drum roll, please.

Dom accepted the soft kiss but didn’t smile or did anything about it. His head just tilted slightly to the side by the pressure of the touch, hanging low as his friend sat in front of him.

“…eleven?” He mumbled, his hands folded together on his lap as the glass half empty of wine rested in front of him.

“…I really…I thought we were going good. I thought he really liked me. I..– it’s not like I asked him to move with me or anything but I just told him how good I was feeling from hanging out with him.” His voice cracked a little and wiped a single tear with his sleeve.

“Ouch...” Noah said, grabbing the glass of wine to give it a sip before a waiter approached him. A cute one. But...This was not the time of thinking about bedding a stranger. He simply ordered a pair of ice cream sundaes and moved his chair closer to Dom, placing his hand on his arm. 

This wasn’t the first not would it be the last that Noah ditched a boy for Dominic. It was almost a routine for them, Dom would get abandoned by a crappy date and he would call Noah to come save him and Noah would always go to his friend, ready to comfort him and eat as much ice cream and chocolate as the other could need to get over the idiot that had dumped him.

So here he was, entering a restaurant that was way too fancy for a first date, looking for his best friend, ready to turn the crappy date into something different.

“Hmm calm down, it was just a friendly hug. You’re not the last wonderful of the world. Yeah?” He rolled his eyes and with a heavy sigh he took the case because no matter how much she didn’t deserve to be spotted with him and probably getting in a dangerous situation, she was making it hard for him to keep her safe.

“That’s why I told you to meet somewhere in the middle but you were the one who wanted to come all the way here and don’t worry, security won’t kick you out as long as you don’t make a scene over a damn hug.”

“What gives you the right to hug me? You are a stranger to me, you don’t get to hug me.” She told him, letting out a huff. Entitled prick. He invaded her personal space and thought she should be calm about it? He clearly had no idea what...Deep breath.

Severin waited and waited, even if it hadn’t been that long, he felt like it had passed hours since she called. A few employees asked him if everything was okay and if he needed something but he dismissed them by just telling them she was waiting for someone.

He was starting to get impatient when she finally appeared in his picture. With a deep sigh of relief he rushed towards her, his expression had changed to a one a little softer just not to scare her away in case she had opened the briefcase.

“Oh god, thank you so much! I’m sorry for making you come all the way here.” Severin smiled and wrapped his arms around her, damn she was short. “Please let me buy you a coffee, the night is cold. It’s the least I can do.” That and the fact that he didn’t want people to see him taking the case just like that, walls had ears and eyes in this case and taking her to a more private place was the smart thing to do.

Severin had another look at her and well…she was certainly easy to spot in the sea of black dresses and expensive suits but still he tried his best for her not to notice the inevitable roll of his eyes.

“––Nice shirt, by the way.”

What the actual fuck was this guy doing? Why was he hugging her? Fucking giant....She didn’t want to make a scene, considering that the rich people would take the side of the wealthy man than hers, so she took a deep breath.

“Don’t invade my space like that again or I will knee your balls.” She told him calmly, looking at him with seriousness. “I don’t know you, hugging me is weird.” She said, the briefcase still on her hand. “But you are welcome, it was no problem.”

She noticed the way he looked at her. The same way all these rich people were looking at her. It made her blush and she set the suitcase down to take the shirt around her wait to put it on, covering the croptop.

“–––– I guess. Thank you.” Severin huffed, shit she wasn’t even that important for him to want to hurt her or anything. Still he was sure he wouldn’t get any better deal than this so he just swallowed it.

He hung up the phone and immediately headed to the lobby to wait for her, he didn’t trust any of the employees with his package and now he couldn’t even trust himself. How could he be so stupid?

But there was no time for regrets, he just had to wait and see if she was telling the truth. Otherwise he would have track her and then they would have problems.

She was about to ask for his room number so the people at the lobby would deliver it but...He had hung up. Great.

With a sigh, Noami grabbed her things, as well as the suitcase and went out of the restaurant, saying goodbye to her co-workers and the few people still remaining there before heading to the hotel he had told her he was staying at.

It didn’t took long since she knew the city well and soon enough she was standing in front of a fancy hotel. She took a deep breath, cheeks turning a light shade of pink when one of the people walking in gave her a strange look. It wasn’t surprising, she really didn’t look like the kind of person that could afford a room in that kind of place, with her ripped jeans and crop top, she stood out like a sore thumb.

“I’m staying at Hotel Elysee but I think it’s a little late for you to come all the way here, wouldn’t it be better if we meet somewhere in the middle? I could even go all the way to the restaurant. It was my fault for forgetting my suitcase.”

Severin said, still a worried about the whole thing but the fact that she sounded not interested in the inside of his case made it all a little better. “Can I have your name and your number? Just in case.”

Noami rolled her eyes.

“It’s okay, I’m perfectly capable of getting there.” She assured him. “Yes, it was your fault but you were....” Well, maybe it was not smart to mention the fact that she knew he was injured. “I’ll get it to you, don’t worry.” Noami assured, letting out a chuckle.

Good, it was the right number. “Hello, I’m..–– I was there a few hours ago and I forgot my suitcase. Could we meet somewhere so I can go pick it up? There’s nothing valuable there, just some office papers.” The tone of his voice was really neutral, nothing that could give out the fact that he was really nervous about his own stupid mistake.

“By any chance are you the girl who took my order? You remember me, right?”

“You know, that’s an awful way to get the attention off the suitcase.” She said with a chuckle, looking down at it with curiosity. “But don’t worry, I wasn’t going to steal anything from it or anything.” She assured him, understanding what that would be something he’d be worried about.

Severin told the driver to take him to his hotel and it wasn’t until he was in his room that he remembered the suitcase. Fuck. He was about to rush down to take another cab but he couldn’t risk to be seen injured and it was late…probably the place was already closed.

He grunted and headed to the bathroom to patch himself up and looked on google to see if he could find the phone number or the little restaurant and he found a number but he wasn’t sure it was correct. Still he dialed it and waited with his mobile pressed against his ear until someone picked up. He couldn’t lose the suitcase, if he did…he would be dead and someone else would finish his job, he was just praying for someone not nosy to have it and to keep it closed.

Once her turn was over, Noami got ready to go home, changing her clothes and getting out of the skates, grabbing the suitcase to try and find some sort of identification when the phone in the locker room started ringing.

She was still there and she was being far too nice to tell her to fuck off, Severin took a long drink from his glass and looked down when she mentioned the stain, she was right.

“Fuck…” The former soldier got up and pulled out a couple of bucks, enough or maybe more to pay for his food. He threw them to the table and looked at her.

“Thank you, I probably should go see a doctor.” He lied before rushing out to take a cab, forgetting his suitcase.

She looked at the bills, eyes widening in surprise. That was way too much money, more than the burger and water was worth. She was about to tell him as much but he was rushing out the door before she could open her mouth, leaving his suitcase behind.

“Wait!” She grabbed the thing and carried it to the door in her skates, falling on her butt when she tried to avoid colliding with a costumer. “Ow...” She got up, grabbing the suitcase and going back to the table to pick up the money after checking that he was really gone.