Page 10 of My Kind of Trouble
‘Oh god, yes! You used to harass us all to get involved, and he was the only person who felt sorry enough for you to get on stage,’ Ryan barked out a laugh at the memory.
Noa just shook her head at her brother.
‘You know, you’re right. Come to think of it, he was always the nicer one out of the two of you. It’s a wonder we let you hang around with us at all,’ Noa joked, and Ryan gave her an overdramatic pout in response.
‘You know, it’s comments like that that make me glad I warned Alex not to misconstrue your friendship as more than that. Couldn’t have him stealing my little sister from me, could I?’
Noa blanched at his words.
She knew about the conversation they’d had because she had overheard it. Though none of them had brought it up since, it had played on her mind and fed her fears that led to her putting up boundaries with Alex for years after.
She felt irritated that Ryan would even bring it up now.
Letting that irritation slip out, she glared at her brother.
‘Didn’t you move out? You’ve spent a lot of time over here since I came home for someone who has just bought their own place.’ The snarky comment came out clipped.
Noa’s mum interrupted them, having years of practice at refereeing what she used to call ‘sibling squabbles’.
‘Why don’t you go for a walk by the lake this morning? That always used to cheer you up, and the fresh air should do you some good,’ she suggested, unboxing pastries onto plates on the kitchen island.
But the idea of any exercise this morning felt like Satan’s idea of an introduction to Hell, and she told her as much.
Ryan’s chair scraped along the floor as he pulled it out from the island, plonking himself down in front of the coffee she had set there. Noa held her head as the sound felt like it bounced off her skull, scowling in his direction, but her expression was only met with a wide, mischievous grin. Just like that, the tension broke and was replaced by light-hearted conversation over breakfast.
The morning went on much like that, and Noa realised how much she had missed this. The friendly banter and ribbing you could only get from being at home, from those you loved and who loved you. It felt as if she had never left and, despite all the years that had passed, despite all that had transpired over that last week, Noa could feel nothing but grateful looking around at her family right now.
But even with the soothing noise of the people she loved around her, she couldn’t quiet the even louder one inside her head.
The anxious part of her that wanted to plan and prepare wouldn’t still, and she just kept on thinking, what next?
Chapter 7
Noa
After a morning of catching up with her family, Noa decided it was time to stop putting off the inevitable. With a fresh cup of coffee in her hands, she pulled out her laptop to start the dreaded job search. She pulled her feet underneath her so she could sit cross-legged on the living room couch, propped up by cushions and covered by her mum’s crochet granny square blankets. Comfort was key when starting the tedious task of disseminating her CV, as was having her comfort show playing in the background.Friends was both hers and Ryan’s comfort show actually, and she was pretty sure her brother could recite it line for line at this point.
Scrolling through job sites, Noa began her search. She’d worked in publishing in London for the past five years after finishing her degree at University College London, but scouting the internet now, she quickly realised she didn’t entirely think this through. Moving back to a small town in the middle of nowhere may not have been the smartest career move, and everything she stumbled across was either a huge step down or not in her industry in the slightest. After a few soul-crushing hours, Noa decided to call it a day and call in backup to bring her out of this job hunting-induced funk. She closed her laptop and grabbed her phone, shooting off a message to her childhood best friend, Tes.
Tes had always been one of those friends who, even when long periods passed without them seeing each other, the moment they were reunited, it was like merely a week had passed. Noa had always been grateful for their friendship, and never more so as when Tes walked through their front door an hour later without knocking, as that was never something they did, with a bottle of prosecco in her hand and a shit-eating grin on her face.
‘The bitch is back!’ she squealed, running over to Noa and almost knocking her to the ground as she tugged her into a hug.
She smelt like home—fresh air and a hint of pine. Noa hung onto her for dear life. Not even a mouthful of her dark hair could make Noa want to let her go.
‘She is,’ Noa smiled into Tes’s shoulder before reluctantly letting Tes extricate herself from her grip. ‘And she is very much in need of that,’ Noa said, pointing at the prosecco.
Tes quickly got to work retrieving two glasses, like their kitchen was her own, and waved Noa into the lounge where the two of them snuggled into the sofa like they were preparing to put the world to rights.
Noa couldn’t help but stare at Tes. This was familiar. This would never change.
Her best friend, in her classic leggings and a baggy T-shirt, black hair pulled into a high ponytail. She would always show up. Always be her safe place to fall.
When Noa moved away, they never lost touch. She still knew every little detail about Noa’s life, every secret. The physical distance did nothing but prove how special their friendship was. Weekly video chats over morning coffees and Tes’s bi-monthly trips to the city had been the foundation of their friendship for the past eight years. But being back with her at home made Noa’s heart sing.
‘Right, spill!’ Tes demanded, never one to beat around the bush. ‘And not the half-garbled ramblings I got on the phone yesterday. Start from the beginning.’
She interrogated Noa, seeking the lowdown on everything that had happened in the last week and how Noa had ended up back in Freymoor. Soon enough, Noa had filled her in on the entire ins and outs of her and Lucas’s breakup. Or as much as she could make sense of, at least.
