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“I am free next Saturday! I will accompany you.”

His words make me laugh. This guy is unbelievable! “Why do you think I will take you along?” I tease.

“Why would you mention it otherwise?” he retorts. “I am obviously going to be your date!” He frowns. “Or am I?”

My amusement just grows at his attitude. He is truly unlike anyone I’ve ever met. “Yes, you are going to be my date.”

Noel grins. “I know that look. You think I am insane.”

“A little,” I chuckle. “But—”

“In an interesting way?” he interrupts. “I guess for an artist or gallerist, this is not the worst thing to say. Aden, you were an artist too, right?”

“Yes, I originally made it in the scene as an artist thanks to the help of a mentor and sponsor. Then I inherited some money and decided to open my own gallery.”

“That’s amazing! It must have been extremely risky, at that time, to start something new.”

I am surprised by his insight. “Yes, it was, but at that time I felt truly lost and just decided I needed to distract myself and do something I loved.”

“And it worked,” Noel muses. “Mateo says you have a very good eye for talent, and everything you touch turns to gold.”

I grab another piece of bread to try the second dip DeeDee prepared. “Now he is exaggerating.”

“Mateo is good,” Noel says. “He knows what he is doing. He would never say something like that if he didn’t mean it. He says you have a good eye for people and their art, and that you see beyond things, whatever that means.”

Lynn keeps saying the same. I am not sure if it’s true. “I am just doing what I do,” I say. “I am not sure if there is really that much behind it.” I pause. “You have been friends for long, haven’t you?”

“Ever since college,” he explains. “Ster and I dropped out early, but we all remained friends. We were the three weirdos.”

“It made you stick together,” I muse. “But I guess something deeper made you bond. It’s great to find friends like those.”

Again, his head perks up, and there is a sudden soft smile on his face. Another expression of his I haven’t seen yet. Emil sometimes reminded me of a canvas, too, but he never was as natural in his actions and reactions as Noel. It always seemed like he wanted to appease me, as with Noel… he just is the wayhe is. “They are great friends,” he explains happily. “The best. Mateo constantly dotes on Ster and me.”

“Obviously,” I chuckle.

“Why is it obvious?” he pouts.

“Because I have met Sterling, and he is the type of artist who is clearly in his own world at times. As for you, you work at a dangerous place, and you seem to work a lot too. Obviously, a good friend would be worried about you two.”

Again, Noel surprises me by not being annoyed at my words. It’s a weakness of mine to just say things, unfiltered. Lynn keeps telling me I am direct by pretending I am not, and that she probably would murder me if she were my girlfriend. Cedric, on the other hand, doesn’t mind at all. Maybe Lynn is right, and heismy mascot.

“Makes sense,” Noel says. “But he can be a bit patronizing.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” I say. “But I bet you and Sterling know how to stand up for yourselves.”

Noel smirks. “We know, yes.”

DeeDee drops by at our table, a warm smile on her lips when she asks us what else she can bring us. Her smile grows when I order another drink, and Noel wants more to eat. I guess my first intuition was right… that he works a lot, and doesn’t always look after himself well.

“What about you?” Noel asks. “Do you have friends?” He scrunches his nose. “I mean, you are obviously nice, so I assume people like you, but you also look like the type of guy who wouldn’t let many people get close to him.”

I rest my chin on my palm, eyeing Noel thoughtfully. Where does he pull these insights from?

“Too much?” Noel asks quietly. “I overstepped, didn’t I?”

“If you overstepped, I did too, earlier,” I say.

“I didn’t mean to imply you have no friends,” he hurries to explain.