Stable Visitings

The elevator door slid open after a few moments with Claudia and Alice in the back corner with Noah and Rowan standing right in front of them closest to the door. Rowan led the way, getting out first, and they all followed them out, and the hallway seemed quite normal with the coffined squares on the walls to add texture. 

Rowan stopped at the end of the hallway with Alice taking great interest in the random décor that was sporadically thrown around the hallways that almost had a golden luxury feel, with punching into the house code keypad, popping the front door open.

Alice leaned her chin on Claudia's shoulder as they gave him some privacy to do that, and Noah was on his phone punching out a message on his phone, and there was a soft frown on her lips making her worry that it might be pertaining to his grandfather.

Rowan propped open his front door with his foot and crossed his arms. "Welcome in, guys."

Alice ducked her head along with Claudia as they entered. "Thank you for having us. Sorry that we couldn't bring anything over."

"It's no problem," Rowan said as he closed the door once Noah stepped in. 

Inside, the floor opened up to the living room that was filled with warmth, and Claudia sat all her stuff down on the coffee table with Alice doing the same. Before they left the gates, they ran back inside to grab all of their stuff from her locker, passing by lots of students still going out to conduct the rest of their projects. 

Alice brought out her laptop from her briefcase to start it up. Rowan brought over some water which she thanked him for and pulled up the specifications for the assignment since she wanted to go over them once more to make sure that they had everything perfectly to be able to get full points after submission.

She stood up to go over to Noah's side who was still lurking by the door, and she was hesitating on whether or not she wanted to give him skinship considering that she had already gotten her fill earlier when his arms were wrapped tightly around her. He was grounding during that time and didn't hesitate to stand for her which she appreciated.

It felt as though he was her support system then, and even now, she wished to offer the same despite the unknown feelings running back and forth within her. Alice wanted to be more concrete in the way that she was portraying herself, so she steeled whatever was going to come her way. But right now wasn't the best moment to do so.

Alice was struggling with what to say, but she didn't get the chance to say anything when Noah glanced up from his phone. "I'm all good."

"Are you sure?" she whispered. "What's up?"

He was juggling from telling the truth to not, and she cocked her head to the side. "Be for real. What is it?"

Noah frowned, but she was able to catch his drift quickly. "How is your grandfather faring?"

He paused for a while, and she waited patiently, wondering if he would be able to answer her. Alice hoped that there was no bad news pertaining to his grandfather. Despite her not ever meeting the old man, she knew that he was the largest source of comfort to Noah, and she wished that he would be able to share more with her.

From what she saw, she knew that he was alone in his home situation, but she couldn't place her finger on the fact that he was lonely. One could be alone but did it truly mean that they hated it? In Noah's case, she couldn't tell, and she would hate to butt her head into a matter that wasn't her business in the first place. 

It was a topic that people couldn't talk about in a normal conversation, and she didn't even know how to bring it up even when she was on one with him. The last time she called him, he said that he was alone in the house.

But at the same time, a lot of sadness stemmed from his grandfather's condition. She couldn't be going back and forth on these thoughts, knowing that she should get them cleared.

"He wasn't feeling well earlier," Noah said in a low voice. "His vitals are stable now."

A long breath came from her in relief. "Shouldn't you go visit now?"

"Maybe sometime late at night."

"Why's that?"

"I often see him at night. It's when he's most likely to be awake."

"I see," Alice murmured. "I don't know what else to say, but I hope that he is continuing to have good health."

"Yes, that is all I can ask for."

She mustered up a smile. "That is all I wish for you as well. Camera, please."