Squinting her eyes, Naomi quickly turned her head, burying her face back into Theo's chest.
She felt his chest rumble with laughter and she looked up at him. She found him looking down at her. He was half laying down, half sat up, with his arms in the air, holding his phone up above her head, so that he could go on it, but also not disturb her sleep, as her leg was propped up, over his body whilst her head and arm was sprawled across his upper body.
"What?" She croaked out, getting off of him so he could be comfortable and not have to accommodate her previous position.
"You. The way you were screwfacing the sun for rising" he laughed
"Well it woke me up. It's too early" she complained, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes
"Good, now you're awake"
"Why are your curtains open anyway?" She asked
"I never really close them because I'm usually getting up as the sun rises to train or jog anyway, so it never bothers me"
"Ugh, athletes" she playfully rolled her eyes
"Oh wait! Shit, did I stop you from training today?"
"No don't worry, today's my rest day of the week. And I've just been waiting for you to wake up anyway"
"Why?"
"So we can go for breakfast"
"Breakfast?"
"Yes, breakfast now get ready"
"Theo I'm so tired though"
"Nope, come on. We're getting breakfast" he said, as he pulled the covers off of Naomi, causing her to sigh out of frustration and reluctantly get out of bed.
He didn't even need to tell Naomi twice about her having his wardrobe to her disposal, before she ran past him giggling, straight into his large collection of clothes.
At least that made her happy.
She re-emerged around ten minutes later with a small selection of clothes, wordlessly going into the bathroom to get changed.
Once Theo was dressed, he knocked on his bathroom door. "Naomi can I come in, I need to -" he started, as she opened the bathroom door for him.
Her hair was done into a high bun, with a few strands coming out at the back because she only had water available as assistance. She was wearing a her leggings from last night, with his favourite graphic T-shirt. She didn't know that though. It was this white t-shirt with the looney toons cartoons on it, it looked oversized on her, but she was currently wrapping a hair band around it to make it cropped.
"I'm stealing your coat by the way" she smiled
"Wouldn't expect any less" he laughed, shuffling through his draws to find her a spare toothbrush he had bought her weeks ago, but she hadn't stayed over since he had gotten it for her.
He finally had managed to find it and passed it to her.
The two of them brushed their teeth, whilst glancing over at the other in their mirror reflection.
Theo couldn't help but imagine them older doing this. Maybe married. Just the two of them in their own little bubble. Just her and him, together. Maybe one day with a kid on the way. He wanted that and he wanted her to see that future with him too.
Naomi couldn't help but feel at peace in this moment. Maybe she got things wrong, Theo wasn't her chaos. Her mind and insecurities were. Those two things, stopping them from being together. Maybe they could do this. Maybe they could be together, maybe her and Theo could have a future together, but they just had to take things step by step. She wasn't going to let herself fall as easily as she did with Josiah.
Interrupting them and their thoughts, Naomi's phone alarm began playing. She reached over and stopped it, after spitting out the toothpaste and washing her mouth out.
"Oh shit, do you need to go and take your pill?" Theo asked, washing out his mouth
"No, I'm taking a week off so that I get, well I got my period" she explained, surprised that he even remembered that she was on the pill and that's what that alarm was for.
"Oh, okay. Are you ready to go?" He asked, putting their toothbrushes away
"No"
"Why? What's up?"
"I smell"
"No you don't"
"Theo, I haven't showered and I'm not going to now because I don't have any of my products at yours and you can't say shit because you've just sprayed yourself with your aftershave and deodorant"
"Well do you want some?" He laughed
Naomi chewed the inside of her mouth debating on whether she wanted to smell like a boy, more importantly like Theo, or constantly feel like she smelt when she probably didn't, but she never left the house without showering unless she was in a rush, which was rare.
"Yeah"
Theo laughed at her as he passed her the aftershave. He watched her inhale it before even spraying it, letting out a soft moan. He thought his ears deceived him at first, but the way she looked up at him through her lashes when she had done it, showed that he had in fact not misheard.
Naomi sprayed herself multiple times, smiling at the smell which was Theo's signature scent. She always tried to pinpoint it when she was around him, but could never. It was an addictive scent and now she got to wear it. She was sure she let out a small moan when she had first sniffed it when he passed her the bottle, it was an accident.
She didn't realise she had done it, until she heard Theo clear his throat and she looked up at him and he was ready to take her on the bathroom countertop.
Putting the aftershave down, she walked past him, taking one of his coats and led the way out of the small space and through his room, down to the balcony and into the garden, where she knew if she didn't get out, they would no longer be taking things slow and they definitely would miss breakfast.
Theo lightly pulled her the other direction, when they had gotten to the Main Street, when he noticed her walking the wrong way.
Shortly after, they found his car. Theo went straight the passengers side, opening the car door for Naomi. She smiled as a thank you and got in. She couldn't help but glance back at the backseat. The same backseat they had sex in.
She clenched her thighs, at the memory. How the hell were they going to take things slow, when all the places the two of ever hung out, they had sex. Her house, his house and now his car.
Sex memories.
Sex memories, which caused her butterflies in her stomach and tingles straight to her core.
Bringing her out of her dirty thoughts, Theo slammed his car door shut, getting in and starting the car.
"Here" he said, as he passed her his phone, unlocked on Spotify
Naomi knew what he was asking and took his phone. She didn't know what to pick so she just started scrolling through his liked songs. She also did it because she wanted to know if he had good music taste.
Pretty quickly, she found 'Forbidden Fruit' by J.Cole and started to play it.
Theo smiled at her choosing this song and glanced over to see her lip syncing the words.
The two of them got to the breakfast spot in no time. Theo had chosen this American style diner-esque place.
Sliding into a booth, with Naomi sat opposite him, he watched her read the menu. He didn't even bother looking at his, because he's been to the diner once before with Elliot when they first came to uni, so he already knew what he wanted.
Naomi sensed Theo looking at her and was just about to question him, when their waitress rushed over.
"Hi guys, I'm Hannah, your waitress for today, are you guys ready to order?" She asked
Theo looked over to Naomi, nodding for her to answer because he was waiting for her to decide what she wanted.
"Please may I get the American style pancakes with bacon on the side and an apple juice?"
"Sure" Hannah noted down Naomi's order quickly and then turned to Theo
"And can I have the full English breakfast, with the extras of mushrooms and two mini pancakes with the fruit blend smoothie"
"And how do you want your eggs?"
"Scrambled"
"Okay great! I'll be back with your drinks and put in your orders" Hannah smiled, taking the menus and rushing off to the kitchen
"So Naomi"
"So Theo" she mimicked
"Can we talk about us?" He asked
"Yeah, what do you want to talk about"
"What are we doing right now? Are we still on a 'break'?"
"No. To be honest, I think I just said it was a break because I needed time to myself without you there. Knowing you were going to respect my space. But right now, I think we're just getting to know each other again. You know the right way" she explained
"So you pressed the restart button?" He asked
"Yeah, the restart button for us" she nodded
"Okay then, hi I'm Theo" he introduced himself
"For fuck sake" she smiled, "Hi I'm Naomi" she laughed
"Okay, so let me just say this before you start telling me your course and how old you are...Obviously we know each other, but I meant restart in the sense that we don't bring up our bad shit, where you'll admit that you've fucked up and I'll admit so have I. No more revenge, no more vendettas. Just a fresh start, of us doing things the right way this time" she explained
"Agreed...I'm happy we're doing this" he admitted
"So am I"
"Alright guys, here is the apple juice" Hannah announced, placing the apple juice infront of Naomi, "And here is the fruit smoothie" she smiled, winking at Theo
Theo brushed off the wink, hoping Naomi didn't notice because he didn't care for the waitress and had no idea why she had done that when he was clearly here with someone.
Hannah noticed Theo turned to look away from her and turned away herself. She walked off back to the kitchen, annoyed that he didn't even smile back.
Naomi noticed the entire interaction between the waitress and Theo and unconsciously began to hug herself. She had no sleeves to pull down over her hands, so she wrapped her arms over her body, staring down at her apple juice, watching the ice slowly crack.
"Naomi you okay?" Theo asked softly, noticing her change in demeanour. He hated how well he knew her, because it meant that he worried. He worried about how quiet she got. How she would close up and get into her head so easily.
Naomi realised Theo asked her a question, she nodded, as a response. She reached for her phone to distract herself from the dirty look the waitress had given her earlier when she had noticed that Theo was here with her. Then she quickly masked it with a fake smile to take their orders. It was so quick Naomi thought she was seeing things, but the way Hannah's eyes lingered on Theo's body and how she made sure when she passed him the fruit smoothie, their hands touched for longer than needed, she definitely wasn't seeing things.
"Naomi" he whispered
Naomi looked up at the sound of Theo's voice. She looked into his eyes and saw the worry in them.
"I know you. I know you start to hug yourself when you get nervous, so what's wrong?"
"I do not" she protested
"Yes you do" he smiled
Shit maybe she did. Naomi noticed her arms wrapped over her stomach and quickly moved them.
"It doesn't matter anyway" she reassured, not wanting him to make a big deal. She knew Theo was attractive. Of course girls would be staring at him, but she needed to just ignore it. She needed to for the sake of them actually having a chance to work this time.
Theo decided to let it go because Naomi had stopped hugging herself and looked a bit better when she looked up at him again, but he wanted her to know that he didn't care about other girls like their waitress.
When their food came over, he didn't take his eyes off of Naomi as Hannah attempted to make conversation with him. Naomi was the only thing he paid attention to.
After finally understanding she wasn't wanted, Hannah stormed off once again and left the couple alone.
Theo and Naomi ate their meal in comfortable silence, talking every now again about random topics.
"Theo, aren't you meant to be eating healthy, you know... playing football and everything?" Naomi asked
"Shhh, what coach doesn't know won't hurt him" he smiled, "Plus, I'm being healthy, look at my fruit smoothie"
"Blended up fruits isn't going to cancel out everything but you do you I guess"
"Hmm, you seem jealous of my meal"
"I am not"
"You sure you don't want some?" He asked, piling up his fork, holding it up for Naomi to try
"Fine" she laughed, opening her mouth for Theo to feed her
Theo fed Naomi the food and laughed at how easily she caved when it came to food. "Good?" He asked
Naomi was still chewing, so she nodded her head.
Theo saw Naomi had a bit of food on the side of her lip, so he reached forward and used his thumb to wipe it away.
Naomi paused at the sudden action and watched how Theo got rid of whatever food was on her face, then bringing his thumb back into his own mouth, softly groaning at the taste of it.
Fuck, this whole talking things slow idea was going to be hard, she thought.
"Finished?" Theo asked, seeing Naomi quickly gulp down the rest of her apple juice
"Yep" she whispered, hoping the apple juice would cool her down from the heat of Theo's gaze when he made dead eye contact with her as he sucked his thumb and groaned at the taste of the food.
Theo called over the closest sever to get their bill and clear up their plates.
Much to the couple's disappointment, Hannah came back with their bill. Passing Theo the bill, Hannah slipped her phone number in there. Theo paid quickly, by tapping his card on the reader and got up, holding his hand out for Naomi to take.
Naomi didn't even have time to register that Theo had paid and was now stood infront of her. She was just about to offer to split the bill because it was a nice meal and he didn't have to take her out, but clearly Theo didn't care.
She definitely needed to be quicker next time.
Naomi put her hand in his and the two of them walked out of the diner with their hands intertwined.
"Here" Theo said as he gave her the phone number Hannah gave him
"What am -" Naomi asked, opening up the note, realising Hannah had given Theo her number. She didn't even see her do it. Wow this girl was good.
"Rip it up, burn it, do whatever the fuck you want with it. But I wanted to give it to you, so you would understand that I don't care about her or any other girl who comes along. It's just you. Just me and you, okay?"
"Okay" Naomi smiled
"Lighter please?" She asked
Theo went into his pockets and pulled out his blue lighter, passing it to Naomi.
He watched her burn the note, smiling at him.
"That's my girl" he said to himself
After, the two of them got into Theo's car and drove back to Naomi's.
Pulling up to Naomi's house, Theo parked the car. "Okay so-" she started as she went to get out of the car.
"I wanna take you shopping" he rushed out
"Shopping? As in a food shop?" She asked, titling her head to one side, confused as to why he wanted to do that
"No" he laughed "like shopping centre, town, clothes, shopping" he explained
"Why? You don't like my clothes?" She asked wondering why he wanted to take her shopping
"No! No, shit, why can't I ever make sense around you. I mean I want to take you shopping for underwear" he smiled
"Ohhh. you only ripped three pairs though" she mentioned, remembering how he did promise her he would take her at some point but since everything, that felt ages ago. She completely forgot that he had even said that to be honest.
"Yes, but I still said I would buy you more and I'm not going to go back on my word"
"When are you free?" He asked
"Umm, I don't know. I'll text you" she said as she attempted to remember her makeshift calendar for coursework, along with her social life and then the spontaneous sleepovers at Theo's
"Will you?" He cocked up an eyebrow looking at her
"I promise" she smiled as she held out her pinky finger
Theo didn't even hesitate this time to intertwine his with hers.
"Bye Theo" she laughed, unlinking their pinkies and getting out the car
"Bye Naomi" he shouted after her as he watched her walk up the stairs to her front door