Becoming His

by Angel Marks

  “Noelle’s been in a car accident and she needs to go to the hospital,” she announced as Noelle sat embarrassed and still shaking in Rhonda’s passenger seat.

  Will came over to her door. “Are you all right?” he asked, scanning her face and body, noting that she looked shook up and had a slight burn mark on her left cheek, but no extreme cuts or bruises.

  “I think so,” she replied.

  “Does anything hurt?” he asked.

  “Just here,” she said, motioning to her chest. “Where the seat belt cut into me, and here.” She motioned to her face. “The air bag burned me, I think.”

  Will looked over to his boss, Rhonda, and thanked her for stopping for Noelle.

  “I’m glad I was there to get her,” she replied, and then she reiterated her concern that Noelle be checked out by a medical professional.

  “I’ll take care of her,” he responded. Will opened Rhonda’s passenger door and held his hand out to Noelle, which she shakily met with her own.

  Will walked her to the passenger side of his car, a black 1972 Pontiac GTO, opened the door, and slipped her in, taking the time to fasten her seat belt for her. He got in himself and said he would take her to Williams Hospital because his mom worked there and would make sure she had the best care.

  “I really don’t want to go,” Noelle said, thinking of the $100 co-pay.

  “All right, where does it hurt again?” Will asked, studying her eyes, checking to see if she may have a concussion.

  “My chest. I’m scared to look and I wouldn’t let the medic who’d arrived look at me either.”

  “Will you let me look?” Will asked softly, with a tender tone.

  Noelle sighed, exasperated. Tears unexpectedly began to roll down her cheeks. The stress of the entire situation finally overwhelmed her and she felt safe in this space with Will, safe enough to let go and cry.

  Will reached over to her and rested his hand on hers.

  “Take a deep breath,” he said. “Relax and tell me what happened. We’ll figure this out together.”

  But Noelle was too emotional to speak.

  They sat there like that for minutes, neither speaking, he simply holding her hand, and then it began to rain. Her salty tears dried up as though Mother Nature took over the crying for her. As the clouds opened up to a complete downpour, pounding on the car, they sat protected. The empty air filled with the soft roar of a spring shower. Will’s hand stayed on Noelle’s, calming her with a steady control.

  “I can’t believe I wrecked my car. I can’t believe I rear ended that lady. This is so terrible. I screwed up her life and I’m going to have to go to court for a traffic citation, but I don’t think it will go beyond that. The lady wasn’t supposed to be driving and her car shouldn’t have been on the road. If anything I could sue her, but I won’t,” Noelle explained.

  “So she’s not hurt?” Will asked.

  “No, she’s not. She seemed fine. She didn’t want to be checked out by the medic either, but was anyway, and they said she was fine. I moved her bumper, but other than that her car wasn’t hurt. Mine has a lot more damage,” Noelle stated, looking ahead.

  “You’re in Perry now, Noelle. When you go to court, if you want, I’ll go with you. If you need a lawyer, I’ll speak to my dad,” Will said.

  This washed over Noelle like sugar on a cookie. A tiny bit of her felt whole again.

  “I guess you could look at me if you don’t mind. I’m a baby about blood and such. I know I’m not bleeding, but I’m afraid of what this looks like.” She gestured to her chest and then tentatively pulled her hand from under Will’s and brought her hands up to the bottom of her shirt.

  “You can show me. You don’t have to be afraid,” he said carefully, knowing that Noelle was a delicate soul, scared not just of a strange medic, but of men in general.

  “All right,” she replied, but didn’t lift her shirt to show him. Instead she said, “You do it. I can’t do it. Just tell me that I’m okay, all right?”

  “All right,” Will agreed and she closed her eyes and her heart, which had calmed down considerably, immediately began to race again, now with anticipation at the thought that she had agreed to let Will check her.

  Will picked up on her stress and felt conflicted. He was concerned about her health, both physical and emotional. He couldn’t check on one without disturbing the other. She was a delicate balance he would have to restore. He knew he had to take control of the situation by both calming Noelle and alleviating his own concerns for what this pain was under her shirt. If she said she wasn’t going to the hospital, he couldn’t make her go, but he’d feel better about it after seeing for himself.

  “It’s all right,” he said to her gently, and he took hold of her shirt and lifted it up. Looking at her stomach and chest, he saw that her seat belt had left an impression across her chest as though she were still wearing it. She was bruised from her left shoulder, across her breast, and down to her stomach. The welts were coming out now, purple, black, and blue. He was careful not to let her see his reaction. His stomach churned in anger to see her soft, unblemished, beautiful skin injured. He looked at the bruise marks and asked her to point to exactly where she hurt noting that she pointed right at these marks, but not around them. He hoped this meant her ribs were intact.

  “You have some bruising. Your seat belt cut into you a bit. I imagine you’re going to be hurting for a few days.” He gently eased her shirt back down, as he noticed she shook like a bunny with nervous trepidation. A big sigh escaped Noelle’s lips as he returned his hand to hers.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to go to the hospital?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Noelle answered. “If I don’t feel better in a day or two, I promise I’ll go.”

  “Good,” and with that Will Martin said, “You should really rest now. So I’m going to drive you home.”

  Noelle didn’t argue with him as she was grateful to have a ride. He drove her all the way to Andes holding her hand the entire time, except when he went to shift, and it felt strong, warm, and safe.

  Will played seventies and eighties rock and they talked about the songs. He had a considerable knowledge of music compared to Noelle and he taught her the names of the songs and artists as they came on with bits about each band.

  By the time they arrived in her parents’ driveway, she wanted to invite him in, but she knew she would have zero privacy with him and her mother would give him the Spanish Inquisition of questioning, nothing she wanted to deal with on top of having to explain why she hadn’t driven herself home. That would be enough drama to manage with her mother for the night. So, instead, she gave Will a heartfelt thank you while refusing to allow him to walk her to her door. He squeezed her hand good-bye and reminded her to spend the weekend resting.

  Chapter Five

  Noelle stepped into her parents’ house to face her mother who was waiting at the door with twenty questions and a sour look on her face as to why Noelle was without her car. After assuring her mother that she was all right and everything would be okay, and apologizing for not having notified her sooner of her accident, say from the scene of the accident, as her mother wished, she found herself decompressing in a warm tub of water with her hair piled up under her granny-ruffle shower cap.

  As she laid there, eyes closed amidst the milk bubbles and running water thinking about Will, she suddenly sat up straight, eyes wide open and exclaimed, “Oh, no!”

  Tomorrow was Will’s birthday and in all the mayhem from her accident and Will’s insistence that she rest, she was now in a situation where she wouldn’t see him for his very special day. He was turning twenty. He wouldn’t be a teenager anymore so she wouldn’t feel like a pedophile for dating him, since he was three years her junior, but the big oh no moment was that she didn’t have a way to contact him. All these days of being swept off her feet, and he didn’t own a cell phone. Old-fashioned and yet she had been mesmerized by it. He didn’t want to be available all the time, and
he didn’t want the bill, but his housemate did have a landline, and if she could just find that number…

  But she knew Will had put her needs first once again. She knew he had wanted her to spend his birthday with him, and yet he was putting her health first. She had promised him that she would rest up over the weekend and he had not even mentioned it was his birthday during that entire drive. But why hadn’t she asked for his landline? What was wrong with her? Maybe she did have a concussion, as her head was starting to pound as she dried off, pulled on her robe, dropped her towel down the laundry chute, and headed to her bedroom to think about how she was going to fix this situation.

  By Saturday evening Noelle was feeling a bit better, but her parents had decided she couldn’t drive for the weekend. Their cars were off limits and she was not to pick up her rental until Sunday night. She contemplated looking up Will’s parents and asking them for his number. They had been extremely gracious to her, but decided she didn’t want to get them involved in her dilemma. Plus, she couldn’t miss Will’s birthday, and if she did call him he may just insist she stay home. It was the urgency she felt to be with Will for his birthday, and perhaps a bit of head trauma, that pushed her to sink to her next move. She called up the guy she knew who was friends with the guy who lived with Will.

  She had worked with Joel years prior at a pizzeria when she was still in high school, and she had hung out with him and some of the other employees a handful of times since then, leading to his persistent calls over the years to catch a movie or a bite to eat. She always declined, but was too polite about it because he always called back.

  It was six o’clock Saturday night when Noelle checked her old phone book and found Joel’s number. Biting her cheek with a nauseating sense of hesitation running through her stomach, she dialed.

  “Yo! Noelle! How are you?” Joel answered on the third ring. Apparently he had her number programmed into his phone.

  “Mmm… Hi, Joel.” Her stomach flip-flopped, her intuition was screaming at her to say Oh, I accidently dialed the wrong number, sorry, and hang up, but she went against her gut and launched her super stupid plan. “I’m actually calling you for an address, for your friend, Steve.”

  “An address?” Joel replied. “Steve?” “Steve who?”

  “You know, your friend Steve, who lives in Perry?”

  “What do you want his address for? What’s going on with you? Are you interested in going out for a drink tonight, sweetheart? Come on! What are you doing, eh?” was his retort.

  “Um, you know I don’t drink, Joel. I need Steve’s address because I want to visit his roommate tonight. It’s his birthday.” Noelle replied, hopeful that he would acquiesce and just be normal about an abnormal request.

  No such luck, but then again, what did she expect?

  “Birthday, eh? So is there a party going on? Maybe I can take you there, all right? And just what sort of present are you planning on giving his roommate for his birthday, eh, Noelle? I’m pretty sure I know where Steve-o lives, and it’s pretty complicated, so why don’t you leave the driving to me, eh? You’re just lucky I can cancel my plans for you girl. Say I pick you up at eight, ‘aight?”

  “Well, you realize we wouldn’t be going on a date, right? I just want to visit my friend at Steve’s. I don’t even know for sure that he’ll be there and it’s a long drive.”

  Noelle had been planning to call a couple friends to come with her to Will’s once she had an address, and none were Joel. The last time she had seen Joel was a couple years ago and that should have been the last time.

  “Noelle, it would be my pleasure to escort you to Steve-O’s for a little party tonight.”

  “Really, Joel? Thank you. I have gas money.” Oh thank you stupidity. Please don’t end up regretting this!

  “Eight o’clock,” and Joel hung up.

  Head wrapped in a towel, Noelle peered in her closet quickly choosing her new matching fitted blue skirt and tank top with a burnout print made to look like a strappy summer dress. She painted her toenails pink, let her hair dry wavy, slipped on heeled sandals, and popped two acetaminophens. She was feeling the return of her headache. She could only imagine showing up there to find Will wasn’t home, and perhaps that would be better, as he would probably find it questionable, and poor judgment, to see her arrive with Joel.

  At eight o’clock Joel drove up in his black Trans Am, T-tops out, music blaring. Glad this doesn’t have to be explained she thought to herself. Her father was at work and her mother was out. She left a note saying she was picked up by a friend and would be visiting in Perry for the night, but not to worry, she would be home by curfew. Writing the word curfew at twenty-two years old was agitating.

  Noelle stepped into Joel’s car and was immediately engulfed by his cologne. She leaned out of the car and reached for the heavy door, pulling it closed.

  “What’s up, girl? Lookin’ good!” was Joel’s greeting as he threw the car in reverse, causing her to lurch forward and catch herself on the dashboard.

  “So Steve’s roommate is the lucky guy, eh? Damn. If it doesn’t work out, you know where to come.”

  “Yeah, thanks, Joel.” Noelle replied and lifted his hand off her leg. She wondered if she could have sunk much further to be with Will on his birthday.

  Chapter Six

  When they arrived at Will’s, Noelle sighed to see Will’s car in the driveway. She must have been holding her breath in fear the entire half hour.

  Steve answered the door and Will was sitting in the living room with his back to them as they walked inside. Two girls were sitting on the couch across from him both vying for his attention. Noelle did her best to discreetly remove Joel’s hand off the small of her back as he escorted her into the room like a date.

  “Steve, this is my girl, Noelle,” Joel stated as a matter of fact.

  Noelle smiled politely. “We’re friends. We’re not together.”

  Will’s roommate, who was at least ten years older than Will, looked Noelle up and down and coolly replied, “Any friend of Joel’s is a friend of mine. Welcome, Noelle.”

  Noelle felt creeped-out by the blatant once over, but marked him as most likely safe as he was confined to a wheelchair.

  Finally, Will swirled around in his chair, registering that Noelle was there.

  Their eyes met and she saw his thinly veiled surprise.

  “This is my roommate, Will.” Steve was saying, introducing Will to Noelle. Joel obviously already knew him.

  “Hi,” Noelle held out her hand to him with a sparkle in her eyes.

  Will stood there and nodded while taking her hand in his. He gave her a questioning look before a grin spread across his face.

  “What’ll you have?” Steve went with Joel to the kitchen to retrieve drinks.

  Will stayed with Noelle. “What are you doing here?” he asked, his eyes never leaving hers.

  Noelle was a bit embarrassed. The two girls were watching and listening to every word between them even though they were pretending to be watching the large screen television.

  “It’s your birthday. I came to see you.” Noelle blushed then went for it. She slipped her hands in his, leaned in, and kissed his mouth. “Happy birthday!” She pulled back and looked into his bloodshot, hooded eyes, registering that he was high.

  Regardless, a smooth grin didn’t fail to spread across Will’s signature good looks, and he responded without hesitation. “Oh, so that’s how it is.”

  Noelle just smiled at Will as Joel and Steve returned to the living room. A card table and folding chairs were brought out and they spent the next hour playing poker, something Noelle had never done before. Will taught her how to play while Joel became more irritated by the second that her attention was not on him.

  “Why don’t we play strip poker?” Joel suggested.

  “Nobody wants to see you with your clothes off,” Will replied.

  “I’m thinking we could get the ladies here to take something off,” Joel volunteered
. Noelle’s stomach churned at the thought that he was her ride, but the two girls who had been on the couch, Brandy and Kaley, smiled and said they were fine with playing strip poker.

  She looked at Will and felt his hand on her shoulder as he placed his arm around her chair. He had not had a drink or smoked since she had arrived. Could her presence be dampening his celebration?

  He was trying to sober up for her and he was concerned that she’d be riding home with Joel She was going to have to look into getting her own place, with maybe a roommate like Will had. She’d have to take another look at her finances tomorrow.

  “We’re running out of beer. Who wants to go to the store with me?” announced Steve, trying to cut the tension that was building across the table despite Brandy and Kaley’s drunken make-out scene. Joel’s eyes were locked with Will’s, and Will didn’t move his arm from around Noelle. There was no question that if Joel pressed, Will would be across the table and Noelle would be without a ride home.

  Noelle jumped up to clear the air. “I’ll go with you Steve,” she announced, leading the whole table to take the walk down to the corner gas station.

  The stars were out and the night was clear as they strolled down the street. The walk did a good job of clearing up some of the spider webs in Joel’s head. He started hitting on both Brandy and Kaley.

  Will walked by Noelle’s side and she slipped her hand in his, turned to him, and kissed him. He slipped his arm around her waist and his hand settled protectively at her lower back. She resided in the cradle of his arm when he pulled back, looked down at her, and said, “You look beautiful tonight.”

  “Thanks.” A huge smile spread across her face at his compliment.

  “You don’t look so bad yourself.” She tilted her head, looking up at him and blushing. “Happy birthday, Will. I couldn’t miss your birthday.”