𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 | 𝐧𝐨𝐞𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠

0:7

"They're all over his tagged pictures, Em! Everyone is talking about you two! I feel like a proud mum," Gracie exclaimed, taking back her phone and continuing to scroll some more.

I didn't know what I should be more shocked about: the fact that Noel didn't tell me how famous he was or the fact that I didn't know. Gathering from the way that he carried himself, it seemed highly believable to me that he could be well known in the public eye.

Another shriek escaped from Gracie, only this time I was standing right beside her, leaving me a bit deaf. "Emma! Look at this!" Once again, she held her bright phone screen to my face.

It was an article from The Sun, the title was in big font letters to draw in attention: Noel Fielding Out and About With Mystery Girl

I was beside myself, but I continued reading, snatching the phone out of Gracie's hand:

"Has Noel Fielding officially moved on from long term girlfriend Lliana Bird? Today, it was clear that the answer may be yes. Noel was spotted at his favourite cafe looking all too happy with a younger girl by his side. Judging from their pda, they are happily together (these two just couldn't keep their hands off of each other) - Noel made that very clear!"

In the article were multiple pictures of us together, but it luckily looked like none of the paparazzi followed us to my doorstep. I handed Gracie her phone back and rubbed my eyes. This was a lot to process at once so I went to sit down on the couch and rested my head back. The most important question that stood out to me was that he had a girlfriend and didn't even bother to tell me? He was already keeping me in the dark about so many things and I didn't know if I was comfortable with that.

It was then when it began to add up. When we were sitting at the cafe and Noel received that text message that dampened his mood, I already knew who it was from and the context behind it. I didn't need to hear it from him to know who sent the message.

"I think you should talk to him, Em. Now you know all this stuff about him, it would do you some good to get his view on things," Gracie explained, walking over to me and smoothing out my hair reassuringly. That was the only logical option left.

I pulled myself up from the couch and went into my bedroom, closing the door behind me and locking it. I looked down at my phone: 1 new message from Noel (Snakeskin boots) Fielding.

I opened our text conversation and saw that he had sent me the message about fifteen minutes ago: "Call me when you get the chance x"

It was a simple message, but I got the feeling that he was already aware of everything happening. Without thinking too much about it, I hit the call button below his name. It rang three times before he answered his phone.

"Emma, hey. I'm so glad you called." I wanted to be upset with him, but the sweet, soft sound of his voice made it hard for me.

"Yeah, I just saw your message," I paused for a second, deciding I should just play innocent until he brought it up to me, "What's up? Did you get home alright?"

"Yeah I did, thanks," I could sense some hesitation in his voice. "Listen, there's some things I need to tell you, I don't want you to get the wrong idea of me."

I raised an eyebrow, only to realize that he couldn't even see my face. "Okay, I'm listening..."

"I'm not sure if you've seen by now, but there's pictures of us together spread all over the internet. All the tabloids believe that we're an item and that I'm cheating on my girlfriend with you..."

My heart felt as if it had fallen in my stomach.

"...but the truth is that we actually ended things months ago, I just haven't made anything public yet because I'm not big on publicizing my relationships." I could hear him let out an exasperated sigh, but he continued to speak patiently. "Please don't hate me for not telling you anything sooner, I was too busy enjoying our time together that it completely escaped my mind."

I slid my spine down the wall, gazing down at my feet. "Noel, I understand and I don't hate you." In fact, I think it was near impossible to hate such a sweetheart like him, I thought to myself. Besides, I sympathized with him for not wanting to discuss his past relationship.

"It's just, you're so different from any girl I've ever met," he spoke his words quickly, "you're not pretentious, you don't put on an act, you're completely down to earth and I like that. Plus I wanted you to know me for my authentic self, not for the person I front. I'm comfortable around you."

I could feel a smile grow on my face, hearing his voice on the other end confessing his fondness towards me. Any resentment I had towards him washed away with his words. I wanted to jump through the phone and hug him.

My eyes darted around my room. "You sure make it difficult to hate you, do you know that?"

I heard him let out a charming chuckle. "Does that mean you forgive me, then?"

"Of course I do," I replied with complete confidence.

"Good. Because I was really looking forward to going to that exhibition with you. I've had to reschedule some things to make free time."

I took this as an opportunity to deliberately admit, "Oh, by the way, my cousin Gracie has schooled me on your entire career thus far. I must admit that I'm pretty impressed. I'm not surprised that you have a full calendar."

Noel started laughing. "Did she now? Yeah, I didn't exactly want to be a dick and go on to tell you about my accomplishments." He let out another laugh again and spoke sarcastically. "You know, cause I just have so many accomplishments."

"Well I know just about everything now, is there anything else you'd like to tell me while you're at it?"

"Hmm well let's see, I bet you didn't know this isn't actually my natural hair color."

I thought back to his jet black hair as the sunshine hit against it, making it appear a starker, shiner black color. "Oh, I believe that."

We continued talking over the phone until the sun had completely gone down and my room became dark from the absence of light. I was sat in total darkness when I realized that I was falling for him.