Suit & Tie

Chapter 25 - Childhood crushes & Whispering west

"We're in your mother's house."

  "So?"  

"That's so...awkward." 

 He scoffed and lifted his head from my shoulders as he turned away. "Norah, you cannot say anything about being awkward. You are easily the awkward person I know." 

 "No way," I huffed.

 I was going to protest further, but then he stared to unbutton the dress shirt and reveal his perfect, inked up body, and there was no way I could be mad at him while he was doing that. When he slipped a t-shirt over his head, I finally managed to draw my attention away from his smooth back muscles.

 "Uh, what are you doing?" 

 "Changing, obviously. You change too. Put on something warmer. We're going out."

  "Going out? We just got here."  He sat down on the edge of the bed as he tugged black skinny jeans over his ankles. 

"Norah, I am not going to deal with this right now. We are going out. Get dressed."  

"You could at least tell me where we're going," I snapped, turning back towards my suitcase and tugging out a random array of clothes. All my winter clothes that Tyler had picked were folded up nicely in my suitcase. 

 "We're going to walk to a little restaurant where we're meeting up with my dad It is cold outside. Put on a coat."  I glanced down at my perfectly warm outfit. A knit sweater, skinny jeans, and Chelsea boots, complete with a maroon beanie tugged over my unmanageable brown hair. "I'll be fine."  He narrowed his eyes at me. 

"Put. On. A. Coat. And do not make me repeat myself. I will not have you getting sick, Norah."  When he turned his back, I made a mocking face and stuck out my tongue as my personal form of vengeance, then pulled an army jacket out of my bag and slipped it on. His face relaxed when he saw it covering my shoulders, as if he didn't really expect for me to comply.  He opened the door from his childhood bedroom and held out his hand.

 "Come."  I happily took it and followed after him.

 "So, I see you had a crush on Hermione Granger?" I taunted.

  "Seriously? It was one poster, Norah," He shot back. "Remind me to rip those down when we get back." 

 Downstairs, his wavy-haired sister and bright-eyed mother were waiting patiently on the couch. Both of their eyes flickered to our intertwined fingers and my face flushed from laughing at his boyish crush, but both of them kept their mouths shut as we left the house.  It was freezing outside. I tried to cover it up and pretend as if I was perfectly content, and that I was, in fact, 'too hot' with this jacket, but when my teeth started chattering, he raised his eyebrows as if to say 'I told you so'. 

 "Shut up," I muttered, stepping closer into his side.

 As I had hoped, he snuck his arm around my waist and pulled us together. The heat radiating off his body instantly warmed me and I nuzzled closer into him. 

 "Are you still going to argue with me on things? I am obviously always right." He said quietly. His family walked in front of us, completely oblivious. 

 "Yes. Because you aren't always right. Like when you were mean to the flight attendant."  He stepped away from me. 

"Norah, I told you that she was an employee. She needs to know her boundaries." 

 The words escaped my mouth before I could stop them. "Boundaries? Seriously, shawn? You fuck an all of your employees, you can't say anything about boundaries." I slapped my hand over my lips once I was finished.