»Previously«
"He won't hurt you again. He won't get the chance."
I heard her sniffling slightly, adjusting her body to lean against mine.
"I promise you, darling."
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The same words kept ringing through my head as I held (Y/N).
"He'll see me alone somehow and he'll do it again for this mess today."
"He" referring to Noah.
"It" referring to...
Truly, I can safely say I hate Noah. That dick's not right in his head.
Harrison had to leave for a thing with his family, even if he was hesitant about going, I convinced him he could leave. I mean, I can handle (Y/N).
The more I thought about what Noah said this morning, when he came over...It all started to make sense.
He told (Y/N) his lies, he had his fun, but in the end, his goal was to isolate her from our friendship. If she didn't think she could trust me, she would trust Noah. And when she trusted Noah, he would be able to manipulate her into isolating herself from him. He would be able to make her into his own personal rag doll without any interference from the people around her who actually cared about her.
That was his plan.
I looked down to a sniffling (Y/N) still burying her face in my neck as the two of us laid on the couch. And I thought about how much I hate Noah again.
How could he do this to her? I mean, what goes through a person's mind to allow them to do the things he did to her?
When she told me about everything that happened, I just wished I could go back to the morning and pin his arm on a hot stove. See how that feels.
He says he loves (Y/N), so what went through his mind before he hurt her is beyond me.
I love her, too. But I would never do the things he did.
I wouldn't. But I let them happen. I could have been there - I should have been there, just to make him stop. I let her go out with him, I let him stay around even when I thought I saw the signs, I didn't protect her.
How could I let him do that to her?
No. No, I'm not the victim here, I reminded myself. (Y/N) has been going through this alone, the last thing she needs is a support system more concerned about blaming himself and looking back at things he can't change.
All that matters is getting (Y/N) as far away from Noah as possible. Now I know, right? So I can focus on today and tomorrow instead of blaming myself for yesterday.
"Are you okay?" I asked her. She had stopped crying and was just laying on my chest. I had my arm wrapped around her, playing with the edges of her hair.
She looked up at me, giving a soft smile.
"Well, that's good." I smiled back. "Nothing else to do today...wanna watch (favorite/tv/show)?"
"Of course I want to watch Supernatural!" she exclaimed excitedly, getting off of me. (JOKING, put in (your/fave/show)
The warmth of her body left and I was hit with the cool breeze of room temperature. I almost sat up until she sat back down in front of me, laying down again, this time her back on my stomach until her head was under my neck.
"sorry, you're just warm," she mumbled. I looked down and saw her playing with the edge of her shirt.
I could die happy right now.
"No, you're good." I played it off, swallowing dryly.
I grabbed for the remote and switched to the streaming service the show was on, on the episode we left off on, turned up the volume, and set the controller down.
...what do I do with my hands?
~(Y/N)'s POV~
You saw Tom hesitate before putting the remote down, but he did and slowly moved his hands to different places.
You felt him breathing behind you, his chest rising and falling slowly as the show intro started playing.
Deciding to take his hands in yours, you grabbed them and wrapped his arms over your stomach, adjusting yourself to more comfortably lay on his chest.
This was nice. You thought to yourself how lucky and incredible it is to have Tom as your friend as you hugged his arms tighter. You could never do this with Noah, he always got restless and complained about his arm falling asleep within thirty seconds.
So it really was nice. And different. In a good way.
You two stayed like that for hours. Well, minus snack breaks and position switches. But at least until an episode ended and you turned to see the clock at 11:45 PM.
By this point, you were half asleep in his arms, his chin resting on the top of your head as he hugged you across your chest.
"(Y/N/N)?" He gently lifted his arms up. "Awake still?"
"Mm," you hummed back in response, turning up to look at him.
He smiled down at you, stroking stands of hair out of your face. (If you have hair ig) He said in a gentle voice, "I've got to wake up at around 7, so I'm probably gonna head to bed now."
"Aww," reflexively came out. You smiled at him softly. "Okay, Tom."
You adjusted yourself so that you could sit up and Tom slipped away from you. He started picking up the trash on the table and you quickly checked your phone.
"(Y/N/N)?" He said, walking closer to you. You looked up in response to see him sit down next to you. He looked straight in your (e/c) eyes. Thank you."
"For?"
"For...Telling me."
"Oh."
"I just mean...You could be with Noah somewhere right now as he's doing...who knows what to you, but you're not. You're safe, and here, with me. It's...I'm glad."
He leaned over to press his forehead on yours. You felt your heart flutter but kept it calm, even as he inched closer.
He continued, "I'm sorry I couldn't see the signs earlier. I never wanted you hurt, I never wanted you in a position where you couldn't tell me he was hurting you."
He sighed. "I want you..."
Heart flutter.
"...to be..."
Butterfly feelings.
"...safe. And okay. And happy. And if you ever need anything, anything...I want you to know I'm here for you."
You kept your forehead against his, a small, grateful smile sliding onto your face.
"I know."
"Always," he muttered.
"I know." You moved your previous position to hug him. You wrapped your arms around his neck and brought your mouth near his ear.
"Thank you," you whispered.
You stayed like that. You wanted to stay like that.
But then your phone started ringing.
~End of Chapter 15~
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