His Words (bxb)

chapter seven

Friday, September 18, 2020

✧noah✧

"And that's when I rushed downstairs as fast as I could to wake you up. I'm sorry again..." I mumble that last bit. Amelie only shakes her head at me with a small smile on her face. She then turns to Elijah.

"Do you wanna tell me what caused you to panic like that Elijah, or would you rather we have that conversation in private?" Elijah only shakes his head, looking down at his hands in his lap. "It's okay, Noah has the right to know. He must have been really worried..." Elijah turns to look at me and I feel his stare on the side of my face, but I do not turn to face his handsome features. I'm still mad at him... He looks back down as he continues talking.

"I just- I saw Noah with all those cuts and bruises and-" Elijah suddenly looks back up at me with his eyes wide, realising what he just revealed. When he sees I give him no reaction, he continues. "Yea, and it kinda freaked me out. It was scary, but it also made me so upset. Like, why would anyone do that?"

Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry.

I look up to find Amelie already looking at me, obviously quite worried. "Where did you get these bruises from, Noah?" she asks, her voice laced with concern. I see Elijah look at me with the same look, but I ignore him again.

On one hand, this lady is a therapist and she seems to genuinely care. On the other, I'm not going to sit here and share my sob story about my mother abandoning me and my alcoholic, abusive father using me as his punching bag when he's bored. So I don't.

"Oh, I just had a run-in with someone not too pleasant at school and they got violent. Like I said, Elijah helped me clean and ice everything so it's all good now," I finish with a small smile.

Amelie does not look convinced, but doesn't press any further. "Did you report this to the school, Noah?"

"Yea, and it's all sorted. I think the guy's suspended or whatever so it's all good now." If there's one thing a toxic household teaches you, it's how to lie quickly and efficiently.

I look over at Elijah for the first time since our previous interaction in the kitchen. He is still looking down at his hands in his lap and his face is painfully tense, eyebrows scrunched together, like he's thinking really hard about something. Suddenly, he looks up and opens his mouth to speak.

"Mom, that's not-" He then turns to face me with an apologetic look. "-and Noah, I am so sorry and you're going to hate me for this, but I can't just let it be."

Oh, no. I know where this is headed and I don't like it. I have to think of a quick way to shut Elijah up. I give him a rough kick (or the roughest I can muster) to his shin under the table and he turns away from his mother to face me again. I stare deep into his eyes to let him know he's crossed a line and he seems hesitant at first, but eventually his expression changes and he looks away.

"Ha ha... I mean, what I meant to say was that Noah really needs to get going... and he's gonna hate me for saying it because I know how much he enjoys staying over at my place." Elijah is a horrible liar. Noted.

His mom eyes us both suspiciously with her eyes narrowed before she replies. "I mean, you can spend the day over if you would like Noah, but if you need to get going then that's okay, too. Just put your bowls in the sink before you leave, boys, please." I nod gratefully before starting to get up from my seat at the kitchen table, but Amelie stops me.

"Oh, and one more thing, boys. I know you're both grown, responsible, mature young adults, but I feel I still need to have this talk with you two. I'm sure you two understand that while being intimate with each other is very important in a relationship-" the sound of Elijah slapping his hand over his face and groaning interrupts her mini speech.