Chapter Text
1
Friday Night
Hudson
The frat house wasn’t even in sight yet, but you could hear the party from a mile away. And as soon as I’d rounded the last corner, I realized just how stupid it had been to let Noah talk me into coming here after my shift at the restaurant. The front yard was full of people which couldn’t be anything but a bad omen for how many more would be waiting inside.
I wasn’t usually one to complain about a well-attended party – quite the opposite, actually. But tonight, I would’ve been more than okay with spending the rest of the evening on my couch. I mean, I had just been on my feet for six hours straight. And this morning I’d already suffered through a lecture that had dragged on in a way that seemed to defy the laws of physics. So yeah, I’d say I would’ve deserved a chill night in.
But I hadn’t factored in my best friend who’d been all fired up for this party the moment he’d heard about it. Because finally there was a party again – his words, not mine. If you asked me, you could hardly use the word “finally” when we’d attended our last party less than two weeks ago. In his defense, that one had been a lot smaller. But it was a matter of principle.
If I was honest though, I really couldn’t be too mad. It wasn’t like he was forcing me to be here. He would’ve gone without me too, but when he’d asked if I wanted to come along, I just hadn’t been able to say no. No wasn’t even a part of my vocabulary when it came to Noah. It was a serious problem.
As if he’d someone sensed that I’d stepped foot on the property at this very moment, my phone lit up with a text.
Where are you?, it read.
Outside. Currently questioning every decision I’ve ever made that led me to this point. What can I say? Every now and again I had a tendency toward dramatics. You owe me, I added in a second message.
His reply came instantly: I have a hug here with your name on it. Is that a start? With a kissy face emoji next to it.
I couldn't help but smile at the screen. My God, this guy had way too much power over me.
Where are you?, I replied.
On the patio out back with some of the guys. Go left into the living room and you’ll see the door.
Crossing the threshold was like stepping into a world of sensory overload. The music was so loud that I could hardly even hear my own thoughts. It took my heart a second to realize that we were in fact not having a panic attack, but it was just the bass booming out of the speakers and coursing through my entire body. And to top it all off, the smell of alcohol and sweat was so overpowering that I had to actively repress my flight reflex. In other words, a perfectly normal frat party.
The living room was more of an overstuffed night club, so it took me a full 15 minutes to make it to the sliding door in the back. And just as I’d finally reached it, a shoulder suddenly slammed into my side, because the drunk group of frat guys next to me apparently had zero sense of personal space. For real, why had I ever thought coming here tonight would be a good idea?
I took a deep breath, pressed my lips into a tight line and slid open the door without paying them any more attention.
“River!”
Every bit of tension instantly evaporated from my body, and I caught myself smiling before I’d even spotted Noah.
I pushed past a group of freshmen whispering about God knows what and a moment later he was standing right in front of me. Without a moment’s hesitation he pulled me into his arms. Just as he’d promised.
He was wearing faded blue jeans and a simple black t-shirt that left no room for doubt that he was an athlete. His curls were tousled in a way that might have you believing he’d fallen out of bed mere minutes ago, but those who really knew him knew that he’d spent at least half an hour in front of a mirror to get them to look like that. And as he let go of me, his face was lit up by a grin that could only be described as smug.
“New shirt?” he asked instead of a greeting.
I looked down at myself. I was wearing a dark, damn near transparent mesh t-shirt with a subtle shimmer effect that clung tightly to my chest. It was his and he knew that. He’d forgotten it at my apartment a couple of weeks ago and when it fell into my hands today, I’d decided that he’d lost his ownership rights – at least for tonight.
“Something like that.”
His gaze roamed my chest one more time before catching up to my eyes again.
“Looks good on you.”
Was there an unusually raw edge to his voice or was I hearing things now?
Before I’d had the chance to read something into that that probably wasn’t there anyway, Noah had already turned away from me and towards the people behind him. It was only now that I noticed the array of plastic garden furniture – as well as the people sitting in said furniture. Most of them were guys from Noah’s soccer team. But there was one face that I couldn’t place.
“River, meet Miles – he’s Aaron’s brother. Miles, this is Hudson,” Noah introduced us.
Miles held out his hand and I shook it politely, despite it feeling weirdly formal considering the party chaos around us.
“At the risk of making a complete fool of myself: Is your name River or is it Hudson?”
Miles tried putting on a nonchalant smile but having to ask that question clearly made him uncomfortable. Meanwhile, it made the guys around him laugh. That included Noah, who had reclaimed his seat on one of the plastic benches.
Aaron patted his brother’s shoulder. “Believe me, we’ve all asked the very same question at one point or another.”
I joined in on the laughter. “My name’s Hudson,” I explained. “This idiot here is the only one who calls me River.” I ruffled Noah’s curls and plopped down beside him on the bench. “And all because I introduced myself as ‘Hudson, like the river’ once in eighth grade.”
“The situation was just too fucking funny to ever let you live it down. You were crushing hard on the guy and all of a sudden you were going on and on about a fucking river. I almost died laughing.”
“Oh, shut up.”
Noah made a move to take a sip from his oh so stereotypical red solo cup, but I grabbed it midway and brought it to my own lips instead. The taste of beer filled my mouth and had me wondering if the hosts had actually managed to buy decent non-alcoholic beer or if Noah had suddenly abandoned his no-alcohol-the-week-before-a-game rule.
Meanwhile Tommy, the team’s goalie, leaned towards Miles and stage whispered: “Ignore them. They say they’re best friends, but they act like an old married couple. We’re all waiting for them to show up holding hands at some point.”
Noah threw a cardboard coaster at his head.
“We have a bet going on how long it’s gonna take, if you wanna get in on that,” Alessandro chimed in. He was sitting across from us in a chair that didn’t look like it was going to survive many more of these parties.
I was caught off guard. I’d gotten used to their jokes about Noah’s and my relationship a long time ago – no matter how far-fetched they were, considering Noah was straight – but now there were bets? That was new.
Another coaster flew across the table and landed on Alessandro’s chest.
“I hate all of you.” Noah’s declaration was met with laughter from the rest of the group. “Except you of course.” He pressed a quick kiss to my cheek and placed his head on my shoulder. Of course, that did nothing to quiet the jokes – or slow my heart rate, if I was being honest – but Noah didn’t seem to care. Maybe that had even been his intention in the first place. I knew the guy better than I knew myself sometimes, but when it came to this, he was as much a mystery to me as to everybody else.
Meanwhile, the music that boomed through the patio door faded into The Fate Of Ophelia by Taylor Swift. Noah jumped out of his seat before the first note had even finished playing. As I turned towards him, I expected to only see a cloud of dust leading to the dance floor, but instead he stood right in front of me, holding out a hand.
“Babe?” he prompted.
Every single one of my defense mechanisms crumbled at the sight of his provocative grin. Fuck, this guy would drive me into insanity one of these days.
I placed his cup on the table, took his hand and let him drag me inside. I hardly even noticed a few of the other guys following.
The dance floor was just as full as it had been when I’d arrived. Which meant that personal space could’ve just as well been a foreign word that no one in this room had ever heard before.
“Babe?” I asked as soon as Noah was facing me again. “Since when are we on a pet name basis?” I wanted to sound nonchalant, but the fact that I basically had to press my lips to his ear to make sure he could hear me didn’t exactly make that easy. And the last bit of my coolness flew out the window when I could feel his breath on my skin as he answered.
“If they’re talking about us, they should at least have a good reason.” I couldn’t see his mischievous grin, but I could basically hear it. And that was enough to coat my body in goosebumps.
My heart was pounding in time with the bass as he put one hand on my shoulder, threw the other up in the air and began moving his hips to the music. And then there was my kryptonite. That look of pure, unfiltered joy on his face. It was the same expression he wore when they’d just won a match. In those situations, he always made sure to lock eyes with me before going off and celebrating with the team. And I melted a little bit each time.
I’m sure everyone who’s ever been to a good party will agree that time flows differently when you’re having fun. I couldn’t tell if five minutes or five hours had passed and I didn’t care one bit. The only thing that still got through to me was the rhythm of the music and the fact that Noah had scooted a little closer with each passing song. Or had I been the one doing the scooting? One way or another, his body was pressed so close to mine that I could feel his every movement in agonizing detail. If it had been up to me, time could’ve just stopped moving altogether at that very moment. I gladly would’ve spent the rest of my life in it.
But I crash landed back in reality when a shoulder bumped into mine. Alessandro. “Get a room, you two.” He laughed and playfully punched Noah in the shoulder.
I expected Noah to restore the distance between us – now that Alessandro had made him aware of just how little of it was left. But instead, he leaned even closer.
“What do you say, should we really give them something to talk about?”
“What?” That was all I could get out, before I felt Noah’s hands at my hips and – to my complete and utter shock – his lips at the side of my neck. Just above the neckline of my – well, his – shirt.
The world around us vanished into total irrelevance. I couldn’t even tell what song was playing anymore. As if remote-controlled, I buried one hand in his curls and tilted my head back to give him easy access to my skin. Noah took this as exactly the invitation I had meant for it to be.
So instead of leaving it at this first, singular, feathery touch, he started kissing up my neck with an almost agonizing calm. At the same time, his fingers took to exploring my chest. I grabbed his waist and pulled him closer – blind to the strangeness of this whole situation. His lips found the sensitive spot behind my ear. My breath hitched and my entire body was coated in goosebumps, but Noah couldn’t seem to get enough of this little game he’d started. He moved on to peppering kisses along my jawline, slowly moving closer and closer to my lips. And with every centimeter my heart threatened to jump right out of my chest. Surely he wouldn’t…. Would he…?
My world stopped turning, and simultaneously started spinning at triple speed, as Noah’s lips brushed against the corner of my mouth. He looked up at me with eyes like dark clouds.
“You can stop me anytime,” he hummed. Just loud enough for me to hear over the noise around us. But that was precisely the problem. I didn’t want to stop him. I couldn’t stop him. Not now. Not when I was this close to getting everything I’d ever wanted. So I didn’t. Instead, I buried both hands in his hair and kissed him with an urgency I hadn’t even known I was capable of. And he kissed me back with the same kind of hunger.
All of a sudden, people next to us started whooping and cheering, bursting our protective bubble. The team. The same people who had been betting on how long it would take before something like this happened. The ones Noah had wanted to put on a “show” for. Fuck.
I broke away, stumbled backwards and collided with a girl behind me, but her swears never truly registered in my brain. “I need air,” I stammered. And just like that, I booked it out of the frat house without as much as a backward glance.