. I watch as they slowly edge across the branch. Honestly, I don't know if it's better to move faster or slower when climbing a tree, either way, you have a high chance of falling.

Finally, they make their way into our room. Climbing through the window and standing in the middle of the room. I can see some green leaves sticking out of his hair, my fingers itching to pull them out.

"You know, it is easier to climb into Mike's bedroom window than ours," Aria points out.

"I guess I wasn't thinking about that when I climbed the tree," Noel replies, his blue eyes flickering towards her for a moment before resting back on me.

I now fold my arms across my chest. "I guess not"

"Can we talk in private?" Noel asks.

Aria takes the hint and leaves the room, muttering underneath her breath as she does so. Highly likely calling Noel every foul name under the sun just because he dared to interrupt her rant. I can still hear her cursing as she walks down the stairs, maybe that was just our twin telepathy working.

"What brings you to our humble home Noel?" I ask, making my way over to my bed. I sit and sink slightly into the soft material. Noel, however, doesn't move an inch. But he does turn to face me, his blue eyes surveying the room. They rest on my desk and the pile of notes resting there. I still haven't opened them.

"You haven't opened my notes," he accuses, ignoring my question.

The anger in his voice strikes me of the guard, immediately making me feel my defences build up. What did I do to make him suddenly so insecure in our relationship?

"W...hatt?" I manage to stutter out.

"You haven't read them, have you?" He states, folding his arms across his chest.

"I haven't had time," I lie. I don't know why I just lied to him but admitting that I was scared stiff to read the contents. I just am okay?

"You haven't had time?" he repeats, his tone softening slightly, "you don't spend all your time studying Alyssa."

Obviously, I couldn't mention the girls and I try to unmask someone that seems to do nothing but destroy everything good in our lives. Or the fact that I am trying to cover for my sister because she is dating her teacher, and he was right about it. That and studying does seem to fill up all my time. I guess that he thinks that since he was grounded, I would have all this time free.

"Studying does take a lot of time Noel."

"Yeah, it does. But you seem to make time for that homeless kid, what's his name? Caleb?"

I stand and look at him, disbelief crossing my face, "Caleb? What does he have to do with anything?!" I can feel my own patience wearing thin like my nerves are slowly frying with my own anger, which is slowly building.