Someday The Waves ✔ *Wattys15 Winner*

Chapter Twenty Three

I been worryin' that my time is a little unclear,

I been worryin' that I'm losing the one's I hold dear.

The Fear - Ben Howard

. . .

Wednesday, early October

Sat out on the porch, watching another day fight against the corrosive elements of the storm, Noah lifted his head up, hesitant to read out the words from the folded slip of paper he'd bought round earlier in the morning.

Nothing could have prepared me for seeing him standing there, soaked though, clutching an envelope on a rainy Wednesday. Nervously he had smiled, with an uneasy fear that once the letter had been read aloud, everything would be forever changed.

"Come on then, what does it say?" I asked, grabbing a blanket so we could have some privacy away from the prying eyes of Poppy who had been stuck inside all day, fashioning bunting and mason jars for an upcoming neighbours engagement party.

"I don't know if I want to open it, just yet." Noah replied, still holding it tight but not letting his fingers tear at the edges. "Didn't think I'd feel like this."

"You'll feel better once you know." I tried to say encouragingly even though I wanted to snatch it from his hands and toss it out into the wind. The guilt I felt for being selfish loomed over me but still I couldn't quite let it consume me because really, all I wanted was for everything to remain the same. To slam the brakes on the impending future and stay in the present.

Putting his arm around me as we sat with the blanket over our legs, Noah jokingly said. "Maybe you can read it for me."

"I don't know if I can." I said quietly, letting my fingers wander to his shirt cuffs to occupy my frantic thoughts and to stop me from having to open it for him.

Just as Noah lifted his arm away, taking a deep breath as he did the back door swung open and Poppy strode out, reams of colourful bunting hanging from her hands.

"What do you guys think, does it look okay or too garish, too bright?"

"Looks good Miss Ryan." Noah smiled.

"You don't have to call me that, you know." Poppy laughed, even though she loved the way he so politely did. "Poppy will do just fine."

"I'm not sure you have enough bunting, if I'm being honest."

My sarcasm was lost as usual because Poppy started to fret, and count how many triangle shaped pieces of fabric she had managed to sew, loudly exclaiming that there was at least 5 metres worth of the stuff.

"I know, I was just joking with you." I confessed, rolling my eyes at Noah who sat and enjoyed the delicately balanced rapport between Poppy and myself. One he'd previously called a little crazy, yet oddly endearing.

"I hope so Scarlett because I am up to my eye balls in fabric in there and the paint on the mason jars is just not drying and I think I'm going to have a nervous breakdown before it even does. I may regret saying this but please do not ever get involved with making things like this or promises to people that are wildly impossible to keep." Poppy cried out, her cheeks burning red with frustration.

"Can't say sewings ever really taken my fancy."

It was strange to see Noah and Poppy joke so easily, as if they'd known each other for longer. A part of me still felt weird letting Poppy catch a glimpse into my private life but mostly I was just pleasantly surprised at just how easy it was to let it happen, as if Noah had always been there, and like there had never been any bad blood between us as sisters. The strangest part of all was that I had started to see Poppy as more of a friend than I had ever thought possible.