As They… 15B

"Oh hey! I made new friends." Noelle announced with a smile. "These two girls on the third floor. Roommates. "Beats hanging out with you guys all the time."

"Hey!" Sawyer frowned.

"Wow! My heart."

"That's so uncalled for." Sawyer shook his head.

"I don't think it's beating anymore." Otto moved his hand around his chest.

Noelle rolled her eyes at them, laughing. "I'll introduce you guys."

"Keep your friends. We'll make ours." Sawyer declared. "We have some we haven't told you about."

"Oh right. Like those guys from the club."

Sawyer nodded. "We were trying not to hurt your feelings with it but I guess it can't be helped."

She shook her head. "Come on. Let's go see them." She got up. "There's a party anyway. Two birds."

"Right now? But I'm in bed."

"Then get up." Sawyer gestured.

Otto sighed.

"You'll like them. Come on. Plus they're in a band or something. One of them is I think."

"Why do we have to come hang with our replacements?" Otto got up.

Sawyer laughed at Otto. "Oh come on, I was kidding."

"I know. I'm just lazy. Hey, how did Hannah Barbra take your present?"

"Ohhh the present."

Sawyer smiled. "I haven't given her yet."

"What?" A chorused question.

"Why not?" Otto looked at him as he put on his shoes.

"I figured I'd make it an anniversary present or something." He rubbed the back of his head. "I just keep forgetting."

"He keeps forgetting." Noelle scoffed.

"Forgetting? She already practically lives with you. She's literally always there. If that isn't kind of disturbing enough. But we understand."

"She's comfortable with you, she's probably addicted to your company already. Even though you're mostly doing school work. There was that picture she posted of you" Noelle added. "Although the needing her space in your room doesn't work cause she's basically still your roommate." She tilted her head in thought.

Otto squinted his eyes at Noelle. Wondering why she drifted off topic. He shook his head. "The bottom line is you should have given it to her by now. It's pretty- why did you go off topic?" He turned to Noelle suddenly.

Sawyer chuckled.

"What? I was just thinking."

"You were on track and then you just fell to the side like for no reason."

"That's how thoughts work they stray sometimes. You said she lives with him. And I think it's weird that she does. It's not that far from what you were talking about."

"But it wasn't the point."

"You're both far from the point. And you sound like Tom and P-" he sucked in a deep breath instead of saying her name. "Peggy." He cleared his throat. "Maybe it's weird that she's always in my room. It's my room so when you think about it, it's private. As opposed to being in her room where we can be interrupted. And we're just two weeks in so of course we're glued to each other. Guys use your heads. Last semester, Otto, you and Wendy were inseparable and we didn't even get to see her until the last day of school."

Otto hadn't thought of it that way. Of course Sawyer did. Always rational. And so while they thought it was weird, he found the rational side that didn't or wouldn't make his new relationship with Hannah Barbra look creepy. Why had they not thought about it like he had? The answer, the fact that she was apparently always in his room just sounded strange to them. To him at least. As opposed to them who shuffled between each other's rooms. Had Noelle thought like he had?

"I saw her." Noelle interjected, raising her hand.

"Yeah. Once. And my point" He looked from one to the other. "is that I think it's not weird and I like having her around. But I've been busy and I keep forgetting so I've decided to give it to her as an anniversary thing." He let out a breath. "Questions?"

"Questions?" They chorused.

"What are you our professor now?"

"Oh mister- I mean professor Wade, is the question going to get us extra credit?"

Otto looked at Noelle ready to laugh. Sawyer was already laughing. "Professor Wade you should lecture us everyday. There's so much we don't know about relationship 101."

"Perhaps two hour classes?" Noelle's eyes widened with fake curiosity.

"Perhaps you could enlighten us on whether or not it's appropriate to kiss on the first date."

Noelle nodded seriously at Otto, then looked at Sawyer. "And when it would be a good time to send cute messages."

Sawyer shook his head, still laughing. "You're both ridiculous."

"Come on let's go." Noelle said between laughs. "We're still going?" Otto whined.

"Dude you're already dressed." Noelle pointed out.

Five minutes later, they were out. On their way to see Noelle's new friends at a party. It was an impromptu plan for Noelle. She wanted to show off her friends. All four of them. As they walked, "Seriously."

Sawyer, being on the other side of Otto, with his hands in his pockets, leaned forward to look at Noelle in the darkness. Otto, in between them, turned his head to her.

"You said we didn't come to see you in ten days." If it wasn't clear who she was talking to before, it was clear now. "We wanted to. I say we because we decided it. Otto thought, and I agreed plus we did the same with Otto anyway. Not as much days." She shook her head. "My point. In all this bush I'm beating is that we wanted to. But you just started dating Hannah." She hadn't once looked at her audience as she spoke.

They looked at each other. Otto and Sawyer. Sawyer smiled and Otto silently laughed. It was cute to Otto. How Noelle always talked the way she did. Making sure nothing go lost in translation. And knowing Sawyer understood what she was trying to say. It had occurred to him that Sawyer might have felt they ditched him for so long. But now he doesn't have to explain himself.

"So we wanted you to have your time you know? We didn't want to come over and interrupt anything and force it into some sort of awkward conversation about what we walked in on."

"Interrupted you mean." Sawyer corrected.

"Yeah exactly. So we gave you your space." Now she looked at him.

Sawyer clicked his tongue. "Thank you." He rubbed the back of his head. "I guess." He chuckled. Seconds passed in silence and he chuckled again. "Wow I actually thought I'd have more to say. I get it."

"Way to go Wade. Following that big speech right from our hearts with 'I get it'. And I couldn't have said it better myself. Thank you Elle." Otto draped his arm over her shoulders. "Can we go back to my room now?"

Sawyer hissed and rolled his eyes. Noelle chuckled. "We're almost there, come on."