NOAH

Chapter 5

"Now eat well, N, put on some chill music, and stop counting the hours until your shift starts."

"It's the make it or break it shift."

"It's you; you'll make it. How many times do I have to say it?" I could imagine him sprawled on a sofa, waving a hand at my concerns.

"Thanks, K."

"I mean it. And when you do get that job, take a selfie with your new co-workers..."

"Goodbye, Kyle."

"No, no, no, don't hang up," he hurriedly said.

I wasn't about to, but he didn't need to know that. Or perhaps he knew that and was just pretending.

"You sent me a selfie with the fairy prince," he pointed out.

"That's because Callian thought you might be fun and said 'yes' when I asked him for a photo."

"Then tell the guys at the club about me. They'll think I'm fun and say yes when you ask. Besides, I only want three."

"Three?" I furrowed my eyebrows. He'd been pestering me about photos of Mac and Erik; who did he want to add to the list now?

"The Viking, the bear, and Dex."

My heart galloped when I heard the word 'Dex' and I rubbed my chest, trying to rein it in.

"Is his whole name Dexter or is he just Dex?" Kyle went on. "Not that it matters. What matters is if he's hot."

And hot he was.

Two things had happened over the past week in the club. One: Ash had told some of the staff about how Dex and I had first met.

'You and my brother were acting strange and Erik was worried. Jess asked him what was wrong, he told her about you two; she told Gracie, who told Mac, and then they were all worried, and I had to tell them something. Don't make me repeat that, because the whole 'he told, she told' makes me feel like I'm in a fucking high school flick. Now get out of my office.' That had been Ash's explanation of why he hadn't kept his mouth shut.

The second thing was that whenever Dex came to Nightfall during my shift, he'd come to the bar and we'd chat when work was slow. That was how I'd learned that he was kind. And dependable. And a whole bunch of other things that shouldn't be mixed with 'hot' to describe someone I shouldn't be interested in.

"Were you thinking something naughty about him?" Came Kyle's teasing voice and I wondered how long I'd stayed silent.

"It wasn't naughty."

"So you were thinking about him."

"You brought him up."

"But you were daydreaming."

"I was not."

"Yes, you were."

"No, I wasn't."

"Were."

"Kyle, I'm not having this silly, childish war with you."

"Because you know you'll lose."

I kept quiet again, this time on purpose, and, of course, Kyle sighed and changed the subject: "Did you see what Callian texted in the group chat?"

Since I'd spent time talking to Callian about Kyle and vice versa, and they both thought they'd like each other, I'd used an app called H3llo! to create a group where we could hang out... Online anyway. The two had hit it off right away; I was also quickly becoming more and more fond of Cal.

"About him coming to the club tonight for moral support?" I asked to make sure that was what Kyle was referring to. "Yeah, but he'd told me that in person first."

"I wish I could do that. But you are so damn far away."

"You moved out of Grandfort first." It came out a little accusatory, but thankfully, Kyle ignored my inflection.

"Yeah, but then you moved in the opposite direction, making the distance bigger. Maybe we can meet up at Grandfort when we have more than a weekend off? We can go to Helen's dance studio or just chill at Ben's tattoo shop? I've been thinking about getting some new ink anyway."

I bit my lip and rubbed my eyes.

"I doubt I'll manage to get the same days off on both of my jobs," I admitted, adding in my mind 'if I get that second job', but not voicing it. Kyle must've been tired by now with my insecurity. It was just that Nightfall and the people who worked there were so much better than I'd hoped for, and I feared that having a place amongst them was too good to come true.

"That sucks." He huffed. "I want a consolation snuggle right now."

"I could use one too."

"Use Callian. He seems like a snuggler."

I laughed. "We're not that close, Kyle. I can't just walk into the grocery store and go 'Cal, come here and give me a hug'."

"I'd do it. Especially since he's gorgeous. He might even be more gorgeous than me and that's hard to achieve."

Apart from pale skin and slender bodies, the two guys had nothing in common when it came to their features. Callian had long, blond hair and Kyle's was black and in an uneven haircut - on one side cut short, and on the other reaching his chin; Callian lacked piercings and Kyle had several; Callian's mouth was wide, like mine, and Kyle's was like a tiny pink bow when he closed it...

"Noah, why am I not hearing 'of course, he's not more gorgeous than you, Kyle; no one is'?"

"Well..." I trailed off and pursed my lips to suppress a chuckle when I heard a distressed 'Dude, seriously?' come through the phone. It was just Kyle being theatrical and not really meaning it, but it was still amusing.

"I'll let you nap on it. Or think about it while you eat. Seriously, Noah: eat before you go to work."

"My eating habits are better than yours, you know."

"Not when you are nervous. Eat." The last was said with a stern tone my Aunt Helen would be proud of. Which reminded me that I had to call her again. I'd already done so, but Ben had answered the call, explaining that she'd just slipped into the bathroom for a shower. We'd chatted for a bit because Ben was a nice guy, one I'd be proud to call 'uncle' if he and Helen ever married - one I sometimes called 'uncle' even though they weren't married - and then I'd promised to phone again.

And then I'd forgotten.

Because the club was on my mind.

Because Dex spent a disturbing amount of time on my mind too. I was pretty sure one of the reasons I kept thinking about him was because I'd told myself 'no way in Hell' when it came to asking him out, but the other reason was that he was a genuinely interesting guy. I'd never thought I'd say that about an accountant, but here I was, saying it. Or at least thinking it.

"You have the horrible habit of getting in your head and forgetting you are supposed to talk to me, N."

Kyle was right, but I rolled my eyes nevertheless.

"You also get easily distracted."

"Fair enough." I imagined him adding a careless shrug to go with those words.

"I'm going hang up now," I said. "Promised to call Helen before I left for the club. And yes, I will eat."

"Good. I love you."

"Love you too, K."

I hung up on him and dialed my aunt while I walked toward the fridge. My stomach was tight with nerves and didn't seem to want to be filled with food, but hey: I'd made a promise, hadn't I?

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Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the chapter. If you did, give it a vote or leave a comment. Until next weekend!

PS: I know it's a short one. I wanted you to get to know the boys better, but I didn't want to give you an info dump.