Echoes of Us

Chapter 26

AFTER

T he elevator’s door opened.

I took a deep breath, holding the door before stepping inside. The lights were on in the kitchen, and a wave of nausea hit me at the familiarity. I’d never wanted to set foot in this place again. I’d had so many nightmares about it.

They always started with Noah in my arms, happy, and then I’d be in this empty wasteland of an apartment, alone, finding him gone. The floors would be a mess, sticky from leftover drinks, empty cups, and beer bottles scattered. His closet doors would be ajar, not an item of clothing left except those inside a cardboard box by the entrance, holding my things, neatly folded. It had always felt too empty here, but without him, it felt like a void, sucking all the happiness from me and leaving me with only the worst memories of Noah. I couldn’t begin to describe the pain I felt, the all-consuming, splitting heartbreak of his absence from my life .

I took another deep breath and moved inside.

It looked nothing like before. The same space, but now it was filled with him. The hall that led to the other rooms had a rug on the floor and framed pictures on the wall—old band posters. There were appliances in the kitchen and clean plates drying in a rack by the sink. A potted plant sat on the counter next to the keys I always saw in his hands after practice. A large wooden dining room table stood beyond that, leading into an actual living room, not just his old couch and TV. There was even furniture on the balcony. His drum set was in the far corner of the living room by the windows.

It was like walking into another dimension, one where Noah wasn’t broken but a healed version of himself. The Noah that should have been, not the one I got in the end.

I stood by the counter, placing my hand on the cool surface. It was so different.

“Hey, sorry about that. I wasn’t expecting company.” Noah stepped out of his room. He was wearing black sweatpants and a shirt, his hair tousled like he had just pulled it on. His little gold chain was hanging out. He was barefoot, and something about that made him look a million times more vulnerable. It made me think back to when he was mine.

Noah’s eyes were still wide, and he rubbed his palms over his thighs, looking uncomfortable.

I glanced around again and sighed. “It looks very different here.” I echoed my thoughts.

“Yeah, you were right about it being depressing. I got stuff before I moved back in.” He had his hand on the back of his head, scratching his hair—Noah’s nervous gesture.

“You’re not going out?”

“I was going with Holly to an art gallery, but she blew me off. She had a date.” He seemed uncertain, his eyes scanning me, trying to figure out what was going on. This was different about him too. He was thinking before asking me outright what the hell I was doing back at his apartment .

I took another step inside, and he stepped back as I walked in. He had changed the couch too. The coffee table was different, even the TV, but our old PlayStation was still there.

“I’m sorry, I can’t get over how much it’s changed.” I turned towards him again. His eyes looked greener when he was thrown off base.

He bit his lip. “I’d offer to show you around, but it seems kind of weird.” He watched me, waiting. I didn’t say anything, and he took a deep breath. “You know, because you used to live here, and the last time we talked, you said you were done with me, so I’m a little confused right now,” he added quickly.

My lips pulled up at the corners. That was more like it. “I talked to Holly today.”

His body tensed in a whole new way. It wasn’t just the confusion now. There was surprise and apprehension. “Oh.” He avoided my gaze.

“Yeah.”

Noah made his way towards the kitchen, and I followed him, staying farther behind.

“And what did you talk about?” He tried and failed to sound casual.

“Your overdose,” I said bluntly.

His shoulders tensed before falling. He had his back to me, and I could easily see the muscles under his shirt. I knew how they looked now; I didn’t need to guess.

“Shit.” Noah leaned his back against the counter.

How many times had he climbed over it and urged me towards him? I’d lost count. I had no idea who this Noah was. At the same time, I had him memorized. How close had I been to never seeing him run his tongue over his lip? I took another step towards him, walking into the kitchen and placing my hand on the counter.

Noah glanced at me before reaching for the fridge. “I suppose if we’re going to have this conversation, we should probably have a drink. Or you could.” He pulled on the handle.

The soft light fell on him. In the dim apartment, it made it look like he was glowing. He was so uncomfortable, but I didn’t really care because he was still standing there. He was alright and breathing. His heart was beating under his ribcage, and all I wanted was to feel it, to make sure it was there.

I walked closer.

“I don’t keep anything stronger than beer, and apparently only have one of those left. You can have it, and I’ll pretend to be having something stronger while drinking club soda. How does that sound?” he rambled.

I just needed to make sure he was okay. Noah’s hand held a can of beer as I pushed the fridge doors closed. His eyes met mine again.

“I didn’t come here to talk about the overdose.” I took the can from his hand and placed it on the counter.

A crease formed between his brows before they rose. Realization and disbelief crossed his face. “Then…?” The word was barely a question but loaded with meaning.

I stepped closer, and he tilted his head back to maintain eye contact. My heart drummed against my chest as I reached for his neck. Noah’s shoulders tensed, his lips parting in surprise. His eyes darted over mine, scared. His hands touched my wrists, not pushing me away, just holding me hesitantly. My thumbs stroked his cheeks as I tilted his head back and stepped closer, pressing him against the fridge and caging him in.

“What are you doing?” he whispered.

I licked my lips, and his eyes followed the movement. “I think it’s pretty fucking clear.”

The corners of his lips twitched upwards before I kissed him .

There was no slowness. I couldn’t have done it even if I tried. I tilted his head back and touched my tongue to his. Noah’s fingers slipped into my hair, holding me close as I kissed him deeply, pushing him against the fridge and pressing my body against his. He was here. Noah was here. He was okay.

I let go of his face and moved my hands under his shirt, feeling his body respond. I wrapped my arms around his waist, not moving from his lips, pulling him up towards me. I turned him, lifting him enough to get him on the counter, and stepped into the V of his legs. Noah kissed me back frantically, nodding when I grabbed onto his thighs, moving them over my hips.

I reached for his shirt to pull it off, and he hesitated. I pressed my forehead against his, and we stared at each other before he gave me a small nod, and I resumed. Noah’s body was heaven. Beautiful and lean, his muscles decorating this stronger, healthier version of him. I spotted a scar on his chest, a single line towards the left side. It wasn’t big, but it made my heart stop. I could have lost him.

I kissed his neck and bit down on his collarbone while Noah held me tightly with his arms and legs. I felt his chain against my lips and kissed up to his mouth again. We kissed each other hungrily, like we were both starved for it. I wanted to be as close to him as I could, and he gave me just that. I had one arm around his waist while my other hand braced against the counter, leaning on him, and Noah arched towards me. He was still so perfect.

Then he moved from my lips, turning his face, and I kept kissing his cheek and jaw. “Atty.” He sounded out of breath. I had missed that sound so much.

“I love how you say my name like that,” I whispered.

He frowned before licking his lips. I couldn’t hold back. I licked his lips too and tried to get him to kiss me again, but he pressed his hand on my chest and turned from me once more .

“What?”

He moved closer. I thought he was going to kiss me again, but it was like he was trying to smell me. “You’ve been drinking.” It wasn’t a question.

I kissed him again, and he responded before pushing me back.

“Are you drunk?”

We breathed into each other’s mouths for a few more tantalizing seconds before I nodded.

Noah sighed. “Damn it.”

“Noah, let me kiss you.”

He kissed me again, the same passion in each one I managed to get in before he moved again and groaned in frustration. I moved, running my hands over his back and kissing his neck again.

“Atty, you’re drunk. You don’t want anything to do with me, remember? I’m the asshole that dumped you,” he said as I sucked on his skin, feeling his shoulder rise and a soft exhale escape his lips.

“I don’t care, Noah. I just want to make sure you’re here. I almost lost you. I just need…” I peppered kisses all over him, trying to get back to his lips.

He froze. “I’m here. I’m okay. I promise. But you don’t really want to be doing this.”

I planted my lips back on his. “Let me take you to bed.”

We used to say that to each other all the time, and he looked wrecked.

“I can’t, Atty. You know I want to. You have no idea how hard it is for me to say no, how much I want you like this, but I can’t do this to you.”

“Please, I need to get you out of your clothes.” I kissed his jaw, feeling the stubble rough on my lips. I lapped at his skin. “I have to feel you under me, over me, however you want it.” I mouthed the words to his neck, my hand going to his back and down his backside, feeling the firm muscle before pressing his groin to mine. He was hard against me.

“Fuck,” he whispered.

“Yes.”

He huffed a laugh before shaking his head. “No.” He sounded less firm by the second.

I kissed him, and his hand tightened in my hair, tilting his head back and giving as good as he got. He was so good at this. Nobody kissed like Noah. He kissed like he was going to run out of air if he didn’t, and it worked perfectly for me. I needed him to breathe. I felt like I had been stranded without air for years without these kisses.

Another wave of fear went through me as I thought about almost spending the rest of my life without them. Fuck it. I knew how much he wanted me too. I grabbed his thighs, pressing them to mine, and lifted him off the counter.

“Shit, Atty, wait,” he said, breaking away from my lips.

“No, I don’t want to keep waiting.” I started walking towards his room, lifting him to get a better grasp. It was harder than before, and I loved that.

I stumbled near his door, and we almost went down. Noah managed to step down and hold me up.

He let out a chuckle. “Atty.” He tried again.

“You’re just heavier than before. I’m fine,” I insisted, and his laughter roared through the room.

“That’s not very flattering,” he said before I kissed him again and kept pushing towards his room.

“You look better than you ever have, and that’s saying something.”

He melted at my words, his resolve faltering.

“Besides, you used to call me heavy all the time,” I pointed out.

He laughed again. He groaned and turned his face from me.

I grabbed him and tugged him back. “Stop doing that. ”

We reached his bed and stumbled onto it, Noah making a noise like I had knocked the air out of him by falling on him, and he chuckled again. “You’re still heavy. Heavier, I think.”

We both laughed, breathless. I leaned my weight on my forearm, my other hand on his waist. He bent his knees, his legs by my sides.

“You’re not taking me seriously,” I complained, while kissing his neck.

He pulled on my face to get me to look down at him. He was smiling, but earnest too. “I’m taking you very seriously. I’ve just never seen you this drunk, and it’s cute, and I’m really happy that you’re here kissing me like this.”

I leaned down to his lips again.

He pushed me back. “But you’re drunk, Atty. I can’t let you do this. You’re just stronger than me, and it’s hard to keep you back. Mainly because I don’t want to.”

“Then stop doing it.” I licked my lips, looking down at him. It had been so long since I’d had him trapped under me. I tried to steady myself. Getting on the bed had made the room start spinning again, making my stomach churn.

“Are you okay?”

I reached my hand to the back of his head, pulling on his hair, and kissed him again, trying to get him back into it. I stopped and laid my forehead on his. It was spinning faster than before. I moved from over him, lying on my back and closing my eyes. Nope. That made it worse.

“Atty?”

“I’m fine.” My stomach felt unsettled.

“You don’t look fine.”

“Gee, thanks.”

A soft laugh escaped him. “You know you always look fine to me. I meant you look like you’re going to be sick. Do you need me to help you to the bathroom?”

I was mortified as I sat up on the bed. I barely made it to the toilet before I was throwing up, with Noah’s hand rubbing my back comfortingly.

“I’m going to get you water, okay?”

I nodded before another wave of nausea hit. Thankfully, he did not witness it.

The bathroom kept spinning as I sat back on the floor, resting my head against the wall and closing my eyes. Noah came back and sat on the floor next to me. The cold bottle touched my cheek, and I winced, taking it from his hand. I uncorked it and took a big gulp. Noah was smiling, looking up at me, his knees bent and his arms crossed over them.

“I feel like you’re enjoying this.”

The corners of Noah’s lips quirked upwards. “I’m not enjoying watching you be sick. I’m just happy you’re here, even if you are sick.”

I closed my eyes again. “This is so embarrassing.”

“Atty, you have nothing to be embarrassed about, especially not with me. I earned the trophy of pulling embarrassing shit with you a long time ago.”

“No, you didn’t,” I argued. I took another gulp of water. I still felt sick and woozy.

“Yeah, I did. I threw myself at you shirtless in an elevator, showed up at your house uninvited at Christmas, sang to you in public, made out with you against any available surface in public.” He started going through the list, and I tried not to smile.

“Most of that was nice,” I remembered fondly.

His voice lowered. “Fought with you in front of people too.”

“That wasn’t so nice.”

“You have nothing to be embarrassed about. The only note I would give you is, people normally booty call their exes past nine o’clock at night. It’s less confusing that way,” he joked.

I let out an amused sound, then groaned. “Definitely embarrassing.” Noah hadn’t put his shirt back on, and his shoulders looked amazing, flexing like that. “And it wasn’t a booty call,” I added.

He snorted. “Could have fooled me.”

“I’m serious, that’s not why I came here.”

He met my eyes and tilted his head. “Why did you?”

“I didn’t plan on it. But when Holly told me what happened today, I couldn’t stop thinking that, while I was here hating you for leaving me, you were in a hospital bed. I blocked your phone, and you couldn’t call to tell me. If something had happened to you, it would have taken me weeks to find out, and…” The pain in my chest intensified again. It wasn’t the same pain he caused, it was sharp and deep. Permanent. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Noah reached for my hand, lacing his fingers with mine. “I’m okay, Atty. All things considered, this is the healthiest I’ve been in a long time.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

He shrugged his perfect shoulder. “I didn’t want you to think I was trying to manipulate you. I figured I had screwed up enough. I didn’t need to add this to the mix and make things more complicated.”

“I should have been there.”

Noah scooted closer, resting his head on my shoulder. I leaned into his hair, feeling his scent invade my senses. “I got through it because of you. I kept thinking, if I die now, he’s really not going to forgive me.”

I chuckled.

“I wasn’t kidding when I told you I think you saved my life. I’m sure you did. Even if you weren’t, I felt like you were there. That was enough to push me to get better and come back here, hoping you’d forgive me,” he said.

I moved my hand from his and wrapped my arms around him, holding him close. Noah buried his face in my neck and breathed in .

“I never thought you’d let me get this close to you again,” he whispered.

I tightened my arms around him. “I don’t know how to quit you, Noah.” I was so tired, so fucking tired of fighting this, and he was so warm next to me. I could just fall asleep right there.

“Neither do I.” His hand ran over my arm, his nails brushing softly over my skin. “I need to get you off the floor. Come on.”

I held on to him tighter.

“If you fall asleep here, I won’t be able to lift you, and I’m not going to let you sleep on my bathroom floor.”

He helped me up, and I half walked, half stumbled to his bed. Noah made me take aspirin and drink more water as he helped me pull off my shoes and get under the covers. He covered me snuggly and doused the lights. The room was still spinning, but my stomach felt better.

I grabbed his hand before he left. He let me lead him into bed with me. I fell asleep with Noah curled against my chest, feeling the skin on his back, running my hands over him.

I had nearly lost him, but right now, he was here and safe. That thought let me drift off.

I woke up with a mouth full of cotton and a dull headache. Looking towards the window in Noah’s room, the familiarity of the view almost let me go back to sleep before I remembered I wasn’t supposed to be here. I checked my watch—it was ten past seven. Noah wasn’t in the bed, and I rubbed my hand over my face, feeling the embarrassment of showing up at his house drunk last night. I had carried him to bed and then thrown up in his bathroom.

“For fuck’s sake.” My voice was hoarse.

The door of the room opened, and his bare footsteps paraded across the wooden floor. He placed his palm on the bed in front of me, gently pushing the hair back from my forehead.

“Good morning.” He kept his voice low. “I’ve left you a couple of aspirins on the bedside table with a Gatorade. There’s a fresh towel in the bathroom if you want to shower and a toothbrush on the sink. I’ll be outside, okay?”

He gave my arm a squeeze before leaving again. What the hell had I been thinking? I waited for the door to close again and got up. I showered in his bathroom and strode out with a strange sense of déjà vu. I saw the pills on his sink and my stomach turned in a different way. It wasn’t just one prescription anymore; there were five little bottles. I took a deep breath and brushed my teeth.

Walking out of Noah’s room, I found him in the kitchen. He gave me a small smile. I was sure he was feeling the same thing I was.

“There’s a place set for you on the table.”

I glanced towards the dining room. Sure enough, there were two places set. I turned towards him again, uncertain.

“Don’t worry. I didn’t cook. I don’t think my specialty of simultaneously under- and over-cooked eggs is the best for a hangover.”

That made me smile. I had never minded how bad Noah was at cooking. Just the fact that he had tried for me made it perfect.

I sat at the table. “So, what’s all this?” I looked at the food.

“Jaz,” he explained. “She helps me around the house and makes sure I eat right.”

“And she’s here?”

Noah nodded. As if on cue, a short lady walked from the other bedroom towards the kitchen, talking in fast Spanish.

“Jaz, this is Atty.”

“Good morning, Mr. King. Do you drink coffee?” she asked, smiling brightly .

Noah chuckled and went back to assembling the coffee cups. “I’m on it, Jaz.”

He came with them to the table. I sat down and listened to them speak. I had only heard Noah speak Spanish a handful of times and never this much. He had a great accent. I thought I knew everything about him that made him attractive, but this was definitely high on the list. I smiled to myself as she asked him if I had spent the night and if she needed to start setting a place for me at the table and extra towels, while Noah told her to stop getting ahead of herself.

He sat beside me and gave me a look. “She’s just?—”

“I’m from Miami, Noah. I know what she just said.” I sipped on the coffee.

He chuckled, looking a little abashed. She placed a plate for me.

“Gracias.”

She smiled at Noah with a nod.

He laughed, shaking his head. “I’m sorry about that.” He scrunched his nose. “And all this, I don’t mean to seem presumptuous. I just thought I could take advantage of your altered state for a little longer, while you’re still speaking to me. You can leave if you want to.” His face turned serious as he spoke.

I put my cup down. “I’m sorry about last night?—”

“I’m not,” he interrupted. “Even if you don’t ever want to see me again, I’m not sorry. Don’t be sorry.”

I stared at him for a second before nodding.

“You can ask me about what happened. We can talk about that too,” he added.

“Okay. After I eat, because I’m still feeling like crap.”

His face broke into a shy grin. “Yeah, okay.”

We finished, and Noah talked to Jaz before she excused herself and left early for the day. We went out on the balcony, sitting and looking out at the city. I was feeling mildly better, and Noah got me another cup of coffee and a Gatorade. He kept fidgeting in his seat, trying to get comfortable, and forcing himself to stay still when he noticed what he was doing. He was still restless; it was part of his personality, but he could sit still now. Holly had been right about that.

“What happened?”

He took a deep breath. “The last day we spent together. You were right. I knew what I was doing. After that fight, I couldn’t sleep. I kept trying to figure out a way to make it all better for you, but I was using again and didn’t know how to stop. I figured if I left, everything would work out for you. You’d get over me, and whatever happened to me, I would be fine with.”

I pressed my knuckles to my lips and waited.

“I wanted to make that last day perfect for you. I didn’t want you to remember me in the ugliness of those fights. But somewhere along the way, it turned into me trying to soak it up before I gave you up. It was harder than I thought, saying goodbye.” He was upset again, but he was much better at keeping it together. “It drove me into this bender. I left town, as far as I could, and just gave up. I’m guessing Holly told you she was there when it happened.”

“Yeah, she did,” I replied, my voice hoarse again. I cleared my throat.

“I’m not sure why. I was really out of it, but I asked her to come. I wanted to say goodbye to her too.”

“Was it…?” I couldn’t get the words out.

His eyes fixed on mine. He gave me a small nod that broke my heart. “I didn’t plan on making it out of it alive.” He took another deep breath. “It wasn’t exactly a plan, and when the chest pain hit and I couldn’t breathe right, I panicked and called Holly. They resuscitated me in the ambulance. I don’t remember a lot of it, but I do remember not wanting to die.”

My heart was racing in my chest again.

His eyes fell to his lap. “I shouldn’t have needed surgery, but I had a mitral valve prolapse, a tiny heart condition that shouldn’t have done anything. But I made it worse because of how much strain I had put it through over the years. The first surgery wasn’t invasive, but it failed, and I had to get the big one instead. I tried to call you before, because I thought I wasn’t going to make it. When I did, I decided not to call you until I got better,” Noah explained.

“You didn’t,” I noted.

“You said something to me the last time we saw each other. I told you that you deserved better, and you asked me if I’d do better, like it was the simplest thing in the world. Do you remember that?”

“Yeah, I remember.”

“It took me months of rehab and therapy to understand that it was that simple—that I could do better. It wasn’t the world screwing with me, making me act that way. I did it. I chose to do drugs and not quit and lie and be an asshole. I chose all those things, and I could also choose to stop. I don’t think I’ve gotten the hang of it yet. In fact, I know I don’t, because the last time we talked, I screwed things up again. But I’m still working on it, on doing better. It’s not just for you either. I want to do it for myself. I want to be proud of myself and my life. I want to fix the relationships I’ve broken, and that’s what I’ve been trying to do. I didn’t call you because I felt like too much time had gone by, and I couldn’t explain all this in a phone call. So, when I was ready, I came back. I knew you’d be mad at me. I wasn’t expecting you to come running back to me, but I wasn’t prepared for you to hate me either.”

He kept his eyes on mine. I listened and tried to understand what he went through, tried putting myself in his shoes.

“I felt like I was back to square one, and I was terrified to talk to you. Whenever I tried, I couldn’t get the words out. You were so mad at me, and all I could see was the hurt in your eyes, and it only made it worse. I kept saying the wrong thing, and you’d get even more upset. Then that night at the party at your house, I thought, this is it. I’m going to tell him now and fix everything. But you just wanted to let me go. Then it wasn’t your anger but this gaping hole of heartbreak I got myself into, because I honestly thought I could get you back and you were done with me. After that, I gave up on telling you because I didn’t want to make it worse,” he explained.

“I wanted to be done with you. I haven’t managed it very well so far.”

“I’m terrible at it too.”

I shook my head and took a deep breath. “Noah?—”

“Before you say anything and I lose my ability to think clearly, let me say one more thing.”

I gestured for him to go on, dipping my head.

“I know I fucked up with us. I didn’t talk to you, and I lied to make the bad things go away. I know that, if I had just opened my mouth and gotten help, things wouldn’t have gotten that bad. I also know I took it out on you, and part of the work I’ve been doing is learning how to manage this anger I have inside. Learning how to feel it and not hurt the people I love. I once told you I thought the universe had put you in my life to fix everything. That was the problem too. I expected you to fix everything. I didn’t take responsibility, and I didn’t assume the consequences. I put all the pressure on you. It was unbelievably unfair of me.” Noah leaned forward, placing his hand on the armrest of my chair, careful not to cross my boundaries. “I still think you and I were brought together for something, and maybe it’s not forever, but I do think the universe sent you to me. It’s just that, this time around, I think it was to teach me that I needed to be the one fixing me, not the other way around. I still love you, Atty. Honestly, I don’t think I’ll ever stop loving you, even if you don’t want to be with me. You’re the love of my life. Maybe you didn’t take me seriously when I sang all those stupid songs to you, but I meant every word of them. Especially the last one. I don’t think I could ever put it better than that, but when I’m with you, I feel like I’m home.”

I had no words. It was everything I had ever wanted to hear from him, just a couple of years and a lot of heartbreak later. I didn’t know if I could be with him any more than I knew how to be without him. Noah had become a part of me in a way that I didn’t know was possible. Maybe it was because he was my first love, but after this, I was starting to think that he was right about us.

He hadn’t turned into a stranger, not like I thought. He had grown up, and he had tried to show me so many times, but I couldn’t see clearly through the pain.

Right now, I could see him. This was really him.

I got up from the chair and looked down at Noah, noticing the crease between his brows again. “Come on.” I pulled on his hand and led him to the couch. We sat down together.

“What is it?” He was clearly confused by the location change.

“I’m not sure if you still have an extraordinary talent for knowing what to say to me,” I began, meeting his gaze, “and I’m not sure if I have it in me to forgive you for everything. But I’m pretty sure I don’t know how to be without you.”

“Me neither,” he admitted, his thumb rubbing slowly over mine.

“Holly told me you applied for a transfer.”

“I did. I didn’t want to keep messing with your head.”

I watched our intertwined hands, swallowing the lump in my throat. I looked back at him, seeing the anticipation in his eyes.

“Don’t go,” I managed to say, watching his eyes soften and a smile tug at his lips.

“Do you mean that?”

“Yeah. I do,” I confirmed.

He leaned closer, his hand reaching for my face .

“Wait.”

He halted his movement, his smile fading slightly.

“Come here.” I pulled on his wrists, guiding him onto my lap.

Noah smiled before climbing over me, his knees bent on the couch. He wrapped his arms around my neck and rested his forehead against mine. Closing his eyes, he let out a laugh of relief. I hugged him by his waist, pulling him closer. His weight, his body, felt so familiar and incredibly comforting. It was like fitting the final piece of a puzzle.

“You know—” his green eyes were shining and there was a soft smile decorating his lips, “—I think this is my favorite place in the world,” Noah whispered.

“I don’t know if this is going to work out, and I hope you know I’m still terrified you’re going to hurt me again,” I confessed.

“We’ll take it slow. For real this time. I’ll even put on the brakes myself,” he promised, his hands tangling in my hair and pulling on it gently, tilting my head back.

I moved my hands under his shirt, feeling the warmth of his skin. I brought my lips closer to his and smiled. “Well then.”

His bow-shaped lips curl upwards, the left side more than the right. I let my fingers slide on his back, watching his shoulders rise.

“Come on, Noah. What are you waiting for?”

He grinned, brighter than ever, before pressing his lips to mine and tightening his grasp on my hair.

It felt like coming home.