Don't Disappoint Me

I heard your song before my heart had time to hush it

Note: This chapter includes several song quotes.

The title is from "Only Skin" by Joanna Newson

Other songs quoted are:
"I've Wanted You" by First Aid Kit
"Our Way to Fall" by Yo La Tengo
"Dear Catastrophe Waitress" by Belle & Sebastian
"The Milkman of Human Kindness" by Billy Bragg
"Tears Are Cool" by Teenage Fanclub
"Your Magic is Working" by Of Montreal
"King of Carrot Flowers, Pt. 1" by Neutral Milk Hotel
"Piazza, New York Catcher" by Belle & Sebastian
"Waltz for Pony" by BOY
"Emily" by Joanna Newsom
"Easy" by Joanna Newsom
"Harvest Moon" by Neil Young

Noah rubbed his thumb along the soft velvet of the ring box, his hands eager to deliver it to its rightful place. He couldn't quite believe he was holding an engagement ring. The engagement ring. The jeweler had finished making it just in time, right before Noah was planning to leave for their trip. Once they shared the news with MC's parents, Noah was going to surprise her with it.

He smiled when he saw a notification from MC pop up on his phone.

"Hey, I'm thinking we should cancel this trip. Don't worry about coming up tomorrow. I'll just come home on Sunday."

His stomach dropped. His hands felt shaky as he hastily pressed the buttons to call her.

"Hey," she croaked when she answered. She sounded exhausted.

"Hey babe, everything okay?"

"Not really."

"What happened?" Pins of panic pricked his skin.

"Bobby showed up at my parents' house today."

"What?!" he snapped. He shot up from his seat, body rigid, clenching the phone to his ear. What the fuck was Bobby trying at?

"He said he wanted to drop off some of my things."

"He knew you were at your parents' house?"

"Yeah, he texted me last night." Noah furiously ran through all the different permutations of what this could possibly mean. Had she asked him to come?

"What happened?" His stomach clenched, expecting the worse.

She sighed a weary breath. "He must have heard that we're talking about getting engaged." Noah noted the phrasing, talking about getting engaged , not "engaged". "He told me he didn't want me to marry you and that he wanted me back." Her tone was so....bland. Like she was telling him about some bad traffic she'd encountered on her drive.

Noah began pacing the room, his arms pinned tightly to his body, as he waited for her to continue. What could he say? She hadn't seemed to finish the thought yet.

"So I'm just exhausted and...sad. It just doesn't feel like the right time to tell my parents."

He took a deep breath as he rolled his shoulders back, attempting to shrug off some of the tension. "Well, I can still come up and we can just not tell them the news yet." He scrambled for a way to reestablish some approximation of their original plans.

"No...I just want to come home. I'm not in the right headspace for a lovey, romantic mood."

His limbs suddenly felt heavy with disappointment. He took another breath and tried to trudge forward calmly. "Well...it's up to you. We can always do it another time."

"Yeah..."

Noah was unsettled by the absence of her normal chatter. Every thought felt unfinished. Like there was so much she wasn't saying. "Are you okay? Do you want to talk about what happened?"