Voorpret (Dutch); pre-fun, the sense of enjoyment felt before a party or event takes place.
C H A P T E R F O R T Y
My little heart could barely be still with the impossibly large amount of joy that burst through its door, uninvited. All it took Noah was a fuckin' sentence, and he'd sent my sanity to question itself in a far off, unknown land. It was absolutely unaccountable for, how easily he was able to sweep the ground below my feet, making me fall in a bottomless pit which was filled with reverence for him. It didn't take a lot to count yourself lucky when you had yourself surrounded by people who made you realise what it felt like to be valued.
It terrified me to my very core what losing him would do to me, I shuddered at the thought of it. I had been in relationships before, and I knew that it was like to smile at the idea of the particular person without them being physically present, but with Noah, it was different. His beautiful being had clawed its way into my life in such a way that my mind was incapable of tiring itself while thinking about him. Call me cheesy, but it is an absolute blessing to feel the euphoria of being with your person.
Our relationship wasn't all 'baby' and 'honey' the whole time, it had a piece of everything, and I could not get enough of it. Noah had a quality about himself that I couldn't put into words, but it instantly made everyone around him, love him. Anyone who knew Noah closely was in awe of him. I hadn't come across a single person who knew him well enough and didn't like him. Besides his cheeky smile and mesmerising green eyes, his passion towards caring about the people who mattered to him is what managed to pull so much of love for him.
Noah was not only strong; he was brave. He had not only managed to face every problem in his life, but he had also managed to faced them head-on. He always had such a beautiful smile placed on that face of his that you could barely scrape the surface of the scars that lied underneath. He was narcissistic but just the correct measure. His confidence was inspiring because it never decreased, and he had enough self-control not to let it turn into overconfidence.
I found confidence to be an incredibly sexy quality, and to my luck, my man seemed to have just the right amount.
The night descended as it made way for the sun to continue with its routine so that the world could fall into its own. I scrambled out of bed briskly, grateful for the end of the night. I didn't catch much sleep with the destructive interference of my nightmares. The only night I did was when I had the pleasure of falling asleep to the steady rate of Noah's heartbeat.
I had only one class today; which I couldn't be happier about. I quickly got ready to get that class done and over with, so I could chill around the rest of the day.
The evening came sooner than I realised, and I was surrounded by open textbooks and papers with random information scribbled on them. I tied my hair in a bun and started organising stuff. I was supposed to be hanging out with Jay, but as it seemed, the professor wanted everything by the end of the week, which was three days after. I told him I was gonna be late because my work seemed to multiply itself by each second, and the pace at which time was flying was crazy.
Another forty-five minutes later, I finally closed all my books and managed to shift the whole mess from the floor to my bed, not bothering at the slightest to keep it all back into its place. I could picture Noah groaning at me because of how irritating this mess would be to him. I picked up my phone to call him but stopped halfway because I realised he would be at practice.
I put on joggers and Noah's hoodie and took my coat and headed off to his apartment. The door to their apartment was unlocked and I walked-in without ringing the bell because it had become a custom for me and Scarlett to do so whenever we came by. I entered to see Jay sitting down, with his back to the couch, a controller in his hand and a bag of chips and a bottle of beer next to him. Did they do anything else except go to practice and playing video games?
"Heyyyy, Sydney! You're like two hours early; we've soo much time!" Jay exclaimed, and the fake smile disappeared a second after I plopped down on the couch.
"I told you I had work," he rolled his eyes at my lame excuse. "Okay, listen! So when Noah walks in, just pretend that I have been here the whole day and keep mentioning how fun this has been, okay?"
"Just one problem," he said, his sight not shifting from the TV.
I cut him off before he could continue. "Oh come on, Jordan, you can do this much!" he raised his hand to interrupt me, and I shushed him. "Just tell him how he's been missing out on all the fun--"
"Too late for that, sucker!" Noah said from behind me and placed a sweet kiss on my cheek as he hopped on the couch right next to me. A frown found residence on my face as he smirked at me.
"You couldn't tell me that he was right here?" I glared at Jay.
"If you would just let me speak, woman," Jay defended, and I rolled my eyes at how hopeless these boys were.
"What are you doing here? I thought you were called for extra practice," I said as Noah's hand caught mine and he played with my fingers.
"I wanted to skip practice, so I told my coach I was sick," he replied nonchalantly. It didn't take me long to notice that his face wasn't shaven like he usually does, the stubble that my hand indifferently achieved to find its way back to was still present.
"That's absolutely rubbish. I bet he didn't believe that! You never get sick," I said as a matter of factly, and his face displayed a proud smile as he registered my words.
"Told you she knew me well," Noah said to Jay, who gave me an impressed look. "But his wife went into labour for the third time and he had to rush home, so we won't have practice for the next two or three days."
"What? For the third time?" I exclaimed.
"Yeah, that poor woman. The man has no control," Jay said and I swatted his shoulder as Noah laughed.
I watched him like a total creep when he laughed. What an absolute joy it was to hear the exceptional sound of his laughter. He threw his head back in laughter as Jay said something that my mind didn't fret listening to. That one curly strand of his brown hair managed to fall onto his forehead as he seemed to have busied himself in a conversation which appeared to be growing hilarious by the second. This was Noah; absolutely carefree, his face not displaying even a speck of concern about one damn thing in the world.
Noah shook me out of my thoughts as Jay spoke. "So, Syd did Matt try and talk to you again?"
I sighed at the mention of his name. I knew this was going to come up, he had tried to talk to me after my class, but I turned him down again.
"Yeah, he did," I replied sourly.
"What happened?" Noah said, chuckling at my tone as I laid my head on his chest, and he wrapped his arms around me. He kissed my hair when I didn't bother answering his question. I closed my eyes, letting myself enjoy the serene pleasure of being engulfed in his arms. A myriad of butterflies flew around in my stomach at his touch, combining themselves with the tingles that seemed to have become a welcoming ritual for Noah's touch.
"Am I a complete bitch for ignoring him?" I asked, still keeping my eyes closed.
I received two completely different answers to my question. "No," Jay lazily responded.
"I mean, you're a bitch generally only so," Noah said, and I got up to hit his shoulder while he just laughed finding my adverse situation funny. "Just kidding, babe," he said as he pulled me back to him. Then, he pushed his lips forward as a pout, waiting for me to kiss, and I facepalmed at how absurdly weird and cute he was at the same time.
"Can you seriously tell me?" I asked.
"Look, he had no reason to ignore you or behave that way with you and even if he did, they didn't make any sense, you actually have a reason to ignore him," Jay elaborated, and Noah nodded his head. "But Syd, I can see it on your face that you wanna make things right, then why aren't you?"
"Because I don't want him to take me for granted. I feel like if I forgive him this easily," I stopped and Noah completed the rest of my sentence.
"Then the next time anything happens, he might do the same shit to you again? I get you, S. But just be the bigger person and end this for once and for all. It's just going to keep going back and forth if you don't end it. Plus, the guy is brilliant in marketing, so I kinda need to ask him some stuff," Noah said, a tinge of annoyance detectable in his voice.
"Yeah, like you would ever go ask him for help," I scoffed, and Jay laughed.
"Obviously, not. I would never, you're gonna do that for me," he smiled down at me cheekily and his dimple deepened with his smile. The mischievous glint in his eyes shone down at me as he tightened his hold. I shook my head at him because this sort of response was very much expected from him.
"Besides, you know, the guy genuinely seems sorry," Jay added in Matt's defence.
"Yeah, you're right. Even I am tired of all this, I would like stuff to go back to normal," I agreed and sighed, hoping things would be alright soon.
I stood up from the couch to get some water and found a newspaper lying around. I excitedly grabbed it and took a pencil that was lying around on the kitchen counter. I didn't even try to contemplate what a pencil was doing on the kitchen counter. I came back and sat next to Jay. I beamed when I reached the crossword page and held the pencil between my lips.
"You're smiling that much looking at the crossword? Are you shitting me right now?" Jay asked, throwing the controller away and switching off the TV. His hyped-up voice caught Noah's attention, as well.
"Why are you being so weird about it?" I looked at him, confused.
"Because nobody ever does that shit, they just print it there to fill up space," Noah said, his eyebrows raised.
"Exactly! Wow, you're a solid nerd, aren't you?" Jay's sentence was more of a statement than a question, and I slapped his shoulder. "Seriously, why do you do it?" he continued.
"When I was about eight, Chris and his friends told me that the newspaper people only make the crossword so hard because they want you to realise you're dumb. Extremely senseless, I know. But they were ten years old, so all they did was play football and eat, which has pretty much not changed but anyway, he told me I was too dumb to solve one, so then I sat down and solved it," I shrugged my shoulders.
"You solved the whole crossword when you were eight and could barely pronounce half the words they printed?" Noah asked, grinning suspiciously at me.
"Well, my dad helped me, and I copied most of them but, who cares about that? After that, Chris and I got into a habit of solving one every day, just to see who can do it faster, he was two and a half years older and a major cheater so he obviously won," I said, not bothering to have any filter while describing Chris.
"You really are the weirdest person I know!" Jay said, still looking dazed as ever. "God, I mean I thought Noah was a handful, and you were the one tolerating him, but in reality, it's the other way around!" he admitted jokingly, patting Noah on the back.
"Asswipe! Get out of here," I mocked him as Noah couldn't manage to stop laughing at our banter.
"Actually, this is my apartment, so maybe you should be the one getting out," Jay retorted, smiling proudly.
I folded my hands over my chest and smirked at him. "Technically, it's not yours either. It's Noah's, so I'll get out when he tells me to, but I don't think that's happening anytime soon," I said, and we both turned to look at Noah.
I desperately hoped he would take my side and not Jay's for it would cause the situation to be funnier than it was right now. The moment I turned back, his green eyes, the chroma displaying its beauty to the most eminent degree, scanned my face. They maintained contact with mine as if trying to convey a message. It was a pure gaze that lingered longer on my face than I expected it to. He winked at me and shook his head no and then turned to his best friend and blew him a kiss, leaving me waiting.
Jay had a victorious look on his face that couldn't stop showing off his triumph. "You two are absolutely intolerable as a pair! What a perfect gay couple you'd make," I commented, and both of them rushed over to me and squished me into a hug.
Jay's phone rang a minute later, and as he went to his room to get it, Noah pulled me into his room. He switched on the dim lights instead of the other ones, and I lied down on his bed. He joined me a second later, and we managed to put ourselves in a comfortable position within the next few seconds.
My back borrowed the support of the headboard of the bed as I sat, and Noah lied down perpendicular to me with his head resting in my lap. He held my wrist and cracked my knuckles because it had become a habit of his to do that as my free hand roamed around in his abnormally soft hair. What products does this guy use?
Noah broke the comfortable silence moments after. "So how are you?"
Not a day had gone by that Noah had not asked me this question. He never asked me in front of any other people in the room. He would always ask me this when I was alone with him, surrounded by nothing but him and his thoughts.
"I'm doing alright," I beamed at him. "What about yourself?"
"I'm with you, baby, do you even need to ask? I'm great," he said, placing a sweet kiss on the back of my hand. It was unbelievable how he had something perfect tucked up his sleeve to say in every moment. He was impossibly good with words, and I couldn't be more thankful.
"That text the other night and now this," I complimented him. "You can be really romantic when you want to be, did you know that?"
"Yes, of course, I know," he said as a matter of factly and continued, "But I don't mind being reminded of it."
"Well, I don't think I can ever reach your level. Sorry in advance for the grave disappointment you're gonna face because I am not romantic enough," I confessed, chuckling.
His eyes didn't break contact with mine, but I looked away as he observed me closely. He sat across me and held my hands. "I think when two people care about each other enough, they automatically become what you need. So, however you are, you are enough, and you're all I need. You don't need to apologise to me about being yourself," he shook his head lightly, his faint smile grew and reached his eyes, the effect of which made the room glow more than the intensity of the light did.
"Besides, our relationship works the other way around anyway," he said, making a gesture with his hand.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I am the one who reads romance novels, and you're the one who watches thriller movies," he said, chuckling.
"Are you saying that you're the girl in the relationship?" I teased, obviously not meaning it.
"I was just saying that about our choices. Other than that, I can very well prove that I'm the man in the relationship," his deep voice reached my ears, and I shuddered at how sexy it sounded.
"Well, then, care to enlighten me?" I raised my eyebrows, and his eyes immediately darkened as he moved closer to me with an extremely arousing smirk plastered on his face.
He didn't waste another moment in joining our lips as his tall figure positioned itself above mine now that we had managed to lie on the bed entirely. His kiss held so much urgency, proving his longing. His hands held mine and positioned them around his neck and then moved to roam around my body. His tongue entered my mouth, winning over mine in its battle of superiority. He was so good at this that I was barely able to put up a fight. He slipped his hands inside my shirt, and they brushed the skin above my ribcage, which filled my skin with goosebumps. His lips migrated towards my jaw and my neck as he blessed my skin with his plumed kisses. He had successfully contrived to make me lose my all senses, transporting us to a world unknown.
I managed to find the hem of his t-shirt, and I was ready to pull it off, but we heard shuffling, and the door opened the next second, not providing us to time to bring our activities to an end. I closed my eyes and groaned, all ready to mentally punch the person who opened the door. Noah stopped in the middle of his task and keened in annoyance.
"Ugh, get a room," Scarlett stated, rolling her eyes at both of us.
Noah gave his cousin a sour look. "We do have a room, but we can't seem to effectively use it because you keep opening the door to it!"
Scar mouthed a 'Fuck you' to him and looked at me. "If you're done with your sexual endeavours, there's pizza for dinner," she informed and left, without closing the door.
Both, me and Noah got up and went out, obviously not being able to resist pizza. I had barely eaten anything for lunch, so I was starving. I just didn't realise how hungry I was because Noah had managed to keep me busy enough. With Friends playing on the TV, we didn't realise how fast the pizza got over.
I was standing on the kitchen counter with a pencil in my hand because there was only one word left that I just could not, and it was annoying me more than I would approve it too. The scowl residing on my face was just increasing, along with my disappointment. Noah entered and laughed, looking at me as I grimaced.
"What happened?" he asked, drinking juice from the bottle he was holding.
"Only one is left, but for some reason, I can't think of it," I closed my eyes in frustration and fisted my palms. "Do you have any idea?" I pointed to the clue, not foreseeing a real answer since he seemed the least interested in it. "Colds that last a long time- 7 letters," I read it out loud.
The images of different medicines popped up in my mind. What the hell could it be? "Oh yeah, I know this one," he said very casually.
"Since when?"
"Since I saw the paper in your hand, I just didn't tell you cause' I didn't wanna ruin your excitement, you seemed so ecstatic at the sight of this dumb thing," he said, ruffling my hair.
"Okay, can you point me in the right direction?"
"Sure, what answer are you thinking right now?"
This moment made me realise how dependent I was on Noah. Not for anything else, but for normalcy because that seemed like the thing people were most craving for these days. It didn't matter if problems were raining down, one smile, one touch, one kiss, from Noah and it's like none of them ever existed. It was cruel that I wasn't able to achieve something like that on my own, but my mind was too tired to ponder if the dependency was good or not. My life seemed to be an ongoing avalanche, and he was the calm to every storm of mine.
"Like severe cold or cough?"
He gave me a stretched look and stopped himself from chuckling at my answer. "Think bigger, S."
"Like Pneumonia?" I asked, a puzzled look displayed on my face.
He glided his finger across my cheek, then gave me the answer, which was more straightforward than anyone would expect it to be and left the kitchen.
"Like Ice Ages, baby."
Author's Note:
Yes, I know it is a filler chapter, but for some reason, I find it really sweet! I have an unhealthy amount of love for both of them, God, help me!
I hope you liked this chapter, please don't forget to vote and COMMENT! I love hearing your thoughts on the chapter! That's it! I'm out, see y'all on the next chapter!
Good things are coming your way, F x