No one said a word as pressure fell onto our shoulders. I looked down at the little bit of food on my plate and felt acid climb up my esophagus. 

After what felt like hours, I cleared my throat as I checked my watch, "It's time to go to work." As I stood from my chair, it screeched across the floor ringing the room. I tossed my plate into the sink and grabbed my coat. When I opened the front door to leave, I felt as if something loomed over my shoulders. I hesitantly turned to see that almost everyone had done the same and waited for me to open the door.

I opened the door and they filed out of the apartment. The sound of a chair quickly scratching the floor and footsteps rapidly coming toward us filled the air. "Seriously guys?! Something was wrong with him and you guys don't want to talk about it! When are we going to talk about it then? When are we going to figure out what happened?" Becca shouted as she chased them out the door and put on her coat.

I waited on the side and stopped her when she reached me. "We are going to talk about it. When everyone is ready, we will. It's still a fresh wound, figuratively and literally, that we all need to process and heal. It's easier to just not talk about it and let everyone deal with it in their own way."  

"I'm just saying that we can't ignore what happened yesterday," she lowered her head and moved away from the door so I could close it.

"I know, I know. Like I said, we'll talk about it eventually." 

Before closing the door, I fit my head through the space and looked at Dontae and Meek on the couch, "Are sure you guys want to leave for lunch? You guys can leave after he's all healed." I pointed to Dontae.

Dontae waved his hand, "No, no, we've already eaten most of your food and took away your alone time. We can't stay any longer."

"Don't worry about the food, I'll buy more. Are you sure you want to leave?"

Meek nodded, "Yes, thank you so much V."

"Fine, I'll be here for lunch to help get you to your place. Let me know what you guys want for lunch so we can eat before that. Bye," I waved my hand before closing the door and listening to their farewells.

As I approached my car, without thinking, I pulled out my phone and called Noel's phone. Listening as the phone rang as I settled and started the car. 

"Hi there! Sorry, I missed your call. Don't kill me when you see me though! I might be on a mission or sleeping so you can't be too mad. If it's super important or your name is V, keep calling until I answer. If not, leave a voicemail that I'll forget to listen to. Time is running out, okay, bye!"

The phone beeped after the sound of his voice filled my car one last time. I hung up and threw my phone onto the floor in front of the passenger seat. Clenching the wheel, I sunk my head in between my arms and let the tears fall onto my lap. Fuck.

I couldn't stop screaming. Not when my throat started to burn and not when it began to scratch and beg for me to stop. Not even when my phone chimed with multiple calls from my friends. I couldn't bring myself to go to the office knowing that he wasn't going to be next to me, knowing that I couldn't reach him. 

There was a knock on my window that snapped me out of my daze.

When I caught my breath, I turned to see light brown eyes staring back at me. I cracked my window open and croaked out, "What?"

"Unlock the door," Jen demanded.

I didn't argue, I unlocked the door, and watched as she sashayed around the car and got into the passenger seat. Once she settled in, she picked my phone up from the ground and passed it to me as she kept her eyes focused in front of us. I grabbed it and stared at it as the screen flashed with Pam's name.

"It's been four hours already. Answer the phone."

I hesitantly answered the phone, shocked by the amount of time I've sat here, and put it to my ear. 

"V! Are you okay?" Pam's voice blared through the speaker.

"Did she pick up?" Fred's voice asked in the distance.

"Yeah but she's not saying anything. Can you hear me?"

"Make a noise or something at least," Becca said, annoyed.

Jen twirled her hand, signaling me to talk. As I cleared my throat, cheers from my phone emerged.

"She's okay?" DJ's voice neared the phone. "She's okay! Oh, thank God. V, where are you? Can I come and see you?"

I didn't answer, I couldn't answer. Jen snatched the phone from my hand and brought it to her mouth, "She's fine, I got her. You can see her when she's at the office."

Murmurs agreed with her before she hung up the phone and glared at me. "They're worried about you, V. We already lost one person and almost two others, you could have at least put their minds at ease by answering one damn call."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. She raised a finger between us, "Before you say it- well think about it- a small piece of me does care for you. I'm just not worried because I know that you can get through this. Like you said to Becca earlier, we all have our different ways for healing."

I looked away from her hard stare and toward the passing cars. Tears threatened to fall as I bit my quivering lip. Noel would hate to see me like this.
 
I listened to the oddly calming sound of her nails tapping her phone and closed my eyes as I took deep breaths. After a while, she dramatically sighed, grabbing my attention. 

She observed my face before asking, "You good now?" I nodded in response. "Good. You're on desk duty until your voice goes back to normal. I'll drive behind you to make sure you actually go to work. You have at least an hour to work until lunch. Which is in"- she checked her dainty gold watch -"one hour."

"It's going to be okay, trust me for once," she winked and then stepped out, heading to her car.

I made a banner! Do you guys like it? Be honest.

Anyway, it's kinda wild that all the chapters before this one was just one day.

Till next time✌🏼💕