Zephyr

After lunch, Zephyr and Max exchanged numbers. Noah stood idly by until they wrapped up their discussion and started on their separate ways. Max was sure to catch his eye and give him a wave with the promise of seeing him later that night. Noah was caught of guard and jerked his hand up with an awkward wave in return. When he looked over at Zephyr, she was giving him a half smile.

"What?" Noah asked, a mild blush rising to his cheeks.

"And you always said that no one wanted to be your friend," she teased.

"It's true," he said, brows furrowing as he started walking in the direction of his dorm. "They don't want to be my friend, Zeph. They want to be yours."

"Noah-"

"Seriously," Noah snapped. "Everyone wants to know about you, not me."

"Give it a while," Zephyr urged. "You have to give them a chance. They need to get to know you. After that, it's a lot easier than you think."

Noah seemed annoyed, but she wasn't about to let the conversation end on such a sour note.

"I know, I know," she sighed, reaching over and throwing an arm around his shoulders. It was rather difficult because he was a good head taller than she was and she was forced to walk alongside him on the balls of her feet. "We can't all be blessed with such a blatantly adorable face like mine, but you're cute in your own way, Noah."

He shot her a look of utter disbelief, but when he saw her grinning so unabashedly back at him, he couldn't help but crack a small smile. It wasn't her looks that caught people's attention, it was her smile.

Zephyr said that she wasn't always this way and she used to be just about as awkward as he was.

"One day you'll wake up and realize just how many fucks you don't give," she said once, one night when he found himself drunk enough to call her.

"Anyways, you might not believe this, but no one's life is perfect," Zephyr said now. "Especially not mine."

Noah glanced over at the petite young woman, recognizing a somber look in her usually bright gaze. He wanted to ask her about it, but he didn't want to overstep any boundaries. Having her there in person was radically different, yet curiously the same. Instead, he looked down at his feet and pretended not to notice. It hadn't even been a minute before she was pulling her arm from around his shoulder and skipping up the steps to his building. Her eyes were alight with wonder and curiosity, almost as if she'd never been on a college campus before.

Other students were watching her.

Some were just as curious as she was while others were eyeing her in disdain. Zephyr continued to bask in her own amusements, sweeping up all the glances and swiftly blowing them away in the western wind that she was named for.

But as Noah recalled, the Zephyr in the old myth was supposed to be mild.

And when he looked at the young woman balancing precariously on the stairs before him, he saw someone who looked more like a quietly brewing whirlwind.

xxx

Upon stepping into the small room, Zephyr asked Noah which one was his bed. As soon as he pointed to the one in the far corner of the room, she dove into it and rolled herself into the blanket. Zephyr mumbled something about taking a quick nap after being tuckered out by the drive. He didn't think he had any way to deny her that as he set his bag down and looked at the watch on his wrist. It was still early and from the steady breathing coming from his bed, he figured that she would be asleep for a while. Quietly, he settled down in front of his computer and logged on.

It was only a couple of hours before the door opened and a tall young man with blonde hair slipped in, followed by his girlfriend, Sara. Noah glanced over as they came in, talking about something before the girl looked to him and offered a wave.

"Hey, there was a girl that was looking for you," she said.

Noah nodded his head, cocking his head towards his bed where Zephyr was still knocked out. The girl peered over and giggled, giving Noah a smile as she shook her head.

"I heard she's been wandering around campus all morning. Of course, she'd be tired," Sara said. "What's her name? I didn't catch it earlier."

"Zephyr," Noah replied, feeling her boyfriend's eyes on the back of his head. He was sure that they were both surprised that he had a visitor, much more so since it was a girl.

"How'd you meet her?" The other boy finally asked, skepticism lining his tone.

"Through the internet, she's from D.C.," Noah said, not bothering to look at him.

"Don't look at him like that, Ross," Sara chided. "I think it's cute that you guys can get together like this. Hey! You should come with us and bring her to the party tonight."

"I told her I'd take her to the Chesterfield party later," Noah mumbled, scratching the back of his head.

"Really? Why don't you guys come with us to this party in Harbor instead?" she seemed excited, which was odd. "It'll be fun."

Sara was never inclined to invite him out before, but he kept his mouth shut and nodded. Noah didn't know how to turn down an offer when he'd never gotten one before. He never imagined that things would be moving this fast. Zephyr had just popped up and her mere presence was stirring about all these bizarre changes. Noah wasn't sure if he even had the capacity to imagine any of this happening at all. He looked over to the bed as she began to stir and she sat up, rubbing her eyes as she yawned.

"Did someone mention fun?" She asked, squinting at Noah before realizing that they had company. "Oh! It's you."

"I see you managed to find him," Sara beamed. "I'm Sara, by the way."

"Sara! I'm Zephyr," she smiled and waved. "Thanks for your help. I ended up running into him outside the Commons."

"We're heading to this party tonight," she said. "Noah said you guys were going to Chesterfield, but why don't you come with us?"

Noah looked to Zephyr in a panic and she must have seen it because she laughed a little and shook her head.

"Ah, I promised my friend Max that we'd go to Chesterfield tonight. It's pretty important to a friend of his," Zephyr said without hesitation. "But hey, maybe next time."

"Oh, that's fine," Sara said with a smile. "I guess you're sticking around for a while then?"

"As long as Noah lets me bum around," she replied with a shrug and shooting him a wink.

The fact that Zephyr made everything look so easy baffled Noah. They were simple things to begin with but he always found them near impossible. Yet here she was, interacting with these people she had never met with a seemingly natural finesse. Here she was, taking the time out of her day to hang around him and see first hand just how sad his life truly was.

Noah turned his attentions back to his computer while they continued to chat and exchange contact information. Although Zephyr tried to bring him into the conversation now and again, he stubbornly brushed off her attempts with short, one worded answers. It wasn't until they left that she suddenly whacked the back of his head with one of his own pillows.

"What the hell was that, Noah? I need a little more effort from you!" She was shaking the back of his chair. "Work with me here, come on!"

"I'm not really interested in becoming friendly with Ross anyway, what's the point?"

"You're writing them off without even giving them that chance," Zephyr said.

"It's not like I owe them one," Noah muttered. "They never gave me one."

"You know, you don't exactly give off the most inviting aura," she pointed out. "But be the better man, Noah! We're going to this party tonight and I'm going to need you to be more open to socializing."

"Zeph-"

"EFFORT!" Zephyr demanded. "Promise me that you'll give me some."

Noah scowled, but the intense stare that she was fixing him with had him withering within a matter of moments.

"Fine."