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*NOEL*

F or all my bravado the other night, contacting Aden is much more difficult than I thought it would be. The card with his private number on, is safely secured in my wallet. It feels so heavy. Every time I take my wallet out, I feel like it burns my hands.

In my job, I usually know when a guy flirts with me, and I get hit on a lot.

Had Aden hit on me, it would have turned me off immediately, but he just talked with me, and while he seemed interested, he didn’t look like he was about to jump into anything either.

He didn’t look too certain that he wanted me that way.

“You look like you are trying to solve a really difficult math problem,” Emma says while pouring herself some coffee.

She is one of my roommates. I live with three guys and two girls in a quite cramped apartment.

I can’t afford more with my dad’s debt dangling over my head, but at least they are nice people.

Mateo and Ster hate that I am living here.

They think the area is unsafe, and they keep begging me to move in with one of them temporarily, but I can’t rely on them all the time.

I can’t take advantage of their kindness, and frankly, Ster has been supporting his sister for so many years, so it’s not like he isn’t swimming in money.

And Mateo is still paying off his student debt.

“It’s nothing,” I mutter.

“Sure,” Emma laughs. “Tell me.”

“Man, Emma, don’t you have your own problems?”

“Nope,” she says.

“Don’t you need to study?” She is currently in college, and most of the time, either studying or working to support herself.

“I had my exam yesterday,” she says.

“And how did it go?”

“Well,” she says. “But don’t change the subject. What’s wrong?”

Sighing, I sit down, accepting a cup of coffee from her. “You are not going to let this rest, are you?”

“I won’t.”

“Okay, so, I was at this event last weekend, remember?”

“The high society art event, right?”

“Yeah.” I pause. “The owner of the gallery, who is sponsoring Ster, held it. I met him there.”

“Okay,” she says while dragging the O out. “And he is a weirdo?”

“No.” I feel my cheeks flush. “He is calm and serious, and… nice.”

Emma stares at me, before a wide grin spreads on her face. “Ohhhh, that’s what this is about! He is also very hot, huh?”

“I can’t deny that,” I admit. Aden looks exactly like I would imagine a businessman out of a magazine.

He is tall with a toned body, dark hair in a fashionable cut that sometimes falls into his forehead, and dark brown eyes.

But that’s not all. “He is hot, but he is also… There is something about him. He has that thoughtful look in his eyes sometimes. You know, that gaze of an artist like Ster has… Aden has it too. Like he sees something, and truly sees it. He must be loaded, but he isn’t waltzing around showing it off.

No show-off brands, no golden watches, just a normal handsome guy in a suit. ”

“You should go into sales,” Emma mutters. “Because now I am curious as fuck about this guy. So, you talked?”

“Yes, he was instantly able to tell that I am the one from Ster’s paintings. No one else can usually tell.” It was a shock to have Aden be able to tell, at first glance, that it’s me. A surprise that made him all the more intriguing.

“Was he flirting with you?”

“I am not sure,” I say. “That’s the problem. I think he was interested in me, maybe because I am in the drawings, but I don’t know if there is more than that. Usually I can tell.”

“Yeah, you can tell because you are used to these sleazy assholes in your club hitting on you. That’s not how normal guys approach someone in a normal situation,” she explains.

“He gave me his private number, but he didn’t make it clear if he wants to… you know… fuck me.”

“Right, Noel,” Emma snorts. “Like I said, there are people out there who are not just after you for a quick fuck. He gave you his number so that you can talk or meet, not to get you into bed immediately. If he wanted that, he would have gone about it differently.”

I stare at her. “You think he wants to talk?”

“Yeah, if what you said about him is true, then I guess he wants to get to know you better.”

“Why?”

“Noel, baby, you for sure have dated before, haven’t you? Then you know—”

“I haven’t,” I admit.

“What?!” she exclaims. “But you meet guys—”

“Yeah, to fuck.”

“Are you kidding? But then, you do have a pretty face, I get why they are attracted to you.”

She is right with what she says. I can’t even count the amount of times I have heard a guy tell me he wants to slap his cock against my pretty face and cover it in his cum, or fuck my pretty mouth.

I know I am pretty, and I wasn’t ashamed to use it to my advantage as a teen when Dad forced me to do shady shit for him, or when Mom needed drugs or alcohol.

I am a pretty face, but not much more.

“Usually, no one is truly interested,” I say. “I am exhausting.”

“You are not exhausting,” she says. “You are just used to meeting losers. If you were exhausting, I wouldn’t be your friend. And Ster and the tall, hot guy wouldn’t be either.”

The tall, hot guy? I have to hold back a chuckle. Mateo is usually the tallest person wherever he goes. He used to be insecure about it, and a bit of his insecurity still remains, but he doesn’t care as much anymore. And he is a hot guy. Ster and I make sure to tell him all the time.

“I just don’t think I have much to offer.”

“Why do you say that?”

“My debt, my lack of time because of two awful jobs, I have roommates despite not being a student anymore, the sleazy bars I am working at, my shady past. And—”

“Noel, you are overthinking this. You have a lot to offer. Instead of shooting down the possibility of a hot, decent guy being into you, why not just message him and give him a chance? Get to know the dude! You always complain how everyone just wants to get you into bed. Now there is a guy who actually wants to know more about you. That’s what you were always waiting for. ”

I take Aden’s card in my hand, looking at it. It doesn’t help that he is the guy who saved my life. He can’t remember, so maybe that’s good. But I have definitely put him on a pedestal, and now I am supposed to reach out and sully this perfect person with my presence and with my shitty problems.

“You will regret it forever if you don’t do it,” Emma adds.

“You are into him. Anyone with a brain can tell. It doesn’t matter if you are insecure or not.

Give yourself a chance. Talk to him, meet him, see where it leads you.

Maybe your feelings were wrong, maybe he just wants to be friends.

No one can tell that. But if you won’t even try, you will have to live with that forever. ”

*ADEN*

I guess I have the ball now.

I look at the message, my amusement growing when Noel sends a GIF, immediately afterwards, with a little animated blob hitting a tennis ball.

“What are you grinning at?” Lynn asks.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing? You are staring at your private phone. You never grin when you receive a message there.”

“Yes, because usually it’s family.”

Originally, only Mom had my private number, but eventually my brothers got it too. I guess it was inevitable. The only other person who has this number is Lynn, and now Noel.

“Exactly! Which makes me wonder what it is that makes you grin like an idiot. Can’t be me, because I am sitting here, and unless you haven’t handed out your number.” She pauses. “Wait a moment, you did!”

“Lynn—”

“You gave someone your number, and it can’t be one of your shallow affair partners, because you never give them your private number.” She gapes. “Unless you are sick, and this is your doctor writing to you.”

“Would I grin then?”

“If he has good news, maybe.”

“It’s fucking weird how your brain works, yet somehow it makes sense. But I am not ill, and this is not a doctor.” I pause. “It’s a guy.”

Lynn stares at me. “No way!”

“It is.”

“I don’t believe you,” she says. “It’s been years since you let anyone sneak into your phone.

You are absolutely anal about your phone number.

The only two people you handed it to are your mom and me, and then your mom spilled it to one of your brothers, and you got even more private with it.

You are the only person I know who usually handles everything via work phone. ”

“Maybe you are right,” I hear myself say.

“About what? You being anal about your phone number?”

“That too, but maybe also about what you said the other day. Me and my dating, and how I don’t seriously try for a relationship, but just go for men who I know won’t interest me enough to give them a real chance. Shallow relationships, you know?”

“And this guy is different?”

“He definitely is different.”

“But?”

“I don’t know yet,” I say. “I don’t know if I want to pursue him. He is interesting, though.”

“Okay.” She looks at me. “I am still waiting for the ‘but’.”

“He is my type,” I admit quietly. “My real type. Like Emil was my type.”

“Aden,” she says. “I know Emil left you burnt. He was a problem, not because he was your type but because he was Emil. If you go into every potential relationship with the thought of the guy being like Emil, then how is that fair? So, let me guess. You said he might be your type: melancholic, sassy, direct, maybe a bit loud?”

I nod.

“A lot of people are like that. It’s not like all of them are like Emil. It just so happened that Emil was one of them, not the other way round.”

“I know,” I say. “Fuck, I know. Which is why I gave him my number.”

“Who is it?” she asks curiously. “Do I know them?”

“Yes, and no.” I sigh. “You will have a field day with this, once I tell you.”

“Now I am even more curious.”

“He is the model from Sterling’s paintings.”

Her mouth drops open while she stares at me, dumbfounded, then she bursts into laughter. “I can’t fucking believe it. How small is the world! This has to be fate, Aden!”

“Is it not weird?”

“Absolutely, it’s fucking weird, but it’s so you. The universe is giving you a sign, obviously.”

“You don’t believe in fate,” I chuckle.

“I do,” she says. “When it’s convenient. And now it is! You are not going to shoot him down now that he messaged you, are you?”

“I won’t, which is why I told you.” I scrunch my nose. “If I want to run, you need to stop me from going anywhere without giving it a real shot.”

She smiles. “Get to know him, Aden. You deserve someone at your side, someone you can love and someone who loves you.”