New Beginnings: A Hessa Story (2)

Chapter 19: Tessa

"I'm sorry if I woke you , but can I meet you somewhere? I need to talk..." I say frantically into the phone. I feel bad for calling him at 5 AM, but he was always a morning person, so I know he's up.

"Tessa? Are you okay?" He asks, his voice laced with sleep, so maybe I did wake him up.

"I just need to talk to someone right now."

"Um, yeah, okay. You can meet us at our hotel, The Brooklyn. How long are you gonna be?"

"About ten minutes... thank you so much." I tell him, knowing he definitely was never expecting me to call him like this, but appreciative that he has agreed to meet me.

"I'll meet you in the lobby."

-

As I am driving to the hotel, I realize that I'm not crying, thank god. I'm not really feeling any emotions right now. I haven't spoken one-on-one, in person, with him in years, so I don't know how this is gonna be. What the fuck was I thinking calling him?

Of course, he's in the lobby by the time I get there, waiting patiently with a smile on his face.

"Noah!" I call out to him.

"Are you okay?" He asks as I wrap my arms around him. "Is this about getting married? It's okay to be a little nervous."

"It's not that. Hardin and I aren't getting married today." I reveal the news. His eyes practically fall out of their sockets, and his mouth almost hits the floor.

"What do you mean?" We sit down in an isolated corner. It's early in the morning, so no one else is here.

"Did you get my email?"

"I haven't checked it yet." He takes his phone out to look at his mail, but I can just tell him now.

"Hardin had appendicitis, so the weddings off, at least for today it is."

"Oh no, I'm so sorry, Tessa." Noah genuinely seems upset for me. After everything that we did to him, he still is supportive to some extent of our relationship.

"Yeah, we're also kind of in this argument right now. I don't really wanna talk about it." See Hardin, it's possible not to spill your guts to people about our personal shit.

He looks confusingly at me. "Then why did you come here? Not to be rude or anything, but you woke me and Shannon up so..."

Shit! "I woke you! I'm so sorry! You were always such a morning person, I assumed you would've been up."

"It's okay, but I am still kind of on west coast time, so I could've used the extra hours."

"Right. I am such an idiot. You could've told me no."

"You seemed distraught, and you should know that I can never say no to you." He smiles and I laugh, which is such a change from how I was just minutes ago. It feels good to laugh.

"So why did you come here, Tessa?"

"I don't even know actually. I just..." Why did I even come here? "I just wanted company, I guess."

I could always count on Noah. Even though we haven't been the closest recently, we will always be there for each other no matter what.

"Well, since I'm here... I have a question for you." I begin. "Did you come here voluntarily?"

"Huh?"

"You wanted to fly to New York to come to my wedding?"

He pauses, and shakes his head. "Honestly, no. It was Shannon's idea to come out here. I told her about what you asked me... about walking you down the aisle and stuff, and she felt terrible that we couldn't make it. So when her family called and said they were going on a cruise, our plans freed up and she booked the tickets to New York."

"I understand... and I'm really sorry for asking you to do that for me, to walk me down the aisle. It would be extremely awkward for you to do that considering we dated, and I'm marrying Hardin."

He immediately jumps to defend himself. "First of all, I don't really consider us exes, you know? You're my friend, and if you, as a friend, want me to walk you down the aisle, it would honestly be my honor. I was just surprised with everything when you asked. I'm sorry for the way I acted."

"You don't have to do it, Noah. Really, it was a stupid idea."

"Would you ask your stepfather?"

I considered asking David to walk me down the aisle, but I was hesitant. I've only known him for a few years, so it would feel strange to have him walk me down.

"I don't think I'm gonna have anyone walk me down. I mean, I never really had a prominent male figure in my life, besides the very short time with my father."

"Hey! A ton of people are doing it! Megan Markle didn't walk with her father during her wedding!" He laughs, and I remember telling Hardin the same thing.

"I told Hardin the same thing!" I think I have made up my mind. I am a strong, independent woman who practically raised herself, so I can manage to walk my own ass down the aisle.

"Also, thank goodness you guys didn't have your wedding today. The weather is supposed to be terrible."

"This is nice, us talking." I lean back and relax against the chair. Talking with Noah is so easy. Unlike Hardin, we never fought. He isn't the type of person to pick fights with people, so it's extremely refreshing to have a civil conversation with someone.

"Yeah. I'm sorry I've been so distant."

"It's okay, Noah. We've both been, but please, tell me about your life back in Washington!"

I use Noah's life to distract myself from my own right now, and we spend the next hour discussing every aspect of our lives. We had a lot to catch up on. The lobby gets more crowded as it gets later in the morning.

"Wow, we've been speaking for a while." I check my phone, and it's now 7 AM.

"Yeah, we had a lot of catching up to do." He winks to me as he stands. "I should get back to the room. Shannon and I were planning on staying until the 26th anyways, so we can just move the flight to a later time or the next day."

"If you two don't have any Christmas plans, you're more than welcome to come to my house." I offer, but realize how awkward again that might be for Noah.

"I'll ask Shannon, and let you know. Thanks." He reaches over to hug me, and heads back towards the elevator.

When I get home, it's 7:30, which was the time I was planning to get up to start cooking, but I need to catch up on sleep. I take off my shoes and jacket as quietly as I can and pad towards the bedroom. The heat is blasting, so I change out of my fuzzy pants into shorts, and grab one of Hardin's t-shirts out of his drawer. No matter how mad I am at him, I always look for an opportunity to wear his shirts to bed. With each breath I inhale of Hardin, I begin to fall back asleep.