Noah Flynn

The Story

The days seemed to move slowly after her break up with Noah.

Aurora filled up Lee's phone with a million calls, while Noah did the same with her. But all the calls remained unanswered. Her best friend was ignoring her and she saw herself forced to ignore the guy she loved if she wanted a chance to fix things. The situation was less than ideal.

As difficult as ignoring Noah was, Aurora was grateful that he at least respected boundaries. She had expected him to knock down the front door and come barging into her house and demand that she speak to him, but he kept his distance. Too much, if she was honest. Noah was absent from school in the following weeks. He was in danger of not graduating.

Her life, on the other hand, became an inescapable cycle. The girls routine consisted of barely getting past the school day, coming home, laying in bed and staring at the ceiling while rethinking all of her life choices, texting Lee in the hopes that he would answer, have dinner with her family without saying a single word, laying back down in bed, doing her homework, texting Lee again and finally, giving up and crying herself to sleep. Everything that used to be exciting became predictable. She felt as if she were stuck in an endless time loop, reliving her worst day over and over again.

Aurora also became a worse sister, if that was even possible. She was the eldest sibling, and that came with the unspoken responsibility of being the strongest. But it seemed that she never fully understood the concept because there she lay, moping like a small girl, depending on her younger sibling's help.

Elle had noticed her depression and found the strength to push away her anger and be there for her sister. One day, she walked into Auroras room and demanded she tell her everything. After a lot of crying and hugging, Aurora let it all out, and Elle put in a word or two about her own feelings. They made up and watched a rerun of Gilmore Girls to fortify the bond.

Seeing the strength that her younger sibling had made Aurora proud. At least one of them would succeed in life. Elle was better than her in every aspect possible. It had been evident since the moment their mother got sick.

Elle was only eleven when they got the news, but she pushed through and flourished while Aurora withered slowly. The older sister went through various stages after discovering that her mother was sick.

First, she became socially detached. She began hating herself because she lacked the courage to step into that room and look at her mother in the eye. She couldn't bring herself to see her in that state, and because of that, she didn't want to see anyone else, including her friends.

Then, her grades started to drop. Her head wasn't in the right place and she didn't have time to do stupid things like homework or projects. She barely even showed up to class.

When she finally found the strength to see her mother, she became scared of the inevitable. Time became her enemy and she decided to spend every second she could spare by her mother's side, afraid that if she let her out of her sight for just one minute it would be enough for death to take her. Her father allowed her to miss a lot of school because he was simply glad that she was feeling better and with her mother. Unfortunately, he didn't know the reason she was hanging around so much was because of her crippling fear of dying.

She became consumed by it, and as she spent more time locked up in the hospital room, she disengaged herself from the rest of the world. Aurora stopped seeing her friends, stopped going to school, stopped going out. She refused to eat if it was outside the room. Her food had to be brought to her and she would eat while having her mother in sight, just in case. It was a miracle that she went to the bathroom. Those were the only moments where she wasn't able to see her mother, and they terrified her the most.

Eventually, the school called and said she had missed too much class and would have to be held back. When her father broke the news she didn't so much as flinch. None of that mattered to her. Only her mother did.

After that fiasco, her father forced her to attend school every day. She wasn't allowed to leave early or skip days just to see her mother. Aurora hated him for a while because of this. The only reason she listened to him and took school seriously was because of Elle.

Her older sister was breaking down before her eyes but instead of turning her head in shame she put on a brave face and gave her a helping hand. She rambled on about how excited she was that they got to be in the same grade now and how she couldn't wait for her to meet her friends. And then came Lee.

Lee Flynn was Noah's younger brother and the kid that was born the same day as Elle. Aurora used to be close with Noah because they were in the same grade and family friends. Even though he became an asshole and they parted ways, he still kept an eye on her in case she was ever in trouble. When her mom got sick, he was the first to pass by the hospital to make sure she was all right.

Anyways, back to Lee. The first time Aurora met him, she found him to be the most annoying person on the whole planet. But as the days passed she realized that his happiness was contagious, and she needed all the happiness she could get. Lee helped her get through the most difficult moments of her moms disease and they became inseparable. A bond as strong as theirs could never be broken. Or so she thought.

"I can talk to Lee for you," Elle offered. "Maybe I can convince him to give you a chance."

"You don't have to do that for me," Aurora said. "Honestly, you've done more than enough for me already. I appreciate you listening to everything and forgiving me. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"I know, I'm amazing right?" Elle smiled at her mockingly. "But seriously, though. I can ask Lee to talk to you and give you a chance to explain yourself."

"But?" Aurora asked, sensing something was missing.

"But you already know my stance on the whole situation," Elle said.

"And that is?"

"That he's not a very good friend if he doesn't let you be with the guy you love."

"C'mon Elle. Lee is the best friend in the world. He's been there for me through thick and thin and I lied to his face. He deserved more."

"Yeah, he did. But if you told him what you told me, and he saw how strongly you felt about Noah, the right thing to do is let you be together instead of holding on to a petty rule you made."

"He said he was in love with me," Aurora reminded. "So I don't think its a petty rule he's holding on to."

"Lee has to grow up. He needs to understand that sometimes the people you love don't love you back, and it's not their fault. He can't shame you for not loving him," Elle snapped.

"He's not forcing me to love him."

"But he's not letting you be with the person you love. And we all know he's only doing that because he wants you for himself."

"Give him some credit Elle," Aurora said. "Lee might be in love with me, but he knows that our relationship is strictly friends only. And the reason he doesn't want me to be with Noah isn't jealousy. He feels betrayed and angry and honestly, he has all the right to feel that way. I screwed up big time."

"Whatever. It's your decision. If you want to give up the guy you love in order to regain a friend that doesn't want you to be happy, go ahead. Just because Lee has been there for you doesn't give him the right to tell you who you can and can't love."

Aurora was left speechless. Her sister's words made a lot of sense, but she still felt guilty and knew Lee deserved an apology. She also knew that she would do whatever it took to get his friendship back because she was scared of a life without him. Lee was comfortable. He was what she was used to. Aurora didn't remember a life where Lee wasn't her best friend, where he wasn't there for her every step of the way. Proceeding without him terrified her.

"All right Elle. Call Lee and convince him to give me a shot at apologizing."