Could you do Noora going back to London, sort of the other way around from William coming back to Oslo? :)
“This would all be somuch easier if you just learned to do what I asked!”
William winced at thesound of the front door slamming as his father stormed out. It wasn’texactly rare that William pissed him off enough to illicit such areaction but each and every time it managed to dig an even deeperwound in his chest.
“Fy faen”, hesighed, dragging a hand down his face in exhaustion. Feeling astrange sense of relief at being able to speak Norwegian, his fathernot liking the sound of it when he could scarcely understand it,William sighed.
Collapsing onto thecouch, William brought his knees up and sat back against the arm.Dropping his head onto his arms and groaning in frustration, hethought back to his phone. Sitting opposite him on the couch, havingbeen thrown precariously by his father when he caught William textingrather than listening to another useless rant.
William stared at thephone, contemplating whether or not texting Chris would help releaseany of the pent up aggression he felt. It had become habit; textingChris a simple flame emoji was enough at this point to alert his bestfriend that he needed a distraction. Almost every time it came in theform of Chris updating him about Eva, until that bordered on updatesabout Noora too much and William had to ask him to stop.
London was amazing. Itwas both better and worse than Oslo, providing him with a much neededrespite. But, where Oslo held memories of Nicolai and his troubledupbringing, London was littered with memories of Noora.
Her coat, still tuckedinto the closet, was one the many imprints she had left on William’sLondon apartment. Her make up remained tucked into a cupboard in thebathroom and the bedroom was still overflowing with her influence.From the seemingly endless supply of clothes she had left behind tothe constant whiff of her perfume William got when he entered theroom, the bedroom was still as much Noora’s as it was his.
When she had left,William hadn’t expected it to last. He knew Noora,in a way that very few, perhaps not even Eva, knew her. And he knewthat sometimes she was spontaneous and irrational.
Butwhen the first 24 hours had passed and she hadn’t returned, Williamhad to really consider that she really might have jumped on a planeback to Oslo. When the first week had been up and she hadn’treturned, William had given up, tearing through the house to figureout if she really had left.
Whilemost of her clothes remained, which was arguably why William hadn’tbelieved she’d really left in the first place, all of her valuableswere gone. Her favourite bracelet, never worn but always stored inher jewellery box, was missing. Her books, laptop, pictures andpostcards were all missing. Her favourite clothes, including her topfrom Madrid, were all vacant.
Itwas only then that William started to realise she had really left.
Ithad been hard to accept at first, but by now William was used to thedull ache in his chest when he sat in the apartment, surrounded bysilence. Noora hated silence and as such, their apartment was alwaysfull of noise from music to her endless phone calls to Eva.
Hisfather had only seemed to worsen when Noora left. When she wasaround, he had been civil, sometimes even kind. He had purposely besofter on William lest Noora stand up to him, something William knewshe wouldn’t hesitate to do.
Nowthat she was gone however, his father had become cruel. With everymention of her name, William’s father grew more and more angry, andresentful of that fact that William had not yet moved on.
ButWilliam didn’t want to.
Sohe really wasn’t sure why he had lied to Chris. Telling his bestfriend that he had found a new girlfriend had seemed like a good ideaat the time, one that reflected his desire to get Chris off his back.Chris was his best friend but that meant that the boy was neverafraid to call William out, and had been doing so every day sinceNoora left. It had seemed like the easiest solution to get him tostop; to never have to hear the words “Come back to Oslo” everagain, because with every time he heard them he felt his resolvebreak a little more.
Williamsighed deeply, slumping back into the couch and spreading his legsout to lay down. Reaching down and grabbing his phone, he shot aquick text to work to let them know he wasn’t coming in beforedropping his head back against the couch.
Itall seemed to happen at once.
Firstthere was a ping! andwhen William looked down there was a text lighting up his screen.
Heraised an eyebrow at Chris’ message, a simple “Open the door”.William gaped at his phone; had Chris seriously come all the way fromOslo without telling him first?
Then,there was a knock at the door but William didn’t move to answer it.The knock was far too soft to possibly be Chris’ and the silence thatfollowed was so unlike his best friend that William immediatelyturned to his phone to text Chris back.
From William, 9:16am
Hvafaen, Chris? What are you playing at?
To William, 9:16am
WTFbro, open the door.
From William, 9:17am
Areyou seriously outside my door right now?
To William, 9:17am
Maybe.No. I dont know.
From William, 9:17am
Youjust text me to open the door
To William, 9:17am
soopen the door
From William, 9:18am
WTFare you playing at Chris? Why are you here?
To William, 9:18am
cosim a really fucking good friend
From William, 9:18am
?
To William, 9:19am
Pleasecome outside.
Weneed to talk.
Williamfrowned at the change in tone and with a groan of frustration, pushedhimself from the couch and moved towards the door. He hovered for amoment, sighing deeply before swinging open the door.
Andhe froze.
Noorasmiled nervously, handing Chris’ phone back to him. Chris stoodcautiously off to one side, car keys hanging from his finger and asmirk on his lips.
Williamquickly tore his eyes from his best friend and focused his attentionon Noora.
Shewas exactly as he remembered and a part of him felt stupid forexpecting her to have changed so much. But William felt like he had,as though her leaving had shaped him into a completely unrecognisableperson.
Butunlike him, Noora still looked stunning. Her hair was knotted anduntidy and her lipstick was applied haphazardly but her eyes werebright and wide and as vulnerable as he remembered. Her lower lipquivered slightly and she appeared as uncomfortable in the silence ashe expected.
“Halla”,she finally spoke, breathless.
Williamknew he was staring, gaping even, but he couldn’t help it. Swallowingand averting his eyes momentarily to calm down, he spoke.
“Halla.”
Theair between them was charged, the tension not sexual but so thickthat William expected on of them to break down any moment; and heprided himself on not often doing so.
Nooralooked just as unsure, as though so afraid to say the wrong thingthat she would endure the silence in order to savour the moment.
Thatdidn’t appear likely however as the moment William opened his mouthto speak, he was cut off by the all too familiar voice of Chris.
“Faen,just kiss her already” his best friend moaned loudly.
Noorarolled her eyes and the spell was broken. Turning to Chris, shesmiled softly but with obvious exasperation. “Thanks for getting mehere Chris, but you can seriously go now.”
Chrislooked offended for a moment but the grin that followed showed hewasn’t annoyed. “No problem.” Turning to William he said proudly,“See how good of a friend I am?”
Williamrolled his eyes, leaning against the door frame and looking pointedlyat his best friend. Chris seemed to get the picture and quickly movedto leave. Just as he reached the stairs leading down to the lobby, hefroze.
“Almostforgot”, he laughed awkwardly, turning around and dropping the carkeys into William’s palm. “Here.”
Williamstared down at his hands in confusion but before he could ask, Chrisshrugged. “If you’re wondering, yeah I brought your old car toLondon. And yes, I charged all of this to your card.”
Withthat, he spun on his heel and left as dramatically as expected ofChris, throwing over his shoulder an obnoxious “have fun!” Wherehe was going, William didn’t know. Nor did he care.
Thesilence settled once more and William knew he had to say something.In his state, he somehow managed to stutter out, “You came back?”
Nooraturned back to him quickly, as though she had forgotten he was there.The look in her eyes told him that wasn’t the case however andWilliam watched as a single tear gathered in her eye.
“Ishouldn’t have left”, she said adamantly.
Williamshook his head softly. “No”, he said. “It’s a good thing youdid.” At Noora’s look of confusion, he continued. “You needed to.For you. For me too.”
Nooranodded slowly. “Yeah.”
Aftera moment, William took a deep, steadying breath. He opened the doorfurther and with as straight of a face as he could manage, he noddedNoora inside.
“Let’stalk then.”
Hope you liked it, Nonnie <3 I’m sorry but I just couldn’t help but slip some P!Chris in there and tbh, since he was there when William returned, it felt right that he was there in this alternate verison of their reunion, ‘know?
