Year of no Stars

Chapter 12

Year of no Stars- Chapter 12

    I can’t believe I left the property. After that argument, I didn’t even want to talk to him, let alone give in but here we are, standing outside Noah’s door. He holds Ginger’s hand; we couldn’t have left her all alone at home.

    His house isn’t very much different than Juliet and Oliver’s but it is much large. Clearly, it is old. It has endured loads and I doubt it was pretty. The wood is white, the red roof popping out against the dull colour. Around the windows is light blue trim which isn’t exactly flattering. But it is made up by the newly blooming flowers everywhere.

    “Yeah, my dad hasn’t really gotten around to changing that,” Noah says, scratching the back of his head. Of course he means the blue.

    Noah flicks the door open and calls out that he’s home. Ginger echoes and yells she is here too. I stay silent; I don’t need to pull any more attention to myself. Why am I even here? Right, because Noah is even more stubborn than me.

    “Oh who’s this?” I hear someone say. My mind snaps back and three other boys stare at all three of us. I am not sure which one spoke or to whom they are referring to but I slip slightly behind Noah. It almost scares me; each one of the boys shares facial features, as does Noah. They all have low cheek bones, save for the boy in the middle but he has blue eyes, which they all share. I am mesmerized that four people could look so different yet so close at the same time.

    “Laura, meet my obnoxious brothers Tim, Adam and Caspian,” Noah says, pointing to them from left to right.

    Caspian approaches and reaches out his hand. Secretly, I grip tightly onto Noah’s free hand behind his back and go to join Caspian’s gesture. But he takes my hand gently and raises it to his lips and kisses it and gives me a wink. Now my body is up against Noah. “It’s nice to meet you, Laura,” Caspian purrs.

    Noah rolls his eyes and I release a bit of my tension. Tim and Adam don’t come near but go off to do their own thing. Noah asks if their parents are home and Caspian says no so he drags Ginger and I to, I’m guessing, his room. It is a simple white colour, with a bed with black sheets and light blue comforter and a television in one corner. There is a desk and many books staked high on shelves pressed against the wall and hanging on the wall. I see paperbacks everywhere I look.

    “Book worm, much,” I tease Noah. Marcus always called Tasia a book worm and I’m hoping I used that right.

    Ginger hops onto the bed and flops down to her back. She giggles. “It’s so cozy!”

    “I’m glad you like it, Pickles,” Noah laughs and gestures for me to sit as well. I oblige and he pulls the desk chair up. “What time is Tasia coming to your house?”

    “About three, according to Juliet,” I respond with a casual shrug but inside, I’m burning with excitement. “But Juliet and Oliver are coming home around one.”

    “All right,” he says glancing at his watch, “we have four and a half hours until you need to be back.”

    He can do that math in his head? I guess he went to school but still, that impresses me. Jasper did teach me some basic math like one plus one is two but that’s as far as he understood. Maybe I’ll get him to teach me what Tasia called multiplication and division.

    “What do you have planned?” I ask.

    Noah wiggles his eyebrows but then shrugs. “Nothing, I just wanted you out of that house. Believe me, I saved you but also have drug you down into hell. My brothers are awful.”