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Noah
I let my hand rest on her soft stomach, her naked back against my chest.
We were both breathless, the lapse in time caused our lust to elevate to a new height for sure. For the past two hours we haven't stopped until now. We couldn’t get enough of each other. I kissed the nape of her neck making goose bumps erupt on her skin.
I laughed which caused her to start laughing too. She turned to me so that we were face to face.
She didn't say anything, she just looked me in the eyes. She wore a sad look but didn’t elaborate and I wasn’t about to ask.
"I didn't even greet you," She stated and then kissed me coyly on the cheek.
"Hi."
"Hi, so what are you doing here?" She asked like we rewound to her opening the door. A smile spread across my face. She was adorable.
"I have an exhibition in town so I'm here the whole week. I wanted to invite you to the opening...if you promise not to step into another painting," She pressed her lips together and shook her head.
"I can't promise that."
There were footsteps in the house which made Grace sit up.
Then there was a knock on her door which made me look at Grace in an 'Ah shit’ kind of way. "Grace? Josh is coming over in a bit and then we're going out for dinner, so I won't be home tonight." Harper hollered at the door and then her footsteps faded away.
"That means we have the night to ourselves." I commented smugly.
"Stay here, I have to take care of something." She grabbed a robe and then slid out the door. I got up and pulled on some pants and my shirt. I walked to the kitchen ignoring Grace's command. There was a knock on the door, so I opened it which revealed a guy, around my age with brown hair and blue eyes.
"Who are you?" He asked angrily.
"You must be Josh, I'm Grace's...friend." He visibly calmed down. Grace came back as I let him in and threw her hands into the air.
"Noah! I told you to stay put!" I raised my eyebrow.
"And you actually thought I'd listen to you? Bad move." Harper emerged and greeted Josh, turning to me. She looked surprised but knew I was coming so she gave me a simple nod which she followed with a stern warning, "If you try to play your womanizing tricks on her...you don't want to know what kind of dirt I can find on you." Her warning was eloquently stated but her tone made me shudder.
Josh pulled Harper to the door before she could say anything else. Grace stood beside me.
"I don't think she likes you," She stated while she walked to the fridge grabbing some juice and glasses for us.
"That's because she believes I'm a womanizer." She pushed the glass of juice towards me.
"You are."
"I'm not. What makes you think I am?"
She rolled her eyes.
"Well, for one, you sleep with a lot of women and as far as I know your relationships don't last long." I balled my hand into a fist by my sides, feeling my blood pressure rise.
"But I had a fiancé for two years. Doesn't that count for anything?"
She let her gaze fall to the floor and then snapped her head up as she studied me for a moment.
"I know we're just having fun together and nothing more so I'm fine with your womanizing ways."
I slammed my fists down on the counter making Grace take a step back.
"You have no idea what the hell happened! Grace, you and I we're not just fun, don't you get it?" I shook my head and grabbed my shoes and coat heading back out the door.
––––––––
Grace
I looked at Noah as he strutted out of the door in an angry huff.
We're not fun.
Then what were we? People who decide to have sex now and again, maybe even friends with benefits.
I didn't know what happened with him and his fiancé, but I do know that when they ended it, it wasn't pretty. In my eyes he was a womanizer, he didn't give me any reason to think otherwise. I'm betting he's slept with a few women since I've last seen him.
I felt a subtle ache radiated through me.
I decided to not let my imagination take over; when Harper gets back, I'll ask her to do some digging for me. She did threaten him with it anyways, so I might as well take her up on that offer.
I got dressed again and grabbed the popcorn, watching movies in the dark for the rest of the night. The truth is that he is a womanizer and nothing I could do would change that. I shouldn’t be expecting as much as I was.
There was a knock on the door which made me almost mess myself. Note to all: don't knock on a door while someone is watching a horror movie and they are about to saw a person half. I stood up after a mild heart attack. I reluctantly headed to the door. I swear if it's Noah I'm going to throw him with his own plant fossil.
I opened the door to see that it was Nathan.
"Hi?"
"Hi, sorry to bother you...again. Was that the famous Noah Miller coming out of your house earlier?" I frowned, he looked like he was a bit fanatic of Noah. I'm sure Noah could do with a new fan, an overly zealous fan.
"Yeah, why do you ask?"
"Peter would love to meet him since he is also an artist. Do you mind asking him to have a look at Peter’s work?"
"I'll do you one better, here's his number," I grabbed my phone from the counter and read him the number. He smiled eagerly and then trotted away to his house.
I felt guilty at that point for not asking him myself what exactly happened with his fiancé that changed him this much. Something had to have happened for him to take what I said personally. His words kept swirling around in my mind, we're not fun, and that could only mean one thing.
I took a deep breath and reluctantly called him.
It kept ringing for a minute until he picked up.
"Grace,"
"Noah– "
"I think I need to explain something to you,"
I decided to sit on the front porch steps and wait for him. After ten minutes his car stopped in the driveway. I peered at him as he got out, he let his hand run through his hair and played with his keys as he walked to me. He sat down beside me, taking my hand in his. This simple gesture solidified my idea as to what he meant when he said we weren't fun.
He didn't look at me as he spoke.
"I met Amanda when we were five years old, our parents were friends. We had this bond that was indescribable. She had these amazing grey eyes that could make your heart skip a beat. It's safe to say that I was very in love with her from the moment we met. In college, she decided she wanted to be a model and dropped out. I supported her through everything while I majored in business.”
“Drawing and painting were just hobbies back then. Before graduation, we broke things off, correction- I broke it off. She was traveling the world and at that point, my art was creating quite a buzz. Three years ago we met again and decided to start where we left off. Soon after that I asked her to marry me and she said yes, I felt like the luckiest man on earth, but I should've known with my luck that things were far from perfect.”
“One day I was at an art exhibition in Tokyo, she told me she was at home but then I saw her in a crowd there. I followed her and saw her go into a hotel room. I thought she wanted to surprise me since it was across from mine. I found out she was sleeping with another female model that was there for a show. They had been modelling and travelling around together. Thankfully, she didn’t know I was in that part of town, so I made my way back home and confronted her when she came back.”
I looked at his profile as he just stared in front of him.
That's one awful way of breaking someone's heart. That's what she made of him, she broke him and left him to pick up the pieces by himself.
He turned to me.
"Do you get it now?" He pressed his lips together tightly.
"We're not fun, not even slightly. I get that."