Noah and I spent the next three days packing my things. And making decisions on what I needed to keep (the couch) and what needed to be sold (my car). Finn was going to take care of letting the movers in when they came tomorrow.
Finn, Ashley and I had said goodbye last night. They came over to the apartment and the four of us shared a bottle of whiskey like we used to. Finn and I told our same stories back and forth and I spent most of the night crying. I wasn't sad exactly, I didn't feel like this was forever, but I was going to miss him. He was a 20 minute car ride away from me for 2 decades, I wasn't going to be able to see him whenever I wanted to anymore. I tried to keep in mind I could facetime him every night and I had plenty of airline miles.
It was time to cut ties here, the last thing to tie up was my blog. I had stayed up half the night typing up the exact words I wanted to say. To say thank you for my success, and to announce I was moving to Los Angeles. It was so fucking nerve wrecking typing my last blog about Nashville. I would be renaming my brand in the days coming, and that also scared me. What if people didn't want to support me anymore? I shook off the thought so I didn't talk myself off of the plane.
Going to the airport with Noah was becoming a circus. People stopped him more and more and we were being seen together and I think I understood why he got rid of social media. Noah and I sat in first class together, drinking champagne, with my headphones blaring in my ears because not even him made me at peace on a plane.
I had packed a carryon of things to live on until my things arrives next week. We were going to have to put our feet to the pavement trying to find a house. I didn't mind living in the crowded house for a while, but I needed my own space.
"I can't believe you are coming home with me," Noah muses as he kisses my knuckles. The fasten seatbelt sign was off now and I had just taken out my headphones.
"I can't believe you want to take me home," I tell him. I was sure he could have anyone in the world. He was dating a model two weeks ago. I was nothing in comparison.
"There's no one I've ever wanted more," he sighs, like he can't really believe we have found our way back to each other.
"Here," Noah says, putting a beanie on my head and large sunglasses to hide my face. He does the same dance, pulling up his hoodie and putting on sunglasses. We wheel our things outside, escorted by security to a nondescript car away from the main entrance of the terminal. We slide into the car undetected.
"I feel like I'm dating a spy," I laugh, pulling the disguise off.
"I'm sorry, you'll get used to it," he says, watching the scenery change out of his window.
"I don't mind sharing you with the world," I tell him, squeezing his hand.
We pull up to the house, the one Sage forced me back to a couple of weeks ago. That one decision set me on a trajectory I could have never dreamed up. I never would have guessed I would run into Noah, let alone make friends with his friends. Now I was moving into this house, while we looked for a house together.
I don't know how this is my life.
The door opens and Sage comes out to greet us, she pulls me into a hug while Noah grabs our things. Nick and Jolly and Jesse are waiting for us when we walk into the house. I haven't lived with anyone since Caleb, I didn't even count living with Noah because we had separate spaces, going from having my own space to sharing with 7 other people was not going to be an easy adjustment. I just hoped Noah and I found a house soon.
Noah steps into the house behind me, kisses my hair, and takes our bags up to his room. Our room, for the time being. I desperately wanted to go put my things away, to have some semblance of control in my new situation. Instead, I put on a mask and sat with Sage, listening while she talked all about what we were going to order in for dinner and asked what neighborhood I wanted to live in. I heard Noah on the stairs behind me, I turn to lock eyes with him. He smiles at me, then frowns.
"Hey, Laney, I was going to go for a walk. Do you want to join me?"
I look apologetically at Sage, "Yes," I tell him, standing to meet him at the door.
Noah and I set out on the sidewalk and I slide sunglasses over my eyes, "I don't know how you do that, but I'm thankful."
"I don't know what you mean," he says with a cocky grin, "I spoke with a realtor, she sent over a link of houses to look at. We can go over them tonight and start setting up appointments."
"Yes, tonight, right now I just want to be on this walk with you. Overstimulated by your full house, how hot it is, and how many sirens I've heard since we've been outside."
"It's not too late, I could move back to Nashville," he says, bumping into me with his hip.
"I can't, the blog was set to post an hour ago," I joke, I set the blog to post automatically as we were getting off the plane. I was nervous to check it, to see the reaction, so I was ignoring it.
Noah wraps his arm around my shoulder and kisses my head, we've walked around the block and we are back at the house now. "Ready to go back in?"
"Yes, thank you," I reply, walking into the house with him. No one is in the living room when we get back and the two of us head up to the bedroom. Noah and I unpack our luggage silently, when we are done we sit at his desk and look through the houses the realtor sent over.
We talk about things like bedrooms and garages and yards. He needs space for a studio, and I need space for an office. We both want a yard, fenced in. I want something with character, Noah wants something new and modern. We pick out 10 houses, set up appointments, and talk about things we don't want.
"Are you hungry?" Noah shakes his head, "Of course you are. Let's order food and hang out with the others, yeah?"
"Heyy!" I I cry, but I feel less crowded and overwhelmed, so I nod. And if I'm being honest, I am hungry. "Let me change into something comfy."
I get dressed in soft shorts and Noah's old hoodie. The one I stole five years ago, and slept in often when I was missing him a little too much.
"You still have that?" He asks, watching me change.
I followed his eyes down to the hoodie, "of course."
"I thought you would have thrown it out when I left," he frowned.
"You know I never resented you for choosing music, right?"
He shrugged, "I know you said it, but I don't think I ever believed it."
"I never had any ill feelings toward you, and especially now that you've come back to me it was the right decision, for both of us."
Noah bends down to kiss me, softly and slowly, "I'll always come back to you."
When we go downstairs, the others are joking with each other, and arguing over what to order for dinner. I smile at the scene, I would get used to the chaos.
"I'm feeling like Chinese," I call to the group. Nick high fives me as I join him on the couch. Noah agrees with me.
"That's three votes for Chinese, we win," Nick says triumphantly.
"Ugh, fine, I'll put in the order," Jesse groans, "Delaney what is your order?"
"Szechuan chicken," I tell him, leaning into Noah a little on the couch.
The group argues for a long time on what to turn on, so long the food has arrived, and is getting cold. They do finally agree on something, putting on an old dystopian while we eat. Noah and I stay downstairs long enough to eat and finish the movie, but the second it ends we go back upstairs. I've had a long day, and I need to check my blog.
Everyone had taken it well and I had even received a few emails from companies owned by Nashville natives that live in LA now wanting me to write about their places. But I still checked the comment section frequently. I would announce the official rebrand next week, but for now I could breathe a little easier. Noah and I were going to see our first house tomorrow, and that scared me as much as it excited me.
-
Noah and I arrived at our first house after a trip to a local coffee shop. The house had obviously been renovated, it was an old ranch style but painted a modern blue gray. The inside had been gutted and turned sterile. Light floors throughout, white kitchen and a drab, boring gray color scheme. It was... nice, but boring.
The next three houses we saw looked like the first one. They were clean, sterile, updated, but lacked warmth or character. It wasn't until our fourth day of looking that we saw a house we could agree on. It was a craftsman, still old, but update. It had been updated in a way that played into the style, but hadn't been washed over in cookie cutter HGTV fashion. I fell in love instantly.
Noah and I went to dinner to talk over the places we've seen so far. This house was the last one we had picked out, we would have to start over if we didn't pick one of these. And I didn't want to start over.
"I really liked that last house," Noah and I say at the same time.
Noah chuckles, "I guess it's settled then. We will put in an offer tomorrow."
Noah and I got drinks to celebrate, "I guess the next thing will be for me to get a car, I hate having to depend on you."
"We should talk about that, we're about to release a new album. The next year is going to be really chaotic, with interviews and tours, I'm going to be gone a lot," he says, and I hadn't really thought about how much he's on the road. "We are going to be seen together, people are going to start talking. I just want you to be prepared."
I nod, processing.
"I have a show on the 31st, will you come?"
"Really? I get to see the Noah Sebastian live? I hear your shows are always sold out, how will I even get a ticket?"
He smirks at me, taking a drink of his wine before answering. "You might even get to go home with him."
I shake my head at him and grin, his ego was only going to grow I fear.
When we got back to the house everyone was in their rooms, and we headed up to ours. Noah played video games while I reread my tattered copy of Animal Farm.
Today was mundane, trivial, completely normal. I didn't mind though, I was here with Noah. He loved me and I loved him. And we were doing boring things like having dinner out and searching for a house, but I didn't feel any less wild or free than I did that time that I jumped off of a bridge with him. Noah laid on his side and I snuggled into him while he wrapped his arms around me.
-
"Do you wanna go somewhere tonight?" Noah asks, it's late and he's been in and out of interviews all day.
"What? It's already getting late."
"Yes," he says, grabbing a duffle from his closet, "Pack a bag."
"What? Noah you just got home and it's late."
"There's the neurotic control freak I love," Noah sighs blissfully, "pack a bag."
The sun was just setting when we got on the road. Noah had packed a bunch of things from the garage and wouldn't tell me what it was. Noah could have been taking me anywhere, it was disorienting not knowing where we were going in a city I knew almost nothing about. Noah pulled onto the highway, heading northeast. After we had been driving for two and a half hours he pulled over for Taco Bell and a bottle of whiskey. We drove for another hour before I looked quizzically at him as we entered the Death Valley National Park.
"Where the fuck are we?"
"I know you just saw the sign," Noah, I could tell without seeing, rolls his eyes at me.
Noah pulled into a clearing and got out.
"We just drove three hours to go to a national park after dark?"
"And we snuck in alcohol too," he winked as he began pulling stuff out of the trunk of his car.
I could just make out Noah setting up a tent in the glow of his head lights. It looked like he pulled thirty blankets inside too as he beckoned me out of the car. Noah put on some soft music and pulled me onto the blankets with him. Noah's tent was sans a roof and we could see the sky above us perfectly.
I was from small town USA, and I was used to being able to see stars. This was not just stars, this was all of them. At the same time. I could see clusters of constellations, all of them, just by looking up. I gasp as my eyes try to scan the sky for everything it was seeing. The sky was a blue, purple and it was breathtaking.
"Do you like it?"
"Noah, I," I couldn't finish because i was overcome with emotion.
"Are you crying?" Noah propped up on his elbow and looked at me. "Oh my god, you are!" Noah chuckles softly as he pulls me to him. "If you hated surprises that much all you had to do was say so."
I snort a very attractive laugh and wipe my face.
"I just love you," I say softly, "that's all."
"Loving me makes you sad?"
"No, it makes me happy. So happy I don't know how to deal with it," I kiss him, "you drove three hours, randomly, to take me to a place you thought I would like."
I was quiet for a while longer before I add, "I'm not sure what I did to deserve this."
"I've never told you directly how you make me feel have I?"
I shake my head no.
"Do you remember how I was when we met, Laney?" I nod, how could I forget? He was pompous, arrogant, and a pain in my ass, but under all of that he was lost and searching for something. "I used to sleep around a lot because I could. Even before we started getting all of this attention, I could tell people wanted to please me. Then I met you, and you didn't want to please me. You didn't even like me, and I didn't know anyone I couldn't charm. People wanted to please me, Delaney, but I wanted to please you. When you finally let me in that day on the river, that is my greatest accomplishment and greatest reward. Making you happy makes me just as happy as music makes me."
I had tears in my eyes when he finished.
"I hate you."
"No you don't," he smirked.
"Yes I do."
"Do not."
Noah crashes his lips to mine, his large hand splayed across my back, and I gasp. I feel his other hand tease at my waistband, "I guess this will be the second public place I make you cum in," Noah whispers in my ear as his fingers began working my clit.
"Noah-," I gasp at how cold his fingers actually are. The cold metal of his rings tease my bundle of nerves as his fingers disappear inside of me.
"Scream for me baby, no ones around."
Noah's hand moves furiously between us creating a delicious friction. My eyes glaze over and the feeling erupts through my lower half, and I do scream for him. Noah pulls his hand from my leggings and kisses me tenderly. We both lay on our backs as we look up the different constellations on our phones and point them each out. It's unreal out here.
"Wake up, love," Noah whispers in my ear.
"I don't wanna," I groan. The blankets, the fresh air and Noah create the perfect sleeping conditions.
"Come, we have exploring to do," he kisses my neck before pulling the blanket off of me.
I gasp at the cold and narrow my eyes at him. "Mean," I comment before pulling my shoes and jacket on.
Noah packs up the car and drives us down a path and parks the car. We climb out and he leads me down a path. The sun was just coming up and the path that we were in reflects off the sunlight to create beautiful pastel hues on the rocks.
Noah being adventurous climbs up some of the rocks and stands above me. He begs me to climb up, but I am not having it. Once the sun was fully into the sky Noah and I get back into the car a drive down to the badlands, where the desert was a honeycomb of dried salt and cracked earth. Noah and I keep driving around, stopping to take pictures and talk about how creepy the place actually was. It was nice during the day, but it paled in comparison to last night.
Around noon Noah and I head back to the highway. On our way out we stop at a cafe for burgers and milkshakes, with our bellies full we headed back to Los Angeles.
"Thanks for last night," I say when we get home. "For opening up to me, and kidnapping me."
"I meant what I said, I will never tire of taking you on adventures," Noah smirks then adds, "or making you scream my name."
I feel the blood rush my cheeks as I hide my face.
"Noah!"
"Delaney," he says my name far more seductively than my high pitched whine.
I push him away before going to take a shower.
We only had one more week before we moved into our new home. As much as I enjoyed spending time with the people in the house, I was ready to have my own space.