I try to remember to forget you
But I break down every time I do
_____________________________________

James M. Barrie once said, "A safe but sometimes chilly way of recalling the past is to force open a crammed drawer. If you are searching for anything in particular you don't find it, but something falls out at the back that is often more interesting." It was almost exactly for this reason that Noelle Ackerman found herself wandering down Nohea Kai Drive, a place she wouldn't normally venture unless she was paying a visit to Jethro Cohen. Though, in light of recent events, it was incredibly doubtful that she would willingly visit Jethro anytime soon. It would be too embarrassing for her. After the night they had spent together she felt so cheap, like she might as well have left twenty dollars on her pillow for him before she left. Making love to someone was supposed to be a wonderful, special, and fulfilling thing, but now it left her feeling cold and empty. That may be another reason why she was here...

Here's what happened. Noelle had been feeling down the past couple of days - for obvious reasons - and decided it was time to go for a run. It had been a little while since the young woman had let endorphins help rid her of stress. While searching through the closet for a pair of sweats and such to wear, a box had fallen off the top shelf and it's contents spread all over the floor. At first, this only further added to her aggravation, but as soon as Noelle began cleaning up the mess her eyes caught the silver foil that made up the lettering of her senior year yearbook. It had been a long time since she looked through the pages of bound memories, so the girl took a seat on the floor and sat the book in her lap. As she flipped through the yearbook, each page brought forth a new smile and a remembrance of good times Noelle had had in high school, until she turned to the page of the homecoming football game. In the middle of the left page, there was a picture of her and her high school boyfriend together. Damien Torres. They both looked so happy then, and that thought alone brought a hint of sadness to Noelle's pretty face.

After another twenty minutes or so of contemplating past events, the bartender decided that maybe it wouldn't hurt to pay Damien a visit. They had reconnected again over the past couple months, but it had still been a little while since they'd spoken - especially after their failed attempt of having coffee together. Why was it a failed attempt? Because it never happened. However, once during the couple conversations they had had online they managed to exchanged phone numbers and where they were living now. Noelle was able to find the address and now came to a stop in front of one of the big white beach houses on "Rich Man's Way." Only the wealthiest lived on Nohea Kai Drive, which meant Damien had to be doing pretty well for himself. She had never found out what it was that he did for a living, all Noelle knew was that he boxed to help himself keep in shape for it. Whatever the job was it obviously paid well, and even made the girl contemplate enrolling in college and figuring out what she actually wanted to do with her life rather then working at Marco's forever. Miss Ackerman did not want to turn into the little old lady that had let her life pass her by, but she also didn't know how to choose the path that would take her to where she wanted to be. It was kind of like that one quote she'd heard before, "Whoever said nothing's impossible never tried to slam a revolving door." Her life was like that revolving door.

It was a little silly that Noelle was here, now that she thought about it, but all the same she began making her way up the long, paved driveway to Damien's front door. It must be a real pain for whoever it was that had to clean the homes on this street. They were so big that as soon as you were finally done you might as well go and start cleaning that first room again because the dust would be back. Then again, maybe she was too used to the cozy little home that her and her brother split the money for. Big homes were nice - they had lots of space and were usually very beautiful - but after living an a smaller house her whole life it was hard to imagine what she would do with herself in such a big place. Especially alone like Jethro and (she assumed) Damien. It would be great to have a home like this if you had a spouse and five kids, because you never had to worry about running out of room for everyone and there were always places for the little ones to play. It was pointless to dream though, because unless Noelle married rich it was doubtful she would ever have a home like this. Again, she would stick with her cozy little house.

The young woman slowly made her way up the few steps to the front door, her arms crossed tightly in front of her the whole time. It was a little chillier in Maui nowadays since it was December. Granted, it wasn't like they were in Pennsylvania where it snowed but it was still cooler then Noelle was used to. As a result, she wore a pair or sweats and comfy pair of Uggs flats. She still had a tank top on like she would wear in the summer, but over it there was a light zip-up sweatshirt that she was holding close to her. Noelle wasn't the kind to get herself all dolled up when she was just going to visit a friend, so she elected to dress comfy instead of in a pair of jeans and some pretty but itchy blouse. No, Damien wouldn't mind her like this. He had seen her in high school when she had the stomach flu and that was ten times worse then her appearance now. Taking a short breath and unfolding her arms, the woman tapped her knuckles lightly on the wooden door before dropping her hand again and taking a step back.

`Status: Finished
`Tag: Damien Torres
`Word Count: 1083
`Lyrics By: Hinder - How Long
`Notes: I don't remember where the avatars are from
Sorry to keep you waiting! D:

why'd you go and
break what's already broken
_____________________________________

A cool breeze blew by, making Noelle pull her shoulders up against the unfamiliar chill. The few days when it was cooler here in Maui it was so strange for her, because a majority of the year was warm and that was what she was used to. If she were to be placed somewhere in the northern USA where it snowed a lot Noelle didn't know if she would be able to survive it. Thankfully, she wasn't going to be moved into a different climate anytime soon. As much as she wanted to visit places like New York and Chicago, she would rather go during months like June or July when it would be nice and warm. She dreamed of walking down 5th avenue or taking a ride on one of those...what were they called? Monorails? It was something like that. But she had never gone farther then to the Big Island, it was very doubtful that she would be traveling over the Pacific anytime soon.

It was taking a long time for Damien to come to the door, which made her question whether or not he was home. Deciding she might as well give it a second try, Noelle raised her fist to knock on the wood again right before it was opened by an older woman who looked like she had been awfully busy. "I'm sorry to bother you, but is Damien here?" This wasn't Damien's mother, so Noelle had to assume that it was either another relative that she had not met or a maid or something. Well, Jethro had a maid, why shouldn't Damien have one too? There was no way a man would be able to clean a house like this on his own, at least not properly, unless the man was a neat freak. But Noelle had lived with Will long enough to know that a normal man did not enjoy cleaning. Granted, she didn't either, but she was usually the one stuck doing it anyway because if Will did by the off change give it a try he didn't do it right and in her eyes it was still dirty. Maybe it was the curse of being a woman.

The woman in the doorway explained kindly to her that Damien wasn't able to see anyone at the moment, so Noelle nodded politely. "Okay, well, thank you." It was silly of her to come anyway, when you thought about it. She and Damien hadn't spoken to each other in four years until a couple months ago, and even since then they hadn't conversed much. It was a juvenile thought that she could come here and they would get along great and have a nice day catching up. Well, that wasn't what Noelle really thought was going to happen anyway. Actually, she wasn't entirely sure what she expected out of this visit at all. Maybe she just wanted someone to talk to who may not drill her about why she looked so sad, or maybe she really was interested in having a friendship with Damien again. Either way, it wasn't going to happen, at least not today.

There was a little bit of something else that had brought her here today as well, the thing that kept her from turning around right away and heading back home. Noelle was worried. Despite their history, the girl still cared for Damien, and something didn't sit right with the fact that they reconnected and then suddenly she him for a while again. On top of that, the woman had said that he wasn't able to see anyone right now. What did that mean? Figuring that it would only stress her out more if she decided to fret over it, Noelle gathered herself and offered her goodbyes before she turned to walk back down the porch. Just as she was about to step down onto the first step, she heard a man's soft voice in the background saying, 'Annie, it’s ok.' The voice sounded a whole lot like Damien's too. When she turned back around in her place, her chocolate eyes beheld him in the doorway. She may have let a smile creep over her features, but his appearance made her stand there, mouth agape, for a moment.

Damien was hurt, just from the cuts and bruises on his face it was obvious, but that wasn't the half of it. His shoulders, his arms, his chest, his abdomen, everything was covered in painful looking scraps and black and blue marks. "Oh my God, Damien." Noelle finally found the strength in her to move, and took the few steps back to where she had previously been standing while she waited for the door to open. Being this much closer, he didn't look like he was in better shape at all. "What happened?" The emotional agony that she had been suffering was gone, replaced with the image of Damien standing in front of her beaten up and hurting. At least, Noelle thought that he was hurting, it looked like it was impossible for him not to be unless it was one of those "it looks worse then it really is" things. All the same, this was not what the young woman had expected when she walked up his driveway a few minutes ago.

He gestured her in, and Noelle quietly walked into the large home. The first thing she usually did when entering a place like this for the first time was look around at it's size, but she couldn't. Instead the girl stepped away from the door and turned back to the broken man standing in the foyer. 'Why’d you come here?' That certainly wasn't what she had been expecting. It sounded almost harsh from his choice of words, like he didn't want her to be here, but Noelle tried not to think of it that way. "Well...I was..." Her arms rose and folded in front of her again, but this time not because of a chill. It was a nervous habit. "...I guess I was worried about you. I mean, you never showed up for coffee like we were planning and then I barely heard from you. I just wanted to see how you were doing." Her concerned eyes couldn't leave his wounds. The more she looked at him the more she wanted to know what happened, but at the same time she hoped that he wouldn't tell her.

`Status: Finished
`Tag: Damien Torres
`Word Count: 1100
`Lyrics By: Hinder - How Long
`Notes: YAY FOR MUSE!

i try to take a
breath but i'm already choking
_____________________________________

The air in the room hung about them heavily, threatening to strangle her with the tension between them. It had been awkward that day at the beach between Kaze, Damien, and herself, but this was even more so. When he raised his voice at Annie to fuck off, she tightened her crossed arms to herself in surprise. She had seen Damien angry before but that was so long ago, and it was different. Back when they had been really close he would be angry over a bad call in a basketball game or something that only high school students would be angry at. Now, well, Noelle didn't know why he was angry with Annie, for she was only trying to help. That was what made this so uneasy for Noelle, because she was afraid that if she said the wrong thing he would snap at her too, and this girl never really knew how to take people yelling at her. No, she didn't go run off and cry, but she didn't know how to deal with it because it wasn't something she was used to.

Noelle watched as Damien then leaned against the door with a pained expression on his face. It was easy to see that he was struggling. It was sort of a womanly instinct that almost made her step forward and offer him her shoulder to help him to the couch, but before she had the chance he had already said he had to lie down and was making his way over himself. She followed him at a comfortable distance, but still close enough that if he were to stumble she could hopefully catch him. When he sank into one of the couches, Noelle rested her hands on the back of one of the chairs and watched quietly. When he apologized for not being able to make it to coffee, she shook her head. "Oh no, don't worry about it, it isn't a problem. It's just that since I didn't here from you I wondered if something had..." She stopped there, being able to see that clearly something had happened. Something that she couldn't have prevented - she guessed? But then, there was always that nagging part of her mind that told her if she had tried hard enough she could have prevented it.

'Make yourself comfortable please.' Always the obedient one, Noelle did as Damien asked her and walked around the chair she was leaning on to take a seat. It was doubtful that she would be able to sit comfortably though, because even if she didn't want it to her back remained straight and her muscles stiff. She was sitting on almost the edge of the chair, watching her old friend with sorrow as he winced in discomfort. Her sweatshirt fell off her shoulder when she sat, so Noelle pulled it back up and then clasped her fingers together to set between her knees as Damien spoke again. Yeah, she could tell that he had gotten beaten up. She didn't want to ask by who, for fear that it would be like pouring salt on the wound. Oh, bad metaphor. "Is it anything that I could help with?" Referring to the trouble that he was in. Noelle hated seeing him like this, and if there was anything she could do she would. "At least let me take you to the emergency room or something." That was a trip that he desperately needed, whether he wanted to be stubborn about it or not. What if he had internal bleeding or something? It could be very dangerous if he didn't go to the ER.

`Status: Finished
`Tag: Damien Torres
`Word Count: 618
`Lyrics By: Hinder - How Long
`Notes: this is so depressing...