Noah (Obsessions in Overdrive #1)

Twenty - two | Your Drugs

I've tried this before when I was 10 or 11. I made up to 73 until I ran out of cups. But now I'm 17 and I can buy solo cups whenever I want.

I'm just outside my dads office when I hear the door open. He stops in his tracks when he sees me with my mouth stuffed with gummy worm and a Dr. Pepper beside me. "What are you doing?" He asks. I look up him, offering him a gummy worm. He immediately takes one before asking me the same question again.

"I'm staking solo cups. I want to see how high I can jump." I explain, stacking the next few solo cups as my dad judges me.

He continues to watch me stack the cups for a solid 15 seconds before finally speaking. "Check what I found." He hands me a stack of photos.

Without hesitation, I take it from him and sit down on the floor. Staring at the first photo, I see a little girl with brown curly hair being forcefully hugged by a boy with the same hair. She looks uncomfortable and is unable to breathe while the boy is enjoying the moment of affection. Norah and Noah, 2005, it reads on the back.

Oh my god, it's me! I was such a cute kid. No wonder everyone loved me. I flip to the next photo to see a baby boy with his hair pin straight and slightly blonde. Who's goddamn baby is this? He's got a Star Wars action figure in his mouth as he uses it as a chew toy. Noah's 1st birthday.

"Why the hell am I blonde?" I shout out, looking utterly disgusted by this photo. "I'm not sure, your hair ended up becoming brown overtime." I scoff at his statement, still staring at this photo.

I remember the place I was at in this photo. It was a small apartment in Manhattan we stayed in for the first bit of my childhood. I used to watch Star Wars so much that before bed I would hum the theme track to myself. I still do that, but I like to consider it white noise now.

I quickly flip to the next photo. It's me sitting on the grass in the field as I stare up intensely at the brown girl, maybe six or seven years old as she sticks dandelions in my long and bushy hair. Her hair is dark and her eyes are trained on my hair as she pushes in more flowers. "Is that Nida?" I say, looking up sharply.

Newt nods with a smile on his face. I glance back to the photo, looking at the far left to see a bit of blonde. A blonde you only see once in your life. "Is that Dylan?" I question, pointing at the little boy you can barely see. My dad squints at the small speck, rubbing his eyes to see what I see. "Is that what that was? Why was he there?" I knew Dylan was my stalker since day one.

I'm not sure why my father suddenly wants to show me stuff from my childhood. He's been doing this a lot recently, but I can't seem to figure out why. "Dad, are you dying?" I ask, looking up at him. "What? No, why would you ask that." I shrug, looking back down at the photos.

"I remember this day." I say, looking at the next photo of my family and Nida's family at a picnic. There are a few other people here I feel like I've seen before, but I am unable to pinpoint who they are. "Really?" Newt questions me. "Yeah I remember... no wait, I forgot."

I make my way through the stack. Seeing photos of my entire childhood. I've got some memories, but others are just a blur.

A photo of me with my hair long. So long that my mother put it in pigtails. Noah, 2002. It's so cute that it brings a smile to my face.

Another photo of me sitting on my dads lap in his old and busted up Honda. I've got my hands on the steering wheel and a binky in my mouth as I look at who I am assuming is my mother taking the photo.

"Noah are you on something?" He randomly asks, snapping me out of my thoughts. I look up at him with my mouth parted open. "Huh?"

He shakes his head. "You're shaking." My eyes go to my hands trembling as I hold the stack of photos. "And you're sweaty." I touch the back of my neck, feeling the drips of sweat. "I'm not on something, dad." I say as try not to appear nervous.

My hands go indirectly to my nose as I scratch and sniff. His eyes follow my hand and I feel as if I just got caught. My heart begins to hammer in my chest and I need to change the topic. "How high do you think I can jump?" I ask, pointing at the stacked up solo cups.

Newt tilts his head to the side, counting how many cups have been stacked so far. I look over and see Dog standing on the other side of the cups. His mouth open and his tongue hangs out of his mouth as he breathes loudly. "No, please don't Dog." I say, standing up and trying to reason with him.

Dog stares at me for a long moment before he runs into the cups, knocking them all over. "No!" I scream, seeing my hard work fall to the ground. I cover my face with my hands as I internally cry.

Newt laughs loudly at my pain before he takes the pictures and begins to walk away. "Go to bed, Noah."

༄･ﾟ࿐ ࿔*:

A/N
Zain is the most real character there is because he's based of a real drug dealer named Zain who's 34 years old 🧍‍♀️