( track 21: )
❝ two doors down ❞
mystery jets
0:00 •—————— 3:39
◀ || ▶
✦
rodrick's point of view
a week has passed and lately, nora's friends and i were starting to get pretty close to each other — well except for rachel and melissa, obviously. just timothy and the new girl, kelsi. all of us, including chris and ben, would sit with them every lunch break and nora was always giddy towards almost everyone.
though oddly, yesterday, she wasn't sitting with us. all of us saw her during classes, but we still couldn't see her anywhere. she didn't even approach me when i was about to head home.
as i ran outside my room, i grabbed my bag then went downstairs to go to school. mom's currently putting up the christmas tree with manny and dad even though it's still november.
mom sighs then saw me approaching near her. "oh! rodrick, can you help me put this star on top of the tr–"
"sorry mom, can't be late for school!" i quickly got out of the living room then checked the car keys on my pocket as i was about to open the front door.
"greg, can you–"
"gotta go, love you mom." greg kisses her in the cheek then walked towards me, leaving mom call dad.
"what do you want, greg?" i groan, taking the keys out of my left pocket and spun it around my finger.
"i want to sit on the front seat this time." he says, making me burst into laughter.
"oh greggy," i shook my head, crouching down and placing my hand on his shoulder. "i'm afraid you can't do that. because hazel is going to sit there, i can't just let her sit in the back of my van. or, if you want, you could just walk yourself to school with little rowley over there." lightly pushing him, i got out of the house and ran towards my van.
greg groaned as he followed behind me, making me grab the van's handle then pulled the door open which made greg hop on in.
"morning greg!" rowley waves as he walked towards us. his smile faded into a look of concern after facing him.
"get in the van now." the boy immediately throws himself inside the van, making me close the door shut then sprint towards the driver's seat.
starting the engine, rowley peeks behind my seat and asks..."are we going to pick hazel up from her house?"
"none of your business, get in the back now." i roll my eyes then stepped on the gas, driving towards nora's house before going to school.
greg gasps. "wait a minute, you like hazel don't you?"
"pfft what? no! of course not! more like she likes me." i forced out a laugh. "hazel would literally poke fun at me and think that she's cooler than me."
"i don't think so. hazel seems really nice to me." rowley adds. "whenever i see her, she would ask me if i was okay and if i needed help for my homework."
"are you telling me that i'm boring and uncool?" i glare at rowley, making him freeze.
"uhh, no, you are cooler than hazel." he stutters as we parked in front of her house.
waiting for nora to hop in the van, someone else came out the door and was approaching to our direction. the woman had long flowy hair and colorful clothes so obviously, it wasn't her. that's pretty weird, nora would always get up early since she knew i would come here every morning.
the walking woman turned out to be her sister, noelle. picking up the newspaper near their door, she crosses her arms with a questioned look on her face.
"heffley? what are you doing here?" noelle leans near the van's front door.
"nothing, just waiting for nora. is she awake yet?" i asked, peeking behind noelle's back, looking for nora.
"who's nora?" i hear rowley question.
"nora? i thought she already told you about this yesterday?" noelle responds. "she said she's going to school alone now and doesn't want you to take her to school ever again."
"what?" i questioned. but i didn't do anything bad to her, have i? "she never told me anything. all she told me was that she didn't want me to bring her to school yesterday for the mean time."
"hmm i don't know man, nora can get pretty emotional at times. i assumed both of you had a quarrel with each other, hence the use of ever again." noelle pushes herself off the van. "welp, i'll go talk to her when she gets back. if possible, you could talk to her as well about this."
i nod at her request. "i will, thanks for letting me know." noelle walks back inside their house as i sighed, turning the van around.
"wait, so hazel is nora?" greg spoke.
"you're going to take us to school without hazel? aww, that's such a bummer." i hear rowley say in the back. "she's the reason why i decided to stay in this van with you. hazel's very cool."
"that's it, out of the van! both of you!"
"gah! i was just kidding!" rowley yelps, making me step on the gas and drive faster.
⟩⟩⟩
as the school bell rang, everyone got out of their classrooms and scattered around the halls but there was still no sign of her anywhere. was noelle sure that nora went to school this morning?
fortunately, i saw tim leaning next to his locker with his arms crossed. by the looks of it, they were looking for her as well.
"tim, have you seen hazel this morning?" i run towards him. he rose an eyebrow then shook his head in response.
"no, i haven't seen her anywhere. i assumed she was with you the whole time." tim looked around with a worried look on his face. "i didn't notice her in class either, have you tried looking for her there?"
"uh i don't know, i don't remember." i scratch my head. i got distracted by ben who just kept on rambling about heather and her friends throughout the whole class. "well, thanks for the help anyways. tell me if you found her, okay? i'll see you later after lunch."
"yes sir," tim salutes then walks to the other direction.
great, if timothy hasn't seen hazel either, where could she be? i asked rachel and melissa the same thing earlier but they didn't notice her as well. god, where could this girl be? if she really is in school, i'd be impressed at how good she is at hiding.
ben tapped behind my shoulder as he and chris stood by my side. "sorry dude, we haven't seen her either. but she is in the school somewhere said mrs cruz."
"yeah, we asked her as she was walking around the halls." chris adds as the three of us were heading towards the cafeteria.
"why are you suddenly getting concerned about hazel, anyways?" ben asks. "i thought you've always find her as the weird girl in class?"
"ugh, none of your business, ben. hazel never disappears like this all of sudden." i groan as i started to walk faster, trying to search from left to right where she was, leaving ben and chris behind. unfortunately, there was no sign of her anywhere.
ugh, whatever. i'll just find her after school. i'm starving like hell... i thought to myself. though it bums me that she probably won't be sitting on our table today.
i gotta say, i may have gotten pretty fond of hazel ever since bill decided to kick me out of my band. it's amusing to see her act so wildly but at the same time being so quiet. i hate to admit it but she's cool.
while i was walking alone, heather suddenly elbows my shoulder and grunts. "ugh, out of the way heffley!"
although i winced at how painful the hit was, i thought to myself...oh my, heather touched my arm with her elbow! but as i watched heather walk behind me, nora rolled my eyes at me and shook her head as she was about to head the other way.
"hazel!" i pushed through the crowd as i tried to chase her but she walked faster. "hazel, wait!" fortunately, i got closer to her making her stop her tracks.
"what's up rodricky?" she removes her earphones that were blaring out some kind of rock song loudly.
"noelle told me you didn't want me to take you to school." as i was about to continue, hazel groans then walks away, avoiding the situation. but that didn't stop me from talking so i followed her. "haz, you're acting weird. i'm genuinely concerned."
"i'm fine." she replies with a monotonous tone, not even wanting to look at me. "look, i have to go. i don't want to talk about this now."
"but hazel–"
"go eat, you have a few minutes until your next class starts." hazel taps her wristwatch then walks away, causing me to groan. next thing i knew, she's gone again. which means i have to sit in the cafeteria with chris and ben again.
as i walked inside, i noticed the two were already seated on the same table we'd often eat on. without even bothering to get myself lunch, i went straight towards the table and stole chris's apple from his tray, causing chris to frown.
"so, how did you and hazel go?" ben asks, making me shrug as a response.
"she immediately left when i asked if something was wrong." i tossed the apple to my right hand then took a bite.
"ahh i see what's happening here," ben shakes his head, laughing. "hazel's been avoiding you."
"yeah no shit man, rodrick literally told us that she was like, a while ago." chris says.
"so what are you going to do now?"
"i don't know," i looked around the cafeteria expecting to see hazel. unfortunately, she wasn't here. "but i'll try to figure it out."
ben leans closer to the table. "you're not going to stalk her again, aren't you?"
"pfft, what?" i forced out a laugh. "no, never! seriously, i'd never stalk her again. ever. my stalking days were over ever since i got caught."
⟩⟩⟩
and what i've said to them was a lie...well, kind of. sometimes i forget that chris and ben have been with me for a few years now that they could almost predict whatever i'd do.
to be fair, it wasn't really stalking. more of like, observing her from time to time. no, i don't hide on mrs gallagher's bushes anymore or on any of the trees near hazel's house.
in school, i try to spot her whenever i see her around the halls. hazel would often sit alone outside. or in class, where she would scribble down things in her notebook.
at lunch, she separates herself from timothy, melissa, and rachel. hazel hasn't been talking to any of us either. but just a while ago, i nearly caught her staring at me as soon as she looked away.
i gave her some space for a moment by not asking her if she wanted a ride home. hazel either walks all by herself or takes the skateboard she'd bring from time to time.
and before i'd even drive my van home, i would take a turn at hazel's house and check what she's been up to. unexpectedly, some kind of pink van was parked right in front of her house. hazel and her sister noelle were carrying out parts that looked like it could be for a drum set.
slowing down, i got a bit mesmerized by the pink van as i got a closer glimpse. turns out it was from hazel's band, the juliettes.
as hazel gets out of the van holding the snare, she gazes at me with a questioned look.
"rodrick, look out!" she shouts.
"wha–" before i could even speak, i accidentally hit the garbage bin, causing me to step on the breaks. i got too distracted by hazel, dammit.
noelle runs out of their house, crossing her arms. "what is going on out here?"
"are you...are you okay?" hazel walks closer. out of embarrassment, i quickly backed up then drove home ignoring the dent.
i stared at my bedroom ceiling every night, thinking about how i could run up to her and ask why she has been avoiding us without fucking up my words. it always keeps me up at night, along with the smashing cymbals and drums i hear coming from nowhere.
i could go downstairs and check if it's just greg, but it was too dark. i even doubt that kid stays up late.
"greg, if you're down there touching my drum set, i'm going to kill you!" i shout, but there was no response. that's odd, i wonder where that noise was coming from.
⟩⟩⟩
then today came, i decided to get out of bed and leave for school earlier than usual. greg can just go take the bus with rowley.
adjusting the ties on my hoodie, mom approached me with a surprised look on her face. "whoa rodrick, well you're up early."
"yeah, i don't want to be late for school." i chuckled. actually, i didn't really sleep. i only slept for like a few minutes then got up to get dressed.
mom stutters. "well, would you like to eat breakfast before you go? i've already prepared some food while the others were still sleepi-"
"no thanks, i'm good." kissing her on the cheek and opening the front door, leaving her behind. while i was approaching the van with my keys, i hear one of the neighbors complain as they walk past me.
"did you hear the loud banging noise last night coming from bethany lee's house?" the middle-aged woman asked.
"yeah, i wonder what was going on back there." another neighbor replied, shaking her head.
"it's probably just from her younger daughter, hazel. you know how disgraceful that child is. i mean, black dresses and rock music? who knows whatever she was doing inside that house." the woman says in disgust.
"hey shut up, hazel isn't a disgrace!" i blurt out all of a sudden, making them turn around.
"excuse me?" one of them said. nervous, immediately got inside the van then turned on the energy, driving away from the middle-aged women as fast as i could. i may enjoy being in trouble at times, but i'd rather not deal with those kinds of people specifically.
luckily the roads were clearer than usual and i got to school very early. fingers crossed, i'm hoping she's already here waiting for classes to start.
i've actually never been this early to school before, it's a little odd for me to see almost nobody coming inside the school at this hour. it almost felt like i was in a ghost town or something.
while i was walking around the halls, as expected, hazel was on her locker taking her things. it looked like she had just arrived as well.
"hazel!" i shout as i walked towards her, making her look around as she saw me. hazel quickly takes her notebook then slammed the locker shut, letting out an echo.
"well you're up early," hazel comments. "can't believe you arrived earlier than last time."
"what can i say, i'm full of surprises." i lean on her locker, making her roll her eyes and walk away. "hey wait, wait, i need to talk to you."
she turns around and laughs. "no."
"hazel,"
"no."
"oh come on!" i groan, trying to go after her. "what is going on with you? you've been avoiding me for a while now."
"just leave me alone rodrick, for christ's sake!" hazel shouted, shaking her head as she headed towards the classroom. which left me questioning myself, what did i do wrong? i didn't hurt her feelings, did i?
while a couple of students started entering the school, i decided to go inside our classroom and think of another way to approach her.
dropping my bag on the floor, i sat on my seat then burried my head under my arms sluggishly. the door creaked open as i heard a bunch of footsteps coming in.
"rodrick, what's up with you?" ben nudges as he sat on his seat.
"i didn't sleep well last night." i groan, making ben chuckle.
"yeah, i heard." ben shakes his head, placing his pen on the the table. "i've heard rumors just a while ago that something loud was going on from your street."
"someone was playing the drums the whole night, i could hear it from afar." i push myself up as i zipped my bag open.
"you sure it wasn't you playing the drums?"
i crossed my arms and chuckled, "for a moment, i thought it was greg using the drums but i doubt that he could follow a steady beat. plus, greg sleeps early."
"how's you and hazey haz by the way, figured out how to talk to her yet?" ben asks as chris walked inside the classroom.
i sighed and rubbed my eyes. "no."
our teacher suddenly walks in the room which made everyone run towards their seats as he placed his suitcase down his desk. "everyone open your textbooks, we're going to tackle a new topic for our discussion today." he says.
i didn't really listen throughout the whole discussion and just pretended to write down notes from the whiteboard, i felt too lazy to understand whatever our substitute teacher was saying.
fast forward to lunch break, this time i caught hazel on her old table with tim. it seemed like the both of them finally made up, but she still continued to ignore me anyway.
"i swear, what is up with her?" i thought out loud.
"maybe she's into you." chris takes a bite off his sandwich. "or maybe she's disappointed in you?"
"yeah, no need to rub it on me chris." i rolled my eyes, to which he just shrugs as he continued eating.
"when was the last time you guys talked, anyways?" ben says.
"last week, we didn't really talk about anything other than assignments in school." looking back to her table, to my surprise, both of them were gone. "where did they go?"
"who?" ben looks around.
"hazel and tim, they're gone."
"pretty sure they headed on their next period, i don't know." ben's expression suddenly changes as heather walked past our table with her friends. "hi heather!" he greets with glee, but all she did was roll her eyes and whisper at madison.
"hi bridgette." chris greets the other blonde girl next to heather, making her smile as she left.
"how come chris suddenly gets all the women?" ben whines while chris continued to eat.
"it's because i got more swag than the both of you." chris jokes as the school bell started to ring. everyone picked their bags up and left the cafeteria, heading towards their classrooms.
⟩⟩⟩
leaving our last period, i rushed my way towards hazel as she was about to exit the school building holding her skateboard.
"hazel!" i call, making her turn around then started walking faster. before she could hold the door handle, i grabbed her by the arm then pulled her towards the empty janitor's closet. "why are you avoiding me?"
hazel exhales, reaching the doorknob. "rodrick, i have to go home-"
"not until you tell me what's going on."
"i don't want to, just leave me alone and let me go home!" she raises her voice, making us pause for a moment. hazel tilts her head down as she closed her eyes tight.
sighing, i gave in. "fine, but at least get in the van and let me take you home."
"but what about my skateboard?" hazel gestured at her skateboard she was holding.
"just place it in the back and it'll be fine." i shrug.
"fine." in defeat, she sluggishly walks herself out of the janitor's closet as i followed her leave the school building.
the car ride was quiet since hazel sat there in silence, glancing at the window at times.
wanting to break the ice, i cleared my throat and tried to think of what to say. "so..." i started, which made her look at me. "you seem quiet today."
"yeah, my phone died." nora replies. since i had nothing to follow up from that, i tried to think harder.
"do you like...would you like to play some music? i just—" i gesture at the radio near me.
"no i'm good, thanks."
i sighed, i have to at least make her talk again to keep the conversation going. i just know something's going on with her.
"i'm hungry, i'm gonna go get something in the store. wanna come?" i turned right as we drove towards the parking area near the convenience store.
"sure." nora responds. parking the van, both of us got out and walked towards the store. i could already feel my stomach rumble when we got inside, the sight of the hotdogs heating on the rollers' already making me hungry.
"you could go grab some for yourself, i'll pay this time." i smiled at her, to which she shrugs at. "now if you'll excuse me, i'm gonna go grab some wieners—on second thought, forget what i said. that sounded very wrong than what i had in mind."
"haha what are you gonna do next, suck on some "wieners" too?"
"shut up." hazel cracks up a giggle, shaking her head as she walked towards another aisle beside me.
while i asked the person from the counter to place the hotdog on the bread for me, hazel got back with a can of monster on her hands. "i couldn't find anything to buy." she shrugs, placing the can on the counter.
"hey, can you make those hotdogs a two?" i request, making the cashier sigh as she went back to get another bun.
"i don't need a hotdog." hazel declines.
"haz, i may be mean, but i'm not cruel enough to just let you drink an energy drink on an empty stomach." i say as i placed the cash on the counter. "believe me, i tried it once and ended up feeling sick for the whole week."
"whatever." she sighs under her breath while the cash register chimes. as the cashier handed out the change and the receipt, hazel looked down on her food.
worrying that she could be thinking about something, i nudged her shoulder. "you alright?"
"yeah, i'm fine." hazel shrugs, heading towards the exit to wait on the bench. wanting to get this over with, i followed and sat beside her while she eats the hotdog.
since i suddenly forgot what i was about to say, both of us sat on the bench quietly eating our food on a gloomy thursday. how depressing.
"so how's your day going?" i hesitated to ask. hazel looked at me with tired eyes, thinking of how to respond.
"fine, i guess." she takes another bite of the bun. "this hotdog's really good though. i've never tried these from the store before."
"i know, the relish inside it is pretty good too." both of us chuckle, which followed awkward silence. "so um, is it okay if i ask you-"
"fine, what is it rodrick?" hazel slouches.
"look, i just wanted to know why you were avoiding us for a few days." i blurted out. "your sister told me that you said you didn't want me to take you home ever again and i got nervous."
"it's nothing personal."
"then why did you do it?"
"i can't tell you."
"why not?"
"because if tell you, you'll only make fun of me." nora mutters, causing me to fall silent.
"nora,"
"rodrick i'm scared of losing everyone. including you." she starts fidgeting the loose threads on the sleeves of her sweater. "it's so stupid. i just...i...i don't want it to happen again, and i thought that it was better for me to just...stop showing up to people."
"nora-"
she sniffles. "i'm opening up to you again, sorry." nora lets out a chuckle, shaking her head as i was about to speak. "you know what? fuck it. i don't want to bottle up shit anymore, that's just how i felt these past few days." she says, attempting to lighten up the mood. but really, it was just concerning to hear.
"nora," i scoot closer, closing the space between us. "all of your friends care for you. that includes me too—i mean, unless you see me as one of your friends."
"i do see you as a friend." she grins.
"you do?" i look at her in surprise, to which she nods.
"yeah," nora sits up, sipping on her drink. "you're...you're okay. i used to hate you with a burning passion back in middle school though."
"yeah, i know." i respond. "i used to hang out with lenwood heath during middle school. both of us were the troublemakers of westmore—well, until his parents moved him to spag union." i rolled my eyes in disgust. "don't know what he's been up to lately but i used to look up to him."
"ugh, i've heard bad stories about spag union." nora groans, shaking her head. "tim used to study in spag union in hopes that it would make him "more manly"." she quotes with her fingers. "luckily, his mom pulled him out there and accepted him for being who he is now. sorry, anyways continue."
"lenwood may have told me to stay away from girls until the end of 8th grade." i took a huge bite of my hotdog. "especially you."
nora grimaces, shrugging her shoulders. "sucks being considered as an outcast, i guess. you know, i honestly don't get why people saw me as weird in the first place. i don't even think i have remotely done weird things. i've just learned how to accept it though as i grew older." she places her legs up her seat. "sometimes i wish i was just...normal. nothing but a normal person living a normal life. but then you know, what does even "normal" mean anyway?" shaking her head, she sips on her can of monster.
"i know you're probably still thinking about the time i called you a weirdo...and the other time when i may have some pretty bad stuff about you." i turned to her. "i'm sorry for being shitty to you in the past. i mean it."
"why did you even decide to talk to me now?" she furrows her brows, hugging both of her knees. "if you and i hated each other so much, why make friends with me?"
"actually, ben dared me to do it." i said, making nora raise an eyebrow. "i didn't like the idea at first but when i tried to...you...you've suddenly piqued my interest." i grin.
"how so?"
"i realized how fun you are being around." i replied. "if i only knew that you weren't always this quiet and rude to me, i would've done this earlier."
nora sits properly, looking down on the ground as she sighs. "i'm sorry for all the bad things i thought and said you were."
"what?"
"i may have said that you looked like the walmart version of vic fuentes to penny and the others." she grimaces. "it was an ongoing joke between the 4 of us until they found out that you started hanging out with me." nora laughs but shakes her head, realizing what she had said. "and...i'm sorry for not communicating properly. that was a bitch move and i should have been more honest."
"it's cool, i should have approached you more calmly." as i was about to hold her shoulder, i realized she might not like people touching her all of a sudden so i awkwardly placed my hand on my lap, trying to play it cool. "it's been a rough week, wasn't it?"
nora groans. "very. i hate times like these when christmas season's getting closer. because i swear to god, the more colder the weather gets, the more sluggish and emotional i get." i laughed as she threw the wrapper inside the garbage bin.
i stand up from my seat, threw the trash inside the bin, then lend a hand. "come on, i'll take you home before it gets dark." nora crosses her arms as she followed, still looking pretty bummed. "i think i know what you just need..."
"what?" she ask.
i raise both of my arms, "a hug." i offer. nora snickers as she walks closer. "come on, my arms are open wide! i heard you like hugs."
nora tilts her head down. "no i don't."
"yes you do." i pull her closer and wrapped my arms around her. nora lets out a sigh as she lays her head on my shoulder.
"yes...i do." she says in defeat as she hugs back. "goddamnit, why did you have to be so warm?" nora buries her head as the both of us laughed.
i run my fingers through her hair trying to comfort her. "actually i haven't showered yet." i joked, making her immediately push me away.
"oh my god rodrick, go home now." she bursts out laughing as we continued to walk towards the van.
"i was just joking!"
"stay away from me, stinky head." she teases, running towards the front seat.
⟩⟩⟩
after brushing my teeth, i wipe my mouth with a towel then head downstairs, placing my glass on the sink.
"oh rodrick, you're here!" susan beams with joy as she she pats my head while i was about to put the glass down. "i actually have something to tell you."
"wh—me?" i point at myself, to which she nods in reply. i immediately pull up a seat as mom leans toward the counter near the dining room.
"you see, i planned on hosting a thanksgiving dinner for us this week." she starts on wiping the counter with a piece of cloth. "and i decided to invite hazel's family to join us, and they kindly agreed to you know...celebrate thanksgiving with us!" mom smiles.
"why did you have to invite the lees?" i stand up, walking closer to the counter.
"well i've noticed that you and hazel have been getting along very well, so i invited her over." she lightly pinches my cheeks. "hazel's a sweet young lady and it is nice to see that you two are getting along now after so many years since both of you acted like cats and dogs back when you were...when was that...6th grade?" she asks herself. "i do have one question though."
"what is it?"
"are you and hazel a thing?" she asks quietly, biting her lip trying not to giggle.
"mom!" i exclaim out of embarrassment.
"i was just wondering! you don't have to respond if you guys aren't." mom shakes her head as she continued wiping the counter. "unless if you guys are a thing, i also don't mind. like, i get it. privacy."
"mom, hazel and i aren't dating." i said sternly.
"alright then," she shrugs.
"i'm gonna go to sleep." i hang the towel on my shoulder as i climbed up the stairs then to my bedroom.
lying on my bed, i was about to fall asleep while all of a sudden, crashing cymbals and loud thuds echoed the place which made me feel frustrated.
i ran down the stairs to check if mom was still in the kitchen but she wasn't there. i doubt that dad would be the cause of the noise since i could clearly hear him snoring loud in their bedroom.
greg, that fucking wimp...
grabbing a flashlight, i tiptoed my way towards the storage room, attempting to scare greg.
turning the doorknob, i bust the door open and shouted. "a-HA!" but it turned out that no one was there.
so i went back up, hoping that the noise would end. for a moment, i thought a ghost could be using my drums to scare us off, but i didn't see any of my cymbals move when i got there.
so i grabbed my phone, wore my hoodie, then went outside. to my surprise, the drums sounded way less muffled compared to just a while ago.
i decided to text nora as i started to walk down the street, following where the drums were coming from.
rodrick:
u awake still?
climbing up the steep part of the street, i noticed that nora's lights in her bedroom were open. it turns out the banging drums actually came from her.
i walked closer, trying to watch nora play the drums since her window was open. the music she was playing from her speakers were toned down which makes the drums she was playing louder.
"life in the hive puckered up by night. the kiss of death, the embrace of life. there i stand 'neath the marquee moon. hesitating..." she sings along as she hits the cymbals.
as the riff was about to come up, someone barges inside her room causing nora to stop.
"nora, go get some rest. everyone in the neighborhood has been complaining about you playing the drums at this time." noelle says.
"i thought the foam pads were working?" she questions as she stands up from her seat.
"just fix this up, you have all the time to practice tomorrow. alright?"
"fine." nora sighs.
"thank you." she walks out of her room "now good night, i'm going back to sleep." noelle closes the door, making nora throw her drumsticks on the floor and push her drums away.
i couldn't see what she was doing now since her window's too high. unexpectedly, my phone received a notification.
nora:
lmao no
rodrick:
lol me either XD
after minutes of silence, i received another notification from nora.
nora:
i hope u enjoyed the show ;)
rodrick:
wait, you knew?
nora:
look up buttercup
looking up, i see nora peeking out the window. "hey hot stuff! where'd you get that pants from? you look like you could be one of santa's elves!" she jokes.
"you're the one playing the drums since last night?" i ask.
"well yeah, sofia gave me her old drum-set so i decided to practice using it. i didn't think that it would be that loud." she sighs. "what are you doing here?"
"i can't really sleep." i shrug. "mind if i stay with you for a moment?"
"can you climb up this tree?" she gestures at her neighbor's tree that's close to her window.
"i don't think i can."
"the door's locked, i don't want us to get in trouble." nora started to think of what to do. "hang on, i have an idea." she runs inside her room then comes back with a rope. "tie this around you." she drops the other side of the rope.
"why do you randomly hide a rope inside your room?" i question while doing what she says.
"don't even ask." she shakes her head as she starts to grip on the rope. "now i'm going to pull you up, but be careful and try to hold on to the small bricks that are sticking out the wall." nora starts to step back and pull the rope as i tried to climb up the bricks towards her window. fortunately, i got there safely but my toes were definitely not feeling good.
nora lets go of the rope and chuckles. "welcome back to my humble h–room." she says then stands up to close the window.
"i felt like i was spider-man for a hot minute." i chuckled, untying the rope around my waist.
"sorry if my room is kind of a mess, productiveness hit me like a truck and i managed to clean my room after days of not doing it." nora sits back down to her bed. "so what would you like to do? what's up?"
"nothing actually." i sit next to her. "well, my mom wants me to invite you and your family to celebrate thanksgiving with us at dinner, and i was thinking if you already knew that."
"no, not at all. although, that could be what noelle was referring to when she told me to find a nice dress to wear for the 24th." nora responds. "but hey, i'd love to go. even if that means my mom and your mom would compete at each other again." both of us chuckled at the thought.
"are you about to sleep?"
"no, probably not anytime soon. hence why the makeup." she laughs. "i'm oozing with inspiration and i was about to write another song but it got away so i guess i'm just gonna stare at the ceiling." as she stretched her arms up, nora falls down on her bed then wraps herself in a blanket.
"it really suits you, i mean the look." i say with a smile.
"thanks man, i appreciate the compliment." nora grins. "i'm just gonna lay down on my bed. you can do the same if you'd like, i just prefer lying down."
"then don't mind if i do..." i lay next to her then stared at the ceiling as well.
"i've been reflecting about what we talked about earlier. i still feel pretty bad about just leaving you guys like it's nothing." nora says.
"it's totally fine though, i'm sure they'll understand." i say, while also snuggling with a blanket.
"i know, but it's just that i didn't want the past to happen again." nora looks at me. "i kind of have bad experiences with making friends and maintaining them. i don't know if it's considered traumatizing to others but it was for me, but it could also be because i just wasn't in the right headspace." she pauses for a moment. "my mom and i had an argument one time, and she ended up taking my phone and went through all my messages with my friends. most of them were just me venting and you know, all that jazz. this concerned them and basically threatened them to cut me off or else she'll call the police. oh boy, ain't that fun?" she says sarcastically.
"did your friends leave you after that happened?"
"yes, a lot of them." she chuckles. "everyone was scared that if i tried to reconnect with them, my mom would get involved." nora's smile faded into a frown. "after that happened, i fell to my lowest. i just felt way too pathetic to be friends with anyone at that time."
"what about penny and the others?"
"well in their case, my friends become her friends too." she grabs a teddy bear from the floor. "they know what was going on but i couldn't confirm it to them because my mom knows whenever i say something about her. so basically, i was miserable. fortunately my sister was there to help me."
"then how are you with your parents now?"
"that i don't even want to think about it. they have their own problems, i'd rather not mind their business." she says. "i just want to live without anyone controlling my life. it's hard pretending inside and outside of the house."
"yeah same here," i laugh. "i think my parents are great, but sometimes they can be a real pain in the ass. "
"sorry if it's all so sudden but can you please hug me again, maybe even for just a minute?" nora asks as her eyes started to tear up. "i just..." she takes a deep breath. "i'm not okay. the emotions and all are spilling again and i just...i need company and..."
"shh it's okay, i'm here." i sit up straight as nora starts to cry.
"i'm sorry, it just—it just comes out of nowhere." she wipes the tears of her face. "goddamnit, now my makeup is ruined. i'm gonna look like a corpse once i finish crying." she laughs while sniffling.
"who the hell laughs while crying in a situation like this? jesus christ, nora." both of us giggled.
"idiots, rodrick. idiots."
"yes, idiots like us."
nora breaks the hug as she turned into a crying mess. "the makeup got on your shirt, i'm so sorry." she chuckles.
"don't be, this shirt is boring anyways. you just made it look a lot cooler by accident." i grin as i adjusted my shirt.
"how the hell did it look cool to you, it looks like one of those creepypasta pictures on the internet but with less contrast." she snickers.
"because you're cool, nora." i blurt out by accident. fuck, i hope that didn't sound too obvious.
"i think you're cool too, hot stuff."
✦