56. Dani
God, I don’t know what I’d do if the favorites section on phones didn’t exist. In situations like these, it’s a necessity because I don’t have to go through his contacts to find the one person I’m looking for.
Putting Noah’s phone on speaker, the line rings for a brief moment.
“If you’re calling to torture me by talking about Dani again, you can just forget it. I’m tired of this shit, Noah.”
“Grayson, shut up. It’s me.”
Noah violently shakes his head. “No,” he mouths to me and crosses his arms into the shape of an X.
“Dani? Why the hell are you calling me on Noah’s phone?” Grayson asks, confusion flowing throughout his tone.
“Is Xander with you?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I need you guys to pick up some food. I literally don’t care what it is.”
“Hey Dani, what’s going on?” Xander’s sweet voice is soothing my anxiety.
“Noah’s crashing. We haven’t eaten in hours. Lizzie texted him and said she was ready to be taken home. But, h-he can’t drive like this. I know we’re going to a hospital but I-I’m freaking out. I-I don’t know what to do.”
I hear Grayson’s voice now. It’s deeper than Xander’s. “We’re on our way. Hang in there buddy.”
“Yeah, whatever dickhead,” Noah shouts in my direction.
“Love you too, bro!” Grayson yells.
“Thank you,” I say.
“Anything for you, Dani.”
I roll my eyes. “You guys really are a bunch of idiots.”
Noah nods his head up and down, closing his eyes and grinning at me.
“Idiots who are saving your ass,” Grayson says.
“Do you know when you shouldn’t say shit like that?” Xander asks Grayson.
“Can you two try to not beat the shit out of each other for like an hour? There’s literally no time for this. Please go!”
I hang up the phone and Noah’s giving me the side-eye.
“You know, even if I called Xander, Grayson still would’ve come. Just saying. He’s going to have to get used to me being around. A lot more than he’s used to.”
“Fuck yeah, he is.” He tilts his head, smiling at me and making my body feel like it’s on fire.
Pursing my lips out, I let out a giggle that quickly turned into a laugh.
Every time I laugh, Noah stares at me. It doesn’t make me uncomfortable. His eyes become full of curiosity and admiration. It makes me disintegrate.
“You’re doing what you told me not to do to you back at the house. Quit it!”
“It’s hard not to look away from you when you laugh like that. There’s this invisible string that pulls me towards you and I can’t stop it. I don’t want to stop it.”
“I can’t handle romantic shit like this right now because I might spontaneously combust in this car.” A lump travels its way down my throat. “You’re distracting me from freaking out.”
“Really? I had no idea.”
My legs are shaking up and down.
Patience is soon to become non-existent. I lean over to him, feeling his forehead. It’s warm, but nothing to be alarmed about.
“What are you doing, Nurse Dani?”
“Checking to see if you’re overheating.”
“Don’t be surprised if I am. And it’s all your fault.”
“How the hell is this my fault?”
“You sure as hell know why, Sweet Peach.”
“Oh my God, you’re not coming onto me right now, are you? We don’t have time for this shit.”
He leans onto the console, elbows resting on it. “Flirting with you is a reflex for me.”
LIZZIE
ME
hey lizbug, we’re running behind because your brother is having a sugar crash
LIZZIE
Shit, is he okay?
ME
yeah, he’s fine. we’re waiting for grayson and xander to bring him food. i promise we’re coming
LIZZIE
Look, my brother can be a shithead sometimes, but I still love him. Please tell him to not freak out about rushing over to the hospital to bring me home. Tell him I care about his well being more than my sanity
ME
i will. hang in there!
“That was Lizzie,” I say.
“Of course, you texted my sister.”
“She needs to know what’s going on.”
He rolls his eyes. “You’re right.”
“You bet your sweet ass I’m right.”
“You think I have a sweet ass?” He cocks an eyebrow while a sexy smirk grows in slow motion onto his face.
“It’s just a figure of speech.”
“You added the sweet part though.”
“Can we just change the subject?”
“While we’re on the subject, you have a sweet ass too,” he blurts out.
“Cut it out!” I hit him on the shoulder with the palm of my hand.
Damn it, my cheeks are warm. Is there going to be a time when he doesn’t make me blush? Nope. Never going to happen.
“We need to tape that mouth of yours shut, Kaplan.”
“Is this going to be a new kink of yours, Solomon?” He raises his eyebrows.
Grayson and Xander need to hurry the hell up before I’m murdered by Noah’s flirting tactics.
After twenty-five agonizing minutes of waiting for the guys, they finally pull up in front of us.
As I exit the vehicle, I stand in front of my side of the car and wait impatiently for the guys to make their way over to us to give us the food.
Noah jogs over to me, playfully nudging me in the shoulder.
We watch Grayson step out of the driver’s side of a black pickup truck.
“What the hell took you guys so long?” I ask, huffing.
Grayson walks over to us with a to-go box which has the Coastal Shores logo on it. There’s a cartoon sandwich in between all the brown text. “Well, since it’s hot food, they actually have to make it, heat it up, and cook it so we don’t have a case of food poisoning on our hands.”
Noah’s demeanor shifts from playfulness to annoyance. “Oh, look who it is. The captain of The Idiot Club.”
“Noah…not now,” I say.
Xander gets out of the truck, making his way over to Noah. He’s examining his face. “He looks fine to me.”
“Thank you, Captain Obvious.” He rolls his eyes at Xander before he turns his head towards Grayson. “If there’s a fucking salad in here, I swear to God, Grayson Becker, I will make it my life’s mission to make your life a miserable hell.”
“I would never do that to you,” Grayson says as he hands the box over to Noah.
I walk over to Noah, Grayson, and Xander.
Noah opens the styrofoam box, revealing a sandwich and curly fries.
“It’s a fried chicken sandwich with the works. Lettuce, tomato, onion, and mayo. I know how much you love this sandwich, so that’s why I got it.”
“I love you so much right now.”
So, you’re telling me all I have to do is shove food into Noah’s face for him to say that he loves me? Done.
“I love you too buddy. Sorry that I’ve been an asshole lately.”
“You’re forgiven…for now.” Noah grabs my hand. “Take half, Sunshine. You haven’t eaten in hours either. I honestly thought you’d crash before me. Just give me the tomato and the onion. And don’t argue with me.”
Sweat builds on my skin.
The guys are watching us.
Noah gestures to me to sit on his lap.
I shake my head. “No,” I whisper.
“Sit on me,” he mouths.
“Fine.”
Walking over to the passenger side of the car, I sit on Noah’s lap with the box of food sitting on top of my legs.
He has one arm secured around my waist, so I don’t fall.
I take off the top bun, removing the tomato and onion. Before I bite into the sandwich, I feel two sets of eyes on us. They’re burning holes through multiple layers of skin on our faces.
“What the hell are you guys looking at?” Noah asks the guys.
They’re looking at each other, trying to comprehend what they just witnessed. Grayson speaks up first. “Uh, Sunshine? Sharing food. Dani’s sitting on your lap. What the hell did we miss?”
“You guys…missed a lot,” Noah replies as he licks his lips.
“What’s a lot?” Xander adds.
“Do you want to tell them, or should I?”
I have a mouthful of food, so I resort to pointing at him because I can’t respond by talking.
“Pretend I’m not even here,” I say.
“I can’t do that, Dani.”
“Fine. I’ll go eat on the step that’s in front of the door to my house. Knock yourselves out. Don’t talk about me too much, Heart Eyes. Grayson’s head might explode off his body.”
That gets a laugh out of Noah and Xander.
“Haha, you’re so funny,” Grayson says.
“You”ve got a little something on your shirt,” I tell him.
Grayson looks down at his shirt, only to be met with my pointer finger hitting him in the chin.
I wink at the guys, walking away to go sit on the step so they can talk about me as much as they want to.