the beach | noel miller

v

9th of January

Noel laughs along with Cody as they aimlessly walk around cracking jokes and getting footage. It's been a week and Noel has still been thinking about the encounters with his friends sister much to his distaste. He had so many questions about her, he could ask Cody but he gets a sense that he doesn't even really know her either. Noel has never been this curious while irritated about a person before. He realises he's in shit when Cody mentions something about heading back to his place to chill and before his buddy could even finished he was agreeing. He knows about the bro code about the friends little sister trope but its his feelings for her aren't romantic in any way. He'd be lying if he said she wasn't attractive but once again Noel was loyal to Cody. Always. Right?

Attempting to get some of his questions answered he asks Cody out of the blue how long Rose has been living with him. Cody goes on to tell him she theres a top tier dance program here that she had always wanted to go to, and since she showed promise with her dancing back in Canada she was offered a scholarship at this particular school 3 years ago. Their parents agreed that if Rose would still finish school, online they'd be fine with trusting Cody to be her main caregiver. Cody of course was fine with it, he knew from day one how talented she was and knew how many opportunities LA had for the teenager. After Cody finished explaining Noel nodded still having so many questions, but decided to leave it at that.

When they finally arrived they were met with silence, quickly figuring out no one was home there was a pit of disappointment at the bottom of Noels stomach. Noel slyly pointed out the obvious "Is Marcus here?" Cody replied "Nah man don't think the other two are here either, Devons doing god knows what and Rose is at class" nodding along Noel changes the subject "So are you 100% percent onboard with this podcast idea?"

A few hours pass and all the boys did was edit and make dick jokes. It's the nearly evening when the door swings open. Sunglasses on and shoes stomping in walks Rose looking more pissed off than usual. Not even acknowledging Cody or Noel she starts ranting about how a girl in her class is catching up to her level. Not once slandering the girl but only her technique which is probably worse in their world. Muttering somewhat of a hi to her brother she simply glares at Noel. Obviously choosing not to tune into something that'll piss her off more. Noel hears Cody trying to defuse the situation, attempting to reassure her but Noel has a feeling she doesn't want reassurance, perhaps she wants a challenge.

Noel recklessly decides to pipe up looking at Rose and says "Whats the level you speak about being on?" he knows it's a dick move that'll piss her off more but he couldn't help it. Cody just stares at the two getting ready for a cat fight. Rose's head snaps in the direction of her brothers friend that she doesn't even know the name of. Not in the mood to have an argument she keeps eye contact while declaring her status "God's level." He hears Cody chuckle in the background. Noel wonders why she wont say anything but a few words to him. He takes notice of how exhausted she looks, how thin she seems and how pale her skin is, he thinks that maybe she hasn't had enough sleep, but that morally right voice nags him saying that the girl he's staring at is more than a complicated equation he thought she was.

Cody attempts to break the silence with "Anybody hungry?" Noel decides if he wants to get some reaction out of Rose or fall short to his growling stomach. He falls short. Rose doesn't. She infamously rolls her eyes and storms into her room.

With Rose now in her room she whips out her phone trying to figure out who the hell that guy is. She's aware that Cody seems to be getting close with him which is starting to irritate the shit out of her. Something about the way his friend carries himself, like he's cocky but not egotistical. He's really the only person who hasn't just accepted the fact that she's a bitch to them. Most people do. But this guy has always bit back. She quietly curses realising she should start caring about what her brother says he's doing more. It's not that she doesn't care she just... doesn't give a shit. She argues with herself knowing she could just ask Cody what his annoying friends name is but she knows once she does that, that her brother will know Noel has gotten under her skin. Sitting on her bed she realises how pathetic she is when she starts scrolling through her brothers followings, like some lovesick school girl even though when it comes to Rose it's more like a hate ridden attempted murderer.