Noah's Love

Chapter 7: Meet The Hayes Family

"What the hell is wrong with your face?" Noah asked when he met Rebecca at Penn Station the next morning.

"Nothing." She said, scanning the departure board to see if their train's track number was announced yet.

"Well, that nothing," he made air quotes before continuing, "looks like shit."

She gasped before throwing him a glare. "Shut up. I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Oh yea? Busy dreaming about me?"

She scoffed. "As if." Then she sighed, "I can't wait to get a nap on the train."

"Na-ah, Becca bear. You and I are talking about the party we're having this afternoon. Your dad's been waiting for this day for years now. Need to make sure your old man's feeling awesome today."

"Noah, what more could he want besides a retirement party with a 100 people coming over?" she said with exaggeration. In reality, they were only going to have a couple of family and friends over. It was clear that the lack of sleep was making her cranky.

It was either that or the fact that she hadn't stopped comparing her kiss with Noah to the one she shared with Jordan last night. Her brain's ability to examine every single aspect of those kisses non-stop were driving her crazy.

All she needed was to get distracted from her thoughts. I guess this party is coming at the right time, she thought. 

"No, seriously." Noah asked, clearing his throat. "You feeling okay?" He took a step closer to her and placed a hand on her forehead.

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Yeah. I'm okay."

"How was work yesterday?"

"Fine."

"Did you have breakfast this morning?"

"Yes."

"Want me to grab a snack or two for our train ride?"

"No."

"Hmm. One word answers." He looked at her thoughtfully, like she was some animal at a zoo. "Something is definitely up with you."

"Do you plan on annoying me throughout this trip?" She grumbled as their track number was announced. 

As they started walking to their track to board the train, he replied, "yep," popping the 'p'.

"Oh by the way," Noah started as he was putting their bags on the overhead rack a few minutes later. "Natalie texted me last night. She wanted to know if you're down to go to this rooftop bar next weekend?"

Rebecca nodded while slathering lip balm on her lips and moisturizing her hands. "Yeah. I'm down. I think I'm in a need of a night out anyways. You in?"

"Hell yeah!" He sat down next to her and brought his phone out. "I don't know why she always texts me to ask you stuff. Ask the question yourself, woman!"

"You're so clueless sometimes, Noah. She likes you. That's why," Rebecca stated.

He looked genuinely surprised, almost skeptical. "Seriously?"

"I can't believe this. Don't tell me you never noticed."

He shook his head to say 'no,' looking deep in thought. A second later he cursed.

"What?" Rebecca asked, facing him. 

"I just hate being in such situations. Why does this shit need to get mixed up with friendships? Things get weird then, you know?"

Without saying anything in response, she just quietly went back to scrolling through her Intagram feed.

He realized what he had said. "Uh...not that what happened the other night between us made me feel weird. I...didn't mean that. It's... just, uh...Natalie is not..."