Re: [Outside the Rec Center.]
Holly didn't lack empathy. He didn't employ empathy. It was, like, easier not to. It was easier to not be hurt, if you didn't feel for other people. That's how Noah would've said it, anyway. He, by force of nature or birth or whatever, was unnaturally empathetic, but it was hard not to be, when you could follow someone's thoughts for why they did what they did and why they felt what they felt. He got that that was mostly just him, though, and for obvious reasons. But, no, yeah, no, the misunderstandings weren't surprising. Noah didn't blame Holly or anything. He'd tried to explain it—what he felt, like, about Jack or Jamie, but last night hadn't been a big one for, like, actually being heard, so. He'd try again when it came up again, as it was sure to. When he found out about the fries, for example. But, for now, in spite of his doubt that the Jack dude wasn't in it for ass, he wasn't really thinking about any of it.
Holly was filling his head with beams of morning sunlight and the rising scent of coffee, and Noah smiled when Holly glared at him. He figured he'd know when it really got to be, like, too invasive for Holly and it wasn't just kind of quirky-funny anymore, so he made the joke, the comment, whatever. He laughed a little, his eyes shifting to his lap for a second, before flicking back up.—And, if we're being honest about the car, Noah wanted Holly to use it for the same reasons. I mean, not just because of them, but they were there, mixed in with his good intentions. Noah shrugged a little, like he didn't totally know Holly wanted to take him up on the offer. "Okay, that's cool. Let me know if you change your mind."
Noah didn't totally realize he was here on the good graces of immediate regret. That might shift his perspective a little. But, he didn't know, so—yeah, okay, he almost lied. To Holly. He kind of landed on a middle ground of not-so-helpful-truth, and clearly even that was too much, because Holly was up, pacing in front of him, in a couple seconds flat, and Noah stood, leaving the detritus of their ramshackle breakfast in the grass. "Hey, hey, hey—" He put his arms out, coming in close so Holly would collide with him and find his pacing interrupted. Noah put his hands on Holly's biceps. "Hey, it's okay." He knew it didn't feel that way to Holly, that this new reality was a lot... weirder(?) than Holly's own, and that this was probably a lot to swallow along with everything else. "C'mon, let's go for a drive."