AN: ok, here's more epicness of win! (or at least, that's what I'm letting myself think…) anyway, I'm gonna keep trying the first person and see where that takes me… ^_^
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN TOKIO HOTEL, ALTHOUGH I DO OWN A SHIRT NOW *laughs maniacally* SO NOW, NO COPYRIGHT!
CLAIMER: I DO OWN NOELLE SHANAHAN AND HER FAMILY SO STEAL AND DIE!
Chapter Two
I woke the next afternoon to my dad bouncing on my bed like a little boy and yelling at the top of his lungs. I will never understand where he gets his energy from, ever. "Noey, Noey, wake up!"
"Ungh," I managed. Unlike my crazy father, I never have energy when I first wake up. That comes around after I've been up for about three hours and have had my coffee. I live on coffee, and caffeine in general. My dad, on the other hand… He breathes and he has crazy amounts of energy… I seriously wonder sometimes if he's on some kind of hyper drug.
"Come on, Noelle, you slept through half of yesterday, all through the night, and half of today. Surely you've caught up on sleep by now." My dad knows about my travelling trouble and he's normally really understanding about it.
Not today.
"Noey, it's my last day before I wake up hours before you. I would like to see you awake a little bit today," I heard the smile in is voice as he went on, "even if watching you sleep is incredibly cute."
"Dad," I mumbled, wondering what had made him so insensitive this morning.
"Besides, our next door neighbors have a son around your age-ish, and I want you to meet him. It'll be good for you to know someone around here." I just groaned again and tried to drown out his voice. He sighed. "Either way, you're going to have to, since they're coming over in forty minutes."
THAT got my attention. "WHAT?" I screeched, sitting bolt upright in bed, nearly cracking skulls with my father as he tried to pull back in time and nearly failed. "And you didn't mention this before why?"
All I heard was him laughing maniacally as he rushed from my room back downstairs. I sighed. "My father is crazy," I informed my new bedroom, as though it hadn't figured that out already.
Oh, yeah, another thing about me: I talk to inanimate objects. A lot. Something I got from my dad; you'll see one or both of us yelling at some poor object that we ran into as though it was the thing's fault we hit it. I also tend to just talk to things. It helps me work out stuff that I can't tell people, even my father…
No one needs to know how much I'm still going through. Even I don't really know how much I still hurt. Probably not a good combination, but whatever. It works for me.
Anyway, after my dad's announcement of guests in less than an hour, I bounced out of bed into the bathroom it connected to.
I loved my new bedroom, in case you haven't noticed. It's so different from the one back in America. Soft green walls with white trim and a chocolate-milk-colored carpet. It would really fit my stuff when the rest of it got here later today, I thought. All my Tokio Hotel paraphernalia. Posters, a doormat, a bedspread, buttons, shirts, wristbands: you name it, I have it. The only thing I have yet to do is meet them, and I'm not planning on that one. I'm a fan, yes, but not to the point where I have to meet them, or I'll go nuts. I'm more the type to admire from a distance.
If I don't get close to it, it can't hurt me, right?
Pondering these thoughts, I hopped in the shower and back out in record time (aka about fifteen minutes). Once I was done with that, though, I had a problem. Most of my nice clothes were still on their way from the States to Germany. This was nicht gut… Ha, my first German phrase, yay! Anyway, after a while, I just dug through what I did have, hoping to find something decent. Eventually, I settled on a pair of ripped up light jeans, a black T-shirt that said "I'm Ninja (you can't see me)" on it, and my typical black sneakers. I pulled my now-nearly-dry hair into a messy bun at the back of my neck and I was good.
As I rushed to the top of the stairs, I heard the doorbell ring and tripped. Just my luck. The first time I meet the new neighbors and my distinct lack of balance shows up. Great. My dad opened the door as I wobbled, trying to regain my balance. Of course, as soon as they walked in, an older woman, probably in her fifties, followed by a brown-haired kid that looked familiar. My balance tipped a little farther, and I desperately reached for anything that could hold me up.
No luck.
Just as the familiar-looking kid reached to shake my dad's hand, what was left of my balance died and I started falling.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!" I yelled as I saw the ground coming up to smack me in the face. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the impact that never came.
Instead of hitting hard wood floor, I slammed into someone's soft-hard body with a loud, "Oomph!" Muscular arms caught me and carefully set me on my feet, holding me until whoever it was became sure I wasn't going to fall again. I concentrated on making sure my balance had come back from vacation, trying to ignore the arms still hovering nearby, ready to catch me again if I needed.
Forcibly shoving thoughts of testing my theory out of my mind, I raised my head to thank whoever had caught me. Then my throat froze as all words died a horrible death in my head.
Georg. Georg freaking Listing was standing rather close to me, a concerned look in his eyes as he watched me, arms still out. Georg Listing, possibly my favorite person ever, my idol, had just seen me showing off my lack of balance, and just caught me… Dirty thoughts rang in my brain and I firmly shook my head once to get rid of them. No one but my dad needed to know just what he and band had done to me.
Clearing both my head and my throat with a small cough, I resurrected the words I'd been about to say before I recognized him. "Thanks." Then, remembering the few German words I knew, I added, "Danke schon." Just to sound smart. He smiled at me knowingly and slowly lowered his arms.
"You're ok now, though?" Darn him and his sexy German accent, making sane thought die again. Now I had to go and bring it back to life again!
"Euhm, yeah, thanks."
"Gut." He smiled again and stepped back, allowing me to get a look at his mother for the first time. Dang, but he looked just like her. Her hair, her eyes, her… ok, I'm going to stop now before you all realize just how horribly in lo- I mean, obsessed- I am with this kid. Shaking bad thoughts out of my head again, I forced myself to remember how to be polite.
I smiled at Mrs. Listing and stuck my hand out. "I'm Noelle, if my father didn't mention my name before." Mrs. Listing smiled and shook my hand.
"He did not, and it is a pleasure to meet you." Her smile was different from Georg's, so I assumed he and his dad had that in common. I smiled back and released her hand.
"Pleasure is mine." I felt my dad beaming behind me at my manners; I've been known to forget them. Especially when I'm surprised, like right now.
Georg's mom stepped back and turned to pull her son forward again. He'd slunk back after making sure I wasn't going to fall over my own feet again, apparently hoping to avoid being noticed. I found myself smirking at him as he attempted to argue with his mother and failed. She pushed him towards me- and the image was hilarious: twenty-year-old Georg allowing himself to be shoved around by his mom- before moving around us to follow my dad to our bare living room for what would end up being hours of chatting.
Georg looked nervous, shifting from foot to foot, not quite meeting my eyes, which actually wasn't hard to do. All he had to do was look straight forward and he'd be looking about seven inches above my head. Yeah, I'm a shrimp; I barely pass the five foot test, and I'm a stick. I could probably eat my own body weight in a day and not gain a single pound. I'm just lucky that way; it drives my dad bonkers.
Not like that takes much. He's bonkers anyway.
I turned my attention back to Georg, who was finally looking at me again. Probably wondering where my brain had gone, something I often wondered.
"Sorry, my mind has a habit of running away on me." He blinked, confused.
"What?"
"Um… my mind was wandering."
"Oh."
We were both quiet for a moment, and I took the opportunity to study him, noticing that he was doing the same to me. It made me want to fidget, wondering what he saw and what he thought. I sighed softly. "It's getting boring just standing here. You want to go out back or something?"
"Sure."
I turned and headed for the kitchen, hoping my dad hadn't finished all the Cokes off already. He had a bad habit of doing that… A quick peek into the fridge showed that he hadn't. I grabbed one for myself and one for Georg, ignoring his slight wince. Apparently when I'd said "drinks", he'd thought alcohol, not soda. Typical German. I snickered, and he glanced at me again.
"Mind wandering again?"
"Sorta." He snickered then, and I nearly tripped on air at the sound. He needed to do that more often. It was cute, almost cuter than Bill's. Almost.
We headed out to the backyard and plopped down on the stairs to the deck, as there was no deck furniture yet. My dad and I would have to do something about that soon, oh, well. I popped my Coke open and chugged. I loved chugging soda, it scared people. No one expected me to be able to. Georg's eyes went wide as he watched and took cautious sips of his own.
"Careful, don't choke yourself." At his words, I snickered and sprayed Coke from my nose. He stared at me and then burst out laughing. If I hadn't been in pain from my nose, I would have joined him. Instead, I just grinned like the idiot I am around guys I like and waited for him to calm down.
After he did, he turned to me, his expression suddenly serious. "Were you wondering why I didn't 'introduce myself'?"
I shrugged, knowing what he was getting at. "Not really."
"So you know." It wasn't a question. "Are you a fan?" That was.
"I'm a fan, yes, but not a creepy-stalker fan."
"I see." His green eyes scanned my face, and whatever he was looking for he seemed to find it. "Glad to know my mom's next door neighbor isn't freak."
"Hey, now, just 'cause I'm not a stalker doesn't mean I'm not a freak!"
"You're actually insulted by that? Really?"
"Unlike some people, I'm proud of being insane." I grinned. "Ask my dad." He slowly started to grin back, and then we both randomly burst out laughing.
After our laughing fit, we just sat out there talking about whatever came to our minds until his mom poked her head out to tell him she was heading home.
"I might as well head out, too." He rose and helped me to my feet, his hand staying on mine for an instant longer than necessary. "Your dad mentioned something about you needing someone to show you around, Noelle?"
"Not show around, just hang out."
He grinned again. He'd been doing that a lot around me, it made me happy. "I can do that. I'll see you around then." He waved and headed out before I could make a sound.
Long after he'd left, I managed to utter a response. "See you around."
AN: so, yeah, there's chappy two, yay! Too lazy for long an, so I'll see you all in chappy three and in eighteen of 4G4G! *does happy dance* good night, y'all!
TwinSwords
