Chapter Nine
Alex
I was still turning my chat with Henry over in my mind when I knocked on Spencer and Noah’s bright yellow front door. I’d sent Noah a message to say I needed to pop over, but I didn’t know if he’d seen it. I’d come straight here as soon as I’d locked the front door of Novel Tea.
“Hey,” Spencer said, pulling the door open with a beaming smile, totally unfazed at me turning up on his doorstep at random. “I didn’t know you were coming over.”
“Last-minute thing,” I said as I stepped inside and slipped off my battered Vans. They were starting to get a hole in the toe. “Is Noah around? I need to talk to him.”
“You okay?” Spencer asked, his smile fading. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I just need to talk to Noah.”
“He’s getting changed. He only just got back from school—had a staff meeting that ran long.” Spencer turned and leant over the banister to call up. “Noah, Alex’s here for you.”
“I’ll be right down,” Noah shouted, his voice a little muffled.
Spencer nodded and walked towards the kitchen. “Do you want tea? And are you staying for dinner?”
“Tea’d be great.”
“I’ll put the kettle on,” he said. “And I’m doing enchiladas for dinner.”
“I’m not—”
“Yeah, you are.” Spencer was already in the kitchen and I chuckled. I didn’t think I’d had much of choice when he first asked, even if he’d made it sound like I did.
My brother and I were as different as chalk and cheese, and we’d had our fair share of arguments over the years, but when it came down to it, we loved each other.
We wouldn’t have been able to run Novel Tea together if we didn’t, but it wasn’t just that that’d kept us close.
Our parents were miserable bastards who’d written me off as a disruptive teenager and Spencer as a failure when an injury had ended his professional football career early.
I didn’t speak to them anymore.
Spencer was the only member of my family I was close to, and my friends filled in the rest of the gaps.
There were eleven of us now, and we were basically a big, messy, noisy, over-the-top family of queers who were forever in each other’s business.
They annoyed the fuck out of me sometimes, but I loved them more than anything.
I was pretty sure that was what family was supposed to be like.
“Hey,” Noah said as he came down the stairs pulling a jumper over his head. “I didn’t think I’d see you today. Everything okay?”
“Yeah, can’t I just pop over to see my best friend?”
“You can, but usually you ask first.”
“I sent you a message,” I said defensively. Noah smiled and pulled me into a hug. “What was that for?”
“There’s something bothering you,” he said quietly. “I want you to know it’ll be okay.”
I huffed but didn’t say anything. There was no point arguing with Noah. It was just prolonging the inevitable.
“Your tea’s ready,” Spencer called from the kitchen.
“Go sit down,” Noah said, gently pushing me towards the living room. “I’ll be through in a minute. You’re staying for dinner too, right?”
“Apparently. I didn’t get a choice in the matter.”
“Good,” Noah said without a hint of remorse. “Go sit down and I’ll get the tea.”
“I suppose it’s too late to turn mine into an Irish coffee?” I asked. I was only half joking because I had no idea how I was going to explain this to Noah without giving away all the details and dragging Henry’s name into it. And the last thing I wanted was to involve Henry.
“A little bit,” Noah said. “But we’ve got beer if you want one.”
“Tea’s fine.” I could start drinking later when I was back home. Then I wouldn’t have far to go when I wanted to pass out. Not that I drank that much these days anyway.
I made my way into Noah and Spencer’s colourful living room and flopped onto the plush sofa covered with cushions.
I’d once teased my brother about living in a real-life version of Barbie’s dream house because every room was bold and bright, but I had to admit it worked.
Their living room was blue, white, and orange, and when I’d tried to picture it in my head it had looked ridiculous, but in real life it was warm, welcoming, and almost soothing.
Spencer had once joked that Laurie, our resident goth, and I were allergic to colour and I’d just said I didn’t want to live in a clown house, but in hindsight I was so used to living in rented flats where everything was cream or beige, I couldn’t imagine anything else.
Maybe one day, if I could ever afford my own place, I’d admit I was wrong and try out some blues and greens, maybe even a yellow.
But that would mean I’d actually have to find the money for a deposit, and I was pretty sure pigs would fly before that happened.
It wasn’t like I was going to be able to squirrel away ten or twenty grand by myself, especially not running a coffee shop, and I didn’t have any relatives who liked me enough to drop dead and leave me a whackin’ great inheritance.
I wondered if Henry had many houses. I was sure he did, and I imagined they’d all be decorated by some posh interior designer who’d put fucking throw pillows and artsy ornaments everywhere and used those ridiculously uncomfortable chairs that looked pretty but were really, really fucking impractical.
He seemed like the sort of person who’d go all out and I didn’t think understated was his vibe.
Everything about Henry just screamed over the top.
“Here we go,” Noah said as he walked through the door carrying two large steaming mugs. He slid them onto coasters on the coffee table in front of the sofa and then sat down at the other end, looking at me expectantly.
“How was school?” I asked, picking up my tea. I took a sip and winced as it burned my tongue.
“Fine,” Noah said. “We’re gearing up for exams, but everyone’s looking forward to the Easter holidays. Although I’ll be going in to run science revision days a couple of times, so I won’t get that much time off. I don’t mind, though.”
“You should look at going on a proper holiday one day,” I said. “You and Spencer could go in the summer. I’d manage without him for a week.”
“Maybe. They’re expensive, though, and I don’t even know where we’d go.”
“Think about it. You deserve some proper time off, not just spending your summer sitting around here and avoiding the tourists.”
Noah grinned at me over the rim of his mug. “I know what you’re doing.”
“Yeah, I’m talking about you going on holiday.”
“No, you’re trying to avoid whatever you’ve come here to talk about,” he said.
“I’m not.”
“Yeah, you are. Come on, spit it out. Does it have anything to do with those pictures of you and Henry Lu going around the internet?”
I froze, holding the mug of tea in mid-air. “How’d you know about those?”
Noah shrugged. “School. Some of the staff were talking about it—they couldn’t believe someone like Henry Lu would actually film something here.
There’s been a lot of speculation about the project too.
I think the teachers are more interested than the kids, to be honest.” He sipped his tea.
“That and Spencer mentioning he’d been into Novel Tea a couple of times with some of his co-stars when we were at the pub last week.
He told me Jude Kane is very handsome up close, and he’s got a lovely butt. ”
“How the fuck did my brother not realise he’s bisexual?” I muttered to myself. Spencer had had his bisexual awakening last autumn when he and Noah had started spending time together. I’d always kind of wondered about my brother, but he’d never said anything, so I’d never asked.
Turned out he’d thought staring at guys’ asses in the gym was a completely normal thing to do and I’d realised he was more oblivious than anything else.
“I’m very glad he did,” Noah said, smiling softly. “So… Henry Lu. What were you talking about?”
“Just stuff.” I shrugged then realised if I wanted to get anywhere, I had to tell Noah at least part of the truth.
“He wanted to know why I rejected him. Apparently, I’m one of the only people who’d ever told him no and the only person, apart from his brother, who’d called him an arse to his face.
Which I didn’t, by the way, I just called him out on his shitty attempts at flirting with me. ”
Noah chuckled. “If anyone was going to do that, it was you.”
“I’d hope other people would do it too if he tried that shit,” I said. “Honestly, Noah, it was fucking awful.”
“What did he say?”
“Something about unique things being the nicest. I don’t know, it was bollocks.” I waved my other hand. “Anyway, he just wanted to know why because he’s not used to rejection and it got in his head. That’s it. Nothing else.”
“Okay,” Noah said, raising an eyebrow, and I wondered if I’d jumped the gun. “Spencer thinks he likes you.”
“Spencer’s delusional.” I snorted.
“No, I’m not,” Spencer called, sticking his head around the door. I glared at him.
“What the fuck? Have you been listening?”
“No! I just came to tell you I’m making a start on dinner and I heard my name.”
“Bullshit, you were listening.”
“Bit hard not to when you’re talking about me in my own house,” Spencer said. “And Henry does like you. If not, why would he keep coming to see you?”
“Firstly, he’s a fucking Hollywood whatever, so why the fuck would he like someone like me?” I put my tea down and folded my arms. “Secondly, he could just be a dick and trying to cause problems.”
Spencer rolled his eyes. “He’s not trying to cause problems. If he flirts with you, he likes you, and that’s all that matters.”
“I don’t want to date him, though,” I said stubbornly.
“Don’t then. Just do what Will did with Jamie and have some fun,” Spencer said.
“Yeah, look how well that turned out for them,” I muttered under my breath.
Having a fuck buddy who turned into more might’ve worked for Will and Jamie, but that was exactly what I was afraid of.
I didn’t want some grand love story that grew from a quick fuck with a handsome stranger; I wanted to be left alone.