The first day of work after the Founding Day party is always a bit of a zoo. Something worth talking about always occurs during the event and gossip spreads through Halo like an infectious disease, so the halls and offices are inevitably full of chatter. This time is no different, except that now, some of the chatter is about Noel.
"So are we gonna get an explanation or…?" Tess finally asks. She managed to wait until after lunch, which is admirable, even if she did send Noel wide-eyed looks every other second.
"There's nothing to tell," Noel says stiffly, training his gaze on his monitor.
Tess scoffs at him, practically hanging over the dividing wall between their cubicles. Though Noel can't see the rest of the room, he can almost feel everyone else in the suite straining their ears to catch the conversation. "You can't be serious."
"You know I'm always serious, Tess."
"The photo!"
"Look." Noel leans back in his chair and pinches the bridge of his nose. His post-guiding headache has yet to fade completely. "If I tell you exactly what happened, do you promise to drop it?"
She nods eagerly.
"It's not as interesting as you think it is," Noel warns.
"Just tell me," she says, waving a hand.
In Noel's periphery he catches Elijah's head popping over the wall.
"Don't be disappointed," Noel starts. "It really wasn't anything worth all of this. I was coming out of a bathroom and I saw Ransom in the hallway." Not technically untrue. "He was drunk, so I kindly helped him to the front desk to pick up his room key and then took him upstairs to his suite. I dumped him on the couch and left."
"That's it?!" Tess exclaims. "No way."
"I told you it was anticlimactic." Noel sits back in his chair. "I had no idea someone had taken a picture. Or why someone even would. Nothing was going on."
"That's not what people are saying on the forums," Catherine's voice drifts over from her desk.
"What are they saying?" Noel asks with trepidation.
Tess's eyes glitter. "Everyone is saying that you didn't leave last night," she says conspiratorially, though everyone in the suite can probably hear her. "Someone heard from someone who heard from one of the hotel employees that your brother was going around everywhere looking for you because you never left the hotel."
Noel's stomach gives an uneasy lurch. "Yeah, he called me the next morning to yell at me," he mutters. "But I was at home. I left the party and caught a taxi. Probably no one saw because no one ever pays attention to me, and Beckett was just looking for something to get onto me about. I'm telling you, nothing happened."
"I hope for your sake that's true," Catherine pipes up again. "Because it looks like some of the A-classes are pretty ticked at you right now."
"What?" Noel stands up in order to see her. "Why?!"
Leaning back with her heels crossed on the desk, she points her pen at him. "Because rumor has it that Ransom slept with the person in the photo, and you are the person in the photo, and you are a guide."
"A D-class!"
"Exactly. You know how tyrannical the upper classes get. Down here, class divides don't matter as much, but once you hit B, they get really weird and puritanical about it."
"Well, I didn't sleep with him," Noel insists. "So they have nothing to worry about." Sitting back down, he mumbles, "Not that he would sleep with them anyway."
"He's gotta be sleeping with one of them," Tess insists. "Otherwise how's he getting guided?"
"I thought everyone agreed he was seeing someone outside the agency," Elijah says.
"How could he keep them a secret this long, then?"
"I don't see why it's any of our business," Noel cuts in. "Don't you all have work to do?"
Tess whines plaintively but Noel just ignores her, focusing on his screen.
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He and Jade are on opposing schedules again, so Noel doesn't see him at home for several days, which is probably for the best. He's had quite enough of Jade Ransom for a while.
He makes it all the way to Thursday after the party without anything worse than some stares and whispering, but then, during the last hour of his shift, his tablet pings with a guiding request.
Noel frowns down at the blinking icon. He's only supposed to be receiving dummy requests from Dr. Summers in order to keep up appearances, but he doesn't recognize this ID, plus the assigned room is in the upper level of the guiding wing. Memories of his tense confrontation with Jade flood his head and Noel's finger hovers over the reject button. But if he rejects this, Catherine might want to know why and could potentially go snooping through his recent requests. Biting his lower lip, he hits accept.
The halls are emptier toward the end of the day, so Noel is mostly unobserved as he makes his way through the guidance wing to private room 4-12. His plan is to politely ask whoever requested him to choose a different guide; he knows that Jade would be furious to learn that he'd guided another esper. How he would find out, Noel isn't sure, but he definitely would.
The light is on when he arrives, so he knocks and waits until a muffled woman's voice says, "Come in."
"Good afternoon, ma'am," Noel starts, swinging the door open. "I'm Guide Arden and I'm responding to your request for—" he cuts off, staring at the woman standing in front of the window. "Guide Quinn."
Genevieve Quinn crosses her arms. Her auburn hair is pulled up into a messy bun, strands falling loose to frame her stony expression, and she's wearing a matching blue skirt and blazer set that probably costs more than Noel's monthly rent. "Noel, is it?"
"Yes, ma'am—I'm sorry, I thought this was a guidance request—"
"I couldn't exactly go down to the D floor just to see you, could I?" she asks, disdain heavy in her voice. "And there's something wrong with your personal request channel. I had to use my father's upper-level clearance key to get in."
Noel's stomach sinks. "Why…why do you need to see me?"
"Close the door," she orders.
"I think I'd better—"
"Now!"
Noel jumps and quickly shuts the door, trapping himself in a room with the angry daughter of the CFO. She's backlit by the afternoon sun, a forbidding silhouette staring him down from across the room. Noel doesn't dare step any farther inside. "Can I help you, Guide Quinn?" he asks, barely keeping a handle on his anxiety.
"Let's skip the bullshit," she snaps. "Are you Jade Ransom's guide?"
"No," Noel blurts out, possibly a little too fast, judging by the way her eyes narrow. "No," he repeats more calmly. "I know there have been some—rumors—but I swear, Ransom and I barely know each other."
"You don't know him, but you took him to his room and stayed the night?" she presses.
"I didn't stay the night! Seriously, I dumped him there and I left!" Sweat prickles at the back of Noel's neck. "I just didn't want him to pass out in the hall and, I don't know, blow up a bellhop or something. I know that drunk espers can be unpredictable."
"Then why did you chase me off?" she demands, taking a step forward.
"I—I didn't—"
"Don't fuck with me—you waited until I was gone and then you took Jade from me!"
"Took? No, that's not what I—"
"You lied just to get me away from Jade so that you could have him for yourself!"
"No!" Noel's voice rises to match hers and she blinks in affront. "I wouldn't do that, and I didn't lie to you—I heard Beckett mention you in the lounge and I thought he wanted to see you—did…didn't he?" he asks weakly.
Her upper lip curls. "He said he didn't," she bites out, "until I mentioned you, and then suddenly he said he actually was asking for me. Were you two collaborating to mess with me?"
A nervous laugh escapes Noel's mouth. "Definitely not," he asserts, internally puzzling over her response. Did Beckett actually need to see Genevieve and just forgot?
Genevieve scans him from across the room. "How long have you been working here?"
"Two years," Noel answers hesitantly.
"And you don't know Jade? Even though your brother is his best friend?"
"No. Why would I? I'm D-class, remember?" Noel holds up his ID. "Look, Guide Quinn, I don't know why you're so suspicious of me, but—"
"Did you tell anyone what happened in the hallway?" she cuts in, stalking a few steps closer.
"What happened—? Uh—what do you mean—?"
"You heard me and Jade talking. You must have."
"No, I had just got there—"
"Stop lying. Your face was clean even though you had wine on your collar. You had been in the bathroom."
Noel swallows, sweat gathering at the back of his neck. "Why does it matter?" he manages.
"Have you told anyone what you heard?" she demands shrilly, fists clenched at her sides.
"Why?" Noel holds her incensed gaze as best he can, heart thundering in his ears. "Were you doing something wrong?"
She stiffens. "That's not what—"
"Something like trying to coerce someone into your room against his will?"
Her eyes widen and she charges forward a few more steps. Noel instinctively backs up, bumping into the closed door. "What did you hear? Tell me!"
"I—"
"It doesn't matter! I didn't do anything wrong!" she shouts. "Jade is my esper and it's my responsibility to take care of him! You had no right to interfere!"
"Your esper?" Noel bursts out before he can stop himself. "He's not your anything! The second he meets a guide with a higher sync rate, you know he'll never use you again, right?"
She reels back and Noel returns to his senses with a dizzying rush. What is he doing? Antagonizing the CFO's daughter?! Even if she's an unrepentant creep, he's supposed to be laying low!
"Uh, what I mean is—"
"Did he say something to you?!" she snaps, rallying herself with a glare. "Did he tell you he found a new guide?!"
"No! He didn't say anything! And I didn't hear anything in the hall!"
"You—"
A loud chime from Noel's wrist cuts her off and they both whip their head down to stare at his blinking watch.
"Sorry, I, uh—" Noel fumbles with the screen, swiping over to see a direct summons from the Experimental Research Department. "I'm getting—called over to the science wing," he says quickly, tapping the accept button. "There are some—um—reports I'm supposed to pick up."
Genevieve stares at him with open distaste but doesn't do anything to stop him as he yanks the door open.
"Goodbye, Guide Quinn," he says hastily. "And, uh—if you need to talk to me, just message me next time. Abusing the request system is usually an automatic write-up."
Her face twists with anger. "As if I'd ever want to talk to you again, you arrogant little flunkie!" she yells, just as Noel shuts the door between them.
Heart still hammering, he power walks to the nearest elevator. By the time he gets down to Dr. Summers's lab, his knees feel like jello and his skin is clammy from the cold sweat.
Dr. Summers jumps upright when he enters. "Are you alright?" she asks.
"Y—yeah—"
"I noticed that someone had gotten into your private request channel, did you—"
"Yeah, Genevieve Quinn wanted to talk to me." Noel slumps down in the nearest chair. "You saved me, doctor. Thanks."
She sticks her hands on her hips, expression troubled. "Quinn went through the trouble of bypassing a credential lock just to corner you?"
"She wanted to ask about the other night. Or, not ask. Interrogate me, I guess." Blowing out a sigh, Noel rakes a hand through his messy curls, tugging his hair tie free as he goes. "She's all worked up because of that photo. Thinks I'm trying to steal Jade, or that I'll tell people what I heard in the hall."
Dr. Summers raises an eyebrow. "In the hall? You mean, before you took Jade to his room?"
"Did…Jade didn't tell you what happened?"
"He just said he got drunk and you helped him to his hotel room and you did a guiding session, which I do not recommend, by the way," she adds sternly. "Guiding while inebriated is never a good idea, and Jade is a very volatile esper. You're lucky nothing happened this time."
Noel grimaces. "Right. Sorry."
"What else happened?"
"I…." Noel hesitates. Why wouldn't Jade tell Dr. Summers the whole story? Did he not want her to know for some reason? "It's nothing," Noel says, glancing away. "Quinn was just being paranoid because Jade isn't using her anymore."
Dr. Summers regards him skeptically. "You sure?"
"Yup."
"Because Jade has been taking a lot of overnight shifts since the party. Almost like he doesn't want to go home or something."
Biting his lip, Noel shrugs. "That's, uh…weird."
"If there's something—"
"Ah, my shift is over, doctor!" Noel pops to his feet. "I better get home to feed my cats. Thanks for the save earlier!"
He hurries out of the lab before she can protest.