Dear Reader...

Chapter Five

~Juliette~

It took me all of 20 minutes after I agreed to let Noah take me out tomorrow night for me to nervously toss all my papers into a pile and scamper out of there. I've never been so glad for prepaying for drinks all day in my entire life.

To say I was nervous was a huge understatement. I haven't been asked out like that before and it came across as a shock to say the least. He came back from the group of teenage girls. We chatted about their orders and how they never really differed but were always over complicated trend drinks. And then he just stopped, said "I'm sorry, this is going to be really forward but I'm worried I won't get it out if I don't do it right now. I want to take you out. I want to ask you if I can take you out? Tomorrow night?" Just like that. And then the door rang and he groaned but didn't move until I stuttered a yes. He smiled, breathed out a sigh of relief and said he'd come back. I'd gone before he could.

I don't know why I just left without saying goodbye. I honestly don't. I was just there and-

"Jules?"

"Is Anya in bed?"

"Well, hi to you too?"

"Please Riles. Is she in bed?"

"Yeah. What- What's up?"

"Hold on, I'm gonna swap you over to my laptop because I need both hands."

"If this is gonna be me watching you injure yourself for 2 hours again, I'd rather watch the TV, there's less destruction and more progress."

"Riley."

"Seriously. How many times do I need to listen to you shout ouch after you hit your thumb instead of the nail. You're putting picture frames up Juliette, not-"

"I have a date."

"WHAT?!" I turned the laptop to face me, hovering over it as Riley stared, mouth agape. "I'm sorry did you just say date?"

"Yeah." Her shocked expression vanished, turning to a grin that took over her entire face, settling into the couch quickly.

"Details."

"The guy from the coffee shop?"

"Radiator key guy?"

"Uhuh." I rambled on, telling her how I'd left so abruptly and how he'd probably spent the evening thinking he'd scared me off. Riley just laughed as I began to psych myself out. "It's so not funny Riley."

"No, it is. Did you get his number?"

"Mhm. He text me. Because I ruined the receipt. Fuck knows how I did that so chill anyway. Just like wrote it down. God, I'm such an idiot."

"No, you're not." Riles settled back into her sofa with pint of ice cream. "You just haven't done this in a few years. It's just a date Jules. You've dated before."

"Not an English guy. And- And Noah isn't like the guys I've dated before."

"You mean he's not a douchebag with a million red flags?"

"Exactly." I nod. "How do I date a guy like that? I knew what to expect with Jordan right? I knew his exes I knew what I was getting into. But Noah. He's a total stranger, tried to kill me this morning, offered to come bleed my radiat-"

"Woah woah woah woah. Let's cut back to the tried to kill you."

"He brought me an almond croissant. In his defence, I hadn't told him-"

"That the last time you were within 10 feet of a peanut you blew up like a balloon and were in ICU unconscious for 3 days? Yeah, great idea not to tell him that Jules."