Evanescent

22 | L O S T

Leaving Rosa behind in the hospital like that hurt Noah a lot. Despite the fact that she had lied to him, knowing how it would affect him, he longed to go back and apologize for shouting and being so rough with her.

Minutes before he had found out her real age, her dad had practically given him his blessing to date his underaged daughter. But now he was in a bar, brooding over multiple glasses of beer and sweet drinks.

George had pestered him as soon as he got some free time to stop serving drinks and check up on his friend.

"She was.. too young," Noah mumbled behind a glass of bitter beer before taking a long sip.

"Oh.. how young are we talking?" George asked as he took the tap and sprayed water into it. He dropped a lemon in and slid it over to an ederly man wearing darker shades in the dimly lit bar.

"S-sixteen," Noah mumbled, the dissapointment of what Rosa, his good little girl, had done to him beginning to sink to the pit of his stomach.

"Th-" George fell quiet and sniffed for a second before looking around the bar for a second. "It all comes down to how good of a concience you have. Is it strong enough to overpower the want of the heart?"

Noah groaned quietly and slumped down in his chair a bit, his shoulders rounding instead of their broad, confident appearance. He looked utterly defeated. "You think I don't know that.." he muttered.

George gave him a sympathetic look. "You're a good man, you and I both know that. So-"

Noah shook his head and closed his eyes as he hung his head back, a deep sigh leaving him. "I'm not a good man. The only reason I was able to leave her was because I know everything i've built here would crumble to peices. I haven't seen my folks in ten years. They sent me out here to become successful. Build a stable and happy life. I can't go back to them in ruins. This whole ten years apart from them would mean nothing. Just wasted time that I could have been using to be with them. And be a good son."

Noah lifted his head when he heard a glass placed on the bar in front of him and he frowned when he realized it was just water.

"You're not leaving here until you've sobered up.."

Noah eyed him cautiously before picking up his glass and taking a long sip of it.

"They sent you here to be happy? Yes?" George asked.

Noah nodded curtly.

"Then be happy."

"My happiness will be at risk if news gets out that my romantic interest is a sixteen year old girl. And I can't risk her reputation either.. other.. older men. They'll come after her if they see me doing the same. It isn't right. The thought of anyone else being with her the way I have makes me sick.." Noah said with a shake of his head.

George sighed and leaned forwards on the bar. "You're good. And this may be the right thing.. but I only hope that you get to feel the way you did with her in a few years. She seems just what you want. And I know for one, you're a person who works for what you want and actually deserves it. You do things the real, honest way unlike some of these rich bastards that walk the same ground that you and I do."

Noah took a long sip of his water before eyeing George quietly and then leaning forwards over the bar and giving his shoulder a squeeze. "Bless you and your wise words, George. You've always been a good friend to me. I just hope your words prove true when it comes to the decision i'm going to make soon.."

___

Rosa had cried and cried until she had literally fallen ill. And she had no one to hold her.

No home to go to any longer.

Well.. she didn't know if she could go back to Noah's place. But if she had to guess, she was definetely not welcomed.

So she walked around nearby the hospital until two AM before finally deciding with hesitancy to head back to her old, crusty, damp apartment.

It was no longer her safety. But neither was Noah.

She wished she had just been honest from the start. Never meeting him would have been better than enduring the pain of losing him.