Re: Coffee: Noah & Bea
If the quagmire of Bea's bubbling emotion was too much for one person, it was definitely inching up there for two people too. It was a lot of conflicting things, all shoved down Noah's throat, and he was a little dizzy, not even noticing right away when Bea pulled her hand out from under his. "No," he tried to say, "they found him." How much of that came out, Noah wasn't exactly sure. But, Bea was standing. The sensation of lack of breathe was, unfortunately, contagious, and Noah blinked stupidly up at the girl. "Wha—?" She turned and left the coffeeshop. Noah still felt the assault of her emotions, hope and excitement like spurs in his throat, and he stood too, leaving his PSL behind to follow Bea to the street.
She had a good head-start though, and he came out behind her after she'd already sat on the curb, curling into herself amid a wash of panic and paranoia. "Hey, hey, hey—" Noah jogged out, across the miniature expanse of the sidewalk, to get to Bea's side. She was vaping, and he could smell the blueberry as he moved to sit next to her. He sat without the self-protective posture, his knees were wide, and he butted up to Bea's side, if she let him. Not really knowing what else to do, he put his arm over her shoulders and let her lean against him, if she wanted to. "Just breathe, dude," was what he told, hoping she'd do it, so he could breathe a little too. It was hard to calm someone when you were feeling their panic, which was Noah's perennial problem. Thankfully, it wasn't as overwhelming as it could be, and it was easy to differentiate between his own feelings and Bea's as they slopped over into him.
Noah rubbed a hand along Bea's arm. People would probably see them and talk, but it was whatever. "I know this is all fucked up. I just... didn't want you to find out the hard way."