The Empirical Law | ✓

8: Noah Watson's Lover

"Goodnight baby," I called as Riley stormed away to his room. Turning to Noah, I said, "Kids. You got to love how dramatic they are sometimes."

"Or how dramatic their parents are sometimes," Noah retorted.

"Watch your mouth, young man," I warned, wagging my index finger for emphasis.

"Absolutely, because the tone you use on your son will totally work on me," Noah replied, an amused smile on his lips as his voice laced with thick sarcasm.

Rolling my eyes, I shifted closer to him and leaned my head back on the seat of the couch. A roll of silence washed over us and I closed my eyes, soaking in the small moment of peace I had attained this week. Classes were driving me crazy and it wasn't just the classes that were time consuming. It was the assignments that I tried to finish before the weekend. The procrastination bone in my body has never been weaker than it was this week and I know part of it had to do with the fact that I wanted to try my best this last year and graduate with a quality education but I also knew it had to with the fact that this entire weekend would just be Bruce and I. The mere thought of him kissing me was enough to send me into a temporary blissful heaven.

"Hey, Noah," I called out, opening my eyes slightly, biting down on my lip before I threw away my hesitation. "Can I ask you something?"

"Oh no, Mads," he groaned.  "What did you do?" He looked at me sceptically as he sat up straight and gave me his undivided attention.

"Why would you assume that I did something wrong?" I asked defensively, crossing my arms over my chest and shifting away from him.

"You asked me if you could ask me something. You never ask for my permission," he said pointedly, like those two sentences were self-explanatory.

"So?"

His reply was raised eyebrows and silence.

"Fine," I sighed, rolling my eyes and putting my hands up in dramatic surrender. "Okay, so uh, the thing is... I invited Bruce for Christmas dinner and I don't know if I should have just kept my mouth shut or not."

"You did what?" Noah exclaimed, his eyes widening with surprise and shock. "You asked a man who you've only just started dating to meet your parents?"

"Hey! Technically I asked him if he wanted to spend Christmas with me," I quickly rushed in but I already knew how stupid I was and any attempt to defend my insane reasoning in that moment would be in vain.

"Oh Mads," Noah said, a bemused smile on his lips, "Maddie, Maddie, Maddie."

"I screwed up, didn't I?" I exasperated, throwing my hands up in the air.

"Well," Noah said in that tone that told me that I indeed messed things up. "You know what?" he said before he took my hand and looked at me seriously, "It doesn't matter. Bruce didn't run away. He's still here and if I remember correctly he was the one that was adamant on having you rather than the other way around."

"That's a good point," I said, my voice lifting as I tried to convince myself. "I didn't do anything wrong." One look at Noah's half-convincing smile had my confidence crumbling down in seconds. "Damn me and my big mouth. I always say the wrong things at the wrong time. God, at least you'll be there to cover a portion of my humiliation."

"Right," Noah said, his eyebrows lifting and his face lighting up as realisation dawned it, "About that..."

"What? Don't tell me you're bailing out on me. You cannot do this. Noah Watson, you are a complete and utter arse!" I declared hotly and by the way his lips were pressed down together I could see that he was trying his level best to suppress an amused smile, which obviously only made me feel more agitated. "Does my situation amuse you, Noah? Because if it does, you know where the door is. Please be kind and go ahead and use it."