Chapter 11
ALICIA
It was official: I had the best friend in the universe.
Noah was a total gem.
When he’d jumped in and made up a story about me throwing up over a date, I could’ve kissed him. Platonically of course.
Romantic kisses with a friend were always a bad idea.
A shudder shot down my spine as I remembered what happened the last time I made that mistake.
Anyway, why was I even thinking about that? It was completely irrelevant.
The point was, I was so grateful that little white lie helped Adonis to see that I really didn’t want to go on the cable cars.
And then Noah agreed to hang out with me instead so I wouldn’t be alone. Okay, it was Kayleigh who suggested it, but he didn’t have to agree. I was thankful to both of them because Noah was right. My sense of direction was crap.
‘I’ve found the one I want,’ I said as I stood in front of the postcards on display in one of the tourist shops.
‘Me too,’ Noah said. ‘Do you want to do yours first?’
‘Okay,’ I said before going inside to pay and write out a message.
We always did it in secret so that when the postcard arrived, how it looked and the words we’d written would be a surprise.
Hopefully if we gave our postcards to Petros or someone at the hotel they’d be able to post them for us. Otherwise, we’d find a post office ourselves.
I could tell Kayleigh and Adonis thought we were strange, but like Noah said, it was a tradition we’d had since forever. We both had a postcard album filled with all of the ones we’d received from each other over the years.
It was nice to pull it out once in a while and laugh and reminisce about the trips we’d had together and with other people.
Kayleigh would definitely think we were mad if I told her that we even sent postcards to each other from London.
If I was out and about and I saw a postcard that I thought Noah would find funny or cute, I’d send it to him. I knew he’d value it much more than a meme or GIF. And it was something tangible that he’d be able to treasure for years to come.
‘All done!’ Noah said. ‘Maybe we can ask Petros where to post them.’ He slid the postcard into the pocket of his rucksack.
‘I was just thinking the same! By the way, thanks.’ I faced him. ‘I appreciate you babysitting me. Honestly, Kayleigh and Adonis must think I’m a right wimp.’
‘That’s because they don’t know what you’ve been through. If they did, they’d understand.’
‘Maybe.’ My stomach tightened as a flashback of one of the most horrific days of my life flashed into my mind. I quickly pushed it away. I didn’t want to feel sad. ‘Anyway, I want you to know that I appreciate you creating that story to get me out of it and I’m sorry if I’m pussy blocking.’
‘Pussy blocking?’ Noah said a little too loudly causing an older lady in front of us to turn around and tut loudly. I guessed she understood English. Oops.
‘Yeah, y’know, stopping you from spending quality time with your match.’
‘I understand what you’re trying to say,’ Noah said, ‘but it’s still called cock-blocking. I don’t think in this case you need to change the saying.’
‘Yeah, you do!’ I insisted. ‘I’m stopping you from getting in Kayleigh’s knickers.’
‘Which would mean you’re still blocking my cock,’ he said casually and for some stupid reason the mention of that word sent a tingle shooting between my legs.
‘Ah… right. I see your point.’ I nodded as we continued walking down the narrow streets, passing different jewellery stores and more souvenir shops selling ceramics, linen, blue dresses and T-shirts. ‘Well in that case, sorry for cock-blocking.’
‘Thanks for the apology, but it’s not necessary. It’s not like I was about to throw Kayleigh over my shoulder, carry her inside a souvenir shop and start shagging her up against the fridge magnet display, so you’re fine.’
‘Phew,’ I wiped imaginary sweat from my forehead. ‘Then again, you two probably already got acquainted last night and maybe even this morning, right?’
Noah and I used to talk a lot about our relationships. We didn’t always go into detail about bedroom stuff, but we were comfortable to chat about basically anything. We hadn’t had any conversations like that for a while though.
I knew he’d been dating on and off since he moved to North London, but nothing serious. In fact, now that I thought about it, I couldn’t remember the last time he’d mentioned sleeping with a woman.
And I was curious.
Okay, curious was just a polite word for nosy.
Call it whatever you want, but I was interested to know if he’d slept with Kayleigh.
Although it was only our first full day here, she seemed very tactile and looked at Noah like she was ready to throw him down and ride him on the spot.
And naturally Noah was attracted to her so it was still perfectly feasible that they’d banged.
What was I even saying? I saw the way they were looking at each other at dinner last night. Of course they’d shagged.
‘Are you asking if Kayleigh and I slept together?’ He raised an eyebrow.
‘Er, yeah, but, if you’d prefer not to say, that’s totally fine.’
‘Why do you care?’ Noah asked.
‘I don’t!’ I protested a little too loudly. ‘I was just curious, that’s all.’
‘You know what they say about curiosity…’
Right on cue, a cute black-and-white cat strolled past us and we both laughed at the coincidence. I’d noticed there were a lot of cats just casually roaming the streets here.
‘See! Just proves that curiosity doesn’t kill the cat like the famous saying suggests. Thankfully the cat is very much alive and well.’
‘Good. I’d never forgive you if it came to any harm,’ Noah said. ‘You know how much I love animals.’
‘I do. I also know that you still haven’t answered my question,’ I pressed.
‘I’m aware.’ He grinned mischievously.
‘In fact, you never tell me anything about your dating life any more.’
‘There’s not much to tell. And I told you I went on that date Colin set me up on last month.’
‘And that’s it? You’re telling me that those blind dates are the only ones you’ve been on?
They never go beyond dinner or drinks, so when you need to let off steam so to speak, do you use the apps?
Go out with people from work? I refuse to believe that you’ve been hiding all of this—’ I gestured to his face and body ‘—and living like a monk.’
‘You’re asking if I hook up?’ He clutched his chest in mock horror.
‘You know what I’m asking.’ I rolled my eyes. Noah was enjoying watching me prise this info out of him. And part of me knew that he should just tell me it was none of my business and refuse to answer, but I really hoped he didn’t.
‘Yeah, I hook up. I meet women on the apps or just out.’
‘Just out?’ I frowned.
‘Y’know, when women ask for my number at a bar or in the coffee shop.’ He shrugged. ‘Or the gym, but that can get awkward, so…’
‘Wait. Women just walk up to you and ask for your number?’ My jaw dropped.
Growing up, Noah used to be shy. He came out of his shell when he moved away for uni, but even then, as far as I knew, he never attracted a lot of female attention. Now from the sounds of it, he’d had more pussies than a cat sanctuary.
‘Don’t sound so surprised!’ Noah said.
‘No, it’s not that I’m surprised that you’re getting a lot of lovin’ from the ladies. I mean you’ve always been cute. I guess I’m just shocked that you’ve become a Casanova.’
‘I wouldn’t go that far. It’s not like I’m shagging a different woman every night. Just every other evening, that’s all.’ He grinned and my eyeballs popped. ‘I’m joking!’
‘Many a true word is said in jest,’ I said. ‘I’m not judging; it’s just… you seem different, that’s all.’
‘Maybe I am. I just got tired of always being the good, sweet guy that women walked all over. The one they said was “nice” right before they dumped me for the hot bad boy. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, right?’
Hearing that made me feel a bit sad.
Noah was perfect just the way he was. I hated that he felt he needed to change and take on a tough persona just to get women.
‘So what, you just decided to become some kind of fuckboy?’ My face crumpled. I stepped to the side, just missing a young couple who’d stopped in the middle of the street to take selfies.
‘No. I’d never do that. I’m always clear that I’m only interested in something casual.
A lot of the time, women just want some fun anyway, so it’s mutually beneficial.
What I meant was, I stopped taking dating too seriously.
Instead of hoping that things might lead somewhere, I just decided to go with the flow.
I like sex just as much as the next man, so when I started getting more attention, I thought I might as well go all out and enjoy it. ’
‘Oh,’ I said, my stomach twisting. ‘Good for you.’
Hearing all of this about Noah was a revelation. He really had changed. It wasn’t like he hadn’t had girlfriends before, but I’d never known him to be into casual sex. Instead of satisfying my curiosity, hearing that he’d been regularly hooking up just made me want to know more.
A barrage of questions swirled in my mind.
Had Noah slept with a lot of women?
If he was only interested in something casual, why had he come to the Love Hotel to find his Mrs Right?
I didn’t know why I was so bothered. Noah was perfectly entitled to sleep with whoever he wanted, but I still couldn’t shake the curiosity.
Anyway, it wasn’t important.
He had Kayleigh now, so I was sure his casual dating days were over.
We both had bright romantic futures ahead of us.
With other people.
Which was exactly how it should be.