As we make our way to Noah's hotel I can't help but notice that it's just around the corner from the hotel that I'm staying in with Cassidy. I'm probably clinging to his hand a little too tightly but slowly my anxiety is creeping in due to being in a hotel that I've never been to with someone I met about two hours ago.
We walk past the lobby and step into the lift, immediately as the doors close Noah pulls me into him and almost instantly the creeping in anxiety is gone. He wraps his arms around me and I realise how much of a height difference there is between us.
"Are you alright? We can go back to the bar if you'd like." He whispers as he places his chin on the top of my head. I shake my head, I feel calm as soon as he talks to me. Either I'm very gullible or I'm pretty good at reading people. "We can just hang out, I want to get to know you Margo." As he says my name my stomach flips. The lift doors open and we make our way to the end of the corridor to what I assume is his room, he unlocks the door and I cautiously step inside. He puts the latch on the door but looks at me with a gentle smile almost to ask if it's okay. I nod and undo my boots and take off my jacket as Noah makes his way towards the bed and gets himself comfortable one hand resting behind his head, the other spread across the pillow suggesting that I should be there. I cuddle into him as he turns on the T.V and can't help but giggle when the current movie playing is Scooby Doo.
"I love Scooby Doo." I say making Noah laugh I place my head on his chest to get myself more comfortable, it feels surprisingly natural.
"What else do you love?" He asks me.
"So many things. My friends, that's an obvious one though isn't it. My grandparents and my siblings, I love autumn, the colour dark green, reading, writing, peonies, music, movies, anime we'll be here for hours if I have to list everything I love. What do you love?"
"Music." He answers with no hesitation. "My friends, writing, movies, anime too, just generally being creative." He kisses the top of my head and I look up to him. "Is this weird?" Noah asks me and I shake my head in confusion.
"Is what weird?" Pushing myself up to look at him putting a little distance between us.
"I just want to be around you, there's this instant click, connection. I don't know, I don't think that I've experienced that before." I can't help but smile.
"I thought the same, it's like I'm instantly calm around you and there's this pull towards you... talk about getting into emotions, I just met you. Sorry."
"No, that's exactly it. Plus you moving to LA, it's like it was supposed to happen. Can I have your phone?" Noah asks, I unlock it and hand it to him. I notice that he's gone to my contacts and added his number and put his contact name down as Magnetic Noah. I laugh as he hands my phone back to me. "Well let's not lie to ourselves. Clearly there's something there between us." Noah states as I lay back down next to him.
"I know, I bet you hate sushi or something and honestly that's a deal breaker." I half joke.
"Nope, not a sushi hater." He tells me and threads his fingers through mine. "Do you have an official move date?"
"No, not yet. It's supposed to be by the start of next month. I'm currently still trying to find accommodation though in LA and not being local is making it really difficult as I'm not too sure where is good value for money and safe. I still have loads to pack up but I have some time, i already have my visa so I really hope I don't need to push it back a month. Maybe I'm naive but I thought I'd have a rental by now."
"So start of February you'll be in LA?" Noah confirms and I nod. "I can help you with what areas are good and what areas are kind of shit, if you don't find anything you can stay with me... until you find something if you like." He continues and I'm stunned at his kindness.
"You really don't have to do that, we just met and you hardly know me. The offers really generous but I couldn't do that. Although helping me with the areas would be great."
"I know I don't need to but I want to. The offers there ya'know just incase. Sometimes it can take a while to get a place in LA and it's pretty expensive for shitty small apartments." He tells me and I know that it's true, everything I've seen so far is tiny for my budget and every time I go for one of the apartments I've seen it's already rented out to someone else by the time I get back to the agency.
"Thank you Noah." I say and face him. He places his forehead against mine and our noses are touching. I close my eyes and I feel his mouth collide with mine. His hands make their way to my hips and he pulls me towards him, a small moan escaping me. My arms wrap around his neck and he gently glides his tongue across my lower lip asking for entry. Before I know it we're making out and somehow at some point Noah has made his way ontop of me. We stop making out and he kisses along my jaw and down my neck, stopping at the top of my dress. "Fuck..." I whisper and he looks up at me with a knowing smile.
"You look so beautiful..." he whispers back to me and I feel my cheeks begin to redden. He comes back up so we're face to face and kisses me again, gently this time then crawls off of me kisses my forehead and stands up. "Are you thirsty? I'm just going to nip to the vending machine quickly."
"A water would be nice, wait where's my purse I'll give you some cash."
"Damn, just let me buy you a drink Margo without offering to pay for it. You're giving me the impression you're not into me." Noah jokes as I scan the room for my purse.
"Well given our little make out session that's bold of you to say, but sure I'd love it if you bought me a bottle of water." I smirk and he unlocks the door.
"You got it, I'll be a minute." He slips out of the door and I grab my phone. As soon as I unlock it I see the thread of messages that Cassidy has sent me.
Cass - I actually can't believe you
Cass - leaving your own leaving party early is too funny 🤣
Cass - How did that even happen WTF
Cass - WTAF is going on
Cass - We must be in a weird dream
Cass - Are you okay?
Cass - You do know who you're with right?
I send her a quick message back saying that I'm okay and not to worry about me, the rest I ignore. She must have had more to drink and I don't want to start an argument because I left early. I get myself a little more comfortable and sigh. What a weird night, maybe we are in a strange dream.
*
Loud banging on the door jolts me awake. Fuck I fell asleep, I realise that somehow I've made it underneath the covers. I know I must have fallen asleep on top of them.
"Hey, you're awake." Noah says with a toothbrush in his mouth as he makes his way towards the door.
"Did you tuck me in? Thats so embarrassing I fell asleep, you should have woken me."
"You looked exhausted and I didn't want to disturb you so I tucked you in and then went to sleep next to you." My eyes widen to his response. "Don't worry, I kept my clothes on, although you're quite the cuddler." He laughs and looks through the peep hole of the door.
"Thats mortifying. Sorry."
"Don't say sorry, it was cute. I'm just gonna step out a second. Stay there." Noah tells me and I grab my phone to check the time. I must have been asleep for several hours as it's now approaching half past ten in the morning. I know that Noah said to stay there but I get out of bed and grab my stuff. I should probably go and check on Cassidy, she did invite me here with her.
I shove my feet into my shoes and quickly use Noah's bathroom, checking myself in the mirror. I still have yesterdays make up on, my hairs a mess and I need to brush my teeth. Quickly I take off my lashes and wash my face, feeling a little fresher but bare faced. I steal a little of Noah's toothpaste and use my fingers as a toothbrush. It'll have to do until I get back to our hotel. I leave the bathroom raking my fingers through my hair and grab my jacket.
"You're leaving?" I jump as I realise that Noah's standing behind me.
"I need to check Cassidy's okay. She seemed weird with me last night." I reply and turn around, Noah nods.
"She came back with Folio." Noah tells me and wraps his arms around me. "Do you wanna get breakfast?"
"Oh my god, yes. I look awful though, we can make a quick stop at my hotel and I'll get changed. Ten minutes maximum. Just need to grab the key from Cassidy."
"I already know that's a lie, ten minutes?" He quizzes me one eyebrow raised.
"Okay, maybe fifteen then, twenty tops."
"Yeah, yeah, I bet. Let me grab my stuff and we'll go." He says putting his toothbrush down and grabbing his sunglasses, jacket and a hat.
"Sunglasses?" I ask Noah, it's the middle of January in Scotland. He just shrugs and opens the door gesturing me to go first.
"Habit. I wear them all the time back home."
"Ohh, yeah our weathers probably really different to LA." I say and Noah nods while laughing quietly to himself.
"Something like that, come on I'm starving." He takes my hand and we make our way to the lift.
"I'm desperate for some pancakes, what do ya think?" I ask as we step into the lift.
"I'm always down for pancakes."
*
"Do you know why Cassidy didn't go back to the hotel?" I ask Noah as I cut into my stack of pancakes. Feeling much better after making a stop at the hotel to get a changed and brush my teeth properly. I just put on a little make up and put my hair up in a messy bun, much different to how I looked last night.
"Apparently she couldn't remember the room number but Folio had offered for her to stay with him so she just came back." He tells me and I nod slowly.
"Right... I hope she still plans on us going to the concert together tonight. I don't really know my way to where it's held." I say and take a bite of my pancakes.
"I'm sure she will. What are your plans for the rest of the day?"
"I don't really have any plans until going out later, I'll probably just wait for Cassidy to get back and then get ready to go. You?"
"I have to work at three but we could hang out if you're down?"
"Yeah, sounds good. We can go explore what Glasgow has to offer. There's this really cool arcade that has retro games if you wanna check that out?" I ask Noah and his face lights up.
"That would be so cool, let's do that." He replies and practically wolfs down the rest of his pancakes. I quickly finish what I can and Noah insists on paying the bill telling me to not bruise is ego anymore than I already have.
As we make our way to the Arcade Noah puts his sunglasses back on and I give him a quizzical glance but he just pulls me into him and keeps his arm wrapped around me as we walk.
"It feels like I've known you forever." He states and I nod.
"I know, maybe we knew each other in a past life." I laugh.
"I bet that's exactly it." He replies and I can't help but notice that people around us are giving us funny looks.
"Have I got something on my face?"
"No, how come?"
"Oh nothing, I thought people were looking at me. Sorry self conscious I guess."
"You have nothing to be self conscious of. You're gorgeous, and stop saying sorry, I'm putting a ban on that word. You use it far too often." Noah tells me and kisses the side of my head. I go to apologise again but Noah catches on and quickly raises his glasses and gives me a little side eye making me laugh.
"Okay, okay. Look we're here, come on. I've got some ass to kick." I tell him as we make our way inside.
"And who's ass are you supposedly going to kick?" Noah laughs at me.
"Yours Noah, I'm gonna be kicking your ass."
*
"Fuuuck yessss! That's the fifth game Miss Imma Kick Your Ass." Noah reminds me. To be fair I've won three out of the eight games we've played but I really didn't think that Noah would be as competitive as he is.
"Air hockey, three games, let me atleast try to get even." I beg Noah and attempt a pout, he pouts back at me mockingly.
"Okay, three games. I'm a pro though." He says with a wink.
"I bet you are." I reply sarcastically and put £1 into the machine. The puck falls into the middle of the table and Noah reaches for it straight away, he pushes the puck with his disc into my direction and I smack it back towards him, it shoots right past his hand and I win the first game. "You let me win that one, I thought you said you were pro." I moan.
"True, I thought it would be nice to give you a little confidence boost. False sense of security and all that. We'll play a proper game now."
"Next game come on!" I say and put another £1 into the machine. This game goes on for longer but Noah's phone is constantly buzzing throughout. "Do you need to get that?"
"Not till I win this game." He says through concentration while I hit the puck as aggressively as I can and it goes flying into the goal.
"Woohooo, I win another!" I squeal and Noah groans.
"I shouldn't have let you win that first round, plus I had a distraction, my phone was ringing. Anyways you said best of three, one more game Margo. I'm going to kick your ass this time."
"Sore loser?" I laugh at him and pout just as his phone starts to ring again.
"I'm going to have to take this." He points to his phone.
"Yeah, course." I pull out my own phone and check the time. Shit it's after three, Noah was supposed to already be working.
"Dude, I'll be there... I didn't know I lost track of time... No, I really like her... yes seriously, there's just something different... right... I won't be late... no not yet... okay, I'll be there in twenty... okay... I said okay, Bye." Noah looks up to me and I shrug my shoulders.
"I'm -"
"No, don't say sorry. I'm sorry, I'm going to have to go. Can I see you tonight? After your concert? Or will that be too late?" Noah rushes his words as we make our leave.
"It'll be late but yeah we can hang out after. I can text you when it's over. I hope you're not in trouble with your work." We're walking at a rapid speed back to where our hotels are.
"That doesn't matter, I really really like spending time with you Margo." I notice his sunglasses are resting on the top of his head this time and not covering his eyes.
"I really like spending time with you too." I reply as we approach his hotel. "Well I'll see you tonight I guess." He pulls me into him and kisses me passionately.
"You'll definitely see me tonight Margo." He turns to go and I'm just watching him head inside. I feel like I'm stuck to the spot where he's left me. I turn around to head towards the hotel and suddenly there's arms wrapped around my waist, he quickly kisses me on the cheek. "I promise I'll see you tonight."
"I promise too, see you soon Noah." I say as he loosens his grip around me.
"See ya Margo." He whispers and runs into the hotel and I make my way towards mine.