Perfect Harmony

𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐲'𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐲

He wouldn't go on a date with some stranger. What was Isabel even thinking? She should know him better. Fortunately, she understood why he didn't want to do it and didn't try again.

That happened a month ago. Now was already January and it had been exactly four weeks since he had last seen Penny. There were also only four weeks until she would leave for her tour and more or less stay away for seven months.

Noah knew that something had happened that made her avoid him and he had no idea what it was. The only thing he knew for sure was that things had been different since that morning they spent with Dorian and Isabel.

Lately, she had always been too busy to talk or meet and wasn't joking as much as before. In a nutshell, she seemed to have lost interest in being friends with him which was something he didn't want to even think about.

"Enough is enough," he mumbled to himself and decided to drive to her place. If she wanted him out of her life the least she could do was give him a reason. He had gone crazy while trying to think about what he had done to her but came up with nothing.

Once he was finally in the car he decided to do something that would calm him down. Noah put her album play on the radio. It was almost magical how relaxed he became when he heard the first strings of the acoustic guitar and then she started to sing. He adored her soft, angelic voice.

When he got to her house where the lights were on, he rang the doorbell without overthinking what to do or say. If he waited ever a minute he would probably lose all the anger he had and forget the reason he came here in the first place.

That almost happened when he saw Penny for the first time in a month. Her hair was in a messy bun and she was wearing an oversized grey sweater and black leggings.

She wasn't expecting him of all people standing on her door and for the first time since they met she looked like she didn't know what to do. Just a month ago she would have run to hug him and talk and talk till she ran out of things to say.

"Noah, hey. How are you?" Nervous, polite and almost shy, this wasn't his Penny. Now he just had to find out how to get her back. He also noticed that she wasn't letting him in the house, instead, she kept standing by the door.

Staring at her silently, he waited for her to figure out what he wanted. Of course she did, they had always been good at communicating without words. She let him in the familiar house where he gave her the necklace and earrings. She still hadn't taken them off, that must mean something.

"How was your holiday?" Noah asked. He had barely talked with her while she was away but they still wished each other Merry Christmas and happy New Year that she spent in Texas.

"Good," she said awkwardly - since when was she awkward? - and moved to the living room, on the couch where she looked everywhere else but him. That made Noah lose his patience and went straight to the topic.

"What happened?" he asked gently, not wanting to scare her off. The truth was that he wasn't even angry, at least not much, but mostly sad and confused. In the beginning, he wasn't interested in being with her in any way. Now that she was the one who kept her distance,
he could only think what a fool he was for taking her for granted.

He couldn't even remember the exact moment his opinion changed about her. For someone who had always appreciated his privacy, he surely needed to be with her a lot. When did she go from someone he had to hide from to being the person he missed the most?

"I'm sorry," Penny said with a weak voice. She didn't even bother pretending that she hadn't avoided him. What was he supposed to do now?

Sighing loudly, she put her elbows to her knees and hid her face behind her trembling hands. Now fearing that she would cry, which was the last thing he wanted to happen, Noah went to sit next to her and hugged her body closer to his.