Re: [Outside the Rec Center.]
Yeah, look, Noah felt bad about the misleading. He'd known it wasn't right at the time, so it wasn't like he really had any excuse but fear—which was a glimpse into the part of him that Holly didn't see yet, right? But, man, empathic juju or not, Noah could be as selfish as anyone else, and he had been, keeping that bit of information to himself. He didn't blame Holly for kind of hating him for it. He kind of hated him for it. That all said, there was no way they'd be where they were, at this instant, if he hadn't misled, so..., you know.—Still, there was that confusing line, the one Noah didn't know whether to cross or not, or even where it was. He could sense how Holly felt, but he could sense Holly didn't want to feel that way and he heard different things said to him. It was hard to know where that put them.—For the record, Noah was fine with being picked up from school.
But, yeah, I know, Gramps happened. Gramps happened, and Holly paced, and Noah stood up and put himself on a collision course with the other dude. He was giving his 'whoa, whoa, whoa, hey, hey, heys' without knowing he was even doing it, and this? What led to this? Could be another count against him and the stress he induced just by, like, being. Maybe he should've lied. He thought that. As he came into contact with Holly, and as Holly looked up, as if surprised. He wondered, like, if lying would've been the kinder thing to do. But Holly nodded about the drive and Noah nodded back. "Okay." He took Holly's hand, walked back nearer the wall to scoop up Holly's phone, the aspirin, and then to heft the water bottles against his hip, and he started them toward his Jeep.
He wasn't parked too far away. Holly would, no doubt, tear his hand away, so Noah wasn't really worried as they turned the corner of the rec center, toward the parking lot out front. If his hand was indeed freed, he searched for his key fob in his pocket and, finding it, unlocked the car. He tossed the water in the backseat, then went ahead and went around to open Holly's door for him. He circled back to the driver's side and hopped in. If Holly got in, Noah started the car.