Noah's Girl

Chapter Six

"I think it was some neighborhood called Pine Woods, or Wood Hood, or Ceder Pines. I don't know Chloe. Something about trees." I knew where he was he was in an neighborhood about 20 minutes from our apartment called Ceder Woods. I took the elevator down to the garage and quickly found our car. We didn't use it very often, we usually used Uber or a taxi driver but I doubt I'd find anyone at this time of night. 

"Ian, don't leave. Stay right there. I'm on my way." I heard him crying again. Him and Steph have been together for a year or so now. He met her not long after Melanie and him broke up. I knew they wouldn't last though. They were such opposites. She didn't really make him happy like Melanie did. He did love her though, which made this so much harder for him to take. 

"I'll be here Chloe. Just hurry." He hung up the call and I began to drive into the empty streets. It was completely empty. The only lights on were the street lamps causing only a streak of light to flash on the street in front of me. I was going 5 over to speed limit to get to Ian. Drunk Ian was reckless Ian. He did stuff he would normally never do when sober. It scared me. 

This one time Ian got drunk, he got in a bar fight. It was just after my parents died and Ian was upset because he was extremely close to them. Anthony and I were at home watching a movie when Ian called Anthony to come help him. I didn't know what was happening, all I knew was that Anthony left me at home to finish the movie and he came home with Ian who was a mess. He had cuts and bruises all over his face, his shirt and face were covered in blood and he was still crying. That night, after Anthony had cleaned him up, he slept in my bed and I slept on the couch. Though I remember crawling into my bed with Ian and he cried into my shoulder and told me how much of a mistake he had made. That scared me for the rest of my life. I was always worried Ian would go wild again and he would get hurt worse than before. He meant so much to me and seeing him like that scared me beyond imagination. 

I drove for about 15 minutes before I reached Ceder Woods. I began to slowly drive so I could find Ian. I drove for awhile before I found Ian, curled in a ball at a playground. I parked the car and ran over to Ian. He was crying still, up on the top of the slide. I walked through the playground, completely freezing from the lack of full pants. I sat down next to Ian, who was shaking from tears and cold. He laid his head down on my shoulder and began to calm down a little bit. I wrapped my arms around him and rubbed his back, soothing the intoxicated Ian I knew and loved. 

"Come on Ian. I'm gonna take you to my house. You need to get some sleep." I felt Ian nod, still not moving though. When Ian was emotional, it caused me to get very emotional as well. He had a way of transferring his feelings to me. I stood up, pulled Ian with me. He grabbed my hand, freezing my fingers with his. I pulled him to the car and helped him into the back seat so he could lay down. Ian hadn't said anything since I got there but he stopped crying so that was good. 

"Chloe," He said as I got into the front seat. "Thank you." I smiled as I started the car. Ian started humming to the quiet music playing. I started to drive off when Ian decided to start talking. He was so obviously drunk right now. 

"Remember that one night when I got super drunk and got into that fight? Then Anthony brought me home and I slept into your bed and you laid with me?" I felt like daggers were stabbing me when he said this. He knew I was scared to ever drink because of that incident. How could he just bring it up so easily? I nodded, giving him reason to continue with what he was saying. 

"Well that next morning, when I woke up and you weren't laying next to me, it made me sad. For some reason I was upset we didn't sleep together that night. Not in a sexual way, just I wanted to be next to you." I felt a weird feeling inside me develop. I didn't like where I thought this was going, though I was so curious to find out. He was drunk anyway, he probably didn't even mean what he was saying. Even if this was going where I thought it would, nothing would ever happen. Not with Anthony in my life and now that Noah is in my life, even the thought of being with anyone else didn't seem good enough. 

"Well I thought maybe I liked you. Then you started dating that guy and you dating him for awhile, then you were single and upset and Anthony was upset because of Kalel. I was there for you when Anthony wasn't. Then I realized I liked you. Then I met Steph, and my feelings for you went away. Everything was perfect until I saw you and Noah together today. I felt hurt and upset. So I went home and was sorta distant to Steph and she was confused so we fought and I told her why I was upset and then she kicked me out and broke it off with me. So I don't think the reason I got drunk was all because I missed Steph. I think it was partly because I missed you." I felt my heart stop and silence fell over the car. I didn't know what to say to Ian. I have liked Ian before, I have. Between when my ex broke up with me and Ian met Steph. 

"Ian, you're drunk. Go to sleep." I said quietly. I heard him sigh before turning over and falling asleep. i heard him softly snoring in the backseat. Ian liked me? No. This wasn't happening. I didn't like him and nothing could ruin our friendship. Ian was like a brother to me and I was like a sister to him. That's how it was, that's how it was supposed to be. He was drunk, he probably was confessing an old crush for me. That's all. 

I got home around 3, completely wiped out from this really eventful day. I could sleep for a year. I quickly pulled Ian out of the car and we went up to my apartment, no words exchanged. I was thankful honestly. He probably forgot he even said it and that's how I wanted it. I wanted to believe it never happened. Ian was like my brother. Nothing more. I had Noah now. That's all I wanted. 

I took him to my room and let him sleep there. I decided I'd just sleep in Anthony's bed. I took my pillow and walked to Anthony's room, considering Ian fell asleep almost instantly after he hit the mattress. I crawled up on Anthony's bed and fell asleep so quickly it shocked me. Sleep was my heaven. 

Author's Note 

Sorry this chapter was pretty much Noah free. I just wanted to add some more drama to the plot line. This may not even have a difference in the story in the future but I'm leaving it open as a possibility. Thank you for reading and please comment!