Nervous Flier (5 page)

Painfully slow minutes passed as Noel waited in the bushes, her thoughts running a hundred miles per hour. A million different possibilities danced in her mind. Maybe there was a business associate inside, or maybe it was a beautiful, busty woman with long brunette hair and perfect boobs. Or maybe it was a ninety-year-old woman who had a rich husband. Or maybe it was a gorgeous young woman with a high power job. As Noel wrung her hands, the front door to the house clicked open and Dawson stepped out onto the stoop talking to someone animatedly.

The woman who stepped out after Dawson was as Noel had feared. It was a gorgeous woman with perfect, smooth dark skin, a big smile, and long black hair which trailed past her shoulder blades. The woman was the kind of erotic that likely made even women turn their heads when she walked down the street. She was as tall as a tree and almost as thin.
Maybe she isn't anybody important to Dawson. He runs a travel magazine. That woman could be a model or maybe a journalist.

As Noel did everything she could in order to calm herself down and think rationally even though every part of her body, heart, and mind began to hurt, the woman stepped forward and gave Dawson the biggest and most intimate hug she had ever seen. After stepping back, the woman pecked Dawson on the lips once, patted his cheek, then stepped back and headed to the black car. After the woman had started the car, Noel couldn't move. She was stunned and hurt and confused and embarrassed. She couldn't believe she had done this
again
. And this time, her heart screamed even worse than before. She had trusted Dawson. Why had she been so stupid? Unlike with Peter, she could not control her anger or sadness. She stepped out from beyond the bushes with tears streaming down her cheeks. When Dawson met her eyes, concern and confusion filled his face. Then his mouth widened and she heard him expel a single word. "Oh."

"Yes, oh." Noel stormed up to him as tears dribbled off her chin. Her fists were balled at her side. "How could you, Dawson? This is exactly what Peter did to me."

"That wasn't what you thought it was." Dawson attempted to grab her arm, but she ripped it away. "I swear to God, Noel. I wasn't double timing you or anyone."

"No, no, no." Noel took a step toward Dawson and poked a finger into his chest, uncaring that tears and, unfortunately, snot dribbled down her face. "For once in my life, someone is going to listen to me. Do not come near me again, do you understand me? I never should have trusted you, you bastard."

"Noel, no." Dawson quivered with anxiety. "That was my sister."

Dawson's excuse was so feeble it almost made her snort, and she would have too, had she not been so heartbroken. There was no way that tall, leggy creature had been Dawson's sister. Dawson had bright blond hair and light eyes. The two of them looked nothing alike.

"You could have come up with something better than that." Noel scowled.

Then Noel whirled around and ran away, her arms pumping at her sides. Tears streamed down her face and her breath left her in unattractive grunts, but that didn't matter. What did matter was that after Peter had broken her heart, Dawson had turned around and stolen all the pieces.

****

Agony. That was all Noel felt. It was like her head was in a giant fog of it. She couldn't see, she could hardly think. Everything she did was painful as if thousands of tiny cuts covered every inch of her and movements made the scabs crack and break. Going to work was necessary, but when she was there, she was always somewhere else in her head. Maybe with Dawson, watching the gorgeous woman peck his lips. Or maybe with Peter and his leggy blonde. As Noel lumbered toward a patron who had ordered an espresso and a hot apple turnover, she entered painful self-examination mode and continued to phase out.

Was the problem her? Noel knew that she fell in love too quickly and too fiercely. Trusted too much. Before she had always thought that being honest went hand in hand with having others be honest with her. She was wrong. They weren't mutually exclusive. As Noel looked around the coffee shop after delivering the order to the plump brunette woman who had ordered the espresso, anger overwhelmed her in crashing waved. Insurmountable distrust filled her. It felt as though she wasn't human even though everybody else was.

And then there was her body. Maybe Noel's problem wasn't just that she loved too quickly, but she wasn't what men wanted. The idea that she should give up on men altogether danced in her mind as she looked down at herself and felt crushed by what she saw. She was no size two blonde or tall, thin exotic woman. Both of her parents were larger people and she had never had any problem with herself until this moment when she wondered whether the world had changed too much and grown too vain. Suddenly, Noel had the urge to drop her tray on the ground and sprint for the nearest bar to guzzle down a drink. The fact there was a young couple stealing kisses outside beneath a red and white striped umbrella didn't help.

Should I go home?
Noel looked down the streets of America and thought of Sydney and all that she missed. Her family, the blue ocean, the sandy beaches. On top of that, Noel had a lot of friends back in Australia. Maybe not a lot of love interests, but friends. She could really use a friend right now. Dawson was the wakeup call she needed. The world was telling her to go home.

Shoulders slumped, Noel meandered back behind the counter, then sighed.

Noel sat in front of her computer, staring at the screen before her. It had the itinerary of a flight back to Sydney, but she had not clicked the purchase button yet. It wasn't that she didn't have the money. Her mom and dad had offered to give her five hundred dollars to go home after her hellish ordeal. No, the reason why she couldn't click the enter key was because she kept seeing Dawson's face.

With a groan, Noel turned around, then flopped on her air mattress and buried her face in the material. She had to fight down the urge to drive her own head against the wall. Why was she letting the idea of Dawson stop her from heading home? Really, Dawson should have been the driving force to get her as far away from this awful place as possible. But she couldn't stop thinking about him. All she wanted to do was erase the last week and go back to when Dawson was trustworthy and when she still had faith in humanity, even with all of her anger at Peter.

As Noel pummeled the bed with her fists like a five-year-old during a temper tantrum, her cell phone rang in her pocket. She buried her hand in her pants, then pulled out the phone and glared at the caller ID. It read, 'Peter.' She was so shocked she almost dropped the phone. For a second she almost didn't answer it, but then the anger of what he had done to her bubbled up to the surface. She was tired of men like Peter and Dawson. She was tired of being used. With a growl, Noel answered the phone, prepared to give Peter exactly what he deserved—an ear scorching.

Unfortunately, before Noel had any time to spew fire, Peter ranted first.

"I can't believe you would send your boyfriend after me. Didn't take you long to find a replacement for me, did it?" Peter growled. "Not only did the dick give me a black eye, Nancy heard us fighting and broke up with me. You bitch. You have it coming."

Shock took over anger. Boyfriend? Who the heck would beat up Peter? Before she would have assumed it was Dawson, but she had told him to never visit her again and had meant it.

"W, what are you talking about?" Noel asked. "I don't have a boyfriend."

"Sure you don't." Anger overwhelmed every word. "Tall, blond, pretty boy. Never thought he would fight like that. He came storming up here and called me a dick for breaking your heart and punched me in the face. Don't you dare tell me you didn't send him after me, because I know you did."

It was Dawson.
Noel's eyes grew so wide they ached. She had no idea why Dawson would bother beating up Peter when he had broken her heart too. Though Noel knew she should have apologized for the incident, she couldn't stomach the thought of uttering the words "I'm sorry" to such a slime ball.

"I didn't send him after you," Noel snapped. "I don't have anything to do with that man. Now don't call me again or I'll make you regret it."

Though Peter yelled something angrily into the phone, Noel shut off the power before she could hear what it was. As she laid her phone down on the bed, she stared at it, overwhelmed with confusion. For just a moment she turned her head and glanced at the computer on the desk, sighed, then shut the top of the laptop. A few more days of working at the coffee shop wouldn't kill her. It didn't matter where she was, after all. America or beautiful Australia, her heart was still going to hurt.

****

Noel hovered in the back of the coffee shop where they kept their supplies. Piles of desserts delivered by the bakery down the street sat in the right hand corner and stacks of cardboard boxes filled with coffee were to her left. As Noel glanced down at the clipboard in hand and then looked up at the boxes again, she heard the sound of the back door squeaking open. That door was louder than a lion's growl. Frowning, Noel turned around, wishing she hadn't been interrupted. The busy work had finally gotten her mind off of her recent heartbreaks.

A high school aged employee, Danielle, walked through the door. Danielle was tall, thin, and red haired. Noel had never seen anybody eat so much and be so thin. The girl could have eaten their entire supply of cheesecakes and it would have dissolved in her stomach.

"What do you need?" Noel asked. "Is it getting crowded in the store and you need a cashier?"

"No." Danielle shook her head, then grinned knowingly. "There is a hunk outside asking for you. He says it's extremely important."

Noel's mind jumped to both Dawson and Peter. Peter could have been here to seek revenge about getting beaten up, but he didn't know where she worked. That left Dawson. Though her heart thundered in anxiety, a small part of her got a rush she wished she could fight down. Dawson was a cheating scumbag. She had too much self-respect to put up with that kind of behavior like some women did.

"Are you okay?" The grin slid off of Danielle's face. "Should I tell him to get lost?"

Though Noel was sorely tempted if only for her own sake, she shook her head. She was an adult, and there was no way she was going to let a teenage girl fight her battles for her.

"I'll talk to him." Noel straightened her shoulders. "Guess that means I'll be taking an extra break today."

"The boss is gone. He won't even notice." Danielle shrugged. "I'll take over back here."

Danielle's kindness stunned her. She had been so obsessed with seeing the world as a bad place lately she had forgotten there was a lot of good in it too.

"You sure?" Noel asked. "You should be off now."

"I've noticed how sad you've been lately. Guy trouble is the worst." Danielle nodded toward the door. "You just take care of it."

"Thanks, Danielle." As Noel headed for the door, she squeezed Danielle's shoulder on the way by. "I'll get this over with fast."

Strengthened by Danielle's kindness, Noel prepared herself. With every step, though, she trembled more and more. She didn't want to talk to Dawson and see his face which would remind her of the gorgeous woman he had kissed that day on the porch. When she reached the door to the front, she hesitated, then pushed it open and stepped through it. The clerk glanced curiously at her then turned back to attending the line of patrons eager for coffee. Next to the line stood the man Noel was both eager and uneager to see. Dawson.

Dawson didn't appear as attractive as he had before. His blond hair was the usual mess, but without the healthy, sexy sheen it normally had. Dark bags were underneath his eyes. His skin, which used to have a golden glow, was now pale and pasty. His clothes were baggy and wrinkled. In his arms, he held a bag. Noel approached him so stunned by his appearance some of her previous anger was crushed.

"Dawson?" Noel raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing here?"

"I know you told me to stay away, but we had a big misunderstanding." Dawson said this all very fast so that the words combined together into mush. "That woman you saw on my front porch really was my sister, Kenya. My parents adopted her from Haiti. Look."

Before Noel could say anything otherwise, Dawson spilled the contents of his plastic bag all over the coffee bar, earning him scowls from patrons. Dawson ignored this. So did Noel after she realized what was in the bag. Pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. There were pictures of Dawson and Kenya as kids sitting in front of the Grand Canyon with his tall, curly-haired mother and short, golden skinned father. There were pictures of the two of them as teenagers, eating pizza and drinking cans of soda in front of the television. There were even pictures of a wedding. Kenya's wedding. Kenya, in a trailing wedding dress, stood beside a tall man who gripped her arm while grinning at her. At her side, Dawson watched with his eyes sparkling.

Suddenly, Noel was hit with crushing relief and sheer embarrassment so powerful that everything she had felt before seemed weak in comparison. Dawson was not a two-timer. The girl who had kissed him before leaving was his sister and Noel…Noel had made a moron of herself. Suddenly, even the simplest ability to find words were lost on her. She had done many stupid things in her life. She had trusted Peter, she had jumped off the school roof with a paper sack in an attempt to fly, and she had drunk two bottles champagne in one sitting, but even combining all of those stupid choices would not equal to what she had done this time. She couldn't breathe because she struggled so hard to figure out what to say.