Star-Crossed ✔️

9

- 9 -

"Is that–"

I wish I could say watching my hookup for the night stop short after stepping a foot onto the bus, staring wide eyed at Noah, wasn't a turn off. She gaped for all of three seconds before continuing forward, her eyes lingering on him.

He was sitting on the couch with his feet planted on the ground, the remote in his hand. He looked up at us curtly and turned the TV off, pushing himself up to stand in front of us. The girl (Jen? Jess? Jules? Something with a J?) smiled widely at him, but he didn't even spare her a glance. He was looking at me while he grabbed his phone and headphones off the table.

"Gonna go for a walk," was all he said before he walked out the door.

I paused for a brief second, wondering if it was safe for him out there. It was Florida, after all. The bus was parked inside the gated venue's back lot, so he couldn't go very far without breaking and . . . exiting.

Jen-Jess-Jules snagged my attention by grabbing a half-empty bottle of tequila off the counter. She dangled it in the air by the nozzle and swung it between our bodies. I pushed all thoughts of Noah wandering around in the humid night and grinned halfheartedly.

We took swigs straight from the bottle, back to back, until things got messy and we ended up in my bed. It was quick, dirty sex with Chester the cat staring at us. I thought about Noah and what he was listening to while he took laps around the parking lot. Jen-Jess-Jules passed out not long after I finished (I say 'I' because I wasn't entirely sure if she did and didn't really care) so I pulled on some basketball shorts and headed outside before I could think about it.

The air was stickier than it was thirty minutes ago. Or maybe I was drunk. Tequila did that to me.

I lit a cigarette as I looked around, squinting through the blinding light beaming from a bright ass flood lamp over my head. The smoke swirled around me in distracting clouds as I peered through the area. I didn't have to look too far.

Noah sat with his back to the wall a few yards away. He had his head down with the hood pulled up, bulky headphones looped over the top of it. I approached slowly so not to startle him. He must have seen my shadow or something because he looked up before I could sit beside him.

He slid the headphones down to his neck and I could vaguely hear voices. "Done already?" he teased quietly.

"Road trips get me blocked up," I snorted.

I took a long drag from my cigarette before offering it to Noah and to my surprise he took it. I watched in the corner of my eye as his lips pursed around it, the cherry of the stick lighting up the shadows on his face. He exhaled as he let his head fall back against the bricks.

"I was thinking we could do the dolphin thing tomorrow before my show," I said and he finally met my eyes. "I don't have to start soundcheck until six, so . . ."

"You really don't have to come," Noah said and looked away while he hit the cigarette again. "I was planning on going early in the morning, probably before you even get Miss Girl off the bus."

I hummed as he passed it back. "Well, what if I want to come?"

Noah wouldn't meet my eyes again but shrugged. "You know, the more you hang out with me in public, the more people are going to think we're boyfriends, or something," he said with a slight scoff.