Chapter 41

Chapter Thirty-Eight
Want Pop?
The following Monday, Noah greeted me with a kiss on my cheek in the morning.
Luckily, I was late to class and the halls were empty so nobody saw. I didn't have a chance to yell at him because he had skipped off before I could even process what happened.
At lunch, he was on the opposite end of the table and spent the whole time leaned back in his seat, looking at me with a smirk on his face. I spent the whole lunch avoiding his gaze which was difficult because I could practically feel holes being burnt into my skin like lasers.
Most of the group was coming over to my place so instead, Ezra and I dipped and decided to waste time at the movies and mall and wherever else we felt like bumming around.
Tuesday, about the same thing happened. I dodged his kiss by avoiding eye contact and keeping a few feet of distance between us. Ezra was sending the two of us odd looks, having picked up on the weird atmosphere around us. While Noah was busy smirking and amused by the affect he had on me, I was doing what I could to dodge him at all times.
Luke had an appointment so he wasn't in functions class which led to Noah turning and talking and making stupid comments the whole entire class. In response, I ignored him, smacked his arm a few times, and kept telling him to shut up so we wouldn't get in trouble for him talking.
Wednesday, Noah saw me walking in the hall with Charlie. He came and started walking with us, swinging an arm over my shoulders as we walked.
At lunch he sat beside me and kept stealing my food and teasing me, somehow not bored with this already.
Thursday morning he greeted me enthusiastically, wrapping his arms around me in a big hug. I squirmed away and pushed him off me which only caused Jade and Luke to laugh before Luke came over and hugged me too.
At the end of the day he walked me to my car although I tried to tell him to fuck off. He pecked my cheek before he skipped off to his own car.
It was now Friday. I hadn't seen much of him because he was at soccer practice during lunch and I left at the end of the day before I got dragged to the Coffee House with the rest of the group since that's where they were hanging out.
I went to the dock and worked on some of my English homework before hanging for a bit longer and heading home after it had gotten dark. I stopped to get a drink from Starbucks so by the time I got home it was near 11pm.
I walked into my house to see my brother with some of his friends. It was only Luke, Ezra, Charlie, and Leo.
"Princess!" Luke came up to me, stumbling on his way over when I was walking by the lounge room where they all sat.
"Woah," I murmured, nearly falling over when Luke surprised me with a bone-crushing hug.
"I missed you!" He sang into my ear.
I pulled him off me, holding his shoulders so I could analyze him, "You guys went to a party?" I narrowed my eyes as Luke grinned brightly at me, the smell of alcohol coming off his body and breath.
He giggled as he started pulling me with him to the lounge, "No, Princess. Why are you home so late?"
"Not a party," Ezra said as he looked at me with a casual grin resting on his face. He sat on the recliner with a can of pop in his hands and feet propped up on the coffee table that was pulled closer to his couch. He was completely sober unlike the rest of the boys. "They decided to drink at home because what else is there to do on a Friday night?" Ezra's voice laced with sarcasm but he was still amused, not fazed by the boys' choice.
Luke pulled me to sit on the couch with him as he held up a bottle of alcohol and offered it to me. I simply shook my head and pushed his hand away, "I don't drink, Luke. You know that."
"Right..." he mumbled, voice uneven and slurring. "I knew that. Want pop?"
"No," I stated firmly as I snatched the bottle out of his hands and put it behind my back on the couch. When Luke gave me a questioning look and tilted his head, I responded by holding my Starbucks drink in front of his face, "I'm hydrated, no need to worry Luke."
Luke chuckled, hiccuping in between, "Of course. Hydration is an essential part of life. It really keeps us alive."
I gave him a forced smile, "Thank you for the health lesson, Luke."
"Take a chill pill, sis," Charlie said, laying on the ground but tilting his head to the side so he could send me a grin. "We're not that wasted."
Charlie was a bit more than tipsy, laying on the ground and holding his phone in the air above his face, obviously texting Jade.
Leo was half-asleep on the other couch, silently eating his chips while hugging the bag to his chest and watching Finding Nemo which was playing on the TV screen.
"Drink water and take some Advil before you guys pass out," I mumbled to all of them although nobody was particularly listening to me. I stood up to leave, grabbing two of the alcohol bottles lying around near me so I could get rid of them when I left the lounge, not wanting them to drink any more than they have for their own sake.
"Where you going, Princess?" Luke frowned, grabbing onto my wrist and stopping me from walking away.
"I am going to go to sleep and you should too." I smiled lightly, "Take the guest room and get some sleep, Luke. Also, drink water."
Luke nodded, still frowning, "Thanks you, I will do that. Goodnight, Princess."
"Night, Luke." I mumbled softly as he let go of my wrist.
After bringing the bottles to the kitchen, I stopped by in the lounge before heading upstairs and turned to give Ezra a tired look. "Make sure they... drink water or whatever."
"Will do," Ezra exhaled, already knowing he was playing the babysitter but he was okay with it. "You okay?"
I nodded slowly and then turned to leave when Ezra stopped me again.
"By the way, there's a surprise in your room."
I turned to look at him. He grinned, amused while I narrowed my eyes, "What do you mean?"
Ezra shrugged innocently and I knew he wasn't going to say anything else so I jogged up to my room. I opened the door and let out a loud groan when I saw Noah asleep on my bed, his arms and legs sprawled out - and, he was shirtless.
I ran back down the stairs and crossed my arms as I looked between Ezra and the other drunken idiots in the lounge, "What the fuck is Ace doing in my room? Don't we have guest rooms?"
Ezra shrugged, paying more attention to Finding Nemo, "He said he was going to wait til you got home because he wanted to see you. I'm not going to bother dealing with a drunk twit."
"Razzi! Way to be much help," I grumbled agitatedly.
Charlie turned his head to look at me, "I told him you'd go green like hulk. He didn't listen," he was talking in a sing-song voice, too tipsy for me to deal with so sighing in frustration, I had no other choice than to head to my room.
I guess I got a bit lucky since he was already asleep. I could quickly change before going into the guest room or just sleeping on the recliner in my room.
Even breaths left Noah's sleeping figure, his bare chest lightly heaving up and down while his hair was disheveled and messily swept across his forehead.
I sighed softly, closing the door behind me as I pulled my hoodie up over my head and grabbed a loose t-shirt to change into.
"Tiff?" Noah's very hoarse and deeper-than-usual voice mumbled out softly, hardly audible.
"Christ sake, Noah!" I exclaimed, slightly jumping as his voice scared me. I held the oversized shirt tightly against my chest as I turned to look at Noah who was propping himself up on his elbows as he looked at me with a soft smile and eyes slightly squinted.
Curse those who look that darn cute when waking up too.
"Close your eyes!" I snapped. Noah chuckled but listened as he shut his eyes. Quickly, I put the shirt on and walked over to Noah to smack his head, "The fuck are you doing in my room?"
Laughing lightly, he blinked his eyes open and sat up in the bed, "I was waiting on you, sunshine. I have to say, I might need a cold shower after seeing your naked back - kind of really sexy."
I clenched my jaw, my face remaining straight. I could tell he was still drunk from his words that were slightly mumbling together but he was only tipsy at this point, enough to stay stupid things right now but still be able to remember them in the morning.
I walked to the other side of the bed and sighed as I got in, getting under the blanket but sitting up, resting my back against the headboard. "We can talk when you're sober. Now go... sleep in the guest room or something. Take the ground for all I care."
Noah smiled softly, "You're sexy when you're bossy, you know that?"
My jaw still clenched, I reached over and smacked his head again, "Have some respect, you drunken idiot."
Noah chuckled, "Sorry, sunshine, I only speak the truth. Although, I do respect you and I don't want you to think I'm a disrespectful man because that wouldn't be a good thing if you thought that because I'm a nice guy, really." Noah started rambling as he moved back to come against the headboard but placed his head down on my chest, staring to nowhere in particular in my room.
I exhaled, ignoring him being all cozied up to me. "You're drunk, Ace. Please just shut up and let me sleep."
"I missed you..." he mumbled as his eyes slowly shut. "I've missed you all week really, you haven't been talking to me."
"Maybe because you're being weird," I grumbled as I shuffled around and laid down, Noah keeping his head rested on my chest and swinging an arm around my waist to hug me. I reached over to turn off the lamp that was on the bedside table.
Noah breaths started to even out as he was falling back to sleep, "I'm not being weird, sunshine."
"Whatever," I whispered, shutting my eyes and not wanting to get into this conversation while he was drunk.
"I really want to kiss you right now," was the last thing I heard Noah murmur in a quiet voice before he fell asleep.