Nothing Less

Chapter Eleven.

Songs for this chapter are:

Cough Syrup- Young the Giant

Something Great- One Direction

Closer- The Chainsmokers feat Halsey

As You Are- The Weeknd

...

"Do you want to help me make the cupcakes?" Nora walks over to the fridge and pulls the door open. She grabs the butter and the carton of eggs and sits them on the counter top.

"If by help you mean, emotionally support you through your baking process then, yes. I would be happy to help." I tell her and stand to my feet. She's humored by my answer and I love the way her soft laughter fills my small kitchen. I'm no help in the kitchen, my mom can vouch for that.

Nora stands on her toes to grab more ingredients from the cabinets. I begin to wonder why she unpacked all the groceries if she knew she was going to use them. Women are weird.

"Let's play my game again," Nora suggests.

She's standing next to me. Her busy hands are measuring white powder in a cup. Flour maybe?

The fact that she wants to play her truth game again means she's willing to share more truths. This makes me happy. I've never felt so desperate for information in my life. She says so little, yet I feel so much for her. How is it possible? She makes me question everything I thought I knew about relationships. With Dakota, everything was pretty simple. It took months, maybe even years, for me to realize that what I felt for Dakota was more than friendship. Dakota was first to confess her feelings for me, which made it easier to share mine with her.

"Let's play my game instead." I say, not sure exactly what my game is.

Nora turns to me and licks her lips. It's like she knows how sexy she is and she uses this knowledge to torture me. This woman is going to make me crazier than I already feel.

"My game..." I search through the pages of my cluttered brain. "My game is that I get to ask you three questions. You have to answer at least two and can pass on one. Then it's your turn and I do the same."

Nora raises an eyebrow to me and leans against the counter. "And what's the prize for your game?"

I look at her and hope that my excitement doesn't show through my words. "The truth, just like yours."

She nods and stares at me, taking me in. "You didn't change your shirt." She points to my coffee stained -tshirt.

I look down and wonder why I didn't change when I got home. I had time, I've been laying on my couch for almost three hours now. I definitely could have changed.

Wait... I look at her and shake my head.

"No distractions," I take a step toward her. I know her game and this time I'm not going to let her distract me. "Are you scared to play a silly little game with me?" I lower my voice and notice the way her neck moves when she swallows.

She has a faint cluster of freckles on her chest, climbing up the base of her neck just above the collar of her oversized t-shirt. I follow the curve of her neck up to her face. Her eyes are on mine and this time I'm not looking away first. I want to be in control of this game, this time.

"Nora," I take one more step closer to her. Electricity hums through me, straightening my spine, steadying my voice. "Are you?" I ask, and she swallows again.