Sadness.

Noah felt bad. Like really bad. No, Like really, really, REALLY, REALLY, really BAD. Really x 3000 bad. Had he purposely wanted to make her feel bad for not seeing him limping about? Uhh.. No but he just wanted to see IF she CARED. He waved his hands frantically. “No, no, no, no! It’s fiiine…” Everything was fine. Really it was. Deh nile was a looooooooooong river, he thought or could have sworn he heard his new cousin’s voice in his head. He cringed at that comment. He really ought to stop writing to his cousin so often. Spenley was a bad influence. “I don’t think I’d have wanted you to see me limp…” Probably would have been somewhat embarrassing. “You or Minjae..” he blurted out before glancing at the box.

He nodded when he heard her response. So mediocre? Wait. Aboli was mediocre? LIES! She was practically perfect minus the whole used to having a crush on bad boys thing... bu that was in the past to him. “Wait. Is this something I can actually beat you at?” he teased with a BIG GRIN. “I’m certain that you’re just being humble..” Aaaaaand thoughtful too perhaps. He offered her a confident, cocky smirk “I’m fairly decent at it. Riddles and rubix cubes..” If they had been thirteen, he would have offered to WOW! her by showing just how quick he was at solving a rubix cube. He smiled more genuinely when she invited him over to her house so that he could see the board games that her mum collected. That sounded great! He'd love too... Er. Like that. Like that was better. Everything was fine. “I’d like that- yeah! Do you like board games?” he asked.

That was the face of embarrassment. Eyes shut, Noah hadn’t been able to see the blush at first. He opened his eyes to find that her cheeks were quite red and her facial expression… deadpan… Huh? Mental note – NEVER play poker with Aboli. Girl was good at keeping a poker face. He blinked, utterly confused. Surely, she couldn’t be blushing, could she? He debated teasing her but stopped himself when she spoke once more. Awww… She DID care. The way she had asked her question made him feel quite unexpectedly vulnerable. “I was making my way there…. And I didn’t get far…”