The Holiday Trade

02. telephone and die hard

"Hi Haze, it's been a while, hey? How are you?" Warmth coursed through my veins at the sound of Noah's clear voice calling my name despite him sounding slightly tired.

Trying to ignore Lilly's raised eyebrows and her mouthing 'what what' at me, I managed to run back into my room before I could be held captive, closing my wooden door gently behind me.

"Oh, nothing much, just finished watching Bridget Jones's Diary with Lilly." I answered him while stretching out my free hand to shove away the plushy sitting on the top of my bed, sorry Mr Elephant. 

"Again? You're obsessed with that movie." Chuckles from Noah flowed out from the other side of the line.

"No, I'm not!" I retaliated yet I couldn't help but smile, he remembered.

"Yes, you are. You've made me watch it at least five times now, and that's a lot of times someone can rewatch a movie, Haze."

"Fine, okay I may be obsessed with it, but I'm not as obsessed as you are with telling everyone that Die Hard is a Christmas movie."

"That's because it is!" Noah exclaimed, and I could almost imagine him throwing his arms up in defence right now, all the way in his fancy apartment in New York. Unexpectedly, we both burst into laughter, remembering how red his face was, trying to explain to his parents that Die Hard, despite what Bruce Willis says, is a Christmas movie.

This was who Noah was: very determined and hardworking (at convincing someone of his point of view) at everything in life. He was someone you could trust lending him your pen during lessons and having him return it after school. He would explain a math problem to you in three different ways to ensure you understood it. He was also someone you could call on when you were alone at night, for him to show up at the next corner to walk you home, no explanations needed.

Noah was someone who, despite everything, I still had feelings for.

A secret one, of course; the only person who knew about this was Lilly.

On the other hand, there was me, an adult who had only recently started sorting her life out; who repeatedly spent money on bubble tea to cheer herself up and couldn't get past the talking stage for most of her relationships.

It had been a while since we'd had any contact, even a conversation like this. I couldn't remember. I'd been so busy finding a job earlier this year that I'd barely had time to rest, let alone contact old flames. 

"Hey, so why did you call me?" The question blurted out of my mind when we ceased our laughter, twirling the piece of material hanging off my blanket.

"Right. I wanted to ask when you were flying home for Harmony's wedding?"I smiled almost instinctively at the thought of Harmony, my big sister and Noah's friend, who grew up never wanting to hurt a fly, in love with dressing up for her afternoon playdates with us and always making sure we had snacks for lunch. I couldn't believe Harmony was getting married.

"I'm flying back on the 10th and going straight to the reunion dinner after. What about you?"

"My flight is on the 9th, so I arrive on the 10th too. Do you want to head to the dinner together?"

"Oh, yeah, sure! Could be a good catch-up," I added to the invite. It had been so long since we'd had a real conversation; I wondered what he'd been up to.

"Yeah, it has been quite a while. Can't wait to see you in Taiwan though," hearing Noah chuckle brought another wave of warmth onto my cheeks, and my lips pursed into a big smile. Why was I still so affected by him even now?

"Especially with your new blonde hair," he added, the messiness of my room with the stack of cluttered clothing next to my desk, the red and green hue bouncing off each other perfectly mirrored the tiny butterflies I could feel swirling in my stomach.

"How did you know?"

"We follow each other on Instagram, Haze. Of course, I keep up with my friend's life."

"Stop being so obsessed with me, gosh!"

"Oh, you wish!"

We burst into waves of laughter, reminiscent of middle school memories when we bantered about almost everything; from the weird smell of lunch food to who was the true loser of dogeball. Noah, despite my feelings, was one of my best friends, and I would hate to lose him. 

I slipped under my green blanket after turning off the headlights near the side of the door leaving the rays of fairy lights to fill up my room.

"I saw your latest post, by the way, the dinner looked so good!" I said, remembering the photos he shared on his page, the delicious roasted chicken with green salads and a glass of white wine.

"Haha, thank you. It was meant to be a special dinner, so I'm glad it came off that way." Noah chuckled lightly, his voice sounded 

"Ooo, why was it a special dinner?" Throwing him my question, considering we were talking about Noah, the Noah Peng, who won the hearts of the girls in our year back in high school and was crowned prom king, he must be popular in New York as well. With his big lawyer job and his sportsman physique, I wouldn't be surprised if he said he'd been on more dates than you could count with your fingers. I just hoped it wasn't one of those dates that ended with him and another girl. 

Running these thoughts through my head, I couldn't help but let out a silent sigh, scrunching my nose at the thought of Noah falling for girls that weren't... me.

"Well... I've been wanting to tell you about this for a while," he said slowly, his word of choice telling me that he was holding something back, something he knew was important.

"What did you want to tell me, Noah?" I said, trying to ignore the sirens running through my mind. What could be this important to make Noah not tell me for months?

"I'm seeing someone Haze, and I'm bringing her to the wedding."