Chapter Two

"You're joking, right?" Noel scoffs. "I mean most father's bring home like a puppy or stray cat at most for their kids, not some...uh, some-"

"Delinquent? I think that's the word you're looking for," Harken chides.

Noel glares at him.

"I understand your hesitation about welcoming someone like him to live with us, but I assure you Harken will be on his best behavior while he is here. Right, Harken?" He adds the last part with a tone of warning.

Harken lifts his hand to salute him, a cocky grin on his face.

"Yes, sir, Mr. Ashford."

Noel rolls her eyes and shakes her head, unable to wrap her head around the fact that she is going to be living with this immature man-child. She can already tell they won't be getting along, so she won't bother trying to, planning to steer clear of him until he is inevitably kicked out or leaves of his own accord, unable to cope under the house rules of her dad.

If there is someone like Harken Lewis living in her home, she doubts her dad will be leaving her alone at night now. How could he leave his precious daughter alone with some teenaged delinquent he picked off the street?

Right?

"I'm not asking you two to be the best of friends, just please try and get along, maintain the peace in this house, that's all I ask," her dad says, before turning to walk back down the stairs, Noel gaping in disbelief.

Not forgetting how she just walked in on him stepping out of the shower, she turns on her heel to retreat back to her bedroom and escape the situation.

"So, your name is Noel? With your interest in spying on defenseless guys, I would've thought your name was Peeping Jane," Harken calls out teasingly.

She closes her eyes as she feels her face go beat red, but she ignores him and continues walking, her hand pausing on the doorhandle as he calls out to her again.

"Nice pajamas."

Her face now the color of a ripe tomato, she rips open her bedroom door, dashing inside and slamming the door. Sliding down it she covers her face in utter shame, wanting to scream into her fingers, mentally clawing at her mind to remove the entire moment that just occurred.

She can't believe she did all of that while standing in nothing but an oversized hoodie with unicorns on them – there is even a horn on the hood! She gives herself a slight thumbs up for not wearing it, but she doubts that would make it any less shameful as it already is.

Twice in one day she has wanted to dig a hole and bury herself in it.

Why is her luck so terrible today?

~*~

Noel decides to hide in her room for the remainder of the evening, distracting herself with the bit of homework she received, despite it being the first day back. She is just about done when there is a knock on her door.

She opens it to reveal Harken, this time fully clothed and in much better lighting than before, she can actually see his face this time. She hates that he is good looking, naturally tanned skin with pretty pale blue eyes and shaggy dark hair, a chiseled face and tall posture.

As handsome as he is, everything about his screams playboy and it irritates her. Studying his well-toned arms, she can see a bit of colorful ink sticking out from underneath the cuff of his long sleave tee, suddenly interested in seeing the rest.

"Are you done checking me out? If so, dinner is ready, Scott told me to come get you," he says, grinning at her with a wink.

Caught off guard and red-handed, Noel just gapes at him, grasping for a comeback but finding nothing as her brain slowly processes what just happened. By that time, he has already turned around and sauntered back down the stairs.

She huffs angrily and marches down after him, taking an empty plate ahead of Harken and her dad and loading it with a serving of chicken, mashed potatoes, and boiled carrots. Although the dinner table looks set up for everyone to sit down, she walks right past it to the living room.

Flipping through the channel while lazily eating, she nearly jumps off the couch when Harken plops himself down next to her. He snatches the remote out of her hand and picks a random channel, some unknown action film halfway through.

"Hey, I was using that!" She reaches out and tries to snatch the remote back, but his long arms are more than enough to keep it out of reach.

"You were taking too long picking something," he grunts, then shocks her once more by shoving the remote down his pants as she makes another attempt to grab it, her hand reeling back.

"You've got to be kidding me? How old are you?"

Harken rolls his eyes. "Relax, guys wear these things called boxers, and it protects their junk from touching other outside things. I don't expect a virgin like you to know, it's alright."

Noel knows he is just trying to annoy her, but the fact that he was able to tell right away how innocent and inexperienced she is by one glance for some reason bothers her enough that a wave of anger washes over her.

Picking up her plate, she storms into the kitchen and tosses her half-eaten food into the sink along with it, before continuing to storm upstairs.

Scott Ashford has no choice but to watch his daughter storm away from a confused and dumbfounded looking boy, bowing his head a moment before looking to the ceiling.

"And you always said you had wanted another child, Liliane," he mutters to himself, a bitter smile touching his lips.

He feels unknown relief when he hears the doorbell, rushing over to open it for Noel's friend, Priscilla. Scott frequently refers to Priscilla as 'the buffer', being known to stop the frequent public outbursts between her father and mother, as well as keep Noel's anger in check.

"If you're looking for Noel, she just ran upstairs, come on in," he says and opens the door wider for her, revealing Harken still slumped over on the couch.

Priscilla offers a sweet smile to Noel's father Scott but drops it instantly when she spots Harken eyeing her from the couch, not bothering to even sit up straight and greet her properly.

"Who are you?" she asks, acting the same and not bothering to hide her snarky tone.

"Your worst nightmare," he says, pondering flipping her the bird since it's obvious she already hates him.

"Harken!" Noel's dad warns, but he ignores him.

Priscilla laughs at his comeback. "Impossible," she says. "Pretty sure I just left your moms place, and if so, she outshines you." She tosses him a wink then struts upstairs. 

Harken scoffs at Scott in disbelief.

"That's the kind of friend your precious daughter has?" he asks, unable to see where the connection between those two contrasting girls is.

"They balance each other out, I suppose. Anyway, you need to watch that tone of yours. I already warned you I have a daughter and she has been on her own with myself for a long time, she isn't used to living with anyone else, especially not someone like yourself."

Harken laughs mockingly and rolls his eyes.

"Yeah, I get it, I'm the big bad wolf and she's your sweet little red riding hood. If anything happens to her or I disrespect her in anyway, it's out on the street or off to jail this time, right?"

"Harken, that isn't what I was going to say, but if you already understand what is expected of you to stay here, then just do it. You made this deal with the judge because it was either this or a government run shelter, where you're monitored 24/7 and share a room with several other guys who have actually committed crimes."

"My name was cleared, was it not? The judge pardoned me, so why can't I be free to do whatever I want now? I can continue my parole without having to shackle up with my lawyer and his daughter."

Scott Ashford knew he wouldn't understand why his name was actually cleared or the consequences of doing so.

"You and your buddies got to walk free, because you gave up the names and faces of the men who really did it. Do you know who those men are? Hired killers, this was a job for them, and they failed because you exposed them. Newsflash, genius, one of them is still out there."

Harken laughs. "So, you think they're going to track down a bunch of kids because they got caught? This isn't some stupid action film, Scott, or why not place us all into witness protection?" he mocks.

"You fail to remember one of your little buddies wasn't completely innocent of his crimes of grand theft auto that night, thanks to the testimony you provided us. He only got 6 months in juvie being just shy of 18 at the time. What do you think he's going to do once he gets out? You think witness protection cares about that? I'm doing this because you have no options of protection at the moment, and you're my responsibility."

This angers Harken and he stands up in a flash.

"I'm just your client, that hardly makes me your responsibility. We agreed the only reason I'm staying here is to finish my high school and then get the hell out of here, I don't need your care or your protection, I'm perfectly capable of doing that myself."

At this point, Scott is too tired to continue arguing.

"Just...watch your mouth, alright?"

Harken looks reluctant but nods his head, slumping back down into the couch as Scott wanders upstairs for the night. Harken finds himself flipping through the channels now, not paying attention to the screen as he contemplates his first night in the Ashford house.

~*~

"Can you believe my dad?" Noel rants to Priscilla. "What was he thinking allowing someone like Harken Lewis to live with us? He's despicable! He made blatant comments about my sex life, like we've been friends for years. Who does that? The audacity!"

"Are you done? My eardrums, girl," Priscilla complains, covering her ears.

Noel stops screaming and huffs in silent anger, not feeling any better after getting all that out. She has never tried to hide the fact that she is a virgin and inexperienced in pretty much every aspect of love, but never has she had someone flat out point it out in front of her, let alone a complete stranger.

"Actually, no, I'm not. Why the hell did my dad even bring him home? He just expected me to accept this stranger in my home with no explanation as to why he is here?" Noel continues.

Priscilla falls back onto her bed, groaning into the pillow.

"Maybe you guys should just screw, get it over with and get all this sexual tension out of the way, then see where it goes from there. You'll be killing two birds with one stone, get him off your back and get your obsession with your virginity taken care of. Besides, I just saw him and looks wise he is definitely a 10, who cares if his personality is in the negatives?" Priscilla says, at this point barely paying attention, flipping through her phone.

"Why did I know you were going to suggest that? Not everything can be solved by just throwing yourself at the other person, especially not a boy like Harken. I mean, you saw him, doesn't he just scream playboy jerk?" Noel cries.

"Jerk? I thought it was asshole?"

"Ah!" Priscilla and Noel scream in unison, looking to Harken leaning against the doorframe, that infamous crooked smirk on his handsome face. Did he hear anything Priscilla just said?

Ugh, why did God favor his looks but not his personality? Wait...he said I called him an asshole?

Finally hitting her, Noel remembers the jerk motorcycle driver from earlier and puts it together – that was Harken, go figure.

"It's inappropriate for a guy to enter a girl's room, it's called manners," Noel sneers, crossing her arms against her chest in defiance just wanting him to disappear from in front of her.

Harken snorts at her. "You're so uptight, damn. Don't bother trying to cover yourself, there isn't anything there to cover, by the way."

"Ugh, you're infuriating! What do you want?" Noel asks, feeling her patience running as thin as a spider's web.

"Give me the code for the garage, I want to put my bike in there, it's supposed to rain later," he says.

Noel frowns, remembering she has already long set up the garage as her home art studio because her dad is never home to use it and she doesn't have a car of her own, it was just being used for storage with more than enough room for her.

But she would have to remove everything just to fit his stupid bike.

"Don't you have a cover for it?" Priscilla asks, knowing her friend will most likely cave under the domineering attitude of this ass.

He most likely does and is just looking for an excuse to vent his boredom onto Noel, but she doesn't care. If sacrificing her art studio will get him to leave her alone, it's more than enough.

"Just ask my dad for it."

"He's not here, oh, he also wanted me to tell you he's going to the office and won't be back tonight, so more reason for me to use the garage, right?"

He actually left me alone for the night with this delinquent douche-nozzle?!

Feeling at her wits end, Noel storms out of the room and down to the garage. She punches in the code with Harken standing right behind her, the heat from his chest slamming into her back, causing her fingers to start shaking.

"You could've just given me the code," he says, his breath fanning down the back of her neck. She tenses her shoulders and wiggles away from him, only feeling like she can breathe when there is some distance between them.

"Maybe I get a thrill out of defying people. Honestly, can you imagine such a person? I'm loads of fun to be around I assure you," she says mockingly, hoping he picks up she is referring to his infuriating behavior towards her.

Harken hunches over and lets out a bark of laughter, the sound filling up the hollow garage.

"Woo, that was a good one, Little Red, didn't think you had that in you."

She wrinkles her nose in disgust. "Little Red?"

"Yeah, like little red riding hood, and I'm the big bad wolf, coming to eat you up." He winks at her, and she hates how red her face becomes from his stupid comment, her heart beating wildly.

She just rolls her eyes in disgust and turns away from him, admiring what used to be her safe haven spot.

"Why did your parents name you Noel?" he suddenly asks her

"It was my mom who picked it," she mutters, not exactly wanting to walk down memory lane of her mother with Harken Lewis. He can make fun of her life however he wants, even comment on her virginity, but it's a different story when it comes to her late mother.

Harken seems to sense that this is a touchy subject, and doesn't comment further on the subject, looking around the garage in silence, his eyes fall on the corner of the room where her art studio is set up.

"Never took you to be a painter," he says, flicking one of the paint brushes sitting in a paint splattered plastic cup on the end table. "Don't most artists have wild and crazy sides to them? Not many artists are considered hermits."

"How would you know that? No one has ever said a painter needs to be wild of any sort, look at Bob Ross."

Harken chuckles. "Yeah, then look at artists like Vincent van Gogh. Do you want to be an artist like him, or Bob Ross?"

Noel is already expectant of him to say something snarky, but this time he actually poses a point in what he is saying. Although both painters are known for their work, before and after their golden time, they are known and remembered in two very different ways.

When Noel thinks of artists like Bob Ross, she thinks of simple and serene paintings. When she thinks of Vincent van Gogh, she thinks of daring and eccentric artwork. Both have their place in the world, but what kind of artist does Noel want to be known and remembered as? A shut in with limited varieties, or an eccentric with bountiful creativities?

"I get your point," she grumbles. "Let me just move my stuff out, you can put your bike in the corner until my dad gets back."

"Does he always leave you here alone?"

Noel just shrugs, not sure what's going through Harken's mind as he is suddenly being neutral towards her after pushing her buttons all evening.

"Well, whatever, if he says anything I can feign innocence. I was never given the garage code, anyway," he says and winks at Noel, turning on the switch and reverting back to the Harken she first met.

That peace was short lived.