Keeper of my Heart

'He was a boy. She was a girl. Can I make it any more obvious? She did ballet-'

"It's 6 a.m., you better have a good reason for calling me so early," Noel Ashford grumbles from beneath her duvet, hand barely slipping out to grab hold of her phone. She heaves a heavy sigh when she sees her best friend, Priscilla Wright's name flash across the screen.

"Do you have any idea what time it is right now? Have you no self-awareness?"

The deadpan tone of her friend crackles through the other end. "Do you know what time it is? I've been standing outside your house for the last 20 minutes; school starts in 10 minutes."

Shooting out of bed, she pulls her phone away from her ear to check, realizing she had checked her phone upside down when looking at the time.

It isn't 6 a.m., it's 9 o'clock.

"School starts in 10 minutes," Priscilla's singsong muffled voice bursts through the phone as Noel tosses her on speaker, rushing around the room to gather clothes that smell clean.

"Did your dad not come home again last night?" she hears her friend ask.

Hopping around the room as she attempts to put her sock on, she yells back across the room. "It's been about 3 days in a row now, I have no idea where he goes or what he does, he just calls me every night to tell me he is working later and not to wait up."

She hears Priscilla snort.

"Must be nice to have parents who aren't ever around but at least remember you're still alive."

Priscilla is the only daughter of Mayor Austin Wright and his catalog copy wife, Stephanie. Due to this, she never sees her father other than when the family is needed to pose for cameras or help open a new establishment. Despite her father never being there and her mother caring less about her, Priscilla still has a strict set of rules she needs to live by, to uphold her family name and image in town.

Living in such a small town as Bisbee, Arizona, word tends to travel fast amongst the residents and for someone like Mayor Wright, having the public on his side positively is a must to keep his position as long as possible.

It's not like anyone else is rushing to be Mayor of this dingy town.

"Are you almost done? I don't want to have to pick a seat in front of the class. I have Mrs. Jones for the first period, and she spits a lot when she talks, I better not have to take a saliva shower today because of you, Nole!"

Noel cringes at the corny nickname her friend gave her the first day of freshman year, misreading her name on her nametag thanks to her dyslexia.

"Nole just sounds better, you have copper hair and hole yourself up inside like a mole, so it isn't far off from your true nature."

She doesn't know what compelled her back then to become friends with a girl who had just compared her to a mole, simply because she prefers a night in with snacks and Netflix, rather than a night out with bad food and partying. You can get her to go almost anywhere with the temptation of food, but it better be damn good.

There are also no clubs in Bisbee, having to go to the next city over just to have the same amount of fun, if not more, that she can have at home.

"Okay, I'm ready! I'm coming down now," Noel says and grabs her phone to hang up, but sees that Priscilla already ended the phone call 5 minutes ago.

She makes it outside to where Priscilla is leaning against her cherry red Subaru, a guilt-gift given to her by her dad for her 16th birthday last year because he couldn't make it, like most of her birthdays she has said.

"Finally," she calls out, but points a finger at her watch and then at Noel. "But we are now late, and there is a 99% chance now that I will have to pick a seat at the front of the class, which means you owe me to lunch today, and I get to pick whatever I want from the cafeteria."

Noel just chuckles at her friend and agrees to whatever she demands.

"So, here we are, the last year of this 12-year sentence," Priscilla says, running a hand through her sleek blonde hair as it whips through the car's open window. "This is the last year to be a teenager, don't you think?"

"What do you mean? We're barely 18, still got 2 more years to go before you can call yourself an adult, and even then, I doubt we'll be much different than now."

Priscilla shakes her head. "Everything is going to start to change. High school ends, and everyone goes their separate ways, we'll no longer have the connection of arriving at the same place every morning, walking the same path every day."

She turns and gives a pointed look to Noel.

"This is why I hope you try to get out more this year and experience life a little more. Actually, how about this, you make a goal right now to do one thing this year that you have wanted to do for a while, but just haven't found the courage or motivation to do. There has to be something," Priscilla says.

Noel doesn't have to think that hard about it, she knows there is one experience she has missed out on purposely, because of both lack of courage and motivation, but knows she will regret it if she doesn't experience it this year before she goes off to college.

Experience falling in love, at least once.

She has read enough books and watched enough drama shows to know how most high school relationships go, most if not all of them ending before the couple even graduates. Her mother once said to her that falling in love when you're a kid and when you're an adult are two completely different feelings of love.

Noel's parents are considered high school sweethearts when her mother was alive, having met and started dating in their last year of high school, attending the same college together, until her dad changed career paths afterward, and got married when they discovered her mother was pregnant with little Noel. Her mother still stood by what she said, explaining that she fell in love with her father when they were kids, and fell in love with him over again when they got older, this time falling in love with the older, mature version of him.

That's how you know you have found your soulmate. When you continuously fall in love with the different phases of their lives and changes of themselves, always be able to accept them for whoever they become.

"I'd like to try and date, maybe at least go out with someone once," she ends up replying. Falling in love in less than a year is a little far-fetched.

Her college has already been decided, having applied as soon as she could to the California College of Arts in San Francisco. It has been her dream school, the same one her mother went to, ever since she discovered her passion for art and wanted to pursue a career in it. It is a private college, where tuitions cost more than a house in some places, and she doesn't have room to make any mistakes in her academics until she graduates.

"Okay, now we're getting somewhere. Do you have anyone in mind already, maybe someone whose name also begins with an N?" Priscilla asks, nudging her shoulder teasingly as she slows the car to pull into the school parking lot.

"Oh, speak of the handsome devil," she mutters excitedly, spotting the sandy blonde hair of Bisbee High's star athlete, Nolan James.

Noel sinks in her seat as Priscilla purposely drives slowly past him and his group of rowdy friends, peeking her head up just in time to see his green eyes shift in their direction, a crooked smile gracing his face. She yelps silently and ducks back down.

"Can you be any more obvious?" Priscilla mutters while Noel covers her beat red face and sinks to the floor, wishing she could just disappear into the ground.

Noel manages to make it through her first day back without any more mishaps or embarrassments but is let down when Priscilla tells her she has already scored her first date with one of the new guys in their class, a name Noel didn't bother to catch.

This means she has to either walk or get on what passes as public transport around here. Looking at the condition of the bus shelter itself, she opts to walk home, thankful it's a cloudy but warm day at least.

Popping in her headphones, she turns on her summer mix to ride out the last remaining feelings of the summer season as the leaves slowly start to tumble around her, signaling the first sign of autumn. Her favorite song, skater boy by Avril Lavigne comes on and she instantly sinks into the lyrics, nodding her head along with the beat.

Drowning in her music, she doesn't hear the roar of the motorcycle engine behind her until the rider is whizzing past her at a distance close enough that she is pushed forward slightly due to the gust of wind that rushes past.

"Asshole!" she screams after them, though they're long gone by now, the sound of the engine still heard around the bend of the street.

Leaving one headphone out this time, she hurries her way home, suddenly regretting not having taken the bus. She finds her anger flaring up again when she finally makes it home and sees the same death trap that nearly ran her over parked on the street next to her house, most likely a friend of the guy living next door, some bachelor in his mid-40s that does nothing but sit at home and supposedly scam people, as her father has theorized.

As usual, she doesn't see her father's car in the driveway. Assuming she has the house to herself again for the night, she drags her feet into the house and tosses her bag on the ground the moment she gets in, kicking off her converse and not caring where they land before she trudges upstairs.

Stripping out of her slightly sweaty clothes, she grabs her 'oodie' sweater that she got for Christmas and her birthday, both falling days apart with her birthday, unfortunately, landing on New Year's Day. Unfortunately for both her and her mother, her birthday is always being overlooked thanks to Christmas and her mother for having to go through that pain on a day to welcome in a new beginning.

What a way to start the New Year.

Grabbing a clean towel and face cloth from the closet next to the bathroom door, she doesn't notice that the door is already closed, when she left it open this morning. Due to her agitated and exhausted state, she grasps the handle and swings the door open.

A wave of steam slams her in the face, waking her up in time to see the tall figure of someone walking out of the shower.

"Well, this is some sort of home warming gift," a deep, melodic voice floats through the haze, a pair of pale blue eyes coming to rest on her shrunk-back form against the door.

Without thinking, she lets out a shrill scream.

"Ah! Who the hell are you?"

Before the stranger in her bathroom can answer, Noel hears the loud voice of her dad calling her through the door.

"Is that you, Noel? Are you alright, what happened?"

The strange boy just grins at her, sending a chill down her spine, and turning to bolt out the door. Her father comes running up the stairs just as she scurries out into the hallway, the boy following behind her, finally donning pants.

"Dad, intruder! He broke in and he-he-"

"Decided the first thing he's going to do is use their shower?" the boy smirks.

Assessing the situation, it doesn't take her dad long to piece everything together, already seeing this arrangement having issues.

"Noel, honey, this isn't the way I planned for you two to meet, I wasn't expecting you home so early today," her dad starts to explain.

"What the hell are you talking about, dad? Who is this and why is he in my bathroom?"

He lets out an exhausted sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"This is a recent client of mine, we just succeeded in winning his case, but he doesn't have anywhere to go and is looking for a second chance to rejoin society. Noel, meet your new housemate, Harken Lewis."

"You're joking, right?" Noel scoffs. "I mean most fathers 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 behaviour 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, already planning to try and steer clear of him until he is inevitably kicked out or leaves of his own accord, unable to cope under the strict 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 teenage 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 as he leaves her alone with this weirdo.

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

"So, your name is Noel? With your interest in spying on defenceless 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 door handle as he calls out to her again.

"Nice pyjamas."

Her face now the colour 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 than 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 chiselled face, and a tall posture.

As handsome as he is, everything about him screams playboy and it irritates her. Studying his well-toned arms, she can see a bit of colourful ink sticking out from underneath the cuff of his long-sleeve 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 her serving of chicken, mashed potatoes, and boiled carrots. Although the dinner table looks set up for everyone to set down at, she walks right past it to the living room and sits down with her plate in her lap, turning on the TV.

Flipping through the channel while she lazily lifts her fork to eat, she nearly jumps with her full plate in her lap 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 as if his crotch is on fire.

"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 all right."

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 unexpectedly.

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 sudden unknown relief when he hears the doorbell, rushing over to open it for Noel's friend, Priscilla, understanding where the feeling of relief came from. 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 mom's place, and if so, she outshines you." She tosses him a wink then struts upstairs, leaving Harken to scoff and look at Mr. Ashford 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 me 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 any way, 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 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?"

"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. What do you think he's going to do once he gets out? Do you think witness protection cares about that? I'm doing this because you have no options for 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 and allows Harken to think about what he wants.

"Just...watch your mouth, all right?"

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 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 at Harken leaning against the doorframe, that infamous crooked smirk on his handsome face. Did he hear anything Priscilla just said?

Ugh, why did God favour 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 wit's 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 behaviour 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 beet 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 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 expecting 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 to the Harken she first met.

That peace was short-lived.