Deserve [H.S.]

Chapter 17

STRIDES

The very next day after Noah and Harry got back together, Noah already found herself missing him too much. After all, they had gone a month without each other and now that she had him back, she just wanted to be around him again.

That was why, pretty much as soon as she woke up that morning, she gave him a call.

Harry picked up on the third ring with an out of breath, "hey, baby."

Hearing Harry's obviously heaving chest piqued Noah's interest, "good morning, handsome. What are you up to?"

"Just got home from a run," Harry said as he kicked his shoes off by his door and made his way to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. "What about you?"

Noah couldn't help but yawn, getting exhausted at the pure thought of going on a run first thing in the morning. Still, she could easily imagine the sheen of moisture coating his skin and the way his muscles would ripple beneath his skin with each heaving breath.

"Just woke up. I miss you already."

Harry downed about half of the water in one gulp, trying to avoid thinking of how soft and serene Noah must have looked tangled in her sheets with messy hair and heavy lidded eyes after just waking up. He wanted to make a comment about her being lazy for sleeping in until 11 in the morning, but he decided not to. It wasn't that late to sleep in, anyway.

"Yeah? I miss you, too, munchkin. Got any plans for the day?"

Actually, she did. So did he, he just didn't know it yet.

"That's why I called, actually. I was hoping to take you somewhere today."

A strong sly smile made its way onto Harry's lips, feeling endlessly glad that Noah was as obsessed with him as he was with her. "Oh, really? Can't get enough of me already?"

Noah just let out a playful scoff followed by a sweet giggle, "yeah, actually. I went a month without you, can you blame me?"

"Honestly, no. I'm the same."

"Exactly. I'll pick you up in an hour."

About an hour later, Noah was all dressed and ready, pulling into Harry's apartment complex. Harry was already waiting outside, so he made his way towards her passenger door as she pulled up alongside the curb.

Once he climbed inside, he rested his elbow on the center console to lean into her space. "Hi, munchkin. You look pretty. Kiss?"

Noah wasn't sure what had happened in the past month to make Harry much more comfortable sharing his thoughts with her, but she was absolutely not complaining.

"Mm," she pressed her lips to his and felt the happiness surge through her veins, "thank you, handsome. You look pretty, too."

Harry was wearing a light blue, red, pink, and yellow patterned button up shirt over a white graphic t-shirt. On his legs were a pair of maroon corduroy pants with a slight flare that perfectly matched the red on his shirt. His feet were covered by his usual white vans. His hair was styled somewhat lazily, though, left mostly down such that it had fallen into a middle part. That sight had Noah breathing a little irregularly, because it looked so good on him.

Noah, on the other hand, was wearing another pair of plaid pants with a simple color-matching crop top. She hadn't put too much effort into her appearance, so her hair was down with little styling and she had little makeup on. Harry thought she looked effortlessly beautiful, though. He also noticed that a certain necklace had returned to resting against her collarbones, the familiar 'H' glinting in the sunlight.