Scarred Beauty Read Free

that. Noelle is my best
friend. We share an apartment together not too far from here. She’s amazing,
but she has her own demons to live with. Anyway, you see, I’m gay.”
    Isaac waited for the food to be taken away
before starting up the conversation again. The female friend sounded like
someone who really mattered, so Isaac brought her up again.
    “I guess Noelle is one of a kind,” he said.
    “She’s the most amazing friend I’ve had.
Throughout the rehabilitation process and the start of my new life she’s been
by my side.”
    “How come you didn’t bring her today?” Isaac
wanted to meet the woman whom Brad talked so fondly about.
    “I wanted to meet you in person, alone for my
first time. She wouldn’t come out. She doesn’t like going out much.”
    Isaac noticed the vague answer from his brother
but left it alone. Other people’s business had nothing to do with him. When his
phone went off, he told his secretary to reschedule all of his appointments as
he would be busy for the remainder of the day. Isaac was shocked by how much he
wanted to get to know the man in front of him. The life Isaac led left him
unsatisfied, and the only way to get out of it was to take charge and be the
type of man he wanted to be.
    They talked about everything, the restaurant
buzzing around them. Isaac didn’t pay attention to the waiters as they served
coffee and then dinner. The day went by as Isaac and Brad got to know each
other. The first meeting was a huge success.
    Brad’s phone beeped during a conversation. Isaac
watched as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and went to delete the call.
    “Shit. I’ve got to take this,” Brad said and
made to get up.
    “Don’t worry. Answer your call. I won’t be
offended.”
    “Hi Noelle. ... I’m perfectly fine. Yes, I’ve
met him. I’m sorry I didn’t call sooner. All right....”
    Isaac could hear the concern Noelle had for his
brother. He wondered what the woman was like. Did she have a family of her own
to care about? Brad started laughing, shaking his head.
    “I’ve got to go. I’ll be home soon. Take care,
bye.” He ended the call. “I’m sorry about that. We usually call each other on a
regular basis to make sure we’re okay.”
    “She sounds like a wonderful woman.”
    “She is. You’d like her, but I doubt very much
you’d meet her.”
    “How come?”
    “She rarely leaves the apartment, especially
during the day. I don’t want to talk about it as she’s my best friend, and her
problem isn’t a part of this.”
    “Then by all means, continue with what we talking
about before.”
    He listened to Brad talk some more and spoke
with him. The problems in his own life were irrelevant as he sat drinking
coffee and talking with his estranged half-brother.
    ****
    Noelle placed the phone back into the cradle and
stared out across the dark night skyline. The lights were switched off in the
apartment, so she couldn’t see her reflection in the glass. Opening the doors
on the fortieth floor, she stood on the patio and looked down at the street
below. She saw people walking around, oblivious to their life being observed.
Sighing, Noelle folded her arms over her chest and walked back inside the
house. When Brad hadn’t phoned to say he was okay, she’d been worried half to
death.
    For the past three years, they’d been each
other’s strength. She’s met him when she was seventeen, in the last year of
high school. He’d been sat in an alley way as she walked past. Her gut had told
her to stop when she walked in front of him, so she had knelt down. He’d stared
at her with a vacant look. Her scars had meant nothing to him. His addiction
problems meant nothing to her. Together they’d survived their painful pasts.
    They could depend on no one but each other.
    Winter was fast approaching, and soon she
wouldn’t be able to leave the house without the added comfort of a hat, gloves
and scarf.   She picked up her romance
book and began reading. The