everytime | noah centineo

27 | lust for love

"We really have to stop this."

"You're the one who texted me first." Noah retorted with an eyeroll, adjusting the arm that rested around Natalia's bare waist.

"I know, its just that I'm getting too comfortable." Natalia sighed, lifting her head from Noah's chest to gaze at him. "I can't get too comfortable."

"Why not?"

"Noah, I," She began, letting out a small breath, "I'm getting too comfortable with this. With the hookups, the cuddling, all of it. And I shouldn't be because we're not in a relationship. Soon enough we're gonna stop having sex and our friendship is gonna die because right now the main reason we hang out is for sex."

"Okay, well for starters, I would never kill our friendship. Contrary to what you might think, I actually really do care about you and I like spending time with you. And secondly, what if we were in a relationship?" Noah asked, moving one hand to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"You don't like me like that, you just think I'm a good lay." Natalia replied, another small sigh escaping her lips before she could stop it.

Noah shook his head against the pillow he rested on, "I don't know why you think that, when all I've been doing for the past two weeks is try to give you fucking hints that I like you."

"Don't confuse lust for love, Noah."

"Nat, don't say that," Noah said softly, "I've been crushing on you since the days where we were shooting on set and you'd show up with coffee and candy for everyone. When we started having sex, it only got worse. I've never seen anything we do as physical, because this entire time I've wanted nothing more than for you to be mine."

Natalia shook her head slightly, shifting herself from on top of Noah to lay beside him instead. "If we weren't having sex, you wouldn't want me."

"Why do you keep saying that?"

Natalia let out a sigh, "You had weeks while you were shooting to ask me out, yet you chose to after having sex. You're thinking you have to date me as an obligation, because we fucked and now our friendship is in the drain."

Noah opened his mouth to protest, but Natalia shook her head and gave him a small smile. "You don't have to pretend to like me for sex, or to keep our friendship in tact. We can stop having sex, although I don't mind if we keep going, and I don't want our friendship to be destroyed."

With that, Natalia turned her head away from Noah and reached for the lit lamp on the sidetable, shutting it off and causing the only light to come from the moon.

Noah ran his fingers through his hair frustratedly, sentences and questions lingering on his lips. He had so much he wanted to scream out, yet he didn't allow himself to. Natalia didn't want him, she made that very obvious in the way she indirectly rejected him.

Yet here he was, laying beside her after having sex and all he wanted was to pull her close and kiss her. He didn't though, because her body was curled in on itself and Noah knew that body language meant she didn't want him near her.

He turned his head away from her, letting out a breath he hadn't known he was holding in. She didn't want him that way, and Noah knew all he could was accept it and move on.