The One Night Stand That Stayed

Chapter Seventeen: Starting Over

It had been a week or two since Zack and I had broken up. It was pretty awkward at the apartment, so I tried to stay away when he was there. We’d run into each other every once in a while, but he’d just ignore me, walking by like I didn’t even exist. I didn’t mind. Zack had been a rebound. It was sad to say but it was the truth. Noah, whether I liked it or not, still held my heart and he was slowly working his way back in with each passing day. He wasn’t pushing it though and neither was I. It was going to be a while before I trusted Noah enough to be in another relationship with him. For now, he and I were just good friends.

“Jayson,” Noah called out to me from his kitchen. “Butter or kettle corn?”

“Butter,” I replied clicking a movie on some campy horror film from Netflix. My eyes darted towards Noah as he quickly shoved the popcorn into the microwave, pulling a large bowl from above his head. He was home for the weekend by himself, while his parents were out of town for their anniversary. Noah was in charge of babysitting and didn’t want to do it alone. So, I told him I’d stay over with him.

“Popcorn check,” Noah smirked sliding beside me. “Movie check. Rose check. Everything’s in order. This is easy.”

“If it’s so easy, then why did you beg me to come over,” I retorted shoving him lightly. “You were obviously afraid to be here alone.”

“Oh shut it,” Noah replied cutting me off before I could make fun of him some more. “This house gets scary at night, when you’re all alone.”

“You watch way too many movies,” I replied shaking my head as the movie finally came on. Noah placed the bowl between us, as he focused on the screen. It made me think of Noah and I’s date to the movies, when we saw Twilight. I smiled just at the thought of it. He had been so young and naïve.  I had completely taken advantage of him.

Just as we were about ten minutes into the movie, the doorbell chimed. Noah jumped quickly, clutching his chest. I rolled my eyes as I walked to the door, opening it wide to find Liam at the door.

“Oh hey,” he said awkwardly running his fingers through his hair. “Is uh – Noah here?”

“Yeah,” I replied folding my arms across my chest, eyeing him up and down. “Noah!”

“I paused the movie! Who was that at the – Liam?” Noah said in shock, as he came up from behind me. He stopped glancing at the two of us for a moment. Noah held the door and I took that as my cue to walk back to the living room. I sat on the couch, trying to listen to their conversation. I could only pick up bits and pieces of it though.

“I came to check on you,” I heard Liam say. “I know how much you hate being home alone, but I see you have company.”

“It’s not like that,” Noah retorted. “We’re just friends. You know like you and I.”

“We could have been more,” I heard Liam say. Everything after that was murmurs and whispers. I sighed, crossing my legs as I waited for Noah to finish up with Liam. For someone who talked so much crap about Noah, he sure liked to come around often.

After a few minutes, I heard the door slam shut and Noah slid back beside me on the leather couch. He groaned mumbling something underneath his breath, before glancing at me.

“What was that about?” I asked curiously.

“Nothing,” Noah groaned. “I don’t want to talk about it. You know just Liam being Liam like usual.”

“Ok,” I nodded awkwardly. It still bothered me that Liam lingered around Noah like that. Even though we weren’t together, I still didn’t trust Liam nor did I want him around Noah. He just gave me that sneaky brown-nosing two-faced vibe. I always felt like he would tell Noah bad things about me when we were together.