Exit Wounds | Noah Sebastian

F I F T E E N

"He seemed really sincere last night," I frown, but now I think it might have been stupid to believe him.

"I'm not going to tell you what to do, but please be careful."

Finn warns me to be careful again when he leaves shortly after our talk over coffee.  The excitement I had felt over the idea of going out with Noah doesn't feel like excitement anymore.  It feels like dread.  Finn was right, maybe I was stupid to believe Noah would change for me.  Of course I had my own reservations about Noah, but our talk last night had changed my perception of him.

I push thoughts of Noah out of my mind and open my laptop.  I knew work would be the perfect distraction to keep my thoughts off of him, and I desperately needed a distraction from the spiral I was about to go on.

The first reply was to a milkshake shop that had opened a new store earlier this year, Legendairy Milkshakes. 

The second reply was for a moonshine company from East Tennessee with a ridiculous outdoor area, the weather was finally bearable outside.

The third reply was for a boutique. They were my favorite because they always gave me free clothes.

I send a quick text to Finn asking if he wanted to go to the bar, I could do the other things by myself, but drinking alone was a little sad.   I really wanted to invite Noah, but I didn't want to spend too much time with him too quickly.  And anyway, Finn's shows were done now and I wasn't going to see him every week anymore.

___

I spend several hours Monday morning trying to decide what to wear. I wasn't typically high maintenance but I like to look nice for blog posts.  While trying not to feed so much into the illusion that is social media.

Around noon I find a spot unbelievably close to the milkshake shop. It was located in the heart of the city, and these days it was unusual for anything other than a "honky tonk" to be this close to Broadway.

"Hey! What can I get for you?" A young girl calls from behind the counter. For lunchtime on a Monday, there's several customers in here.

"My name is Delaney Walker, I'm here to interview Christina," I smile at the girl.

"Follow me," she says and leads me to a back office where a pretty brunette is sitting with two milkshakes in front of her.

The young girl leaves and the dark haired girl, I'm assuming Christina, stands up to shake my hand. "You must be Delaney, I'm Christina and this is for you," she hands me a milkshake that has a full dessert on top of the mason jar that holds the milkshake.

"It's nice to meet someone who gives me desserts right away, I can't wait to dig in but I have to take pictures first," I laugh and pull out my phone. I take several pictures of the confection before kindly asking her to take some candid's of me pretending to eat. "I think that's enough, let's chat."

Christina sits across from me telling me her story and how she started out while taking bites of her own milkshake. The shake I'm eating/drinking is phenomenal. It's S'more flavored and perfect for the fall weather that isn't quite fall yet.

My iPhone sits between us recording our conversation so I don't forget any details later. An hour later we've said all we can say and I leave after telling her I will definitely be back.

I get back to my car and drive home. I haven't spoken to Noah since Sunday morning. I notice his car is gone and I wonder briefly where he is and what he is doing before I head into my apartment.  I make myself comfortable before sitting down at my laptop, I make notes as I listen to the recording back and turn those notes into a story.  It's dark when I get finished and my stomach growls loudly.  I post a photo to Instagram and grab my keys.