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[color=gray][hider=Mentions][@Aces Away][/hider]

He drove in relative silence towards the bakery, worry gnawing at his brain like a dog with a chew toy. He didn't like the tone of Decky's message, it could imply a [i]lot[/i] of things. It wasn't that Nolan kept many  secrets or that he had much to hide but no one was upfront about everything, especially when he'd been asked not to [i]tell[/i] Decky everything. He, at least, couldn't be blamed for everything [i]Decky[/i] didn't know. He, however, absolutely [i]could[/i] be blamed for things [i]Lanie[/i] didn't know. 

In a way, he felt bad for not being upfront about the fact that he and Decky had stayed tight over the years but he knew it would only upset her and he liked to pretend that there was something to the saying [i]what you don't know, won't hurt you[/i]. He knew that the sky would fall inevitably, that was the nature of secrets, they snowballed until they barreled you over entirely. He just hoped they wouldn't barrel him over directly into the base of a tree.

[i]Wishful thinking.[/i]

He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, waiting for Decky's response. Seconds passed, minutes passed... and finally he heard the cheerful chime of his phone in the console. He grabbed it immediately, idling at the red light to scan over the text. He knew he shouldn't panic but it was hard not to. The words that jumped out at him first were "[b]I was pissed[/b]" and he found himself fixated on that for a moment before forcing himself to read the rest.

Anxiety was like that, it liked to pick and choose what information mattered, but he knew better. He understood why the letters would upset him. They upset [i]him[/i] and he hadn't even lost anyone to that maniac. He swallowed down his panic and responded perhaps a breath too quickly, fingers flying over the buttons before the light changed overhead, the result of this was multiple texts in a string sent to Decky.

[quote=Nolan]
[i][color=39B54A]- Oh. The letters.
- I didn't know that he'd show you those, to be honest. They've had me freaked out, I've been kind of pretending they don't exist.
- Someone's idea of a bad prank, I think, I hope.
- I'm sorry I didn't mention them.
- I don't have a shift today, they want me to come in to arrange some stuff. I should be done in no time, but don't hurry on my account.[/color][/i][/quote]

He knew he was coming off nervous, but it was hardly anything new. Decky had known him long enough now to know that he tended to way over think things. He was quick to arrive at the bakery but he was left to muddle through his thoughts as he set to work on fixing up the displays inside.

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