Nothing Less

Chapter Four.

Songs for this chapter are: 

Echo- Nelou (this band performed on a Spanish TV show I was on this last trip and this song is freaking amazinnnggg)

i hate u, i love u- Gnash ft Oivia O'brien

Colors- Halsey

....

By the time I leave my room, Tessa has already left to go back to work. I find Nora sitting alone on the couch, her feet propped up in front of her. Her back is leaning against the arm of the leather couch and she's holding the remote in her hand.

"Tessa left already?" I ask Nora, pretending that I didn't wait to hear the front door close before I came out from my bedroom.

Nora nods. She presses the arrow on the remote, scrolling through the guide. She doesn't look at me. I notice that she's changed her pants too. The thought makes my heart race and I try not to think too much about what Tessa almost caught us doing.

"Do you think she knows?" I ask her.

I had planned on being a tad subtler when I brought the subject up, but I guess my big mouth has other plans.

Nora's thumb keeps pressing on the remote, but she glances at where I stand in the doorway of the living room.

"I hope not," she pauses and draws a breath, "Look Landon," Nora's voice is full of the beginning of a goodbye and I've barely heard her say hello.

"Wait," I cut her off before she can talk herself out of giving me a chance. "I know what you're going to say. Your tone and the fact that you won't look at me gives me a pretty big hint."

Nora's eyes meet mine and I walk further into the living room and sit on the chair next to the couch. She lifts herself up and crosses her legs below her body. Her hands grab for a pillow, the pillow that Ken's mother gave me last fall, and places it on her lap.

"Landon," she says softly, and I love the way my name blends with her breath. "I'm not- "

"Don't," I'm rude when I cut her off but I know what she's going to say.

"This is where you warn me off and tell me that you aren't good for me and all that. But not today. Today we talk about why you think that and figure out where to go from there."

I feel high when I finish. I feel good that my thoughts became words and I think I just grew a chest hair or two.

"There's no where to go from here. I told you that we couldn't date... We could never be together in a real way. I'm not looking to get into another relationship," Nora's eyes are on mine.

I'm surprised by her boldness. Usually when these types of awkward conversations happen in books or movies, the one doing the talking always looks away or picks at their fingernails or something.

Not Nora. Bold Nora is staring straight at me and it's making me a little nervous. My high is gone, my chest hairs have shriveled up and disappeared and my mouth is dry.

Nora said another relationship. What was her last relationship? I don't think she'll tell me and I'm ninety-nine-point-nine percent sure she won't share with me, but I ask her anyway.

"When was your last relationship?"

Her eyes narrow but she doesn't look away. "It's complicated."