A Royal Pain In The Texts

15. Annabelle?

Noah and I dragged Caleb, Mia and Sophia to his apartment building. Yup, he lived in an apartment -- that too on the seventh floor.

The funny thing was that the elevator was out of service.

Ha! It was our funeral.

But somehow, we managed it between ourselves and finally I collapsed in front of his door.

"You all are lucky I don't live with my parents. I saved your asses today," Noah declared, pulling out the key.

I had a few burning questions on the topic of his parents but oh well, who was I to ask?

You're the one who wiped your snot on his shirt.

I felt my cheeks heating up at the memory. Why did I cry again?

"Um, why is your face turning red?" Noah glanced down at me with widened eyes, "don't tell me you are going to cry again!"

"I was not crying!" I retorted instinctively.

Noah rolled his eyes, "Sure." Then, he held up the sleeve of his shirt where I had... where I had done that disgusting thing. "I'm going to keep this as proof," he smirked, "you know for our future kids."

This guy!

I groaned, "So, you are going to be a pain in the ass in real life too."

"Oh you know you love that," he winked, bending down to help me with my friends again.

We entered his apartment, and my jaw dropped to the floor.

His place was... his place was a... dump. Yup, I know I shouldn't be thinking like that.

But, boy, if I wasn't shocked. I mean, with the way that he carried himself, I wasn't expecting him to be living in a space like this. It was a small, cozy place with one room, a kitchen and a bathroom, all of which were on the three sides of the living room. The fourth side was the entrance, where we were standing. It was small and cozy... but, it was... messy and it didn't at all seem like a place where Noah could be living.

My attention was diverted, when I heard him gasping, "Why are you judging my poor, humble abode?"

"I'm not!" I quickly blurted, realizing that he was right.

"Oh, you totally are," he declared, "I know that look."

"Noah," I sighed, "fine, I judged your place. I'm sorry. I really may have loved this place if you had cared to keep it neat and clean."

At this, he gave me a sheepish grin, "Well, I spent that time talking to you. Can you really blame me?"

Ugh... he knew how to make me speechless.

I looked around, "Where are we all going to crash?"

"Hm," he said thoughtfully, "let's leave your friends here and let's go and have fun in my room."

I picked up the nearest object on the floor... which happened to be an empty pizza box... and tossed it at his face.

He caught it, holding his hands up, "Geez, I was kidding!"

I rolled my eyes, then plopped down on the only available couch, realizing a second later that it was too sticky...

"Wow," I said, examining the crumbs of bread, and spots of spilt coffee on the couch, "The couch had a grand feast, I see."

But, I decided to not dwell too much on it. After all, beggars can't be choosers. He was already doing a lot by letting us crash for the night.

"I appreciate the sarcasm, mate." Noah quipped in amusement, walking over to his fridge, "Would you like something to eat? Or drink?"