Saturday, morning

When Noah woke up the next morning, there was no need for him to worry over explaining Santino’s presence to his parents. Because as soon as he did, he noticed Santino, and all his belongings that had been scattered around the room during the night, were gone. The door to the balcony wasn’t locked like he usually did, and Noah assumed that the other boy had snuck out in the early hours of the day.

He rolled over, grabbed his phone to see what time it was, and noticed a few missed texts. Some from Julia, thanking him for comforting her drunk ass, one from Layne, asking him if he got home without issues, a few from Colin, asking him why he went silent, stating he hoped it was because Noah was having a good time, and wishing him goodnight.

There was no text from Santino, which was slightly disappointing, but understandable. It wasn’t like he owed him anything. But then he found a note on his nightstand.

Remember, nobody can know

And though it sounded cold, Noah knew why. Karen would tell his secret to the world, and now that Noah knew which secret she was probably hiding for him, he knew how important it was to Santino to keep it a secret. Maybe Santino also didn’t want anyone to know it was him, but still Noah knew it wasn’t the main reason.

He too didn’t want anyone to know.

Well, maybe Julia, since she already knew his sexuality, and had previously hinted that he wasn’t the only one in their group of friends. It made sense if she knew. Still, he wasn’t going to assume, so he wasn’t going to tell.

He texted him, telling Santino not to worry, the secret was safe with him; he didn’t want anyone to know either. He proceeded to tell Layne he just woke up, and that Santino had dropped him off at home as promised. He also texted Colin, telling him things got a bit chaotic, and asking him if he had a good night.

Which inevitably brought guilt. Because he was still talking to Colin, who was noticeably flirting with him and probably interested in firing back up their relationship at one point. Why else was he flirting with him?

Still, he owed him nothing.

Colin had been the one to break up with him, not wanting to be in a long-distance relationship. It would still be exactly that, if they’d get back together. Noah wasn’t moving back to Pine Hill, and Colin wasn’t going to come to South Cedar either. That part was done. But maybe Noah needed to ask what his intentions were before he got too involved with him. There was still a slight possibility that Santino truly was interested in him like he had said, and Noah needed to know what he wanted. Both with Colin, and with Santino. Neither were people he fully trusted with his heart, for different reasons.

He grabbed a few painkillers to fight the hangover that had presented itself as soon as he opened his eyes, and put on some clothes before he went to get himself some breakfast. As usual on Saturday morning, his mother was still home, while his father was downstairs with Adrian to run the restaurant.

“Morning sweetie,” his mother greeted him, pushing his messy hair back to peck a kiss onto his forehead. “You smell funny. Maybe take a shower first.”

“Sorry, we went swimming at Mercury Lake,” he explained the fact he smelled like a walking swamp. She didn’t need to know he got sweaty right afterwards to make things worse.

“What time did you get home?”

“I don’t know exactly… after curfew. I texted both you and Dad, though.”

“Yes, we know. Who brought you home?”

Noah had to put everything in his power to remain neutral when he answered her question. “Sonny did.”

“And he went home by himself?”

“He lives nearby,” Noah lied. In all honesty, he had no idea where any of his new friends lived aside from Layne. “He said it was fine. He was gonna go home by himself anyway.” He didn’t have a clue on what time exactly Santino went home either. For all he knew Santino had left not too long ago, or right after Noah fell asleep.

“Well, maybe call us for a ride next time. I don’t like the sound of you, or your friends, wandering around the city at night. You’re only seventeen.”

“I’ll remember in case we end up wandering around next time. But it’s not like we plan to do it. Last week it was kind of an introduction for me as the new guy. They said I just had to have seen the sunrise at Cedar Rock once. This time it was mainly because Julia was upset. Her brother is in Asia and he was supposed to come home soon. She learned yesterday that he’s staying there for now.”

“Is she close with him?” his mother instantly shook her head after her question before she handed him his breakfast. “of course, she is, else she wouldn’t be so upset, right?”

“I don’t know. I guess they’re pretty close. She keeps telling stories of her and Frey and Santino when they were kids so it sounds like they hung out a lot before he left. Besides, if Adrian would be in Asia for months, I’d be upset too if he’d postponed a return. And we’re not that close.”

“So, did you manage to calm her down?”

“Uh, sure. I mean, there isn’t much we can do to change the situation. But we, uh, distracted her.”

He was lying, and he never lied to his parents. But how was he supposed to tell that she left almost right away because Layne had to drop her off at home? How would he explain coming home late while she hadn’t been there? At least, not without telling her the whole truth. And to Noah, it didn’t feel okay to tell her what had happened between Santino and him.

Not in the least because it probably didn’t mean anything, and she probably wouldn’t stop asking questions about him until Noah would introduce him officially as his boyfriend.

Which was never going to happen, he knew that much.

Later that day, when he walked downstairs because he felt hungry and he wanted to grab a sandwich from the restaurant’s menu, he frowned when he saw Julia standing next to a woman who looked like it could be her mother. The were patiently waiting at the entrance until Julia caught sight of him.

“Noah!” she exclaimed rather cheerful, rushing in his direction without warning her mother. “I didn’t know if you were busy, else I’d text you that we were coming over.”

“I’m not busy. I’m never busy during the weekends. My brother works on Saturdays.”

“Well, my mom was hoping she could talk to your mom. Or dad, whatever.”

Noah glanced over Julia’s shoulder, finding his father addressing Julia’s mother. “I think they found each other already. Why are you here? Did you manage to get a hold of your brother already?”

Her smile lessened at the mention of her brother, and she shrugged a shoulder while shuffling her foot. “Time zones. He’s probably asleep right now. But he did text me that he would call me in the morning. His morning. Mom’s not in the best of moods because of the sudden news. He kinda dropped it on us like a bomb. Just last week we were talking about everything we would do once he’d be back in town, the next moment he tells us he decided to stay there. We all miss him, but it’s been especially hard on Mom.”

“I can only imagine. Her child on the other side of the world. Wanna grab a drink by the way? I’m guessing she isn’t here for a short greeting.”

Julia chuckled and shook her head. “No, she’s helping the food banks in town. Has done so for years. She wants to make a deal with your parents about donations.”

“That’s really nice of her, and good that she’s asking my parents. We do throw a lot out that could easily be donated but my parents simply didn’t have time yet to coordinate anything like that yet.”

“That’s what she figured. Now that things settled down a bit, she was hoping there was more room for thoughts about it.”

“Still, couldn’t she have waited one more week? Since the bad news came in yesterday?”

“She needs distraction. Mom and Frey did not get along at all before he left. He ran away from her home to my Dad about two years ago and they hardly spoke ever since. Really, all communication they had was about me, the twins, and Hannah.”

“The twins? Hannah?”

“My younger brothers are twins and Hannah is Frey’s ex’s younger sister. No parents left and mom’s been taking care of her almost full time ever since that happened. But even before that, she babysat her a lot.”

“Sounds… complicated.”

“It is. But I’m just like her, to be honest. I need distraction.”

“And how can I help with that? I have a clear schedule.”

Julia chuckled and nudged him with a smirk on her face. “Tell me about Mercury.”

Noah swallowed as his face heated up. The mere mention of the lake was enough for him to vividly remember all the things he had done that night. “Oh, well…” he drawled, diving behind the bar to grab drinks, and get out of her line of sight. “nothing much. We swam, we joked around, he dropped me off at home.” Noah stood up to face her again, placing soft drinks on the bar in between them. “But my parents don’t know you went home early, so please…”

“I’ll pretend I was there until we all went home,” Julia agreed. But the request caused her smile to turn devilish, and she wiggled her eyebrows. “But tell me, Noah, why doesn’t she know?”

“Because I was only allowed to stay out for you. Not him.” Which wasn’t even a lie. He really told them he was running late because she was upset and that it was why he was missing curfew.

“And why did you stay out with him?”

“You damn well know why,” Noah grumbled, but silenced as soon as Adrian appeared behind the bar again. “Adri, this is Julia.”

“Ah, I heard a lot about you,” Adrian said, offering her a hand. “I’m Adrian, his brother.”

“I hope everything you heard about me was positive?” Julia asked as she shook his hand.

“Noah wouldn’t hurt a fly, not even with bad words, not even when he really dislikes someone. Since he seems to like you, it was all truly positive.”

Julia smiled happily, sending him an amused smile as she leaned on the bar, and sipped from the straw she took for herself.

But Adrian didn’t lie. Noah wasn’t one to speak poorly about anyone. He thought poorly about plenty of people. He just wouldn’t easily voice his true opinion because it wouldn’t do anyone any good either. If he’d voice his true opinion about someone like Karen, that was all that was going to happen. He would speak poorly of her, and that was it. She wasn’t suddenly going to change her ways for him. If any, it could only create a fight, and Noah hated fighting.

No, some things were best left unsaid.