Home and Holidays

chapter 13

In Noah's room, Ella was currently helping him with putting up some holiday themed string lights on the walls. They were battery operated lights, which would save on electricity.

"See? Doesn't that look so good?" Ella commented once they had finished with the lights.

"It really does. It all looks so amazing so far." Noah agreed.

"Oh! And check this out!" Ella said before showing Noah two Christmas themed pillows. One was white with red letters that read 'Merry Christmas', while the other pillow was red with the same phrase spelled out on it, only in white letters. "David bought some of these for his and Lisa's room too, and I figured you'd like them." she explained, handing the pillows to Noah.

"I love them." he reacted with a smile. "Hey, speaking of David and Lisa, what did you talk to them about downstairs earlier?" he questioned, genuinely interested in what her reply might be.

Ella instantly blushed, hoping that Noah didn't notice it as she waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, nothing really. I was just- I was just asking them something." she stumbled over her words, the blush on her cheeks only deepening. "Um, you can go ahead and put those pillows on your bed, I'm gonna get the other ones out of that bag over there." she hurriedly tried changing the subject as she went over to look through the shopping bag beside Noah's bed.

The way she had completely dodged the question only made Noah more curious. He sat the red and white pillows on his bed before sitting on the bed himself, looking down at where Ella was rummaging through the bag on the floor, seemingly going slowly with it on purpose.

"What did you ask them about?" he questioned her, bringing up the previous topic again.

"Huh?" she played dumb.

"What did you ask David and Lisa about?" Noah repeated, getting off of the bed to go sit on the floor beside her.

"Nothing." she fabricated, not even looking at him as she continued to stare at the bag she was looking through, finally getting the other two Christmas pillows out of it.

"Were you talking about me?" Noah playfully asked her, making her freak out internally. He loved the way her face turned bright red at his words, and he thought it was the cutest thing ever.

"What makes you think that?" she avoided the question further, letting out a nervous laugh.

"Because you're acting so nervous and shy." Noah teased. He wasn't sure why he suddenly felt bold enough to say that, but something about being around Ella made him feel free enough to be playful like that.

That's when Ella grabbed one of the pillows and lightly hit him in the face with it, taking him by surprise as he laughed a little.

"Clearly you've never thrown a pillow at someone before. That's not even how you do it." he joked, tossing the pillow back at her, even though he didn't have to throw it far since she was sitting right next to him. Somehow that turned into a full on pillow fight, the two of them giggling and laughing loudly as they harmlessly threw pillows across the room at each other, their aim sloppy as they laughed like crazy. They were having the time of their lives, literally chasing each other around the room, pretty much forgetting how the pillow fight even started. They eventually ended up just laying back on the bed next to each other, staring up at the ceiling as their laughter finally quieted down.

"I totally won that." Ella randomly claimed, smirking as she turned her head to look at Noah.

"I don't think so. I won." he jokingly countered.

"No, you didn't. You literally throw like a girl." Ella playfully stated, laughing quietly at her own statement since she basically had no idea how to trash talk.