A/N: If you've been reading my other stories, you'll know I've been away on holiday for a few weeks, which is why it's been so long between updates. We're back to normal programming now, though, so I hope you enjoy this little chapter with Noah. Jo xx
Another week down, I think, trudging through the snow back to my dorm. It's deeper than it was when I walked across campus to my last class, and it's still falling steadily now, dusting me and everything else in white. I guess it could be worse, though. It could be slush. That would definitely be worse.
Shaking off that cheery thought along with the snow, I stomp my boots on the steps outside the big double doors to my building, and press my I.D. card to the reader on the side. The red light turns green and I hear the click as it unlocks. Not wasting any time, I push the door open, the warmth inside the foyer a fucking relief.
Don't get me wrong, I love Cambridge, but after growing up in LA, the winter here seems to be never-ending. It was only a few weeks ago that I was lying poolside at home in the sunshine. Yeah, being back in California for the break was a tease, but at least I'm not ghostly pale like my roommates who are all east coasters. Shedding my coat, I jog up the stairs to my floor and walk down the hall.
The door to the suite is unlocked, the guys all sprawled in the communal living room, looking bored.
"Hey, losers," I smirk, hanging up my coat and pulling the beanie from my head. "Why the long faces?"
"Ugh," Steve groans, holding up his phone and tapping the screen. "More snow forecast across the weekend."
"This blows," Eli mutters, leaning his head back against the sofa, kicking his leg out in frustration.
"Uh huh," Blaine nods sourly.
"Well, aren't you guys just rays of fucking sunshine?" I half-chuckle. "Aren't you supposed to be used to this shit?"
"I guess," Steve shrugs. "Just seems like it's never gonna be spring, though."
Well now, there's a feeling I'm familiar with. My chest squeezes at the thought of maybe seeing Elle over spring break, and I mentally tally the days between now and then. The number makes me sigh. Yeah, it's too far away to get excited about yet, and my expression starts to mirror my roommate's. We really are a bunch of sad-sacks.
"Screw this," I mumble, stomping my way over to my room and tossing my backpack through the door onto my bed. "We need a distraction," I announce, turning back to face them.
Blaine quirks an eyebrow at me. "Oh, yeah? Got any bright ideas?"
A thought springs to mind, bringing my smirk back with it as I lean against the doorway, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Yeah, I think I might."
Pulling my phone out of the back pocket of my jeans, I find Chloe's contact and press call. She answers on the third ring and I hear music in the background.
"Hello, hello," she laughs, sounding a little breathless.
"Umm, I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
Unlikely, since she and her on-again, off-again boyfriend, James, are currently off...again, but hey, you never know.
"Just mine and Emily's end of week dance party."
"Right," I chuckle. "Well, you guys sound like you're in much better spirits than we are over here."
"Aww, you boys sad about the all the snow?" she says with mock sympathy.
"Yeah, it's not pretty. But I think you can help."
"Oh, really? And how's that?"
"We need a distraction. And you, my friend, owe me a favor."
"Hmm," Chloe replies, a smile in her voice. "That I do. Is this you calling in part one of the bet, then?"
"Yep. Desperate times, Clo."
"Fair enough," she laughs. "Don't suppose you lot want to head out, either?"
"Probably not in this weather, no. We could probably make it over to yours, though."
"Okay... alright... I can work with that," she muses, and I swear I can almost hear the cogs turning in her mind. "Give me an hour."
"Aren't you going to give me any details?"
"No way, it's a surprise," she laughs. "But don't worry, it'll be just what the doctor ordered."
"You're awesome, you know that?"
"Tell me something I don't know," she says, a smile in her voice that I can picture exactly. "Now be gone with you, I have things to do."
"Alright, okay, see you in an hour."
"Tell the boys to bring cash."
The line goes dead and I stick my phone back in my pocket, aware that there are three pairs of eyes trained on me.
"So..." Blaine drawls, eyebrows raised.
"Get your asses up and get changed - we've got places to be. Specifically, Chloe's."
"Fuck, yes!" Eli cheers, jumping up with more athleticism than I've seem from him all year.
Blaine levers himself up too, grinning. "Any idea what we're getting ourselves into?"
"None whatsoever," I chuckle, shaking my head.
"Who cares?" Steve laughs. "Whatever Chloe has planned has got to be better than sitting around here again." He glances around the room. "No offense, but this place is starting to smell like socks. And not the freshly laundered kind."
"My bad," Eli cringes. "Promise I'll do my laundry tomorrow. Any idea what we should wear?"
Blaine crinkles his nose. "Something clean would be a good start, man."
"Agreed," I nod, pushing off the wall. "I'm hitting the shower."
Fifteen minutes later, I'm sifting through the shirts hanging in my closet when the tell-tale sound of a video call comes through on my laptop. Since the only person who bothers to do that is Elle, I don't worry about the fact I'm only wearing a towel, and plant myself in my desk chair quickly before answering.
"Hey, you," I smile as her gorgeous face appears on the screen in front of me.
"Um, hi yourself," she stammers, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks.
It's cute that she still gets so flustered, even though she's seen me far more naked than this.
"Like what you see?" I tease, noticing the way her gaze has drifted below my face.
Elle's eyes snap back up to mine, the pink spots on her cheeks intensifying with the embarrassment of being caught perving.
"Well, yeah," she grins now, biting the side of her lip. "I mean, I wasn't planning on this being that kind of call, but now..."
My smirk grows, before I remember I'm kind of on a deadline here.
"Believe me, Shelly, as much as I would love to have one of those calls with you, the guys and I are heading out soon. I just got out of the shower, hence... this," I gesture to myself.
"Oh, okay, yeah," she nods, attempting a smile. "Of course. It's Friday night. I mean, why wouldn't you be going out?"
"Elle..." I look at her, eyebrows raised.
"Yeah?"
She's back to biting her lip, but not in the good way she was earlier.
"Whatever you're thinking, stop it right now, okay? We're all going stir-crazy here because it's still snowing, and the whole weekend is going to be a mess. When I got back from class just before, the guys were strewn around the living area like extras from The Walking Dead, and I couldn't take it anymore. So, I called in my favor with Chloe."
Elle perks up. "From the race?"
"Yep," I nod. "The 'do something for me' one. I asked her to organize a fun night at her place for everyone."
"That's actually pretty generous of you, Noah," she grins. "I mean, you could've hoarded that for yourself, made Chloe do all your laundry for you or something."
"Trust me, this is definitely for me. If I have to stay in these four walls again, watching the world turn white outside... more so... I'm gonna lose my freakin' mind."
Elle giggles, and my heart feels ten degrees warmer just hearing that sound. Fuck, I miss her.
"Is it really that bad?" she asks.
"Right now, yes." I pause, thinking about how I'm not really doing my best to convince her that coming to Harvard next year would be a good choice. So, I quirk an eyebrow and give her my best smirk. "But if you were here... well, maybe I wouldn't mind being snowed in."
Her breath catches and I know I've hit the mark.
"In fact," I lean closer to the screen, dropping my voice a little lower for emphasis. "I think I'd probably enjoy it."
Elle's voice comes out a little breathy. "Oh, yeah?"
"Mmhmm," I nod. "Very much."
The heat that burns between us is palpable, even through the screen. Neither of us has to say anything, we've both got a bunch of vivid memories running through our minds, of that I'm sure. I'd say this was about to turn into that kind of phone call, but right then there's a loud banging on the other side of my closed door, Eli's voice following.
"C'mon, Flynn, we gotta go if we're gonna walk over there!"
Scowling at the interruption, I turn to yell, "I'll be out in a minute!" Then I spin back around to face Elle.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be," she laughs. "I just called to say hi anyway."
A sense of relief washes over me. Elle and I are in a much better place than we were last term. We trust each other, things are good. We usually talk everyday, even if it's just for five minutes. On the odd occasion when we're both swamped, or the time difference just doesn't work out, we still text. A lot.
"Will you keep me company while I get dressed?" I ask.
"Of course," she nods.
"Tell me about your day," I say, raising my voice a little as I get up from my desk. "You had a committee meeting today, right?"
"Uh huh, yeah. Honestly, it was pretty dull. But the Spring Fling isn't going to organize itself, so..."
"That's just before break, right?" I ask, pulling a shirt off a hanger and starting to put it on.
"Uh huh."
"Got a theme?"
"Oh, you know, flowers, greenery, the usual."
Elle's tone is flippant, but I know she cares about this kind of stuff. Not for the first time, I wish I could be there to take her to the dance. But there's no way. I'll just have to sit over here on my side of the country, cramming for exams instead.
"Cool," I nod, tugging my jeans on now. "Are you and Lee still tossing around the idea of coming over here for the break?"
"Yeah, we are," Elle enthuses. "We've been talking about flying to New York, since neither of us have ever been, and road-tripping our way to Boston."
"Okay, that sounds cool." Grabbing a sweater, I quickly drag it over my head as I move back in front of the screen. "So you're serious about visiting?"
Elle's smile is soft. "Absolutely."
"Good. You know that I love you?"
"Yeah," she nods, her expression warm and happy. "I love you, too."
There's yelling from the other side of my door, and Elle laughs.
"Go already."
"Fine. Talk to you tomorrow, okay?"
"It's a date."
Elle blows me a kiss and the screen goes blank. God, do I miss being able to kiss her for real. But there's no time to focus on that right now, not when I need to shove my feet into shoes and head out the door. The guys cheer when I finally make it back to the living room, and soon we're tromping down the stairs, pulling on coats and hats and scarves as we go.
The icy wind hits us when we step outside, but that only motivates us to move faster for the short walk over to the residential house where Chloe and Emily live. Steve produces a hip flask and takes a swig before handing it to me. Tipping my head back, I feel the cinnamon burn of Fireball as I swallow, then hand it off to Blaine. It's not my drink of choice, but it goes some way towards warming me from the inside out.
By the time I raise my hand to press the intercom at Chloe's so she can buzz us up, my outlook is a little brighter. When we get upstairs and take in the setup she and Emily have achieved in an hour, I can't help but grin. Their dining table has been setup for poker, Emily's boyfriend Seb set up as the dealer. The coffee table is now a blackjack table, and the kitchen bench is covered in food and drinks. Pizza, hotdogs and even a platter of sushi are laid out, along with bottles of liquor and mixers.
Our usual crowd, along with some of Emily and Chloe's girlfriends, are mingling in the space they've created by pushing most of the furniture against the walls. Chloe sidles up to me as we move towards the drinks.
"Well, what do you think?" she grins broadly, spreading her hands to indicate the fairly elaborate setup.
"Definitely more than I was expecting," I chuckle, grabbing a beer from a cooler on the floor.
Chloe places her palm to her chest in an expression of mock outrage. "Oh, ye of little faith!"
"Nope," I disagree, taking a long pull. "I had complete faith that this would be worth cashing in the bet for. But this..." I gesture around the room with the hand holding the bottle. "This is a party."
"Bah," Chloe says dismissively. "A couple of decks of cards and some food, drink and music. It wasn't that hard."
"You're still a lifesaver," I grin, pulling her in for a side-hug. "Thanks."
She wraps an arm around my waist and squeezes me quickly before looking up with a grin of her own. "So, the debt is paid, then?"
"Part one is, yes," I nod. "Guess it's your turn next."
"Hmm," she muses, tapping one finger against her cheek. "Maybe. I'm thinking of saving them up, using them both together, even. Getting you to go where I want, wearing what I want, now that could totally be worth it."
"Ugh," I groan, rolling my eyes. "I'm gonna hate it, aren't I?"
The look on my best friend's face is devilish as she nods.
"Probably, yeah."
I make a face, then narrow my eyes slightly.
"Just remember, I still have one favor left, too."
Chloe's answering grin is kind of smug as she holds her drink up to cheers with me.
"To mutually-assured destruction, then."
Tilting my beer bottle so it clinks against her wine glass, I wonder exactly what kind of trouble I'm in for.