Deserve [H.S.]

Chapter 15

FUZZY

The first few weeks of fall were always the most gorgeous. The leaves were just beginning to change color and the warm summer days turned into soft, cool autumn nights. Noah especially loved being at the farmer's market during the fall, which was where she was on that particular Sunday. This time, she was back to helping Faye out at her booth.

It was still pretty early, so the booth wasn't too busy for the both of them. Noah was standing off to the side, waiting for any kind of work to do. That allowed her thoughts to wander, however, and the first thing that came to mind was the blind date that she had been set up on the night prior.

Noah's friends were still desperate to get her mind off of Harry, so they found her a guy they figured she might have liked. His name was James and he was tall, dark hair, dark eyes, overall attractive face. Noah thought that he was promising, as he worked as a marine biologist at the marine sanctuary a few towns over.

When they got to talking, they actually somewhat hit it off. Because of Noah's love for marine animals, they had one major thing in common. She grilled him and grilled him all about his experiences with specific marine animals, in which he happily provided her with endless stories.

Noah was mesmerized by what James had to say. She wasn't sure whether that was because of the man saying it, or because of the content itself.

Noah knew he wasn't Harry, though.

The date was at some swanky, prestigious restaurant downtown. Noah didn't enjoy the setting too much, simply because she felt too stuffy, but she ignored it as best as she could. While at dinner, James asked about what Noah did. She told him she was a web designer, and, although she could tell that he wasn't interested in her job in the slightest, he still feigned intrigue for a moment before talking about himself again. That made Noah realize that they had just been talking about him the whole time with little focus on herself, but she just momentarily filed that to the back of her brain.

The entire time Noah was on the date, she figured that it wasn't so bad after all. James seemed to be a decent guy despite his slight self-centeredness and she hoped it was possible to get over Harry with more dates. She wasn't sure whether that meant more dates with James, or just more dates with people in general.

Noah had come to the conclusion that the reason why everything happened so fast with Harry was because she hadn't had a guy treat her as well as he did before. Therefore, that first bit of genuine sweetness from a man was something she latched onto. She was so overwhelmed and so entranced by Harry's deceivingly charming ways that she let all of her guards down way too soon. Obviously, it was all just wasted time and wasted energy at that point, but at least she had an idea of why she was so fixated on Harry. Now, she hoped it was possible to move on from him quicker than she had initially intended.

As her date with James progressed, they left the restaurant and walked to a bar a few stores down. At the bar, they had a couple of drinks, but nothing too crazy. They continued to talk about whatever they could think of, though it was obvious that their conversation was fizzling out and Noah was beginning to get bored.

The real kicker came when they were about to part ways for the evening. Noah had thanked him for a nice time and was about to climb into her car to leave, but James insisted on driving her home, or bringing her back to his place.

Noah knew she didn't want to go home with James, as she couldn't even find the desire to kiss him anywhere in her brain, though James was being quite pushy. He made multiple remarks about continuing the good time they were having at his apartment, despite Noah denying it each and every time. Noah could tell exactly what he was really after and she had no desire to sleep with him.