mother we share || noelle & jett
Jett couldn’t believe it had been nearly three whole days since he’d spoken to his sister. Considering how codependent they were, that was really saying something. He hadn’t realized how feverish he was to see her until he realized that he was practically running toward the park he’d told her about and they’d planned to meet at. As always, Jett wore a black jacket with the hood pulled over his head, and a pair of sunglasses. Somehow or other he’d managed to keep a low profile since being in Naperville, and he wanted to keep it that way.
Maybe people just didn’t expect Jett Grey to be in a smaller town like this. And honestly, if not for the friends here he’d probably be in the nearest big city. But he needed time to not be Jett Grey. To just be a guy. And this town had proved great for that.
But as he finally found the area that he’d told Noelle about, he knew that he hadn’t really been following his eyes or his sense of direction. Because Noelle was already there, and it was like he was being drawn to the other half of him. Being a twin was a bond that Jett could never describe to anyone. He didn’t feel whole without Noelle around; and their busy lives kept them apart frequently. But they did their best to always hear each other’s voice once a day, and to see each other’s faces at least every two days. Even that seemed too much a separation for him.
“Noelle!” he called out as he approached, and a smile spread across his face as she turned to look at him, her brown hair lit by the sun and a smile on her face. Even though she wore sunglasses, he knew the warmth in her eyes as she gazed at him, because it was in his own as well. When he was finally close enough, he reached out and pulled her to him, hugging her tightly to his body. One of his hands tangled in her hair as his face buried into her neck and he took a deep breath of that expensive, exquisite perfume that she wore. The way it mixed with the natural scent of her skin was like the nectar of the gods to him. He’d never tire of it.
He held her a little too tight, a little too long… But they’d always been this way. Just a little bit over the line of what was normal for siblings. They’d always written it off as being twins, but… deep down they both knew something was a little off about them. “I don’t know what the hell kept us from talking or seeing each other for three days,” he said against the skin of her neck before leaning back and letting his hands cup her face, “But can we never do that again?” He smiled as he gazed at her and only removed his hands from his face so he could pull the hood off of his head. “I am so glad you’re here,” he said through an exhale of breath, “I feel so much better having you near.”
Noelle wanted to go home - her real home. Having been in Naperville for a total of 9 days, the brunette was more than ready to call it quits. She wasn’t cut out for “small town” life, not anymore. After having spent the last few years living back and forth between New York and California, the last thing Noelle saw herself doing was taking time off from her work to spend some quality time in the middle of fucking nowhere. There was only one person who was capable of having such power over her.
She looked up her phone at the the familiar voice calling her name, a smile instantly forming on the brunettes lips at the sight of her twin brother. “About time,” she told him, not sounding as annoyed as she had been just seconds ago. She wrapped her arms tightly around her neck, holding Jett in a close, tight embrace. Not only did she suddenly feel an invisible weight being lifted off her shoulders but she felt…better. She felt whole.
Noelle had given up all hope of ever understanding her relationship with Jett. Yes they were twins but it was so, so much more than that. They had an unexplainable bond - no one could ever understand it and no one ever would. They were two halves of a whole. They were always each others exceptions…which is ironically how Noelle ended up in Naperville.
“Speak of the devil,” she found herself saying, a small smirk forming on her lips at the familiar voice. Noelle turned to see her brother approaching in his usual undercover gear, which she had grown strangely fond of - normally she liked seeing her brother(s) dressed to impress but they were Greys, after all, they looked great in anything. The brunette threw her arms around her brothers neck, holding him just as tightly as he did her. And suddenly it felt like there was a huge weight lifted off her shoulders.
The smile on Noelle’s lips only grew at her brothers words - she had been thinking the same thing. “Definitely not,” she assured him, trying her best to ignore the goosebumps on her arms as Jett cupped her face gently. She lifted her sunglasses, letting them hold back her brown locks at the same time as he removed his hood. “Well luckily for you, I’m not going anywhere anytime soon,” she began, noting the curious look on her twins face and grinning before continuing, “that’s why I couldn’t meet up with you. I was adding the finishing touches to my new apartment.”
For the past week Noelle had been staying at a nice hotel downtown - she definitely hadn’t planned on staying in Chicago, much less Naperville for more than a couple of days. But after Jett’s little “publicity stunt”…well, she wanted to be close. She hadn’t actually bothered to mention to either of her brothers that she had taken a sudden “vacation” from work, much less the fact that she was planning on moving here permanently.
Jett’s brows went up at the news, “Apartment???” He stared at her for a long time, waiting for the just kidding that he knew had to be coming. But the longer he stared, the more he realized that it wasn’t coming. She was serious. “You?? In Naperville? An apartment?” he repeated, as if it were new information. It technically was, but he still needn’t say it twice. He took in a breath through his nose, his brows furrowing as he processed the information. He’d planned to stay a while, after all, the Payne’s were as much his family as his actual family; but the last thing he’d expected was for Noelle to stay here.
He paused for another moment before tilting his head to the side a bit, “This isn’t because of my... is it?” His overdose had affected her life so heavily already. Sure, no one but family, the doctor, his publicist and (now) Ella knew... But he wondered sometimes if that made the burden that much worse on her; having to keep it secret. “Because, I’m okay, Noelle, really...” he told her, placing his hands onto her shoulders now. “You don’t have to uproot your whole life just to watch out for me. I know how much you love New York,” he reasoned softly.
It seemed like a whole lifetime ago that it was the three Grey siblings all living it up and enjoying New York together. He hadn’t heard from Linc once since his overdose, and while Noelle did her best to keep things normal, he knew that she was always attentive for any clue that he might be slipping and need help. He hoped that day would never come; and he certainly hoped she didn’t know about the way his publicist was pushing him to get back to drinking so he could keep up appearances as a “rockstar”.
Jett shook those thoughts and his lips turned upward as he gazed at his sister, “Well, you’re certainly doing better than me, I’m still in a suite at the hotel.” He should probably consider putting down some roots if he intended to stay a while... Maybe that would be a way to show Ella how serious he was about making things right with her and finding a (healthy) way to be a part of her life. Or maybe it would drive her right back to Canada, or - worse - farther into her new boyfriend’s arms... Or both. He sighed at this thought before saying, “I just can’t believe we’ll have the whole gang together again. And I know it will be futile, but can you at least try to get alone with Ella?”
