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Grace
"Grace! You better wake up. I am not carrying this by myself," I looked at the time and glared. It wasn't even seven yet and it was Saturday. I grabbed a pillow and placed it over my head to stop Harper’s moaning from invading my dreams.
Harper and I have been living at the duplex for the past couple of weeks; it's been an interesting experience. Harper got a new job working as an exhibition planner for the local museum. I didn't see her much anymore. She also decided to get a full-time boyfriend (she's had part time boyfriends, believe me, you don't want to know). The first time that I found out about him was when I accidentally walked in on them. His name was Josh.
I went to visit my father a few days ago. Adam hasn't been home since he has been with Sarah as much as possible. They were really going through it and I knew it would take some time, but they were made for each other and I honestly couldn’t wait for them to tie the knot. Last night he called me to catch up and we ended up talking until midnight.
As for our new place, it was amazing. It was a duplex which had all the fancy upgrades; stainless steel appliances, beautiful oak flooring, and you could control most of the house with your phone. There were also more rooms than we expected. My room was bigger than the one in our apartment so, I could fit a desk in and the other room we had, Harper decided that it was going to be her studio.
After my night with Noah, I felt a thrown off my game. The little bit of stability I thought I had turned into senseless drifting. For weeks I've been replaying the scenes of our night together in my mind, they made me very hot and bothered. I couldn’t escape them. I wanted to touch him badly. I’ve also had numerous dreams about all the delicious things we could do together which made the longing even worse. Why did that one-night stand bother me so much?
We however have been texting on and off. It was mostly just him asking me how I'm doing or vice versa. We were both quite busy so nothing exciting ever came from texting even though I wanted to explain to him in detail how I missed his touch.
I finally sat up in the bed and stretched, jerking when I heard Harper making a howling noise of pain.
I rushed down the stairs and to where she was holding onto a huge box and cussing while pushing it across the wood floor with all her strength.
"What are you doing?" She looked up and grunted at me through a waterfall of red hair.
"I'm pushing your box out of the doorway so that I don't break my neck falling over it...again!"
"Where did this come from?"
"Apparently this delivery came about an hour ago according to the neighbours. It was just dropped it at the door. " She still scowled at me but then relented and huffed as she took a seat on the counter.
I frowned and read the delivery label.
"It doesn't show the sender."
"Whoever sent this must really not want you knowing they did." My eyes widened for a moment and a rush of paranoia echoed through my head.
"Maybe it's something that is meant to kill me, like anthrax." She raised an eyebrow and shook her head.
"Really? This box is so big if it's anthrax they really wanted you to be as dead as anyone can possibly be- thoroughly dead. Will you please open it?" She asked exasperatedly.
I chuckled and grabbed a butter knife from the drawer, cutting the box open. The sides of the box popped open.
"Well, it's not anthrax." I stared at the rock in the box. There was a note taped to it, my name written on it in neat cursive.
I opened it to read,
It's a plant fossil, better than prehistoric dust although it's the same thing.
I studied all the interesting colours that were still partially embedded in the stone as well as the leaf patterns pressed into it. I started grinning from ear to ear. It’s from Noah.
Harper frowned deeply.
"Who sent you the rock? And more importantly, why did they send you a rock?" I smiled and pushed the rock through the French doors onto the back patio beside the potted plant. I walked back to Harper who looked at me completely confused.
"Technically, it’s a fossil. It's from someone who knows that I hate prehistoric dust."
For most of the day, I was busy researching a few new job opportunities in the area. So far, there weren’t a lot. Suddenly, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket while I sat at the computer scanning through the job listings. I saw that it was Noah.
Did you like my present?
I smiled as I typed,
Prehistoric dust, thanks that's something I've always wanted.
I thought he'd message me back after a few hours like usual, but I was wrong since his reply came seconds later.
Is there something else you've always wanted? Your wish is my command.
I couldn't believe I was thinking this but at that moment I really wanted to see his green eyes glinting as he teased me. I didn't reply. I decided to grab some lunch to distract from my humming thoughts.
I found myself walking to the nearest food truck and got myself a burrito, on my way to the house I saw a guy standing at our door, it wasn't Josh or anyone we knew. I slowly walked to our door, raising my burrito as a weapon. Prepare for guacamole in the eyes, if you dared.
I know what Harper would say if she saw me 'A burrito, as a weapon? What's that, a weapon of gassy destruction?'
He turned to me and smiled. He looked familiar, he had brown hair and brown eyes. I think I’ve seen him around before. I lowered the menacing burrito.
"Hi, I'm Nathan. I’m your next-door neighbour.” He stuck his hand out to me which a grabbed and curtly shook.
"Hi, I'm Grace."
He smiled at me revealing a dimple and then shook his head, getting back to his point.
"I came by to let you know that we're going to be busy building next door for most of the week, so it'll be noisy."
"We?"
"Yeah, me and my boyfriend Peter. Sorry we haven’t properly welcomed you to the neighbourhood, as you can hear it has been busy. If you ever need something or need any help, we’re just a knock away.
"Will do, it was nice to meet you and thanks for the heads up."
I sat down on the lush purple couch and took a bite of my burrito, trying to think up a reply to Noah. I couldn’t tell him that I was missing him, and I really wanted to see him. Oh no, I could never. It was just supposed to stay a one-night stand.
Before I could reply there was a knock on the door again. I audibly sighed. I wasn't going to enjoy my lunch in peace today, was I?
I pushed the door open lazily, without my burrito weapon this time. When I saw who it was I nearly dropped my lunch.
"Noah?"
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Noah
It’s only been a few weeks since Grace moved away but I felt lost. It was utterly ridiculous sine I barely knew her, and we’ve only had a one night together.
I knew there were still things that I wanted to tell her and that there were still things that I wanted to explain. Even if we've made peace, I knew there were things that we both wanted to say to each other.
For the past few weeks, the studio felt empty. Even if I had classes it still felt bare to me. The worst thing about Grace leaving is that our one-night stand continued to achingly linger in my mind. My fingers itched to touch her again and I would replay our passionate kisses repeatedly.
There was another one-night stand after Grace left that didn't go as planned. Everything was going smoothly until...until one part of me (the necessary part) didn't want to make its presence known.
That hasn't happened before. EVER.
I think Grace broke me...or worse...it.
I knew what was happening and I also knew that I would not admit it to her. I longed for her and no one else could do to me what she had done to me. This spelled trouble with a capital T.
So when I was asked to showcase some of my new works in the gallery in Grace's new town, I booked into a hotel for a week, knowing that I would not just give up wanting to touch her. I really didn't have a choice, she broke it, so she'll have to make it work again. When I stopped at her duplex after coyly hounding Harper for the address, I felt nervous. I rarely got nervous.
There was a good chance that she'd have an adverse reaction to my visit. She's never been happy to see me and probably never will be.
I knocked on the door; I heard her footsteps echo on the floor with a deep grunt.
The door swung open.
"Noah?" I smiled.
She looked at me for a second and then kissed me with full force; needless to say, she fixed it.