A Christmas Carol

Chapter Three

              “Why are you leaving so soon?” he queried with a hint of an emotion that I wasn’t fully capable to comprehend. His brows were slightly knitted together and he watched me with such a look of pure innocence, as if he genuinely lacked the ability to retain the slightest clue as to why it was essential for me to hightail it out of there.

              My jaw went slack as my still relatively unconscious brain racked itself up and down for an appropriate answer. In what world did Noel Henley want to know why I was leaving him after spending the night at his place? Did he not understand the concept that I was a total weirdo and he was popular? I mean okay, I’ll admit, maybe I wasn’t a total weirdo; I was actually fairly normal and dressed and acted like anyone else at our school. I just preferred staying up late watching funny videos or baking desserts over gossiping about the latest drama and going to parties.

              I may have been turning seventeen in a little over a week, but I still had the mentality of an eleven year old. And honestly, I had no shame in embracing the fact that I was still a kid at heart. Everyone else was trying way too hard to grow up way too fast, in my humble opinion, and all I really wanted was to soak up the remainder of my childhood getting away with doing things that are only considered suitable for kids.

              With that being said, I hated when people treated me like a child. Just because I tended to have child-like isms did not mean I wanted people to act like I was incapable of doing things myself. My mom grated on my nerves for doing that, especially.

              “I mean, there’s no point in me staying over here, really,” I countered, my voice trailing off a bit at the end. “Might as well head home and not bother you.”

              “You aren’t bothering me.”

              I blinked, gritting my teeth in agitation. Could the boy not take a hint? Last night was sweet, and it was cool to hang around Noel and be totally civil, but now things needed to come to an end. Pronto. Just because I was curious about Noel did not mean I was entitled to attempt pursuing any sort of relationship with him. I didn’t want to be close with him anymore; he was far too different than I was. He went to parties and was friends with everyone at our school and even some people at other schools in the area and had hundreds and hundreds of followers on every social media website he had an account for, and I studied hard and watched shows on Netflix and went on walks with Piper around the block.

              To put it simply, we were as close to being opposites as you could get.

              “I better get home,” I tried again, pulling away from his grasp and reaching out for the doorknob a second time. I had only turned it halfway when Noel spoke again, stopping me. I held in the irritated sigh that threatened to escape, not particularly wanting to come across as rude.

              “I thought you said your house was freezing,” he interrogated suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.

              Oh, shoot. I forgot I told him that. Oh well.

              “It is,” I agreed. “But um. . . I need a shower! Yeah, I haven’t washed my hair in like two days. It’s totally disgusting. Better get on that,” I quickly announced, internally cringing ridiculous amounts over my uncomfortable excuse to get out of Noel’s place.

              Although if it allowed for him to finally retain the good sense to let me leave, I was okay with taking a minor toll on my ego. If anything, I had most likely given him full reasoning to have every intention of shoving me out the door himself by now after that awkward justification. I mean, it was true; I did need a shower, anyway. So it wasn’t even like it was a lie.