Noah
The banging on the door gets louder, Allie frozen beside me, clutching my forearm.
It's silent for a few seconds, until a very familiar voice yells,
"Noah Carter! Get your ass over here and open the door!"
I hold back my laugh, Allie shooting me a strange look before going to open the door herself.
The door swings open, my sister and mom barging in, my mom barreling towards me but stops once she notices Allie.
My mom frowns, staring Allie down.
"Your not Noah." Mom states, Claire bulldozing toward me as she peeks out behind mom.
"You haven't come to visit us yet! I have so many things to show you-" Claire cuts herself off when she sees Allie still holding the door open, her body tense.
"Who is she?" Claire asks like Allie isn't standing right there.
"She's mine. I mean-dating-girlfriend. This is my girlfriend, Allie." I stumble over my words, something I don't do often. Allie looks as surprised as I do, her cheeks turning that light pink I love so much.
My mom's eyebrows raise behind her glasses before a smile breaks her face into two.
"Girlfriend! Finally. Your dad will be so shocked." Mom hugs me tightly, before moving onto Allie, who hesitantly wraps her arms around the woman who barged in less than five minutes ago.
It's quite funny watching mom hug Allie, Allie being at least two feet shorter than my mom.
"I'll have to start planning the wedding and then oh! You can give me grand babies!" Mom sequels, acting like a kid on Christmas morning.
Allie, who is still wrapped in my moms hug, steps away, a tremor starting to shake her hands violently but she hides it with a tug of her sweater sleeves.
"I didn't know you were coming, mom."
She waves her hand, dismissing me.
"We're staying at a hotel down the road. We wanted to surprise you for your game this weekend and now we can sit by Allie!" Claire says, squealing like mom did a few seconds ago.
Allie swallows, her foot lightly tapping the floor. Her hands still shake and I know it was something my mom said that sent the tremors rocking through her body.
"I can only come for a little bit of his game this weekend. My competition overlaps his by an hour but I'm going to rush to the arena right after."
Claire lights up, moving towards Allie with awe.
"You do gymnastics right? Noah mentioned it once. I do gymnastics too! I'm level 6. What level were you doing at my age?" Claire rapid fires, asking question after question.
Allie blinks.
"I-uh-yeah. I do gymnastics. Level 6 was fun. It was the first level I got my own floor routine. At your age, I was level-ah-10."
Claire eyes widen, the braids her hair are in falling over her shoulder. My mom has made herself right at home on one of the stools at the counter, whipping ingredients out of the fridge.
"Level 10! So you were doing double backs on floor and fulls on vault, right? Do you have videos?"
Claire is now full on jumping in front of Allie.
Allie looks towards me like she's asking permission so I just smile at her.
"I-uh- don't have those videos. My parents would have had those but I have videos of when I was competing at the Olympics?"
Allie asks, looking worried that she might disappoint the 13 year old jumping so much you would think she ate the wrong kind of brownies.
"Olympics? You went to the olympics?" Claire has officially lost her jaw onto the floor.
Allie smiles sheepishly, nodding.
While Claire watches Allies routines in the living room on the couch we just moved back, I help mom in the kitchen who has been cooking almost the entire time.
"You don't have to cook. Allie and I already ate."
Mom frowns, continuing to stir whatever is in the pot.
"Nonsense. Im a guest and Allie is keeping Claire busy. How long have the two of you been dating?"
"Barely two weeks."
"That's two weeks you could have told me!" She smacks me with the hand towel, the sound startling Allie and Claire.
"I don't think she likes me." Moms voice drops to a whisper as she looks back towards at Allie who is engrossed in a conversation with Claire.
Mom looks heartbroken at the thought Allie doesn't like her, a sad smile forming on her lips but she was the one who ruined our date.
And even I don't like her for that.
"It's not you. I promise mom, it's not you."
She hums in response, straining some pasta before informing us it's ready.
Claire immediately shoots towards the table and it concerns me how the two of them have walked in here and acted like they've owned the place since they've stepped foot in here less than half an hour ago.
I hear a door open down the hall, heavy footsteps follow.
"Claire? What are you doing here?" Seth asks, looking towards me with a weird face.
"Seth! The more the merrier! I made lots." Mom says, gathering him into a hug.
Seth slaps a shit eating grin on his face, one that will make my mom love him even more before pulling a chair out beside Claire, immediately jumping into conversation.
Allie pulls a chair out beside Seth and I sit across from her, noticing the look she has as she stares at the big amount of food that's in front of her.
Mom makes the conversation for the most part, Seth and Claire helping as time passes.
"Allie? Where are your parents? They must be so proud of their little girl."
I freeze, and I know Seth does to.
My mom smiles as she asks, but Allie seems so zoned out she doesn't hear.
I'm about to touch her hand gently to snap her out of her daze but Claire beats me to it, reaching around Seth and tapping Allie's neck.
Her trigger spot.
BẠN ĐANG ĐỌC
Not So Alone (West Coast Campus Book 1)
Lãng mạnI had to flee. To escape. I couldn't take the pain of people telling me to be okay. That I was a survivor. But what about me being a victim? All because a few people refused to hear me when I said no. Now I carry around pain, fear, a disgusting fe...
