"Wow," Derek said as they walked down her porch steps. "I haven't seen that kid in years. I'm surprised he's not in jail."
Veronica turned to him, her arms crossed in front of her. "What makes you say that?"
Derek chuckled. "That kid sat outside my office more than my damn receptionist when he went to Garfield."
She wasn't sure, but it made sense that Derek might have reason to try to discredit Noah. She'd seen his expression when she told him Noah was her roommate. Just the fact that she'd previously mentioned her new roommate was a guy she was sure had already gotten him speculating. His showing up here unannounced today was not on impulse as he'd said it was. Derek did nothing on impulse.
But she decided to bite anyway. "Why was he at your office so often?"
"Typical troublemaker. Did you run a background check on this guy before letting him move in?"
The thought had never even occurred to Veronica. "No, because he's a friend. What do you mean troublemaker? What kind of trouble?"
Derek shrugged, leaning against his car, obviously in no hurry to leave. "Ditching, fighting, drug trafficking, you name it."
"Drug trafficking?"
"Yeah, I'm telling you the kid is trouble with a capital T." He frowned, glancing back at her house. "So what? This guy trains you, and you just invite him to move on in?"
"No." She hesitated, fumbling to find the best wording. "He had issues."
Derek scoffed. "Yeah, I'll bet."
"Issues with his place," Veronica added, the annoyance building by the second. She knew Derek would have something to say about this, and his insistence on referring to Noah as a kid hadn't gone unnoticed either. "The storms did a number on his roof." She wouldn't mention it was the roof over a garage. Derek would love that. "I had the extra bedrooms, so I offered to rent him one."
"Convenient. I'd get the money upfront if I were you."
Roni rolled her eyes. "I gotta go, Derek." She began to walk away.
"Hey listen, Veronica," Derek's condescending tone had suddenly softened, "I'm sorry. I know you said he's your friend. It's just that I'd like to think me and you can still be friends too ... at least. And I do still care about you, so I can't help but feel a little concerned here. Who knows? Maybe he's changed. It has been a few years. All I'm saying is what I do know about him is no good. So just be careful. Okay?"
Roni turned back to him with a weak smile. "No need to worry. He's a great guy."
As expected, her last comment raised questions. She saw it in his eyes, but he didn't ask. Instead he went on to a topic she'd hoped to avoid at least for now.
"So once you get settled in at work, you think we can get together some time?"
She'd used the excuse of being too busy trying to get back on track with her work schedule to answer or return his calls and texts. It was a lame excuse, and she'd hoped he'd take the hint. She didn't see how getting together with him would work now. Noah would no doubt have issues with it.
Every moment she spent with Noah now, every one of their friendly good night kisses, her need to move things forward with him began to outweigh the feeling that she'd be taking a huge risk. All this time she'd been telling herself that he was too young and would want to be out there playing the field. Yet he was free to do that now, and he spent all his free time with her. That had to count for something.
A smile and a nod was the only response she offered Derek then added, "text me," before walking away.
She'd at least pretend to consider it. She told herself that once she felt completely comfortable being back at work and her life went back to what she considered the norm, she'd take that plunge and next step with Noah. But considering the speed at which their relationship was progressing, that plunge might come a lot sooner than she planned.
One thing was for sure: if she did do this with Noah, she was doing it all the way: no keeping their relationship discreet and keeping it a secret from people like Derek. She'd already seen the disapproval from him, and he only thought Noah was her roommate. She was sure he wouldn't be the only one who would be close-minded about their relationship. Hell, up until very recently, she'd been just as close-minded about the possibility as well. But she didn't care. This was yet another reason why she had to be absolutely sure about it, because once she did this, there'd be no turning back. Their relationship would be out in the open for everybody to know about. Besides, she was certain Noah wouldn't have it any other way.
Until then, she'd hold off giving Derek a solid reason why she couldn't get together with him anymore. Saying her roommate "the trouble making kid" wouldn't like it sounded a little silly. But saying her live-in boyfriend wouldn't like it, held a lot more weight.
As promised, even though the guys had apparently gone through two of the pizzas already, Noah waited for her to eat. It didn't surprise her that he wanted to talk before he ate. The guys were now in the front room still munching on pizza as they watched a football game. Noah leaned against the counter as Roni placed a slice of pizza on a paper plate.
"So Dean Kratz is Derek, huh?"
"Yeah." She glanced up at him as she stuck a pepperoni in her mouth. "Like you said—small world. I'm surprised he remembered you out of all the kids he's dealt with over the years."
She smiled, hoping that would stir up some talk of his troublemaking days. She had to admit she was curious about the drug trafficking comment. Noah was an occasional drinker, if that, and she knew drug use wasn't allowed even in amateur boxing. Noah was verging on the "my body is my temple" type. Though obviously he didn't take it quite that seriously, she just couldn't see him doing or much less trafficking drugs.
Noah ignored her observation completely and got straight to it. "So what'd he want?"
"To say hello." She walked over to the fridge and pulled out a can of soda. "You want one?" she asked, holding out the can.
"No, I'm good. Did you know he was coming?"
"No." She popped open the soda and took a swig before setting it down on the counter. "He said he'd been meaning to stop by for a while."
She wouldn't encourage an interrogation by offering too much up front, but she could understand his concern. Given the fact that he'd allowed her to unleash her questions about Rita when she hadn't the slightest will to hold them back, she'd allow him to ask away, but she'd keep her answers short and to the point.
"So are you two friends again, or is there something else I should know?"
She hadn't even realized her eyes had been glued to her slice of pizza until the change in his tone made her look up at him. "Should know?"
"Yeah, like you planning on picking up where you left off with him?"
"No, of course not." A simple no would've sufficed.
Adding the of course not was uncalled for. It confused things, and she immediately saw it in his curved lip and suddenly bright eyes. It validated a decision she was yet to make, not that it wasn't one she wasn't close to making, but this was too fast—too soon. This was a huge life-changing decision that could ultimately break one of the best friendships she'd made since Nellie. She needed more time to think it through.
"So you told him it's outta the question?"
"He didn't ask," she said. "I just don't have any interest in picking up where we left off."
And that was the truth right? That was the reason she'd so swiftly and adamantly nixed any idea that she would even consider reconciling with Derek. There may be a bigger reason soon, but for now she wanted to make this absolutely clear.
Noah finally pulled himself away from the counter he'd been leaning on. "So if he shows up again," he said, picking up a slice of pizza, "I can kick his geriatric ass to the curb?"
She had to laugh. "Geriatric?"
"Yeah, he's gotta be pushing fifty, right?"
There was an age difference between her and Derek, but he wasn't that much older. She knew where he was going with this. "He's thirty-six, and no, you will not be kicking anyone's ass anywhere."
"Interesting." He chewed his pizza as he stared at her for a moment. Though humor laced his eyes, there was still that bit of raw intensity she saw earlier when she first walked in from outside. "So he's eight years older than you?"
She nodded. "Yes." And Noah was eight years younger than her, not a big difference to him she was sure, but there really was. "But it's different."
His eyes opened wide. "Really? Wow, this should be good." He took another bite of pizza then wiped his mouth. There was a slight kick in his tone now. "Tell me how you dating a guy eight years older is different from me dating a woman eight years older?"
"It's not the amount of years in between; it's where the two people are in their lives when they meet." She didn't even know why she was arguing anymore. She was so close to giving this a go anyway. Any argument she made now would be negated soon enough. "When Derek and I met, we were at a place where we both knew what we wanted."
"So that made him a sure thing?"
"No, nothing's a sure thing."
"Exactly." He smiled, but there was still some fire behind that smile. He'd won the argument, but he was still peeved. "And for the record," he leaned in close enough to kiss her, "it's not written anywhere that everyone reaches that place at the same age. Seems to me Derek and your friend Nellie's husband are prime examples of this." He leaned in closer and kissed her softly on the lips. "So you're done with this guy and want nothing to do with him anymore, right?" His words were self-assured, but she could still see the uncertainty in his eyes as he waited for her response.
She nodded amazed at how readily she'd given into him. He smiled satisfied and pecked her one more time before pulling away. "Then you'll have to be a little more specific about what I can and can't do the next time his ass shows up. Because I tend to have selective hearing, and I'll tell you right now the only part I'm gonna remember is you not wanting to have anything to do with him." He smirked before picking up another slice. "I've already blocked out the no-kicking-anyone's-ass part."
As she was about to reassert her no-kicking-ass rules, Hector interrupted her thoughts.
"Yo, Noah!" he called from the front room, holding out a controller. "C'mon, it's halftime. Let's go again. Abel says we got lucky. Lemme just beat your ass one last time."
Noah smirked at her, shrugging as he began to walk away. "This conversation isn't over, Noah," she warned.
He put his hand to his ear as if he hadn't heard a thing, mocking her with that sexy smile of his before turning his back to her on his way to the front room.
"For fuck's sake, can you pay attention?" she heard Abel mutter as Noah took the controller and sat down on the floor.
Gio and Hector laughed, and the television was suddenly booming with machine gun fire and bombs. Hector yelled out something about that not being fair while the others laughed. Abel threw a pillow at him. It hit Gio instead who protested loudly. In the midst of the chaos, Noah suddenly turned and glanced at her. He smiled so tenderly her heart turned over, and she swore she felt it swell.
Who would've thought, just a few months ago when she was moping all alone in this silent house, feeling fat and completely uninspired, that she'd be here with all these new friends?
This day might've gone entirely differently had it not been for Noah and the guys. She still hadn't heard from Nellie since the day she left her place in tears, and her anxiety about that was beginning to really get to her. Noah and the guys, but mostly Noah, had really gotten her through today. For an instant, the fear was back in her heart—fear that one wrong move, one hasty decision could make this all go away.
Then they all laughed loudly again, and she decided to let the fears go for now, already anxious about tonight's friendly kiss.
Get lots of 5th Street extra's. Excerpts of other books in the series, fun interviews with the characters and even a FREE holiday 5th street short on my website!
http://elizabethreyes.com/books/5th-street/