Candid Kisses✔

16| the date

I'm not sure what I had initially expected Noah McCoy to be like. But I definitely was not expecting this. I didn't talk about my aunt much; mostly because persons tend to avoid the subject of her.

Not that I minded, I hated the look of pity people would throw at me thinking I don't notice.

I was super close with Aunt Sara. She was more like a mother to me given that my actual mother was never around. My aunt taught me everything that a mother was supposed to teach their daughter. She was there for me whenever I needed her.

She was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease but one of the greatest things about Aunt Sara was that she was a fighter. At times she'd get frustrated whenever she tried to get a perfect shot but it came at blurry, but even then he never stopped. She'd spend hours at it until she got her pictures just right.

Most people don't know what to say when the topic of Aunt Sara pops up in a conversation. Everyone tips toe around the topic. But I liked talking about my aunt.

And I liked it even better knowing that Noah just listened. He didn't fumble with hid words trying to find the perfect thing to say. He didn't try to give meaningless advice. He just listened.

He had stayed a little longer to help me sort a few of my pictures. But he left when Naomi had gotten home.

The girls and I were seated on Naomi's bed waiting for her to spill all the details about her date.

"Jesus Naomi, you're killing me. Just tell us already," Lydia bouncing to hear all about Naomi's day.

"Okay okay," she giggled, "When he asked me out I thought he'd plan dinner and a movie. Then he showed up at 12 with an itinerary full of activities."

"Itinerary?"

"Activities?"

Lydia and I spoke at the same time

"Yeah. It was so cute. He placed so much thought into this date. I mentioned to him that I was having trouble finding inspiration for a piece I'm working on so he thought maybe our date could be the inspiration."

"Was it?" I asked her. Though the cheesy grin on her face already provided an answer to that question.

"Oh yes, it did. The first activity was the cake tasting. Like most of his activities, I was confused. Then we pulled up at a wedding cake shop. Apparently, he called ahead claiming he and his 'fiancee' were coming in to sample cakes for the wedding." Well, that was an odd but really cute thing to do.

"Then we went to an aquarium in the next town over. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever experienced. He bought me this dolphin charm from the gift shop there." She showed us a stunning silver charm dangling from her bracelet. "Then we went strolling through a botanical garden. Well, I thought we were just there to stroll. And it was supposed to be the last thing on the itinerary. Until we were in the middle of the garden standing in front of a hot air balloon."

"You went on a hot air balloon ride!?" Lydia shouted with excitement. "He took you on a hot air balloon ride!?"

Naomi nodded in response. "Yeah. There was food and champagne." At this point she was smiling so hard you'd think it was impossible for a smile to be bigger. "He kept going on about me being the first girl he's ever developed such strong feelings for and wanting to see where things go. Then he did the cheesiest thing. He used kisses chocolate to spell out the word Girlfriend with an exclamation point on a plate."

Lydia screamed so loudly at the mention of the g-word that I'm pretty sure that our neighbors heard.

"I'm so happy for you Naomi," I said genuinely, giving her a hug. "I think now it's time to have a chat with Caleb. Let him know the consequences of him ever hurting you."

"Please don't scare my boyfriend Liv." She laughed. "Boyfriend... I have a boyfriend. It's so weird to say."

"Well looks like I'm gonna be the only single one here. I need to up my game." Lydia said.

"What do you mean. Liv is single too." Naomi corrected her. Was she suffering from temporary memory loss? I'm sitting right beside her.

"Well, not for long. I saw you and Noah today. It's quite clear there's something going on between you two."
Maybe her screams had somehow damaged a few brain cells

"What are you talking about? We're just friends." Noah and I are just friends. Well, I believe we're friends now.

"That's not what it looked like to me. I saw your reflections through the glass doors in the kitchen. Looked like you two were about to kiss." Lydia said, smirking like she knew something that no one else did.

I thought she hadn't seen that. "I don't know what that was. We we're just caught up in the moment. We really are just friends though. And you know I don't date."

"C'mon Liv. It wouldn't hurt to put yourself out there. It's quite clear he likes you. Once I told him you were home alone he didn't think twice before offering to keep your company." Naomi revealed.

Naomi knew better than anyone else that I didn't date. I've only ever had one boyfriend in high school and he was a complete asshole.

"He doesn't like me. He was just being nice. When did we start discussing my love life? I thought this was about Naomi and Caleb."

"We were. Now we're talking about Olivia and Noah." Noami answered.

"Well, there is no me and Noah. There's me." I said using hand gestures for emphasis. "And then there's Noah."

They both seemed unconvinced but sensing that I no longer want to discuss the topic, they dropped it.

"I invited Caleb to come with me to the cocktail and to Malibu," Naomi announced, shifting the focus from me. "I was thinking of inviting Noah and the rest of their friends. But I thought I'd run that by you. Given that it is your beach house."

"Ouuu. That sounds fun. Is that okay with you Liv?" Lydia asked.

"Well, that would equal a total of eight persons. There are only five bedrooms. So if a few people don't mind sharing then I don't see a problem with that."

"Awesome." Naomi beamed. "I'll tell him tomorrow. Right now. I'm exhausted and I'd love to crash. How about we watch a movie?"

"Sure. As long as it's not despicable me," I said at the same time as Lydia shouted, "Despicable Me 2!."