Technicolor Daze [Currently Being Edited]

thirty-one.

Saturday, July 5th, 2014

"Are you on your way home?" Theo asked Noah over the phone. Noah had just had his seventh appointment with his therapist. Shortly after telling his parents what had happened, his mom managed to schedule an appointment for Noah with a therapist, and fortunately for Noah, his therapist was a perfect fit for him. After that initial first appointment, he began having two appointments per week and was overall doing much better.

He quit working at D2 after doing a farewell performance, as he needed a break from working nights and weekends to focus on his mental health. He'd also quit his job at the bookshop three weeks prior, as his boss wasn't very pleased with the week he took off without giving her any concrete reason and, as a result, things were tense between them when he went back to work. He'd been planning on leaving that job if he passed the audition for the job position at the House of the Dancing Water anyway, so he wasn't too disappointed about it.

Before he quit his bookshop job, he'd talked to Mia, his friend who owned the dance school, and they agreed on letting Noah teach a few extra classes. She was also aware that Noah was waiting for a response from the House of the Dancing Water and was rooting for him to get the job.

"Yeah, what time are we meeting Joel later on?"

Noah and Joel had slowly become friends, having had to meet often to discuss the case. It was still pretty early in the process, but authorities in Macau had been notified of the man's identity, and he would be brought in for questioning the next time he crossed the border into Macau. Noah blocked all contact with the guy the day he filed a report, not wanting anything else to do with him, so he didn't know if the man had attempted to contact him in the meantime, but as far as he knew, his videos hadn't been leaked. He knew there was a chance that they could be leaked, but Theo and his parents told him that if it happened, they'd be there to help him.

In any case, Noah had warned Mia that someone was blackmailing him and could potentially leak some private things to her. She told him it wasn't a problem and that she would let him know if she received any strange emails from an unknown sender. 

"We're meeting at 7 at Joel's place," Theo was smoking a cigarette on the balcony, looking at the clear sky.

"Okay, perfect. I should be home in about twenty minutes. I really need a shower! It's so hot out today!" Noah whined.

"Really? It's fresh out here on the balcony," Theo smirked as he spoke into the receiver.

"Oh, fuck off!" Noah playfully told Theo off, "You're not on a crowded bus heading to Taipa. Of course, it's fresher there!"

"You poor soul. You'll be rewarded with a fresh beer when you get home. I bought some on my way home," Theo offered.

"Okay, you're forgiven," Noah retorted.

"How was your appointment?" Theo asked as he extinguished his cigarette.

"It was good. My therapist thinks we're making a lot of progress and we had a bit of a breakthrough today. I'll tell you about it at home. Feels strange to be talking about it when I'm sandwiched between people on a bus," Theo chuckled at Noah's remark.

"Okay, but that's great!" Theo smiled, even though Noah couldn't see.

"Being sandwiched between two people on a crowded bus is great?" Noah teased.

Theo rolled his eyes, "You know what I meant."

"I know," Theo could hear Noah's smirk through the receiver, "Anyway, I'll hang up now. I gotta call my mom."

"Okay, see you in a bit," Theo grabbed another cigarette to light up.

"See you," Noah hung up.