Saturday, late morning

After Santino’s story, or the mentioning of his mother’s absence, the mood was down so badly that they eventually decided to walk back to town and go home. Layne and Santino had to get some sleep before hockey practice, Julia wanted to go home, shower, and get to her dance practice.

Noah didn’t have any plans for the day, though he started wondering how his parents would react for him staying out all night. Literally all night.

By the time he got home, the restaurant was open for the morning shift, and Adrian was behind the bar making coffee.

“Noah?” he asked surprised once he noticed him walking in, “where’d you come from? You look… disheveled.”

Noah glanced down towards his no longer white shirt. Cedar rock’s dirt had caused it to look redder than anything by now. “I was out.”

“Out?”

“I went out, clubbing,” Noah replied, shrugging a shoulder as if it wasn’t a big deal. As if it was completely normal for him to go out and walk in shortly before noon.

Adrian frowned, but before he could reply, their father came in and stared at him with worried eyes.

“What happened? Were where you? Your mother’s been calling you. We were worried sick.”

Noah frowned, taking his phone from his pocket, only to notice that the battery died somewhere during the night. “I’m sorry. We were out and we hung out at Cedar rock to watch the sunrise and I kind of forgot time and my phone died.”

“Sounds like someone had a fun night,” Adrian said, winking at him behind their father’s back. “Made friends?”

Noah immediately knew what he was doing, and usually he hated it when Adrian treated him like a baby by sticking up for him to his parents. As if he couldn’t win his own arguments. But this was so subtle, and well-timed, that Noah was thankful for the fact he casually reminded their father of the fact that Noah had fun, with friends.

“Yeah, a few, actually,” Noah replied with a smile, “I had a great night.”

His father melted in seconds, sighing deeply before he placed a hand on his shoulder, guiding him towards the door that led upstairs, “go upstairs, tell your mother your safe and that you had fun and take a shower before you go to bed. She’ll talk to you about curfew and such. We need to set some rules if you’re planning on going out with your friends more often.

Noah nodded and smiled at him before he climbed the stairs. There was an advantage to moving away from home because your parents wanted to pursue their dream of owning a restaurant and losing your boyfriend because of it. They still felt guilty for the fact he spent most of his summer by himself, since he didn’t know anyone aside from his cousin—who had been away for holiday most of the time. Not to mention the fact Lori didn’t like going out either, since she was far from popular. She had exactly one friend, Eliza, who was raised strictly religious and therefore didn’t do much a regular teen would. She was boring, and Noah quickly learned he rather stayed home by himself, than hang out with her.

Though that mainly had to do with the fact she was, in fact, so religious that she believed same-sex relationships weren’t correct, and people who actively acted upon such feelings needed healing and saving from the Lord.

Noah gagged, just thinking about her.

He found his mother on the couch of their living room, looking at her phone in distress.

“Mom, I’m safe,” Noah started, but he couldn’t say anything else, as she had shot up and pulled him in her arms before he could continue.

“I was worried sick! Where have you been? Look at you,” she said as she held him at arm’s length. “Were you robbed?”

“No, we went to Cedar rock to watch the sunrise. I’m sorry I didn’t call. I had so much fun that I completely forgot about everything else, and my phone died.”

“Oh, baby,” she whispered, holding onto his chin as she pecked a kiss on his forehead. “Don’t do that again, okay?”

“I won’t, I promise. It was stupid. I’m just not used to it, and I was distracted.”

“So, you made friends?”

“Yeah,” Noah excitedly replied, “Layne introduced me to a few of his friends. I met Julia, and her mom used to own this restaurant. And Santino, who’s got all these funny and crazy stories. I met more but they didn’t join us at Cedar rock, so I don’t know them well. But really, mom, Julia knows about Colin, or, well, the fact I’m into guys and she was super cool about it and—”

“Why don’t you take a shower, while I make breakfast, and then you can tell me all about it while you eat? That way we can calmly discuss the consequences of this as well.”

Noah nodded and pecked a quick kiss on her cheek before he rushed towards the bathroom. He had no idea why he was all energetic while he hadn’t been able to sleep so far, but it didn’t matter. He had an amazing night, he made friends, and his parents weren’t even angry. Worried, sure, but they were most of all relieved to find out he had a great evening.

It was only fair for them wanting to set some rules about going out right away. Before, in Pine Hill, Noah always hung out at people’s homes, and curfew wasn’t really necessary because his friends there all were way too responsible for their age, going to bed early. Even in the weekends.

But since Noah did have every intention of going out with his new friends more often, rules were in order to prevent trouble and worried parents.

He took a quick shower before he joined his mother in the kitchen to have breakfast with her. She was initially reading a magazine while she waited for him to join, but as soon as he set down, she folded it and placed it on the chair beside her.

“I’m really sorry for staying out all night,” Noah repeated himself again, getting a simple smile from her in return. She took a bun, and while cutting it in half, she simply kept smiling.

“We’re not angry, Noah. We were worried, yes. But we mainly just hoped that you were having fun. We were, however, about to contact the cops since you didn’t pick up your phone, and we can’t have that happen in the future.”

“Yeah, I agree.”

“I think we need to make up a few rules. We’ll give you the exact same rules as Adrian had when he still lived at home. Weekdays, you’ll be home by eleven. During the weekend you’re allowed to stay out until one. But we do want you to be with friends at all times, and not come home by yourself.”

“They don’t really live nearby though.”

“Ask them to drop you off, of call us and we’ll pick you up.”

“Really?”

“Yes. We went out ourselves as well, when we were younger. I rather have you call me in the middle of the night, than come home by yourself. Which brings me to the following. If you ever happen to sleep elsewhere, we need a parent of guardian to contact us so we know who you are staying with.”

Noah nodded, still not hearing anything weird.

“Which leaves alcohol.”

“I did drink…” Noah admitted, for the first time ever. The times he drank more than one drink on a day could be counted on one hand, and he hadn’t ever told them about it either. He had been fifteen, and was just outed to the school, lost most of his friends, and was constantly nervous about losing Colin as well. Still, Colin made sure he never drank too much, like he had done that night.

“We figured, and that’s okay. Adrian went out plenty of times and we never made an issue about drinking in general. We just want you to be responsible about it. Drink, but not too much. And if you did drink too much, please just call us. We won’t be angry.”

“Really?”

“Really. Basically, the rules are quite simple. You come home before curfew, and if anything is wrong, you call to let us know.”