CHAPTER XLVII
pettiness
VENICE, ITALY — 2024
FINALLY ENOUGH, the airplane had landed in Venice, the famous Italian city of canals. This was only their first stop though, meaning that they had many more locations to visit on this trip.
As the group of classmates and teachers walked throughout the airport, making their way towards security, they all seemed to be excited and beaming about arriving at their first destination.
Noah was happy, too. But, he was also feeling quite exhausted. He had barley even slept on the flight as he was way too busy watching Star Wars the whole entire time.
He couldn't particularly get any rest sooner than later as he hadn't even gotten to the hotel yet. Besides, Mr. Harrington and Mr. Dell had planned some activities out for the day.
Just as he was about to go throughout security check, he saw Peter and Ned standing within the distance, both of them suspiciously whispering about something.
Quickly being filled up with slight curiosity, he decided to approach the friendly duo, just to see what they were chattering on about, of course.
Besides, he hadn't seen Peter for hours. Even though he hadn't even confessed his feelings to Peter yet, he was extremely clingy, obviously enough.
As he stopped within his tracks, he glanced between the duo. He shot them a slight smile, gripping onto the strap of his bag, which was swung over his shoulder.
"Hey, guys." He would greet.
Both Peter and Ned immediately paused their conversation altogether. They glared over at Noah, Ned seeming extremely happy whilst Peter seemed to be slightly irritated.
"Hi, Noah." Ned replied.
Before Noah could even respond to Ned, Peter had instantly cut him off. He slightly lowered his head, his voice sounding extremely petty as he spoke.
"Did you have fun with Brad?" He asked.
Noah immediately noticed the pettiness within Peter's voice. He was taken aback actually, unsure if Peter had intended to sound like that.
"Yeah, actually." He told. "I did."
Peter was even more irritated that beforehand. Jealous, even. His features and shoulders being slightly tensed up, he clenched his jaw ever so slightly, attempting to hide his annoyance.
"Yeah?" He mumbled. "What did you do?"
"We watched Star Wars."
Before the somewhat petty conversation between Noah and Peter could escalate even more, Betty had surprisingly decided to step into the picture.
"Hey, babe." She kindly greeted Ned. "Can you hold this for me?"
Taking a slight step back from the jealous bickering, Noah and Peter were completely blinded with confusion at this point, unsure if they had even heard Betty correctly.
"Yeah, of course."
"Thanks."
And with those words, Betty handed some of her bags over to Ned. She leaned in ever so slightly, planting a gentle and soft kiss onto Ned's cheek.
The two lovebirds just admired each other for an uncomfortable amount of time, not even realising that Noah and Peter were still standing right there.
Just as Betty walked away, Ned poked the tip of her nose with his finger, causing them to both giggle.
Both Noah and Peter were puzzled and disgusted at the same time, the two of them completely forgotten about the bickering competition they were having against each other.
They watched as Betty slowly walk away, returning to her group of friends. Then, they glared over at Ned, their eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly.
"What was that?" Noah breathed.
"Uh, well, we actually got to talking on the plane and it turns out, we have a lot in common." Ned explained. "So, uh, we're boyfriend and girlfriend now."
Unlike Peter and Noah, Ned wore a dreamy smile upon his face. He seemed to be so-in-love with Betty, even though he had only gotten to know her only a few hours ago.
"Whatever happened to being an American bachelor in Europe?" Peter questioned.
"Peter, those were the words of a boy. And, that boy met a woman." Ned attempted to inspire. "A very strong and powerful woman. And now, that boy's a man."
With Peter being speechless, Noah just stood there. He cocked an eyebrow upwards, his mouth now agape as even more confusion came across him.
"What?" He whispered.
"Babe?"
"Coming, babe!" Ned called back to Betty.
He left almost immediately, not even shooting a goodbye in Peter and Noah's way. He definitely seemed to be much more intrigued by the blonde, anyway.
Attempting to not focus on Betty and Ned's relationship anymore, Noah just inhaled in an almost breath, finally glancing over at Peter.
Obviously, he was much more focused on Peter once again. He remembered the petty remarks and comments that Peter had tossed at him only minutes ago.
So, he wanted to irritate Peter even more.
With the corners of his lips curling upwards, he playfully smirked. He raised an eyebrow upwards, beginning to slowly walk backwards, now heading to security scan.
"Catch me if you can, spinne." He teased.
Peter watched Noah walk away for a few moments, quickly attempting to chase after him afterwards. But, he had seen that Noah was now going throughout security check.
He paused within his tracks, a heavy sigh of defeat escaping from his lips. His gaze still focused on Noah, he began to rub his temples in slight annoyance.
Noah saw how irritated and defeated Peter currently was. He allowed a soft laugh to slip from his lips, his sea green eyes still laid upon the shorter brunet as he slowly placed his things onto the security scan tray.
"Really, Noah?"