32. Level Playing Field
Chapter thirty-two
Level Playing Field
DELANE
Ididn’t see Noah for a few days. I had purposefully returned to the food court at a similar time as before, in the hopes of seeing him again.
I had no idea what became of me.
Or why I couldn’t simply let him go.
I was waiting for my next class when I did it. I pulled my cell phone out and called him.
It rang once, and I hung up in fear.
I was such an idiot. I didn’t know what I was doing and I was kicking myself for reaching out. I couldn’t just leave well enough alone.
The truth was: I was worried about him, and I feared him being hurt again.
He protected me, in my most vulnerable moment. He saved me, and now I could feel the weight of a heavy debt on my shoulders, especially now that I had seen him injured.
It finally dawned on me that I wanted to protect him, too.
NOAH
The house felt oddly quiet as I stepped inside, and instantly it was clear that I was alone. The maids were likely on their breaks, and my brother had left a note on the dinner table saying he’d be back by six. I glanced at the clock. It was five fifty.
I dropped my backpack onto the floor and made my way to the bathroom, my body still sore and my muscles tense. I reached for the sleep medication, took two pills, and then flopped onto my bed, hoping for some comfort. Unfortunately, it didn’t come.
“Please me, Noah.”
The words echoed in my mind, a reminder of the deadweight I carried.
I found sleep, surprisingly. I dreamt of the rape, which was to no shock to me.
In this nightmare, I was nine years old again.
I felt the pain on repeat. David was seemingly never satisfied.
When I woke up, all I could do was wonder what had changed in me since then.
I had gone from a shrieking boy, begging his father to stop, to a young adult that hadn’t made a sound.
When did I grow so cold?
The muffled buzzing of my phone broke me from my thoughts and post sleep fog. I fumbled through my pockets to try and find it. Groggily I answered.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s Damian.”
I blinked the sleep away from my eyes and glanced over to my clock. It was almost midnight.
I cleared my throat. “I thought you were going to be home earlier?”
“I got hung up at work. Are you hungry?”
“No.”
“Hm. Odd. Usually you’re begging for something to eat by now.” Damian chuckled.
I smiled. He sounded perky.
“Mom home?” he asked.
I closed my eyes, listening throughout the emptiness of the house for a hint of noise. The light humming of our mother’s voice from downstairs and the murmur of TV gave me relief.
“Yeah.”
“Alright then,” Damian paused. “Did I wake you or something, Noah?”
Damian was too smart for my liking.
“Yeah, I was tired from...school...”
“I apologize.”
“Nah, it’s fine. I have some homework to do anyhow.”
“Then I will see you at home very soon.”
I pondered the reason for Damian’s upbeat mood at this hour. He was always a night owl, this much was certain, but he almost sounded too happy.
“Okay.”
I ended the call, taking a moment to scroll through my current notifications. I rolled my eyes when I saw two missed calls from Chelsea but stopped short when I saw the name Delane staring back at me. I immediately pushed the little green button.
Ring.
I bit my lip. Maybe I should hang up.
Ring.
I was going to hang up.
Ring– “Hello?”
My breath caught and I was immediately at a loss for words. Her voice alone caused my heart to skip a beat; the very thought of her smiling face made my lips twitch upwards in response.
“Hello?” She asked again, this time a little more annoyed. I wet my lips, praying my voice didn’t betray me.
“H-Hey, Delane, it’s Noah.” I held my breath.
“Noah?” She sounded astonished. “Is something wrong?”
I sat up in bed. “No, it’s just you– I mean, I wanted to– Uh, you called me?”
She was quiet for a moment. “Oh yeah, I did call. But that was hours ago. I–” She stopped. “Woah, it’s late. You just checked your phone now?”
I only understood one thing and that was the word “late”.
“Shit, did I wake you?”
“Well…”
“Fuck, I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s fine, I swear.”
At the same time, we both stammered: “Why did you call?”
She giggled. I relaxed into the mattress beneath me, shaking my hair from my eyes.
“You first,” she suggested with another laugh.
“Well, I called to see why you called.”
I was even more shocked to see your name on my phone. Did you want to talk to me?
“Okay. Um, I wanted to see how you were doing. You know about your eye… How is your eye, by the way? Oh, but you d-don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. All I’m trying to ask is– Are you feeling better? Not that you looked sick or anything…”
I listened with a smile as she continued on, stuttering terribly.
“I’ve been better,” I answered, and she went quiet. “But I’m okay now, Delane. No need to worry.”
She gasped. “I was not worried!”
“Uh-huh.”
“I was simply making sure that your eye...y’know…was doing better.”
“You were worried about my eye?”
“I mean no—wait, yes, I am concerned about the condition of your eye.”
I laughed. She sounded like a bad nurse.
“I’m going to go now,” she said swiftly.
I frowned. “Why?”
She sighed. “I don’t want to embarrass myself anymore.”
I could picture the blush that took home upon her cheeks. I had seen it before. Her face looked so cute when she was flushed.
“Okay. I’ll see you on Monday,” I said, not wanting her to be uncomfortable. The fact that she was even thinking about me after turning me down to hang out, made my confidence soar. She had called me.
“Bye. Goodnight, Noah.”
I saw my clock read 12:02AM from the corner of my eye. “Good morning, Delane,” I blurted.
I cringed, wondering if she remembered that reference at all or if I had just made a complete fool of myself. Not too long ago, she used the exact words to me on the night we met.
Then she laughed, deep and fulfilling. The sound filtered through the phone like a delicate melody, and I knew that she understood.
“Good morning, Noah.”