Evanescent

15 | B E D

Knowing that Rosa was just in the other room across from him, in his house, made Noah restless.

He was excited and looking forward to seeing her in the morning. He felt like a kid waiting to go to disney world.

He tried to close his eyes but he couldn't get himself to so when she called out for him from the door of his bedroom; he silently sighed in relief.

He looked over towards the door, his eyebrows pulling together at the cute sight of her standing there with her dolphin in her arms and her hair pulled up into a lazy ponytail. Her small feet were bare and padded over the wood floor as he gestured for her to come to him.

"Is something wrong?"

"It's too dark in my room," she said quietly as she stood with her thighs pressed to his bed.

He was slightly taken aback by her comment. She normally protrayed herself as brave and unbothered by everything around her - so her being scared of the dark was unexpected.

"I'm not scared... if that's what you think. I just- i don't like that it's so dark that I can hear what i'm thinking," she said softly and her words drifted and blended into the chilly air of the wind. It came so naturally.

He inhaled deeply before sitting up in bed and raking his fingers through his hair. He sighed and squinted a little bit before reaching his hand to the side and skimming his hand over his bedside table to grab his glasses.

He could see Rosa hesitantly begin to shuffle backward and so he quickly scooted off the bed after placing his black and gold glasses on.

He usually wore contacts.

"Ugh... sorry. This was stupid. I'll just go back to bed," she said and he could clearly see her building up a barrier between the two of them. But he didn't want that. He wanted her to trust him - and be someone she could trust in. She deserved at least that.

He shook his head and cleared his throat lightly to get the sound of tiredness out of it. "No, I'm glad you came to me. That's why I let you stay here, so I can take care of you, right?" She nodded in response and he took a step towards her. "And don't be afraid to come to me for anything. If you want something, you tell me. I might not always say yes, but at least I know you need or want whatever you're asking for. I'll keep it in here..." he tapped his head and smiled softly down at her. "for safe keeping."

She smiled up at him shyly and he noticed how her hold on her stuffed animal loosened slightly. She was becoming more at ease.

"If you want me to take you somewhere, do anything with you, anything for you - you tell me. All you have to do to get those things is keep your end of the deal which is let me take care of things for you, yes?"

She nodded. "Yes."

He ruffled her soft hair playfully. "Good. Well done, you remembered."

He chuckled as an either nervous or embarrassed laugh escaped her.

"Come, lets go fix up your room," he said as he held out his hand for her. He smiled as she immediately placed her small hand in his and followed after him. He grabbed his phone from the desk in his room before heading into her room and slowly turning the knob up to add a little light to the room. "You don't like how quiet it is in here, huh?"

She shook her head shyly.

He unlocked his phone and connected it to her overhead sound system. "You like the sound of nature?"

"Uh huh, why?" She asked as she tiptoed up to see what he was doing on his phone.

"Do thunderstorms scare you?" he asked as he looked over at her.

She looked up him, biting down on her lip in thought. "No, they help me sleep."

He looked back to his phone and put on a light thunderstorm with a fireplace in the background before adjusting the sound.

"Woah," she gasped as the sound filled her room. It was subtle to their ears. "That sounds so realistic."

He chuckled quietly and pointed to her bed. "Yup, go hop in."

She ran towards her bed and literally hopped into it which made him laugh. He walked up to her and grabbed her covers, pulling them over her. "Comfortable?"

"Mhm, thank you Noah."

"It's what I'm here for," he said softly as he looked at her. He stroked the curls away from her face. "Sleep well baby doll, i'll come get you up in the morning."