Noah
"Would you stop worrying? I closed the gallery for the day, and I can cook if you want me to." I could hear Grace was having a mild panic attack since we're having the family dinner in a few days. Today was Grace's birthday so I wanted to surprise her. I packed a bag and got in the car as soon as I got home after spending the day painting. She didn’t know I was coming over.
"But what if our brothers don't see eye to eye? And what if my brother doesn't like you?"
"I'm charming. He'll like me. What if everything goes well?" I heard her grunting through the phone.
"How can you be so calm? This is a serious step in our relationship. You know what? I don’t know if I can do this." The line went dead. I stopped in town and bought some brownies for her before rushing to her duplex. Hopefully she has had some time to calm down.
I opened the door and saw Harper was sitting in the living room watching television.
"Is Grace here?" She lightly glared at me.
"Actually she just left, in a hurry." I may have underestimated how worried she was about the dinner.
“Do you know where she's gone?" Harper sighed.
"No, but if I were you, I'd not go looking for her. She needs to blow some steam off." She turned back to the television. I ignored her and headed outside. The dark clouds were forming above me. I headed down the street, looking for her.
I felt the drops slowly coming down, there was no sign of her as I looked for her. I finally found her as the rain started pouring; she was sitting in a coffee shop with her head resting on her arms. I could see her sitting at the window of the shop.
The bell chimed as I entered. I slowly sat down in front of her. She looked up at me, a frown creased between her brows.
"Well that's great, I've started imagining him now." She set her head back onto her arms.
"No, you are not." Her head whipped back up.
"What are you doing here?"
"Happy birthday!" I leaned over the table to peck a kiss on her cheek.
She tentatively touched her cheek.
She had a small smile playing on her lips at my gesture. " I can't do this sibling dinner." She stated sadly.
"I know, we'll figure it out. We can do it at another time if it’ll make you feel better." She shook her head.
"Then they'll never meet since you said that Adrian is going back to work.” I took her hand in mine and started to draw circles on her palms with my index finger.
"We'll figure it out. “She shifted her gaze back to the table.
"I'm sorry, I...I'm not good at a relationship." She squeezed my hand gently. I know how she feels. I don’t think I’m any good at it either. After I left two weeks ago, I remember waking up one morning and looking at the empty room. I started thinking that I wanted her next to me and that waking up alone was just too unsettling which scared the shit out of me.
"The new job is something that I didn't bargain on and now I actually have a real relationship. Then there's the fact that I must get you past my father who will scrutinize you since you are the first guy that I've ever brought home. Not to mention that I toss and turn each night to figure out how to say that I love you-"
Her rambling stopped as soon as she realized what she said. Her eyes widened.
––––––––
Grace
What the hell Grace? Me and my big mouth.
"Uhm, I think we need to go before the waiter asks me again what I'm going to drink." I chimed and bolted from my seat. He didn't say anything. As soon as we stepped out the coffee shop, the rain started pouring again. I started laughing and he chuckled too. He pulled up his jacket so that he could cover me as we were running home.
At the front door, he stopped me before going inside.
"You know I'm not deaf." He yelled so that I could hear him over the pouring rain.
"I know. Can we go in now?"
"No." He pulled me to him, kissing me in the rain. I didn't care that I was drenched and that my hair was sticking to my face, in that moment all that mattered to me was the man standing in front of me.
"Grace Harris, I love you." I pulled him into the house before the lightning that struck a few seconds ago decided to move onto us.
"Can you repeat that?" I asked. With my horrid luck he said something other than what I have just heard.
"No, I'll show you." He winked. Good thing I had something planned for him. Well, it is a delayed birthday surprise. We didn’t see Harper eyeing us when we came in from the rain.
"If he decides to show you his little Noah I'm leaving. Get a room!” Harper scolded us which made us jerk from surprise.
"Don't mind if we do." She made a choking sound and then retreated to her room. I started laughing and playfully hit Noah on the arm.
"That was mean." I chided
"I was telling the truth." He commented before pulling me into my room.
"We should slow things down." He pulled off my soaked dress mumbling 'mmh hmm’.
He placed soft kisses along my collar bone.
"Are you listening?" He looked at me intently.
"You want to take it slow. I get that, but I don't want to go slow, I want you here with me. I've waited too long to feel this way again."
"I'm serious Noah. I need to get used to this." He let his hands drop from my waist.
"Slow? Okay, I can go slow." He grabbed a towel and dried his hair heading out of the bathroom. Maybe I wasn't ready for everything he wanted to give me. I pulled my dress up and walked out to the kitchen.
The rain had stopped so he headed out to his care and came back, setting down a large box on the counter as well as placed a bag beside it. His previous smile faded.
"Are you mad at me?"
"No, I understand you want to take things slow. I just don't know if I can." I had to admit this is something that bothered me, even if I realized now that I love him. Things just felt out of place. I wasn't sure what the future held if we continued to move this fast.
"I need us to go slow."
The glint that flashed in his eyes told me I hit a nerve. I wasn't ready even if I love him. I had to admit to myself that it felt like things were happening too fast, like the ground beneath me was shifting and I had nothing to hold onto.
"I have to get back. I invited Adrian to join me tonight." He excused himself and headed out of the door.
I slumped down on the couch.
Harper came out slowly.
"Why aren't you in the bedroom? I mean it's your birthday after all." She plopped down beside me studying my face.
"What happened?" She asked concerned.
"I think I just broke his heart."