Suit & Tie

chapter 54-Liquor lips & blue bombshell

smut scene towards the end of the chapter:

After two solid days of only getting out of the plush bed to eat and shower and dip in the hot tub once or twice, it was heartbreaking to return to the real world. It wasn't like I didn't miss my flat, with its creaky floors and quirky roommates (I wasn't sure if either of them had admitted Russo lived there yet).   It was more just like I'd rather spend the rest of my life listening to Shawn drawl, soft and slow, words like "darling" and "I love you" and "don't even think about putting on clothes, Norah".

So maybe I was a little bit bitter as I stomped up the stairs to my apartment after leaving the Hamptons, Shawn close in tow behind me.  I bathed in with a loud shout of,

"honey, I'm home!"  There was a beat of silence. Then,

"Hope you brought birthday presents!" 

"Jesus Christ," I mumbled, turning on my heel to look at Shawn, finger pointed accusingly at his chest.

"I told you. I told you. Russo is a birthday month whore. Quick, we've got to get out of here. Turn around while we have the chance."  Shawn rolled his eyes and brushed past me, completely ignoring all warnings that I had spouted to him about Russo and his constant reminders of the quickly approaching date. With a quiet huff of annoyance, I crossed my arms and stomped behind him into the living room.  Tyler and Russo sat sprawled across the couch. Various mugs of tea and coffee and probably alcohol sat on the coffee table, beside a huge packet of what seemed to be a script of some play and a look book from the last photo shoot at work.  My bright-eyed best friend was off the couch in seconds and flinging himself into my arms.

"Norah! How was your weekend?"

"Good," I mumbled into his neck. "Really, really good." 

"Details. Now, obviously."  I looked over his shoulder pointedly at Shawn .

"Tomorrow at work." 

"Work is for working," Tyler said, swatting my shoulder. 

"When have we ever actually worked while at work?"

"Sometimes we go to meetings," he insisted with a wave of his head. "Whatever, this talk of work is boring me. We haven't gone out in like, a really long time. We're probably reaching a record of how long it's been. So. We're going out tomorrow. Already got it planned." 

"Tomorrow is Monday, Tyler . We're working adults, or something like that. I don't wanna be super hungover at work." Russo  scowled.

"God, when did we get so old? You're all domestic and whatnot with Shawn . Stop that." 

I was pretty sure my eyes were going to bug out of my head as I looked around the room, waving my hands with a flourish at Russo and all Russo -related things in the apartment. We literally had a family portrait of Russos family hanging on our wall, right underneath Russo ' framed college diploma. 

"Russo actually lives here," I said, disbelieving

. "Do not even get me started on our damn living situations. Russo might as well pay rent by now."  Tyler looked somewhat confused. If he wasn't my best friend and also the reason I'd been managing to somewhat transition into the real world in the past few years, he would definitely be thrown off of our balcony.

"That doesn't make sense. But we are going out tomorrow, okay?"  I flicked in between his eyebrows.

"Yeah, okay. I'm sleeping at shawn's." 

"How domestic." 

"You can start calling me domestic once you explain that," I shot back, pointing at the Russo family photo proudly displayed on our wall. Tyler flicked me off as I sauntered towards my bedroom to pack a bag. With a lot of clothes. Because Shawn said I had space in his closet.   Ten minutes later, I managed to stuff half of my things into a tiny duffel bag and scampered back towards the living room to announce that I was ready to go. By that point, Russo had managed to drag Shawn into reading lines with him ("It's my birthday").