Beyond the Cameras

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

I was up nearly all night trying to come up with a plan that wasn't awful. Every time I would come up with a decent idea, there would be some flaw in it and I would trash the plan. Finally, I came up with something that would work for most of my problems. The key word being 'most'.

We had a couple weeks left in the semester, but I was going to have to cut that basically in half. I needed to go see my parents and I had to sort out this twin mess asap. I would have to take the semester exams early, but I could deal with that over waiting to fix this awful mess. 

I quickly texted the girls, telling them we needed to have one last sleepover before I left. Almost immediately, I received four very excited yeses. 

I looked up from my phone with a smile, but quickly lost it once I saw where I was. At first, I had been absentmindedly driving around the town, but then I stopped to text the girls. I had subconsciously driven myself to Noland's house and now I was warily staring up at it. Part of my plan was to come here and talk to him, I just hadn't expected to do it so early in the day. 

Nonetheless, I took a deep breath and opened my car door to step out into the chilly breeze of a December morning. The walk up to Noland's door was agonizingly long, spent with me overanalyzing ever word that I could say to him. 

I finally decided on starting out by asking what happened according to him.

I raised my hand to knock on the door, despite how bad it was already shaking, and let my fingers tap on the wood.

An older woman with the same chocolate brown eyes as Noland opened the door and smiled at me. 

"Hello. Can I help you with something?"

"Hi. I'm Rory Pinnock," I shakily smiled, hoping my name wasn't already disgraced in her mind. "I was hoping to speak to Noland."

"Ahh, yes. Miss Pinnock. My son has talked about you quite a bit," Noland's mother winked, with a quirky smile. "Unfortunately he's not here right now. He took his younger brothers to the park for a crash course in soccer."

"Oh. Okay," I said, with both disappointment and relief. 

"You're welcome to come in and wait for him if you would like. He's been gone a while now so he should be back soon," she offered, opening the door a little wider in an inviting manner.

"Ohh, no that's okay. I should probably get go-"

"Plus I would love to get to know more about the girl who has stolen my oldest son's heart."

I felt my cheeks heat up in embarrassment, but also my heart heat up in How could I refuse that?

With a gulp, I nodded my head and stepped inside the cozy house. The first I noticed were all of the pictures hung around the house. They were clearly family pictures since they all had nearly the same colored hair and same smile, but they were of all years. I particularly noticed one of Noland as a teenager with a mouth full of shining braces. I couldn't help but let out a small giggle that brought Noland's mother to come stand next to me.

"Ahh yes. I remember that day very clearly. That was the day Noland's orthodontist put Noland's braces on and that boy hated them. I had to persuade him with a trip to watch the visiting soccer team play just to be able to take this picture. He was quite a handful as a child, but he's grown into a nice young man, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yeah," I said with I smile, thinking back to the past months we've spent together. "I would agree."

****

I was laughing at a story Marie, Noland's mom, was telling me when the very guy himself walked in with an adorable smirk on his face. Two smaller versions of Noland were both kicking muddy soccer balls though the door and then down the hallway. I almost forgot why I was ever mad at until he we made eye contact. He immediately lost his smirk and a visible tension grew between the two of us.