Fools Fall

11- Sam

Sam

I was already tipsy by the time Noah and I arrived to Jude's Halloween party. As we were walking up to the front door, I tripped over my own feet, and bumped into Noah's back. "Oof," falling out of my mouth as I did so.

"You okay?" Noah asked, letting me grab onto his upper arm.

"Sorry," I giggled, "imagine if I was wearing heels," I laughed at the thought until Noah stopped in his tracks causing me to come to a halt. I looked up at him, questioningly. I loved our height difference; Noah being a good half-foot taller than my 5'9" height.

"Maybe don't drink too much tonight?" Noah suggested. "Your jealousy takes a new form whenever you drink."

I gave him an incredulous look because that was a bit hypocritical. "Yeah, well your anger takes a new form when you drink and when you're sober," I spoke matter-of-factly, pulling my hand away from his so I could cross my arms.

Noah's jaw set then relaxed as he said, "You know I've been trying to do better by my anger."

My arms fell to my side as a culpable feeling washed over me because Noah had been trying to keep his anger in check for not only himself, but for me as well. "I know you have, and I'm very appreciative of that. But you're acting like I'm going to ruin your night, or embarrass you, or something."

"I never once fucking said that, all I asked was for you to not drink too much. Can we just have a good fucking time?" He asked with his tone boiling with irritation.

"Why are you already annoyed?" I questioned because everything blew up out of nowhere and I felt pretty close to sober then.

"Holy fuck. I'm not annoyed," Noah started with his voice rising and his tone contradicting his words. "You're being-" I raised my eyebrows and crossed my arms again. He stopped himself and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," he apologized, but he seemed to struggle with it. "I just want you to actually get to know my friends, you can't do that when you're drunk." Then hesitantly (and almost sheepishly) he added, "you're... important to me, so I want them to know you. Not drunk you."

I felt myself smile a bit before I sighed. "Okay," I agreed, dropping my arms so I could slip my fingers through the belt loops of his chino pants. I tugged him a step closer to me. "I want to meet your friends," I told him, but it was a bit of a lie. For some gut wrenching reason, I didn't want to make friends with Noah's new group he was hanging out with. I knew it was just my jealousy talking; fearing they'll steal him away from me (or I'll find out they're funnier than me) and I didn't know if I could take it.

Noah's brown eyes were intensely darker as he studied me like he knew I was lying. But he took another breath, steading himself, then bent down to kiss me. "You'll like them," he insisted before grabbing my hand and walking us to the front door.

The house was packed and within thirty seconds of entering, I heard, "Hey, Noah!" Be exclaimed from a tall blonde male as he clapped a hand on my boyfriend's shoulder. Then the blonde turned to me, "Shawn, right? I'm Jude," he held out his hand.

Shawn? What the fuck? And I knew that guy knew my real name, but I swallowed my annoyance and for Noah's sake, I held out my hand. "It's Sam," I corrected Jude while also giving him a fake smile.

Jude chuckled, "Right. My bad, dude."

Dude. Ugh, I just want to roll my eyes. Even more so when Jude shouted, "You both look great," but his eyes were only on Noah. I regretted telling Noah to go shirtless.

"Are you kidding? I'm just wearing pants, you went all out," My boyfriend said which made me feel queasy as he examined Jude's devil costume. His costume looked tacky in my opinion.

Jude grinned mischievously at Noah, "welcome to Hell," he gestured to his party. "Follow me," Jude commanded, waving us on as he turned around and headed past people.

"Shawn?" I questioned incredulously. I kept quiet enough for only Noah to hear. I hoped he hear the bitterness through my words.

Noah wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me to him. "Please try to get along with my friends. Jude doesn't know you. Don't make everything bigger than it is," He told me as if I shouldn't be insulted that Jude clearly spoke my name wrong on purpose! How did Noah not see that? "Please?" Noah asked again when I didn't respond.

"Okay," I reluctantly agreed and was equally reluctant to follow Jude into the kitchen, but I bit my tongue and held my head high. Jude would not get under my skin.

The devil himself grabbed two red solo cups and poured the punch into each one. I watched as he handed Noah a drink and willed myself not to scoff as Jude didn't offer me one. "Actually, I'm the DD tonight," Noah told Jude, passing his drink to me (even though we had just argued about Noah not wanting me to get drunk).

But, hey, as long as I pace myself I can still drink, I thought until Jude said "Aw, that's a shame," in reference to my boyfriend not drinking. I almost downed the whole cup. "Good, right?" He asked me with a friendly smile that I couldn't decide rather I should believe in his affable expression or not.

I gave him a curt nod (cause, dammit, that drink did taste good) and when Noah placed his hand on the small of my back, I remembered this was all for Noah and that I had to be nice.

Luckily I didn't have to play nice much longer because Jude ran off to his friend after telling us to enjoy ourselves. I was about to take the last drink from my cup when Noah snatched it out of my hand to take his own sip after muttering something I couldn't hear, then setting down the cup. "Let's dance," He demanded, taking my hand and leading us to the makeshift dance floor.

I felt instantly better with Noah's hands on my waist and my back against his chest. I breathed out a sigh of ease when he pressed a delicate kiss to the side of my throat before whispering, "Do you even know how sexy you are?" Then he thanked me for being there with him and I thought maybe I just needed to calm down. Maybe that night wouldn't be so bad.

I turned around, Noah's hands still on me, so I was facing him and I pressed my lips to his. He gripped my waist tighter and pulled me against him, slipping his tongue in. Noah's hands slid to my back then down to my ass and he squeezed lightly. Giggling, I pushed him back some, "don't do that in front of everyone," I told him, but was grinning (because I secretly loved it when Noah was handsy with me in front of others).

"Why?" Noah asked slyly as he dipped his head down to kiss my neck. Then in my ear he said, "don't you want everyone to know that you're mine?"

'Yes' would've been my answer, but a girl with jet black hair, cut just above her shoulders, came up to us. "Oh, am I interrupting?"

**

Out of curiosity, who's favorite holiday is Halloween?

I actually hate Halloween, almost as much as I hate Valentine's Day. Okay, I dislike Halloween, I don't hate it. I honestly wish I liked it, but I just never had a good Halloween.

Anyway, thank you for reading!! <3

-Xoxo, Bert