𝕐𝕆𝕌ℕ𝔾 / 𝔸 𝕄𝔼ℕ𝔸ℕℂ𝔼

admittedly, her short-lived interaction with noah hadn't left her mind since the fated morning she'd met him at the coffee shop. in her defense, she simply couldn't help herself. after all, abril was the expert in quixotism, which would surely become her own undoing. unfortunately, none of that it mattered to her. noah wasn't the first nor last person she'd get butterflies for, but that didn't mean she couldn't chase that high with him again. talking to someone she was attracted to seemed like the much better alternative than sitting and waiting around for the other hope mercer-sized shoe to drop. at noah's remark and monicker for her, she laughed softly before shaking her head at him. he was original, compared to her usual clientele. "don't you know? my amazing barista skills are actually a marketing strategy to keep you coming back for more. i'd apologize for ruining starbucks, but that was the plan all along."

"you're going to make a lot of teenage girls very unhappy," noah shook his head solemnly and clucked his tongue a few times. admittedly, he was a frequent customer, even though he thought starbucks' coffee was watered down swill, because their locations were always so goddamn convenient, but he wouldn't mind added 15 minutes to his commute for a little light flirting. "i hope you're being compensated fairly because you're one helluva promotion."

obviously julien hadn't listened to the podcast yet, because he didn't know what the hell noah was talking about. " what do you mean bold of me to still-- " his brows furrowed. " yeah, okay, if you wanna be so immature you can't even face me without hiding behind your napoleon complex comments, that's a you problem, not me, man. " he was about to just turn around and walk away from noah until he heard him say 'bleach' then the blood rushed to julien's face. " what the fuck did you just say? what do you mean bleach? "

noah let out little hiss with his tongue pressed against his front teeth, face twisted into an exaggerated grimace before his expression slid back into an obnoxious smirk, "i dunno about a napoleon complex—daddy issues, maybe, definitely a little bit of adhd, but at least my myriad of issues didn't make me into a murderer." his brow arched at the expression on julien's face; no face had ever quite fit the expression 'like he'd seen a ghost' as well as julien's face at the moment. "you didn't listen to this week's ep of mhc? congrats, man, you made the proverbial front cover."

❝            you got one thing going for ya. ❞ the playful nudge to his shoulder lingering for a moment. at attempt at comfort disguised. it had never been so complicated to touch noah. not even when it was some stupid revenge plot on hope mercer. it had all been superficial. ❝ god, ew. ❞ though he was probably right. it's not like there was a real passion behind it, as far as maeve knew. perhaps it was something that tied into the mentality that the funeral itself was comforting. ❝ only if you get caught and it becomes some big thing. like how people kept trying to scatter ashes at disneyland at they closed rides and shit. shut down hot topic or don't even try. ❞

"yeah, worst come to worst" noah smirked a little and bumped her shoulder back, "at least i'm a certified hottie." he'd realized over the past couple weeks how touch-starved he'd become, which was quite a realization because before the entire town got turned upside down with hope's murder, he rarely spent his nights alone. there was a difference between sex and intimacy; he'd never thought that he was missing out on anything before. "shut down your favorite place?" he arched a brow and shook his head slightly, "shouldn't i try to shut down like...vatican city or something? if the point is to truly honor your memory."

"You know that people go to funerals to support family and friends of the deceased even if they didn't personally know the deceased, right?"

so maybe noah had already gotten a head-start on the drinking. in fact, he was pretty sure he might die if he didn't continue, so the church either needed to cough up some ceremonial jesus blood or he was going to spend eternity sharing a coffin with hope. he was pretty sure she'd love that if it didn't mean he'd ruin the white silk lining with the lingering scent of cigarette smoke. "don't you know that the mercers don't have friends," he clicked his tongue against the back of his front teeth and shook his head, jaw ground tight, "worshipers, sure, devotees, maybe even some stalkers, but friends? absolutely fuckin' not."

her eyes flicked over to the cigarette box in noah's hand, before her shoulders shrugged. she reached out a hand expectantly. " go on then, hand one over. you can never have too much stress relief. " especially not when hiding out at your best friends funeral to take a drink away from prying eyes, that would only make up conspiracies if they caught you trying to numb the pain in any way. lori knew that noah got it, got her and how she was feeling now ; he may not have been her most recent boyfriend, but he had been once, and he had loved her in his own way, even if that love had changed over time. " well she isn't wrong, the smell alone is far from enjoyable, and definitely not sexy. " a little hypocritical of the woman about to light one up of her own, but she wasn't wrong.

he gave lori his last cigarette and lit it with a lighter he swiped from a gas station even though he had plenty of money to pay for it. he couldn't explain why he still did shit like that at twenty-five, just like he couldn't explain why he didn't quit smoking until after hope broke up with him. "what the fuck, rhodes?" noah grinned slightly and took a long drag, "i've seen grease—alright, i've seen parts of grease, and the entire point is that smoking is sexy as fuck. and james dean? easily the sexiest man to have ever lived."

that set of hazel hues briefly glanced over at him while the corner of her lips turned upwards, "why are they continuing to look when the psycho is right here? be a gentleman and sneak me in some tequila. i'll show them," amaryllis' voice lowered as she spoke. if there was one thing she didn't want to do, it was bring too much attention to herself at a funeral. but the joke left her lips before she had a chance to reel it in. she had to cope somehow. "she totally would love that. i mean there's still time for them to duke it out." a brief pause followed that comment, "who do you think would come out victorious? the man violently sobbing over there and clutching that photo of hope," she flicked her chin up and towards the man in question. "... or do we think mama mercer would come in with the wwe flying elbow and win the glory?"

noah snickered and then winked at the wrinkled old lady who turned to glare at him. hope probably would've preferred that he sobbed hysterically over her casket, but whatever. she was the one who dumped him; the dumpee was allowed at least one laugh at their dumper's funeral, right? "ellis, i am a lot of things, but a gentleman i am not," he gave her a wry grin for good measure and snagged on of the stuffed mushrooms coming around on a silver catering platter. "mrs. mercer, easily. she scared the fuck out of me when i first started dating hope." publicly, at least. veronica kind of liked him before she knew he was sleeping with her daughter. "i would pay good fuckin' money to see her bitchslap theo."

❝            we’re not winning any ‘ outstanding citizens ’ awards, that’s for sure. ❞ it seemed so stupid now. using each other to get back at hope in their own ways, standing together at her funeral. she took the flask back, immediately taking a sip of her own in an attempt to drown out the thoughts creeping up. though hope had proven they were not as invincible as they believed themselves to be, it was still unsettling listening to the boy only a few years older than her talking about his funeral. ❝ noted. ❞ which should have been the end of the topic. ❝ cremated, huh ? you don’t want those creepy strangers at the morgue to put makeup on you, style your hair and dress you like some weird little doll ? ❞ she wasn’t even completely sure it was the people at the morgue that did that. all she knew is that she didn’t want it. ❝ i don’t want a funeral at all. they just comfort the living that care and well… ❞ her shoulders shrugged instead of finishing, tucking the flask back into her jacket. ❝ i’d want someone to scatter my ashes somewhere far away from here. somewhere really cool. ❞

noah tipped his head back agains the wall and let the heaviness of his lids take over until his unreasonably long lashes rested against the dark circles under his eyes. "good thing life's a beauty contest," he hummed quietly, corner of his mouth twitching into a small smirk. that was half the reason people loved hope, whether they wanted to admit or not. she was sure nice to look at, even when she was throwing one of your limited edition air jordan's at your head. "you know half of them are totally into it, right? that has to be a statistic somewhere: go with a funeral home, and there's 50% chance you'll get fucked over even when your dead." he couldn't imagine any other reason you'd want to play with dead people all day, but insight into the human mind wasn't really his forte. probably why he couldn't figure out why he was still here. he had the money to go anywhere he wanted now, and here he was: same shitty town with the same shitty people. "i'll make sure to take a baggie of you to hot topic if you go first."

admittedly, julien was kind of spaced out. it was one of those moments where he was questioning if all of this was a dream or reality, only snapped out of it when hearing noah’s voice. “ bold of you to be talking to me today of all days, but would this thing really be bearable without alcohol? “ he attempted to joke, even in a time like this, it was julien’s safety net. “ can you run me over after them? “ another joke, that one, probably in poor taste. 

had noah not just listened to mercer hollow's shittiest detectives' latest podcast episode, he might feel a little more apologetic. he did, after all, fuck the guy's girlfriend; feeling a little shame was the absolute least he could do. on the other hand, maybe julien actually did kill hope, and noah wasn't the worst guy in the room. "bold of you to still be here," noah clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, "i would've bounced." he snorted despite the general moroseness of the situation and patted his suit pockets until he found his box of newports, "depends, you still got any of that bleach? 'cause i just got my jeep detailed."