CHAPTER LIX
the opera house
PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC — 2024
BACK AT THE HOTEL, Noah had found out that Peter's plan was to go to an opera. He thought it was a strange plan. But, he just went along with it. After all, he just wanted his friends to be safe.
And now, he was inside of the opera house with all of his classmates, most of them seeming extremely unamused.
Once the group had entered the opera house, they stopped for a moment to look around the entire place, which was extremely quiet at the moment.
"Okay, here we are." Mr. Harrington announced. "Beat the rush."
"Yeah, the rush out."
"Lucky for us, we got the best seats in the house." Mr. Harrington would exclaim.
Slowly but surely, most of the class decided to make their way towards the front row of seats, where they were supposed to be sitting.
Noah just continued to stand there and look around. He was honestly quite thankful that he didn't have to waste four hours of his life in an opera house. But, he did feel bad for leaving his peers behind.
Then, all of a sudden, Brad approached Noah. He seemed to be heading towards his seat, quick to let out a quiet whisper on the way.
"Hey, I'll save you a seat." He told.
Noah's gaze was now fixated upon Brad. He slowly nodded his head in response, shooting Brad a slight but friendly smile.
"Uhm, thanks." He replied.
And with those words, Brad turned his back to Noah. He followed the rest of his classmates to the first row of seats, his steps brisk.
Noah watched Brad walk away, still standing there. He honestly felt bad that he had to leave his friends behind. If anything, he would very much rather spend time with them than fight monsters.
Suddenly enough, he felt a pair of hands touch his shoulders, causing him to flinch. He swiftly whipped his head around, slightly startled by the sudden touch.
But, it was just Peter. He was standing there with a cheeky smile, slowly pulling his hands away.
"Payback." He teased.
"Ha. Ha." Noah sarcastically told. "Very funny."
The duo just admired the entire place once again, awaiting for Nick and the others to finally speak to them through the comms, so they could defeat this elemental.
Noah was growing more and more nervous as time passed by. He was swaying on his feet over and over again, not even daring to look over at Peter.
"Uh, you look really pretty." Peter would blurt out.
Noah glanced up. He made immediate eye contact with Peter. He was quite flustered, actually. He blinked rapidly, his cheeks now flushed into a bright red colour.
He tilted his head ever so slightly, gently nibbling onto his bottom lip anxiously. He looked away, his lips slightly tugging upwards out of embarrassment.
"I, uh- Thank you." He stuttered. "You look really, really pretty too."
Peter smiled at that response, his smile gentle and warm. He genuinely couldn't help himself but to admire Noah for a somewhat long amount of time.
But, the sweet moment between the duo was quickly interrupted once they heard Nick's firm voice speaking throughout the comms.
"Are you in position?"
Peter and Noah glanced up to look at each other once again. They were both extremely frightened, knowing that they definitely weren't in position at all.
"No." Peter blurted out.
"Why the hell not, Parker?!"
Noah and Peter were quick to rush away, both of them extremely anxious at this point. They both knew that they were going to get into big trouble now.
"Uhm, we're coming." Noah informed.
Then, all of a sudden, the duo bumped into Ned. They both had decided to ask him to do a favour whilst they were gone fighting this fire elemental.
"Hey, we gotta go." Peter asked Ned. "Could you just tell everyone that we're sick or something?"
"Okay. Be careful." Ned told. "And guys, whatever you do, please steer the monster away from the opera house."
"Yes, Ned." Noah assured. "We know."
"Right, come on." Peter blurted out. "We gotta go."
And with those words, Peter tightly grabbed onto Noah's hand, quick to steer him out of the opera house altogether.