Re: Evans & Peel: Marta F & Noah N
Noah's entire life had been getting too much of an eyeful/mindful/earful/whatever of people's most private stuff. Of course he had the act down. He didn't have the latitude to not have the act down, dude. He was an earnest, nice dude, overall, but he had to spend a lot of time pretending he didn't just catch a snippet of someone's worst nightmare or that time they cheated on their wife with a prostitute with one leg or whatever. He wasn't schooled in keeping a straight face, but he was definitely schooled in playing happy, even when he was feeling some weird, random, and intense shit.—For once, though, that intense shit was his own, not something secondhand, which made it a little headier. So, three cheers again for mixing drugs and alcohol, because Noah could kind of ignore everything, and if, in this moment, his mood was buoyant, dude, he went with it.
It meant he wasn't doing great at reading other people though. Not even Marta and her no-mask sadness. She probably could've been crying and he wouldn't have picked up on it immediately. But, maybe he used the inside-look as too much of a crutch—well, not a crutch, because that implied an unnecessary/willful dependence or something. But, maybe operating without it was more difficult for him because of that. Whatever. Marta was smiling and that was enough for Noah for the moment, even if she didn't have any more rum and coke.
"You can have some of mine, if you want." He offered her the half-full (haha) glass of Scotch as she propped her head on her hand. Noah forgot to care about whether or not she was smiling though, and when she responded to his statement, he just nodded, then shook his head, unsure which was the right response. "Yeah, I guess not. It's cool though. He's going to let me sleep with him." Noah smiled again, pleased by this simple fact, and then he took a swig of his Scotch, because, once more, he forgot he'd actually offered it at all. There was still a little though. "I think he's at the bar. Should I go up there?"