Another Friday night has come and I am getting ready for Finn's show. I don't have to worry about begging Caleb to come with me tonight, he works odd hours and he will be at work most of the night.
I pull on ripped skinny jeans, throw on a white t-shirt and shrug on a red flannel, leaving it open to reveal the shirt. I curl the ends of my hair and put on some mascara. I look at my phone, it's a busy night and I have enough time to drink a glass of champagne before my car gets here.
My phone dings in my hand. Better hurry up, bitch! Finn has referred to me as bitch for as long as I've known him. I shake my head and ignore the text. My phone signals my car is here and I turn up the rest of my champagne and rush down the stairs.
Lucky for me, I get a driver who doesn't speak and leaves his headphones in the whole, awkward ride. Finn is waiting for me on the curb of The End. Noah Sebastian is stood next to him, he smirks at me as uses both hands to push his hair behind his ears.
Finn lifts me off the ground and spins me in a circle. Noah holds his arms out signaling he wants a hug as well, but I roll my eyes at him. I could barely tolerate Finn hugging me, getting hugs from strangers was very weird to me.
"Where's your boyfriend, Delaney?" Noah asks. He says my name like it's an insult. He drags it out a little too long and with a little too much condescension.
"None of your business, Noah," I retort, I say his name with more disdain than I meant to. He really gets under my skin. Who does he think he is? Why does he even care?
Finn shoots Noah a look and drags me to the bar. I order a glass of whiskey, neat, because it's going to be a long night. "Are you playing all of your shows with them?" I ask, taking a sip of the sweet liquid.
Finn laughs at me before answering. "Yes, Lanes, Why do you hate Noah so much?"
"He's an arrogant, smug asshole," I scoff at him. "Furthermore, why is he so tall? It's obnoxious. I bet he's lip-syncing. No one sounds that good live."
"Tell me how you really feel, darling," Noah says next to my ear, much to close and a shiver runs down my spine. I tell myself the shiver was because I was creeped out. Who gets that close to someone they don't know?
"Don't you have a show to play?" I ask, turning to face him. He's still too close, and smirking at me. His face falls a fraction before laughing, two creases appear by his mouth. Noah has an embarrassing laugh, it's loud and abrupt. I feel embarrassed for him, but he doesn't seem phased by how loud it is.
"I'll be watching for you in the crowd, sweet cheeks," Noah winks before walking off.
"That's sexist, you ass!" I cry after him. Finn, who has been watching the whole exchange has a small smile and is shaking his head. "What?!" I snap at him, I don't even notice that I've already finished my drink.
"You can practically cut the sexual tension with a knife," he tells me, and I laugh. Sexual tension? I want to punch that guy, not kiss him.
"I have a boyfriend," I tell Finn, like he doesn't know.
"For now," he singsongs as he walks backstage.
I take my time getting another drink before going and mingling with a few friends, when it's time for Noah to go on stage I go hide in the bathroom for most of the set. I do catch the last two songs, and he's just as good as he was last week. Something tells me there's not anything he can't do. Finn's band is best, but I have a biased opinion. When the show is over, I don't want to go home to my empty apartment. I'm closing out my tab anyway, because I can't stay here.
"Wanna go to Red Door?" Finn asks as I'm pulling my uber app up.
"Absolutely," I tell him, getting us a ride.
The uber is close so we get in immediately, Finn scoots to the far side and I'm about to close the door when Noah's large hand grabs it.
"Got room for one more?" His question is punctuated by a smirk.
"No," I groan and tug on the door. Finn gives me a sharp look and I reluctantly scoot to the middle to let Noah in the car.
Noah's left side is touching my right side, from my shoulder to my ankles. I notice that Noah sits with his legs wide, like he can't help it - which I highly doubt he needs that much room. It's suddenly hot in here, and I'm glad it's only a ten minute ride. Finn and Noah talk over me, and to our driver but I can't find any words to join the conversation.
When we finally pull up in front of Red Door, I reach across Finn and shove him out before pulling myself out behind him.
"What's the rush, Lanes?" He asks, righting himself on the curb. My face goes blank, I can't tell him I didn't want to be touching Noah any longer.
"To, uh, you know," I stammer, "to get a good table." It's 11pm at the hottest spot on the east side, there's no tables left. In fact, we will be lucky if we get drinks the first hour we are here. Lucky for us, I am friendly with the bartender.
Noah appears next to me, and drapes an arm casually over my shoulders. I can tell he's done this to just get a rise out of me by the way his mouth is tugged up on one side. I shrug it off and lead the guys to the bar.
The bar is packed. The patio is at capacity, and people are standing three deep waiting to get to the bar. Despite all the business this place always gets, there's only two people behind the bar. I squeezed through the people and made eye contact with my favorite bartender, Jeff. His long hair, and beard is woven with black and gray, he has crinkles by his eyes that are permanent and he's covered in tattoos. Anyone who doesn't know him is intimidated by him, but he's really a big teddy bear.
"Delaney! How's my favorite alcoholic?" He shouts over the 90s boyband music playing overhead. Ignoring all the disgruntled East siders and giving me his full attention.
"Thirsty!" I shout at him over the loud bar dwellers and music.
"Terrapin and a shot of Bulleit?" Jeff guessed. I nodded. Jeff turned to Finn, "Coors Light?" Finn nodded. "What about you pretty boy?" Jeff turned to Noah. Noah looked offended as he ordered a glass of bourbon, but didn't dare push back on Jeff.
Jeff handed us all our drinks and before anyone had time to pull out money, Noah slapped a $100 on the bar for Jeff. Finn grabbed his drink before slapping Noah on the back and thanking him.
"You didn't have to do that," I snapped at him and followed Finn. I know I was being rude, but I don't want him doing any favors for me.
Finn led us back outside, there wasn't room to stand comfortably, but at least it wasn't stuffy out here like inside. I spotted Jenna and made my way over to her, trying to get away from Noah.
I turned my shot up and threw the plastic cup away, and sipped my Terrapin. "Rough night?" Jenna asked, watching me all but chug my beer. I gave her a look that told her she had no idea, but didn't say anything.
A few moments later Finn and Noah found their way over to us. I rolled my eyes as Noah stood a little too close to me, leaning his hip into the railing that went around the parameter of the patio.
"So, what do you do?" Noah asked, in what I assumed was supposed to be a conversational tone. It irritated me, why did he want to know anything about me?
The same reason you want to know about him, my subconscious snarked.
"I'm a blogger," I replied tersely. I wasn't sure what his reaction would be, most people openly laughed at me as if it couldn't possibly be my real job.
"Yeah, what kinds of things do you blog about?" I was pretty confident he was using sincere curiosity, but I really wasn't sure.
"Mostly Nashville, I go and try out new bars and restaurants and give people recommendations and tips," I replied, cautiously. He still looked interested, but I still waited for him to start making fun of me.
"Why do you keep cringing like you think I won't approve?" Noah caught me in my own internal debate.
"Don't flatter yourself," I scoffed.
"I own a business in the Nashville area, will you come and write about it?" he asked, a serious tone appeared in his voice, one she hadn't heard from him yet.
"What kind of business? A strip club?" I was suddenly letting the alcohol talk for me.
"No," he drawled out, amused, "I own a ropes course."
"What?" I squeaked, I hated heights.
"You know, team building activities where you go up in the trees and put your body to the test," he winked when he said the last part.
"I can't," I replied simply. I absolutely was not going to subject myself to that.
"And why not?" he asked, one eyebrow raised as he took a sip of his drink.
"She's scared of heights," Finn offered for me, "You should do it, I'll come with you and protect you." Noah smirked at me, smug as ever.
"I'll try to make some time, do you have a card...or...?" I stopped myself from asking for a phone number. Judging how he's been acting all night he would have certainly taken that the wrong way and his ego would inflate even more.
"Please, Lanes, I'll pick you up Monday morning. You don't have a choice, that good with you?" Finn told me, and looked over at Noah for approval. Noah nodded his head as a lazy grin appeared on his face.
"I think I'm going to call it a night," I told them. I hugged Finn and Jenna, and gave Noah a half hearted wave. Noah shook his head as he pull me to his chest. I had originally thought Finn gave the best hugs, but I was wrong. Noah towered over me, and I was level with the heavy thumping in his chest. He smelled of musk, from the show and an earthy smell that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Both of his arms wrapped around me, and squeezed me gently before releasing me. Noah had only held me for a moment, a friendly gesture, but it awakened something deep inside of me. I wasn't sure what it was, but it scared me.
I held my hand up to wave at my friends again before disappearing into the car that had just arrived.
Caleb was asleep when I came in. I quietly slipped my shoes off and heated up a frozen burrito, an absolute must after drinking all night. I sat on the couch waiting for my late night snack to finish when my phone dinged, the sound for emails.
Having a tech job required me to check all of my emails immediately. I had four different emails, and they all had to be checked constantly. If I didn't I might miss the opportunity to work with important people.
I opened the email,
Ms. Walker,
I simply can't wait to do business with you.
Sincerely,
Noah Sebastian
The microwave was blaring in the quiet apartment, but I didn't look up from the email. It went off again and Caleb appeared in the doorway of our bedroom.
"Del, you gonna get that?" he asked, rubbing his eyes. I really hated when he called me Del.
I locked my phone quickly and put it face down on the coffee table.
"Yeah," I moved to the microwave and pulled the cooled off burrito out, "how was work?"
"It was alright, but I'm beat, I'm gonna go back to bed. It's really late, I wish you would have told me you'd be out this late," he scolds gently.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know the show was going to run this long," I lied easily.
Had he always been this controlling?