A/N: A reminder that I'm grateful to all of you reading this. <3
"Alright, see you guys next week," I wave at her on my way out, making sure to close the door carefully as I leave the office where Sarah and Jennifer are still working with me in.
Once I turn around, I pause mid-step at the sight of a fuming Cadence digger her pointer finger into Oliver's chest. His eyes are wide even from where I'm standing on the other side of the floor and I wouldn't be surprised if he started bursting into tears with the way Cadence seems to be expressing her... unhappiness.
I can't make out any words, especially with all of the hustle and bustle obviously filling the building. But I notice the way Oliver isn't backing down this time. His shoulders are slouched, his fingers tying together and his eyes dart to anywhere but her reddening face. But he's still talking back all the same.
I've never seen him talk back to her.
I can't help the curiosity that builds in me. Ever since that chat with Tyler the other week, I've been keeping a closer eye on Cadence whenever I'm not needed in the studios.
Speaking of, our outfits for the autumn collection are getting their finishing touches and we should be able to start trying them on any day now. Nervousness still sometimes gets to me no matter how many times I've already been in front of a camera at this point. Especially for these big seasonal projects, I just can't help but want to try and be as close to perfect as possible.
"Noah!" Oliver's particularly high-pitched voice startles Cadence out of whatever tangent she's going on. Her head whips to me with furrowed brows before she grunts and struts off in the complete opposite direction I'm coming from.
"Hey, Oliver," I look up past his head in the direction se ran off in. "What was that all about?"
He bites his lower lip, following my line of sight briefly before exhaling slowly. "No-nothing, just Cadence being Cadence," he shrugs, his eyes darting all over the place again. My eyes squint, but before he can notice my sudden suspicion, I send him a smile.
"You okay?"
"Yeah! I'm so glad to be back up her with the marketing team," he laughs breathily and I can actually see the relief on his face as he speaks.
"I get what you mean," he follows me towards the elevator and doesn't make a move to walk away.
"Um, Noah, how are you doing?"
I tilt my head, noting his familiar nervous gestures once again. "I'd say I'm doing pretty good... why?"
He shrugs again, but I stop him from saying anything. "That wasn't your standard 'hey, how are you doing?' type of question, why'd you ask?"
He looks up at me, his eyes wide again before he looks back down with a sigh and follows me into the empty elevator.
"I just couldn't imagine going through what you are right now... having your privacy stripped away from you like that," his head hangs low and his hands are kept to his side.
"Ah, we're handling it, don't worry about me," I try to reassure my friend, but his entire aura just seems to darken with ever second.
"I know, it's just..." he sighs again right as the elevators ding at the ground floor and people start flooding in while he attempts to stroll out. He looks up at me with a really sad smile, his hands running through his hair once he finally makes it through the doors. "I'm sorry, Noah," he almost mouths as the sound around us gets louder and louder
His lips purse together as he turns away. I could see the glaze over his eyes for a fraction of a second before in the overhead lighting. Sorry?
But it's not your fault...
My phone has been buzzing relentlessly with texts on my way back to their place after work; as per usual. Ever since we got that groupchat with Tyler, my phone has been blowing up every day around this time, even on the weekends.
At first, it started in a purely professional manner. I would relay what Sarah, Jennifer and I talked about during our meeting and they would add onto it via texts. When we were all home, we made sure to keep Tyler as up to date as possible, nothing to personal, just simple facts we found out during our investigations that he would add onto with his own information.
Only, as the week went by, the more... open everyone became. It went from distant to near acquaintances in the span of a week. Well, for the most part.
Looking down at my phone before entering the front door, I notice once again that Sebastian is keeping things short and simple as per usual, whereas Asher is starting to use all of the emojis he can find to get his point across. Even Julian is offering more than three word sentences whenever he responds to Tyler in the chat.
My mind starts to wander to: What if everyone becomes friends?
With the way things are going, I'd say give it a week before we all start becoming a little too open. I'm not too sure how I'd feel about being close with Tyler again. That would probably end in disaster.
A click signifies the door's about to open and I blink rapidly at the realisation that I've been standing out here for a few mins now while scrolling through the messages. Huh, why does this kind of feel familiar?
Julian's head peeks out first before he swings the door open with his arms wide open for me. "What in the world are you doing standing out here in the cold?"
I immediately find my way into his warmth, his arms snaking around me and his hands rubbing up and down in an attempt to heat me up. "I got distracted," my voice comes out muffled by his shirt.
He chuckles, his lips press against the top of my head before he helps me get my jacket off and then he runs off to get my tea. "Sebastian and Tyler won't be back until later," he calls out from the kitchen.
"Why?"
"Hm, something about finding a cute place for dinner, " he looks up at me from the kitchen island with an honest smile, "Asher's been wanting to try that place for a while now,"
We've been through this. I should be over it. But my heart drops the smallest bit. "Are you— did they not invite you to go?" I barely hear my own voice, Im surprised he was able to hear me over the sound of the water boiling.
"I mean, not really, we can join them if you want to," he added while strolling over to get the tea ready.
How- How can he be so nonchalant about this? My knees give up on me, the sound of my heartbeat racing in my chest is nearly deafening and I end up sitting down before I even consciously realise it. "Noah?" A hand on my cheek brings me back to him. His light eyes. His gentle up curve of those pretty pink lips. His long eyelashes. And those beautiful freckles that are starting to hide away for the upcoming winter. "What's wrong?"
My lungs only let in small gasps of air and I suddenly realise how I reacted. "Are-are you sure you're okay with that?"
His brow furrows before he sits on the chair beside me, spinning us so we're facing each other. "With what?"
"The fact that they're on that date with you..." I whisper, my eyes exploring every detail of our socks below us.
"Us," he corrects. My head snaps back up.
His smile is still there, "you mean: the fact that they're on a date without us,"
I inhale deeply, exhaling just as slowly. Us.
Yeah, I meant us.
"We can go join them if you'd like," his expression at first is the same, but there's something different now. As his hand is on my knee, rubbing gentle and slow circles over and over again. He's showing understanding. He understands me. He knows what I'm thinking.
I shake my head, "no-" my shoulders lose their strength and I end up leaning further into his touch, his arms reaching out to catch me into an awkward half hug in our seating position. But it's a hug all the same. One I clearly needed. "No, I'm okay,"
He shakes his head above me, I feel the movement, "we can, I'll text them to order something for us on our way there,"
We're not supposed to be seen together in public right now.
I shake my head again. "Alright, well let's cook together and have our own little date here," he pushes me back gently, searching my eyes when I finally manage the smallest of smiles. The weakest smile I've shown in a while I think. "I was planning to do that anyway," he winks, chuckling when I finally sniffle and laugh at the same time.
"I'm so sorry,"
"For?"
"Reacting like that..." I don't even know what happened. I know we all go on dates quite often, most unplanned. This time feels so healthy and honest. Sometimes Asher and I would go on a walk through a nearby park after his shift at work. Or Sebastian loves taking one of us to restaurants he thinks fits our personalities, it's the cutest thing. Julian loves gardening and takes me to some his favorite spots with the pretties flower beds.
We all have our things. The things we enjoy doing with each other and a lot of them we all do together, but we're all- My eyes look up at Julian, his fingers tapping on my knee as he patiently waits for my response.
We're all in our own relationships at the same time, this isn't always about us being a group. That's something Tyler, Lucas and I never learned.
"For doubting, I'm sorry for panicking like that,"
His smile broadens at that, "we all have days like that, Love, don't put so much pressure on yourself," he hops off the chair, settling himself in between my spread knees, "I'd reassure you every day if I had to; without hesitation,"
His forehead finds mine, the warmth of that simple touch, spreading all the way down to my toes.
"I know,"
"I still can't believe you have a whole security system with you," Lucy links arms with me and turns back to give Gabriel a glance who's currently his usual seven steps behind us.
I snort, "sometimes even I forget they're there," both him and Vivienne are so quiet and haven't had any reason to intervene since, well, nothing's happened and no one has approached me so...
"Wow, gotten used to the princely treatment already?" Her shoulder bumps mine as we make our way to the dressing area.
"As if," I roll my eyes looking back at the man behind me. It's almost crazy to me how he's even bigger than Sebastian. His muscles are clearly extremely well trained and I can sort of tell just by his stance and aura that he definitely knows how to use them. Plus, the all black attire suits his tanned complexion well. Not to mention, he takes his sunglasses off at night and he has possibly the greenest eyes I've ever seen.
"I'll see you after the shoot?"
I wave to Lucy before looking back at the man who's now looking back at me. Well, he always is. If he's not looking at me, then he's scanning our surroundings before looking at me and only me again. I thought it was kind of creepy at first, but when I told Jennifer about it she only laughed saying: "It's his way of protecting."
Whatever that means.
Before stepping through the doors to the men's dressing area, I walk over to Gabriel with a smile. I've had minimal conversation with both security guards. Neither of them are particularly talkative. But that's okay, they're still nice, they just keep things professional, I suppose.
"You don't have to come back there with me, it tends to get pretty packed," he should know seeing as he's was struggling not to be in the way of some people's paths as they were skidding past and yelling stray orders around. I felt so bad watching him observe everything from a corner, trying to stay as close to me as possible without standing in the middle of the room.
He shakes his head curtly, "I will stay by your side," his voice is so deep, I'm surprised I could ever hear it in the all of the commotion. It has a certain vibration to it and I can't help the smile on my face as I watch the frown on his face deepen slightly despite his words.
"It's really okay, I'll only be about an hour and you can keep watch of the only entrance and exit from here," I try again, hoping to make this more comfortable for the both of us.
He does seem to pause for a moment, though it's kind of hard to tell. His eye color may be vibrant, but their expressions are certainly not. I can hardly tell what he's thinking. Ignoring his own hesitation, he shakes his head again before gesturing with his hand for me to move forward. Yeah, he can't really watch over me if he's walking in front of me.
I let out a sigh before leading the way, greeting people left and right as we go about business.
"Yes, Noah! This is so your color!" Julie, one of the many talented make-up artists, holds up a beautiful shade of shimmery purple. I don't even get a chance to agree before she places it over my eyes, adding a white eyeline to finish today's look off.
I laugh at her excitement. She's practically jumping on her heels as she asks if she can take a picture of her work. After that, she lets me go get dressed with the most energetic wave I think I've ever seen.
Gabriel, who has quickly become my shadow these days, is right on my heels as we weave through the people to the more closed off areas.
As I watch him stop and step to the side as soon as we reach the curtains, where we normally get changed, I can't help but remember back to when he first met my boyfriends. He rarely sees them as neither of them ever really come into the house unless they're getting a drink or using the bathroom, but they do cross paths, of course.
"Guys, this is Gabriel," I announce as I enter the café. I promised Asher I would pick him up alongside both Julian and Sebastian today. Jas isn't working today, unfortunately, but I didn't want to meet with her here at the moment anyway until all of these pictures come to a stop. She's always welcome to our place though.
The three of them spin around after helping Asher wipe down the counter. The chatter coming to a halt and their kind smiles plastered on their beautiful faces. "Oh, hey!" Asher starts, pulling his apron off as he walks up to us. "Nice to meet you,"
No one other than Jas and Lucy officially know we're all dating. Not like it's a secret per se, but it's not necessarily something we flaunt either. They used to be pretty open about it, but with my line of work, well, the air of caution is definitely noticeable. It's something I can't help but feel bad about...
"Gabriel," he responds, shaking his hand before returning back to his side. He sends a nod to the others, but other than that remains still.
"Anyways..." I trail off, eyeing the man behind me before turning to the others who are staring at him as well with curiosity clear in the gaze.
Okay... this is going to take some getting used to.
It's safe to say, they're still a bit awkward around each other whenever they do cross paths. But hey, I like to think he and Vivienne are kind of warming up to me. I would sure hope so anyways with all of the time we spend together all day, every day.
"Noah, come on out, it's your turn," I step out of the curtains, the off-the-shoulder knitted top flows off me so nicely. I love sleeves that flare out at the end, they make me feel so elegant. Plus the color matches my make up. "You look perfect," our photographer adjusts his gadgets while I get in my headspace.
"Alright, let's do this,"
With the photoshoot done successfully and Lucy being dragged off to who knows where with Jas by her side, I'm now on my way back home.
Ah, I didn't even notice I started calling it that... Home.
It certainly feels like a home. Or maybe it's the people inside that make me feel like that.
"Gabriel, when does your shift end?" I ask while scrolling through our groupchat. We should all be getting back at around the same time.
"Eight, Sir," I cringe. I almost stop in my tracks, but choose to slow my pace a little. He slows down as well, trying to stay his usual amount of steps behind me.
"Please, how many times do I have to tell you to call me, Noah?" I half-joke.
"It's unprofessional, Sir,"
"Vivienne calls me Noah,"
"I'm not Vivienne,"
I shake my head, "no, but isn't it stifling having to call me that," I turn my head briefly to eye him as he keeps his gaze ahead. "Plus, aren't you older than me?" He nods.
"So, call me Noah," I shrug, going back to my phone as it buzzes.
'Let's make pizza for dinner!'
I smile down at my phone, already looking forwards to snuggling with them on the couch and enjoying our homemade pizza together. Julian's pizza is top tier.
'Sure, let's do it.'
With Sebastian's agreement, I have an extra bit of energy filling me as we make our way back. As worried as I was to have security looking after me all the time, I can't deny the sense of safety both of them give me. Vivienne has this strength to her that practically oozes: 'Don't mess with me.' and Gabriel has this certain way of sticking by me that has me feeling like he wouldn't ever fail to do his hardest to protect me from harm. The two of them are so amazing and respectful, in that moment as we walk past the orange building lit up by the dipping sun I feel nothing but grateful to Jennifer for appointing them to me for the time being.
Not to mention the warmth and pizza that's awaiting me at home.
Home.