"Where do you guys wanna go first?" Noah asks as he parks up the car.
Sadie has been desperate to go shopping and since I haven't even checked out the shops here yet I thought it would be fun to turn it into a girls day out, which has evidently turned into Noah having to drive us there and tagging along bringing Nick with him.
"I don't know, let's just have a wander." Sadie replies undoing her seatbelt. She's so much more relaxed the longer she's been here.
No one knows what's going on with her and Nick and no one wants to ask the questions, although it doesn't seem to be slowing down.
I take Noah's hand in mine as we make our way out the car park towards the shopping mall.
"Do you know what you're going to buy?" Noah asks his voice echos through the car park.
"Honestly no idea. There's nothing I particularly need or want but we'll see." We walk into the mall and immediately Sadie makes her way to Barnes & Noble.
I start scanning the shelves for something that takes my fancy picking up different books reading the synopsis of each one I pull out from the shelves. I see Sadie and Nick sneaking around the corner of where I'm standing with a book in hand.
"Hey dude, I think your girlfriend's famous." Nick puts the book in Noah's hand and I try to snatch it from him.
"Please put that back." I sigh, the whole time I've known Noah I've always said that I don't want him reading what I publish.
"Is it dirty?" Nick wriggles his brows at me making me laugh as Noah takes in the book cover, flipping it over.
"Maybe, put it back. Please." I plead, silently begging Noah with my eyes to not read anymore than he already has.
"Nu-uh, I'm buying it." Nick smirks as Sadie shakes her head next to him.
"I tried to get him to put it back. I told him you don't like your friends reading your work." Sadie sounds defeated as Nick takes the book out of Noah's hand.
"Can I really not read your stuff?" Noah asks as I put another book back on the shelf.
"Nope." I pop the "p" and he shrugs at my reply.
"Why not?" He seems genuinely curious.
"I don't actually know. I would be worried you would think it was shit, I guess. I wouldn't want you thinking I sucked at my job. Your opinion means too much." I explain and Noah kisses my forehead.
"I know that if it's something you've worked on it will be amazing but I respect that you wouldn't want me to read it. Can't say that for Nick though." I turn around to find Nick at the till purchasing my book and I groan. I walk over to him and Sadie, Noah following closely behind me.
"Here she is, the writer of this work of art." Nick says taking the bag from the girl serving him.
"You know I have a copy I can give you, if you really wanted to read it you could have just asked me." I hiss at Nick as I try to usher him away from the till quickly.
"Did you really write that?" The girl calls after us stopping me in my tracks. I turn to Nick and huff at him for putting me in this situation.
"Yeah..." I smile politely at her.
"I love that book, could you maybe sign a copy for me?" She asks shyly and I look at Noah for support. He's smiling so proudly at me, so are Sadie and Nick but I'm only looking at him.
"Sure." She runs from the till and pulls a copy of my book off of the shelf, handing me a black marker and the book when she gets back to me. "Who's it for." I smile at her.
"For me, Freya." She replies much more excitedly than when she asked me if I would sign it for her.
"Pretty name." I pull the lid off of the marker and open the book, signing the page.
"To Freya, Thank You,
lots of love Margo Brown<3"
"Thank you." Freya replies as I hand the book to her.
"You're welcome! I hope you have a lovely day." I smile turning to leave.
"Sorry, just one more thing, could I get a photo?" Freya asks quietly.
"Oh, Ofcourse." Freya quickly takes a selfie looking super happy with herself.
"Thank you." She tells me again holding the book tightly to her chest.
"Anytime." I make my way back over to Noah and he wraps his arm around me instantly.
"Damn, my girlfriend is so cool." He whispers into my hair.
"Shut up." I laugh embarrassed but still not over the way he looked at me so proudly when someone wanted me to sign their book.
"She's smart as hell too, which is fucking hot." He growls into my ear and I have to bite my lip to hold myself back from saying something inappropriate making Noah chuckle.
"Where next?" Nick asks and I've never been more thankful for him than in that moment.
"Oooh let's go in here." Sadie grabs Nick's hand and drags him into the next shop. Noah looks up at the sign outside the shop and laughs once he realises where Nicks been dragged into.
"Fucking Nick in Sephora. Oh god, this I have to see." Noah laughs as we follow Sadie and Nick into the store.
Sadies looking around the store deciding on what she's going to buy, picking up different eyeliners and lipglosses while Nick follows her around the store, looking like a fish out of water.
"You good Nick?" I ask as I approach him standing next to Sadie who's choosing between two different mascaras.
"Whys there so many fucking kids in here?" He asks making Noah laugh even harder.
"Do children scare you Nicholas?" Sadie gently asks him fighting back a laugh.
"Kinda, yeah. These ones seem feral." Nick replies looking slightly fearful of these tiny humans running around Sephora demanding that their mothers buy them what they want.
"Are you getting anything Mar?" Sadie asks me.
"Nah, I think I'm all good." I tell her and she makes her way up to the counter Nick follows.
"This tube costs that much?" Noah whistles as he holds up a mascara. "Ay, isn't this what you use?"
"Yeah, and the tube next to it is what I use on my eyebrows." I tell Noah as he picks up the other tube flipping it over looking for the price.
"Mar, that's over seventy dollars? For two items that are tiny. Hold up..." I can tell he's clearly trying to do the mental maths. "Shit, make up is expensive." Noah laughs putting them back just as Sadie and Nick make their way back over to us.
"Sadie just spent like two fifty on creams and tubs of... I don't know, stuff." Nick declares as we make our way for the exit.
"You boys will spend like seventy dollars on a game right? Which you'll complete in within like a month or something. Don't judge gals paying two fifty on cosmetics when that would buy you like four games." Sadie says swinging her bag proudly as we make our way towards the next store.
"Ah, smells like home." I say to Noah as we enter the Vans store.
"I thought as we grew up we were supposed to grow out of this?" Sadie giggles to herself as we make our way towards the trainers.
"It's not a phase mom, it's a life style." Noah laughs from behind me and I can't help but laugh with him.
"I don't think I've ever heard anyone say that with an actual American accent. That's made my life complete." Noah pulls me into him as I pick up a pair of black authentic vans.
"I'm glad I could be the one to complete your life." Noah winks at me. I feel butterflies bat around in my stomach, I know he's joking but fuck. "Are you gonna get them?" Noah nods towards the shoes I'm holding.
"Maybe, we'll see. I'm just embracing the nostalgia that they hold." I laugh putting them back on the shelf.
We make our way over to the tee shirt rack and I quickly flick through them seeing if anything takes my fancy. I pull out a pink tee that has a graphic design on the back. I hold it up judging it unsure if I should buy it or not.
"I think it's cute as fuck. You should buy it." Sadie says from behind me.
"I think so too." I laugh fate of the tee shirt decided I take the top over to the till and proceed to pay.
"I'm hungry can we get tacos?" Nick asks as soon as we leave the store.
"Sure." Sadie shrugs and we head towards our next stop.
"I'll catch up with you guys there. I forgot something in the car." Noah tells us, quickly planting a kiss on my cheek then he turns in the direction of the car park.
"So tacos are this way." Nick directs us to a small restaurant.
Sadie and I let him do all the talking to the server who guides us over to our table, Nick explaining to them that Noah's just on his way.
We order our drinks and one for Noah just as he joins us again and I notice that he has a Vans bag in his hand.
"Ooooo! Show us what you got." Sadie squeals excitedly seeing the Vans bag.
"It's for Mar." Noah blushes sliding the bag to me. I feel everyone's eyes on me but it's only Noah I'm looking at.
"Thank you." I peck him on the cheek. I'm overwhelmed with his kindness and have to stop myself from getting overly emotional.
"Oh baby." Noah pulls me into him knowing I'm close to tears.
"Open it. I wanna see what Romeo got you." Nick demands a moment later after I manage to compose myself.
I peel open the bag and see a cardboard shoe box sitting inside.
"Noah..." I sigh as I pull the box out of the bag opening it up. "Thank you." I whisper.
"I wanna see." Sadie says peeking over the table to get a closer look. "Oh! It's the shoes you picked up." Sadie smiles at me as I put them back into the box putting them away.
"Thank you so much." I gently kiss Noah again.
"You're welcome." He kisses my forehead softly.
"Maybe Nick can buy me something from the next store." Sadie winks at me clearly joking as I take a sip of my soda. "So where is the closest Victoria Secrets?" I almost choke on my drink, Noah gently pats on my back as I make eye contact with Nick who is completely red in the face.
"Fuck Sadie." I manage to compose myself with the help of Noah who is now laughing next to me.
"Bro your face is a fucking picture." Noah tells Nick his cheeks have started turning back to their usual colour.
"Why can we never have a nice lunch?" Nick shakes his head as the server makes their way back over to us.
"Because it's us." Noah reminds him.
"True. Wouldn't have it any other way."