Chapter 60 — Promise Me

Emily's POV

I snuggled further into the pillow and hugged it tightly. The pillow was ridiculously hard today, but it smelled really nice and warm. The pillow smelled like someone...

Someone I didn't seem to remember early morning.

I pushed the thoughts away and wrapped my small arms around the huge pillow. The pillow did the same and enveloped me into a hug before nuzzling in my neck, making a tingling sensation everywhere. My bare legs were tangled with the pillow's and it made me feel cozy and nice.

Something was different about the pillow today. I wish it would be like this every day.

Wait...

.

.

Pillows don't move. They don't have arms. Neither do they have legs. 

.

.

.

On what planet am I, again?

I opened one eye to peek out and make sure my assumption about the pillow was correct when I was met with black.

A black tee-shirt.

More like a black tee-shirt on a chest.

More like a black tee-shirt on a rock hard chest that belonged to someone I knew.

I was about to scream at the top of my lungs when Noah placed his hand on my mouth and kept me from doing so.

"Don't scream," he hissed and gently took his hand away staring into my eyes.

"What are y—"

Last night events came rushing back to my mind and I stopped mid-sentence.

I had a nightmare. A nightmare about Noah. I had called him. He came and stayed with me until I calmed down. I remember begging him to stay with me for the night.

"Are you okay?" Noah sat up and placed his hand on my cheek, making me look at him.

I saw concern and worry in his eyes and my heart leaped out of my chest.

"I'm alright," I nodded reassuringly.

He smiled and gave me his hand to help me sit up straight on the bed. I rested my head on the headboard and sighed.

Last night was a mess. I didn't even know what would've I done if it wasn't for Noah. I was really glad that he came.

The nightmare was terrible. It was one of the worst ones I have ever had and it petrified me to my soul that at a point I even doubted it wasn't real. It seemed so real.

Like everything was happening just in front of my eyes. Like everything was going to happen to me in near future.

"Wanna talk about it?" I opened my eyes and saw Noah sitting right beside me, intently staring at me.

"Noah I—" I huffed and buried my head in my hands.

I remembered all those terror-stricken scenes and felt my eyes prickle. I looked heavenwards and tried to swallow the tears threatening to spill.

"Hey, it's alright," Noah gently wrapped his arms around me and I rested my head on his shoulder and I closed my eyes when the first tear managed to escape out.

"Noah it was terrifying," I sniffled.

I knew that I was crying all over again. I knew I seemed like a crying mess.

But I didn't care. I didn't care because it was Noah who was with me. I knew he'd never judge me. I knew he would always understand me like he did.

Like Chris did.

And I needed a shoulder to cry on. I was so tired of bottling everything inside me that I was sure someday I would explode like a volcano and all those ugly, hurtful, and harmful emotions would tumble out in a jumble of anger, fury, and resentment and I wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

"What was terrifying?" Noah cupped my cheek and lifted my head up to look at him.

"I—" I cried and he enveloped me in a hug again.

I couldn't bring those words out. I couldn't even imagine those things. Only thinking about them made my insides churn.

I stayed in his arms for a few moments before breaking the silence, "Noah, I get nightmares. Petrifying nightmares." I whispered.

I felt his body tense up against mine. He didn't say anything just held my hand in his and squeezed it in a reassuring manner, silently telling me that it was going to be alright.

"Last night....last night I— I saw you," I sobbed and tears started making their way out of my eyes again.

"What happened?" he asked staring right into my eyes. Somehow just looking at those brown orbs made me relaxed. His eyes were so promising. I found myself getting lost in them.

We were staring into each other's eyes and somehow my tears had stopped and now I was just holding both of his hands in mine while looking in that forest of his eyes.

"I lost you," I whispered.

Those words didn't seem right at all. Everything was wrong about them.

His eyes softened and he closed them tightly and sighed, gripping my hands even tighter.

"You would never lose me, Cupcake," he whispered with closed eyes.

"Promise me," I urged.

We stayed like this for some moments. Neither of us spoke. The silence between us was deafening. I found my mind screaming a million things yet none of them reached my tongue.

"Promise," he opened his eyes and the sincerity in those was all I needed to see to calm my heart that was now threatening to explode.

**********

I wrapped my arms around his torso and rested my head against his back.

"Ready?" he asked and I nodded and almost face-palmed after realizing that he couldn't see me. 

"Yes," I mumbled.

Noah sped off and in no time we were off to our school.

Last night had been a mess. I didn't know how I ended up calling Noah but I'm glad that I did.

I didn't even want to think of the possibilities that could've happened if it wasn't for him. I knew that I just couldn't call anyone at two in the morning and tell them to come to my place because I had some sort of nightmare but when I said that it wasn't just a nightmare, I meant it.

Maybe I just wanted to make sure that it was just my mind making things up and Noah was absolutely fine and I did the only suitable thing at that time.

I called him.

But now I knew for real that no matter how much I tried to deny it, Noah was different from all the others.

The way he panicked when he heard just my sob. The way he came within a minute of calling. The way he always calmed me down at the worsts of me. The way he stayed glued to my side all night last night.

All of it proved that unlike others, he wasn't the one to walk out on me.

I didn't even remember my nightmare properly. There were just vague memories of it playing over and over again in my head. Noah. Me. The forest. And blood.

All of it started with me being lost in a forest. Somehow even in my dream, Noah found me all alone and lost and helped me get out of the forest.

We ended up being on the cliff of a mountain and in a swift motion everything turned from white to black and somehow Noah slipped from the edge and he ended up hanging with me holding onto him with my dear life.

I tried pulling him up but to no avail. At last, he told me to let go. I didn't, of course. I told him that we'd find a way out of here like we always did but he said that it was too late now. And with that, he let go of my hand and fell into the darkness leaving me all alone on the edge.

I ran after him. I didn't know how and when I saw a path going down the mountain but I found myself running with all the might left in me to save him.

Because I couldn't afford to lose another loved one.

But when I reached down I saw him lying there, lifeless on the ground. I walked closer to him and saw his body covered in blood and—                  

I didn't even realize that my eyes were watery again and I was clutching onto Noah's jacket so hard that my knuckles had turned white.

I took deep breaths to calm myself down and loosened my grip just a little bit.

I cannot think about it anymore.

We arrived at the school a few moments later and Noah and I had to part ways in order to attend our first classes.

I hadn't talked to Noah about my relationship with Aaron. I didn't know how to start a conversation with him regarding this matter. I was so scared of his reaction.

Neither had I asked him about his relationship with Nichole and he, just like me did no effort to tell me about it.

When I was with Noah, we talked about anything to everything, apart from the things that mattered, of course.

But sooner or later I had to tell him about it. I just didn't know when I would muster up enough courage to do so.

Or if I ever would.