Strangely Perfect

9. The Noah Effect

||unedited||

N I N E:

"Aimee, wait one second." I paused and turned around to see Adam Case jogging up to me and dragging attention toward us. "About that apology ice cream with the the side Cheese and Onion chips," he began the second he reached me.

"Oh right, yes?" I recalled slowly beginning to feel bad because I had forgotten and already promised my mom that I'd look after my little brother, Noah whilst she was away at work.

"Could we maybe take a rain check? I'm so sorry but Coach wants us all at practice; he wants us to begin early for this season and I... kinda don't wanna die if I don't show up." Adam wore a look of guilt as he carried on speaking so I figured I'd just put him out of misery. My phone buzzed with a text from Jamie telling me to hurry up, "Oh it's no big deal," I looked up from my phone and shrugged.

"Really?"

"Yeah... my mom just texted me anyways. She needs me to babysit." I assured him to which he gratefully smiled as a response, "Alright, see you later, Michelson."

We parted ways after a goodbye and I hurriedly made my way to the car park -- skillfully dodging the curious eyes of the nosy student body-- and into Alex's awaiting car after I felt my phone buzz a couple times more from my impatient friends. "Hey guys, sorry I'm late."

"Finally." Jamie cheered.

"Alright so," Alex started once we reached a stoplight, "we all agree that we're staying at Aimee's? I was going to go to Neil's but he's got practice which means he'll forget to do his chores which will ultimately result in Nonna yelling at him tomorrow. So I'll just go tomorrow for the drama."

"You are something else, Lex." I raised a brow at my best friends questionable joys.

"We already knew that, anyways I'm so excited to see little Noah!" Jamie cheered happily completely obsessed with my little brother treating Noah as if her own sibling. Alex and Jamie were basically family anyways.

"Mom, we're hom-- goddamnit Isabelle!" I angrily yelled at Belle who showed no look of guilt on her face once she appeared in the hallway to get her soccer ball that had just slapped me right in the face, dropping my keys with my frog chain on it in the process. Alex laughed at my pain with a simple, "Heyo!" And Jamie winced and asked if I was okay.

Isabelle grabbed her ball from where it landed after smacking me, took one look at my fuming face and simply said, "Whoops my bad." But she did not sound sorry.

"Isabelle! How many times do I have to tell you; take your ball games outside." My beautiful mother, Amelia Donovan appeared in the hallway with her hair tied up and an apron over her work clothes. "Apologize right now, Belle."

Belle sighed, "Sorry... your face was in the way of my ball."

"Nope, try again." Mom said with a stern voice.

"Sorry I hit your face. I'll take it outside." She begrudgingly said.

"It's alright little sis, I love you!" I chirped, knowing very well it would only just irk her more.

"Whatever, I hate you." She mumbled before harshly brushing past my shoulders and slamming the front door.

"Okay then..." I smiled victoriously. "Hey mom." I greeted, following her into the kitchen, kissing her cheek and taking a seat on the island stool.

"Hey Mrs D." Alex and Jamie greeted, taking a seat beside me.

"Hey girls, how was your day?" Before either of us could complain or talk, the front door opened and the sound of a little voice echoed into the house, "Mommy, mommy! I'm home, I'm home, I'm home!" The little brunette haired boy came bouncing into the kitchen with a happy-go-lucky smile as he ran into his mothers arms.

Noah Donovan, my six year old adorable little brother who's surprisingly well behaved and a complete saint. Everyone loved Noah, he just had that affect on people. His cute, sparky brown eyes and his even cuter smile and his adorable laughter had the power to warm anyone's heart. Even Alex's.

Before anyone could say anything Noah looked over at me and then my best friends. "Aimee, you're here! And you brought Jamie and... ALEX!" Noah carried his little legs as fast as he could over to the stool Alex was on and Jamie scoffed in annoyance. I waved to Noah and he animatedly waved back before looking to Alex.

"Hey, Noah. Nice shoes." Alex got down from the stool and crouched down to Noah's height with a smile on her face. Now Alex may be pretty negative, but when it came to food or kids, it was like she was a different person -- just like I said, Noah had that effect on people.

"Thanks! They're Paw Patrol."Alex laughed and tickled his tummy and Jamie huffed, "This is so not fair! How?" She pouted, looking at Alex and Noah laughing.

"Jamie, calm down. It's not like he doesn't like you at all." I attempted to cheer her up but I think it sounded way better in my head.

"But she doesn't even try and he idolizes her! I don't get it."

"Maybe she's just naturally good with kids?" I offered and Jamie gives me an unimpressed look. "Okay, I thought I'd be better at this. I'm not." I laughed nervously.

"Why won't Noah love me?"

"You're starting to sound like the desperate girls at school."

"You know, I buy so many toys. And I just get a thanks and a 'you're the best, Jamie!' but no fun time!" Jamie whined. "That's it. I'm going to earn that little angel's love."

"Maybe his love isn't brought by toys and-- okay she's going." I watched as Jamie crouched down to Noah just like Alex and joined in. Alex laughed, knowing very well that Jamie was still salty about how Noah always hopped to her first and stood back up to let her be.

You see, Noah was a huge fan of Alex and completely adored her and -- if you hadn't already guessed -- Jamie hated that. Because no matter how much she brought for him and hung out with him (which was way more than Alex or I combined together ever did) Noah still preferred Alex. I mean, I didn't mind but Jamie was so affected by it that Alex and I decided to use it as our very own source of entertainment.

"There's my beautiful wife, hey!"

"Hey, honey." Mom greeted my step dad, David who entered sporting a Paw Patrol backpack. Mom met David when I was eight and got pregnant with Noah when I was ten or eleven so technically speaking Noah is mine and Belle's half brother but that made no difference in my books.

"Hey, David."

"Aimee, how have you been sweetheart?" David smiled brightly and came over to kiss my forehead before ruffling my hair. I laughed and watched as he found his way back to my mom, hugging her with so much love.

At first, I was so against David and my mom being together. So much so that Belle and I even came up with an evil plan to prevent David from sticking around. Thinking back on it, our plan wasn't the best. Mom and David split after seeing how much Belle and I didn't approve which made my mom miserable like when my dad died. I eventually realized that David made mom happy and I love my mom and hated seeing her so down. So after convincing Belle that David wasn't that bad for a few days (it took some time to tell her he wasn't Satan), we came up with another plan; which was slightly better than the first one. They did get back together after that and that's when Belle and I were introduced to David's son who is now our step brother who we disliked at first. But Zac's not that bad and I seriously missed him whilst he's away at his second year of college.

"Nice bag, David." Alex snorted.

"Yeah, I decided I needed a little change. Carrying a briefcase is so last year." David humored Alex and placed his briefcase onto the island counter and made a face.

"Alright, time to eat." Mom announced after placing the last serving bowl of peas and carrots onto the dining table. "Belle, honey! Time to eat."

Jamie came back to where Alex and I were still sat and looked Alex in the eye with determination, "Noah's love will be mine."

"Okay, go for it." Alex shrugged not at all bothered.

"Jamie, come on." I shook my head with pity.

"Hey, Aims. I will do this, Alex is going down."

"Alex, come sit next to me!" Noah cried out happily, patting the seat beside him and Jamie's determined look fell.