Deserve [H.S.]

Chapter 27

FEELING

As the colder days in January progressed, Noah had switched from wearing Harry's shirts around his apartment to wearing his hoodies.

Harry never complained, of course, because he loved seeing her drowned in his hoodies. He also loved the fact that her scent lingered on the fabric, mixing with his own.

It was a Friday night, about a week after Noah's incident at work, and Noah and Harry were on a simple date. They were eating dinner at Noah's favorite restaurant, the same one they went to for her birthday dinner. It was quickly becoming Harry's favorite restaurant, too, because he loved the overall atmosphere of the place. It was a brewing company so the aesthetics of the place were more laid back in a bar-sense, but its menu was more sophisticated with quality foods.

They had already eaten their main meals and were then sharing dessert, the restaurant's classic warm chocolate chip cookie with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce on top. They were sitting across from each other at the table, each equipped with their own spoon that they used to dig into the dessert. Harry normally ate super healthy to stay in peak physical form for fighting, but he did treat himself every now and then. He just never told Ray about it.

As Noah pulled her spoon out of her mouth and chewed the dessert, she watched Harry dig his spoon into the edge of the cookie, collecting some ice cream as well before he brought the spoon up to his lips and opened his mouth, allowing the sugary treat to reach his tongue.

Noah was momentarily mesmerized by the way that Harry's lips wrapped around the spoon, letting her thoughts wander as he slowly pulled the spoon out of his mouth, letting his tongue collect any residual chocolate sauce along the way.

Snapping herself out of her less-than-innocent thoughts, Noah said, "so, my dad wants to see me this weekend."

Harry had an idea of where the conversation was going and he could already feel his heartbeat picking up speed. "Yeah?"

"Mhm," Noah hummed, bringing her own spoon up to take another spoonful of the cookie, "after what happened last week he wants to see me to make sure I'm okay. Plus, he may have inquired about me bringing you along so he can meet you."

In order to gauge his reaction, Noah was watching Harry intently as she brought the spoon up to her mouth. Harry's expression didn't change much, though, just the slight raise of his eyebrows making an appearance.

Meeting Noah's friends went well and meeting Noah's family on her mom's side went well, so Harry had high hopes for meeting her dad, despite the implications behind it. From the stories Harry had heard, Noah's dad was protective of her, in the best way possible. Therefore, Harry knew it was important to impress him and get on his good side.

"Okay," he said in response, watching her eyes smile as she pulled the spoon out of her mouth, which then allowed the smile to fully grace her lips as well.

"Really? Ah, he'll be looking forward to that. I know it's short notice but I think he wants it to be on Sunday."

Sunday? That was two days away. Harry didn't feel prepared, but he also knew that there was nothing for him to do to prepare. If he just did his best to be himself, then he had a good chance of impressing Noah's dad. It worked well for him with her friends and other family, anyway.

"Yeah, Sunday's fine," Harry replied as he took another quick bite of the dessert, noticing that there were only a couple bites left of it anyway.

Noah smiled and let out a deep breath, letting her spoon dangle from her fingers as she rested her elbow on the table. "Thank you, handsome. It just sucks because meeting my dad also means meeting his girlfriend, Cindy. The horrible person."