*CRASH*

I'm home alone right now and I'm in my room.

What the hell was that.

I grab a lamp and creep down the stairs with my phone out and 911 on speed dial I hear someone rummaging through the kitchen. I drop the lamp and it makes a loud clatter, so I make a run for the front door and yank it open and run to the Eades house.

I knock on their front door a bunch of times with tears streaming down my face and I'm hyperventilating, glancing back at my house every so often to make sure the person doesn't come out and see me.

"Honey whats-" Shes sees me crying and immediately lets me inside.

"there- there's- someone in-in my hou-house." I manage to stutter out.

"Okay honey did you call the police."

"n-no."

"Mom? What's hap-" Noah stops when he sees my state of shock unable to stop the tears from flowing out of my eyes.

He runs up to me and gathers me into a hug while i grab his shirt in my fists and sob into his chest.

"I'm going to go call the police."

"Hey, hey, hey, Carter what happened."

"S-someone b-b-broke in and I-I was alone s-so I freaked out a-and ran h-here." I say while still sobbing.

"Hey it's okay, it's okay you're safe Carter. That's what matters. And mom's calling the police. So they'll figure out who was in your house."

I don't respond but my breathing slows down a little bit.

The tears are still flowing but they've calmed down some. He grabs my hand and pulls me to the kitchen.

"My dad used to make me this thing called warm vanilla milk when I was upset. It's basically hot chocolate without the chocolate."

He starts making it pulling out a mug from the cabinet and then pouring milk into it and then heating it up.

"It always made me feel better, whether it be that I was sick, if I lost a game or if I just had a bad day."

He takes it out of the microwave and pours vanilla extract in it and sugar.

"If the day was really bad, he'd put peppermint in it."

He pours some peppermint syrup in the mixture and stirs it around and then tops it off with whipped cream before putting it in front of me.

"It'll be okay Carter. You're okay." He says grabbing my hand and looking me in the eye.

"Thank you." I whisper and drink the warm vanilla milk which is amazing. After I'm done he leads me up to his room which is dark grey with black bedding, and a rustic type feel. I honestly love it.

"You can take my bed, I'll sleep on the couch." He says getting some blankets. I sit down on his bed.

"Noah?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you stay?" I look down. He pauses for a second I finally look up into his eyes and all the deliberation that was written on his faces goes away and softens.

"Yeah Carter. I'll stay." He hands me a big hoodie and some boxers and directs me to the bathroom.

I walk in and change and look at myself in the mirror. I look like a train wreck. I splash my face with water removing all the excess makeup and dried tears on my face leaving me with puffy eyes and a red stained face. I figure it's not going to get any better so I walk back into his room and see him lying on his bed with a book in his hand.

It's Paper Towns by John Green.

I lay down next to him, and he looks over at me. I pull the covers up over my body and try to get comfortable. I end up staring at the ceiling for a while he reads. I toss and turn some more until he puts his book down turns off the reading light and pulls me into his chest, so we're spooning. He wraps his arms around me and puts his head in the crook of my neck. I begin to feel drowsy and eventually fall asleep to the sound of Noah's breathing.

~

I wake up the next morning in an empty bed. I look at the clock on his nightstand and see it's 11 am. There's no way I'm going to school.

I figured Noah's already at school which is why I was surprised to see him standing in his kitchen shirtless and cooking.

Goddamn.

If I wasn't still shaken up about last night I would've taken a while to admire this view. I could get used to this. But as I sit down at the breakfast bar he turns around with a plate of eggs, avocado toast, fruits, and spam.

I look down at the plate then back up at him a couple times.

"Marry me."

"I think we might be moving a bit too fast Carter."

"I don't. If it means that I get breakfast like this everyday, then sign me up."

He laughs lightly then his face turns serious.

"How are you? After last night?"

"My head hurts. I'm trying to block it out honestly. It's all kind of a blur. I'm still a bit shaken up." I force a small laugh.

"I texted our friends and told them what happened. They wanted to ditch to come and see you but I told them that you'd probably want some space right now. Then they asked me why I was staying. And I said 'because she's in my house you fuckers' and then they left me alone."

"Oh my gosh, I- I didn't even realize I'm sorry I intruded on you guys I really-"

"Carter." He grips my shoulders to stop my rambling. "It's okay, I'm really glad you did."

"Thank you for letting me stay."

"And Carter, mom told me to tell you that you're staying here until they catch the guy. Your mom too when she gets back. I'll go over to your house and get your clothes tomorrow, but today I want to try and get your mind of it, so how about we go do something."

"Okay... what?"

He smiles with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

"We're going to go get your belly button pierced."