A Cheers to the Life You Don't Get to Choose //Noah Sebastian

XII

"You and Noah are going out tonight?" Patrick questions me as him and the rest of INK are standing in my kitchen eating my food for absolutely no reason to my knowledge.

"Don't say it like that, Pat." I roll my eyes and take a sip of my water.

"Like a date?" Ricky chimes in while Spencer and Joe snicker.

"Why are you guys here again?" I retort.

"We were helping the guys in the studio for a bit but now that is over so we're just bothering you until you leave for your date." Patrick taunts and I throw a grape at his head.

"The hell did I do?!" He whines.

"You were in grape throwing range and you know what you did." I shrug and pick up the grape before Sadie or Jaxson find it.

"Hey, are you ready?" Noah walks quickly into the room and slows down when he notices me and the guys.

"We really have to leave Sloane with these goons?" I chuckle and we both kiss her goodbye.

"Where's my kiss?!" Ricky shouts after us followed by more giggles from the real children in the house.

Noah and I make our way out of the house to his car. He looks handsome, not too dressy but a bit more than 'just casual' he was trying to sell me on. He's wearing a long sleeve black shirt with black slacks. He kinda looks like he's about to run on stage.

I decided on black ripped jeans and a Bad Omens varsity sweatshirt. Way to be incognito, I guess. Noah notices what I'm wearing because he's now giggling at me.

"Just let me go change real quick, I didn't realize." I sigh and make my way to get out of the car.

As I'm about to open the door Noah grabs my hand. "Hey, you do not need to change. You look perfect." I can't fight the blush, going back in forth between a little bit of embarrassment and his words.

"Fine. Where are we going?"

"Somewhere you are going to absolutely love. Super casual." He smirks. The rest of the drive is pretty quiet between us yet comfortable. I have completely taken over the bluetooth and any time Noah's voice boomed over the speakers he'd whine and make me change it, which I found hilarious.

"Oh my god, Mahall's? We haven't been here in so long. I love this place." He smiles as we get out of the car.

"I told you. We had some of the best times here." I smile and nod reminiscing but my heart also starts to ache. Noah and I would come here and those would be some of our best nights before everything collapsed. This feels so different now.

"I'm so going to kick your ass in bowling." I smirk. We are both extremely competitive.

"Says the girl who bowled less than 100 last time we were here." He laughs as we made our way over to the bar.

"Okay, first of all, that was a week before our wedding and everyone was feeding me way too much alcohol."

"Mhm. Okay. Blame it on the alcohol, Avery."

"Av, you're up!" Caleb shouts. I fucking hate bowling and the pitchers of beer we've consumed are not improving my skills. I am the worst at bowling but I am competitive as hell, especially against Noah. I grab my ball and walk up to the line, taking a breath. I'm feeling a strike finally until Noah grabs my waist as soon as I go to roll the ball and lose focus. Gutter ball. "What the fuck, Noah! That was going to be a strike!" I grumble as I walk away from him and he pulls me right back. "Mhm. Sure, love. I'm so sorry I distracted you." He answers sarcastically. "I'll just be distracting you for the rest of our lives."

"May I buy you a drink?" Noah pulls out my chair for me while flashing his dazzling smile.

"Absolutely."

"Vodka tonic with lime?" I nod.

"You know me so well." We sat in silence for a moment to look over the menu. I can tell Noah is really hungry and doing his best to be patient. It's cute.

I don't even know why we bothered to look at the menu. When the waitress comes around to take our order we each order the same item we always have here in the past. Noah always gets a buffalo chicken wrap with fries and I get bbq wings and fries, extra crispy.

"How is the studio going?" I ask after taking a sip of my drink.

"Really good, we've got some creative ideas going right now. I'll have you listen to our new project when it's done soon."

"Deal."

Our food arrives and Noah wastes zero time eating, and I actually have an appetite, progress. Noah looks at me longingly while I eat my fries.

"What?"

"This is the happiest I have seen you in days, Av. It's refreshing to see that beautiful smile of yours, and you are eating. I'm really proud of you."

His words strike me right in the heart. What did I ever do to deserve this man in my life.

-

My bowling skills are still terrible, who would have thought.

It's currently Noah's turn and we both have two turns left. 80 points for me 240 for Noah. This is embarrassing. "Av!" Noah calls for before be rolls and beckons me over. He hands the ball to me and shifts himself behind me, wrapping his hands around and placing his hand on mine. I forgot how little my hands are compared to his.

"I will help you. We've got to get you above 100, love." I roll my eyes but also smile. He gently swings our arms back and then forward to release the ball. Neither of us have moved and all of the pins except for one fell down.

"I knew you could do it." He hugs me from behind. Suddenly I feel like I did the last time we were here, butterflies start to make an appearance in my stomach. I think I have a crush on my ex husband again. The thought of getting back together with Noah has become a possibility and that scares me shitless. We ended our marriage once already because it didn't work. What if it everything fails again. Does he even want me back?

I know he's made mistakes but he's not entirely to blame for our split. I made a mistake too.