Teaching Noah | √

043

I wasn't sure I was ready to meet my tutor.

"Hi honey, Noah says he's almost here," Mom poked her head into my room, a smile on her face, but it didn't help with my nerves.

Noah. I tried to rack for my brain for any Noah I knew. How did they really act? How did they look? The only Noah I was familiar with didn't inform any humans that he was building an ark for his own safety.

Big ups to him for caring for the animals, though.

I sighed. It didn't make sense that I was trying to put him under a category, trying to figure him out before I even met him, but it was all I could do to stop my fear of meeting someone totally new. Someone who was going to be teaching me, at that.

When Mom told me that I was getting a tutor, I wasn't too pleased, but she hadn't withdrawn me from school to stay home and do nothing. However, she didn't know about my fears either.

"Noah's here," Mom came around shortly, grinning madly. I wanted to ask why she seemed so excited, but I refrained from it.

"Are you okay?" her smile turned into a slight frown.

"Does he know?" I couldn't stop myself from bouncing my legs.

"Know what?"

"About the disorder," I swallowed.

"I informed him, yes," she came into my room fully, closing the door behind her.

"You said he just turned 17, what does he know about Tourette's Syndrome?" I hoped she would see where I was coming from. At this point, my nerves were going on overdrive because I knew that this guy was downstairs waiting for me, and probably it was a little too late for this.

"Oh, Riley, I didn't even ask how you felt about this," she sat beside me on the bed, her hands in her lap.

"I just don't want anyone thinking they're doing me a favor by teaching me," I told her softly. "All through my time in school, only one teacher was able to do that... and that's scary."

She put her arm around me, "Let's see how this goes, please? If anything happens that makes you feel uncomfortable, you'll let me know?"

Noah was standing by the island table in the kitchen, his hand moving around for something in his backpack. He must have felt a presence, because he instantly looked at me, his tall figure more evident as he straightened.

"Hey, I'm Noah. I was just looking for my glasses," he had an easy smile on his face as he made his way to me, stretching out a hand for me to shake.

"I'm Riley," I took his hand and shook it firmly, swallowing. "How often do you lose your glasses?"

"I probably should never take it off at this point," he chuckled.

"Partially blind?"

"Nope, just longsighted. It sucks," he said matter-of-factly. "My friend says you can't have it all. You can't be this fine without having a defect."

I didn't think he was trying to be funny, but I laughed at his words, and then a small smile crept unto his face.

"Narcissist?"

He shook his head. "Never. I just think there are some things you can't be too modest about," the smile returned to his face.

Noah didn't ever have to try. After my first day of lessons with him, I found myself being comfortable with him. He was effortlessly funny and extremely patient. And though, I waited throughout for a conversation about my disorder to come up, it never came.