[ this means war ; ]

“Since it has to do with my cigs.”

“Fine,” Noah replied, “May I please have one of your cigs, Gabriel?”

“I’m all ears.”

“You think I’ve got ideas for that?”

“What? Are you scared?” Noah asked, hoping that the teasing taunt might motivate him as it did when they were sparring.

“I said that was the only difference between Emma and I and you and April. But if she’s really that much of a romantic, perhaps she’s waiting for you to make the first move.”

“I don’t think I heard a ‘please’ in there anywhere. So, no deal.”

“Since when do you care about please, Gabe?”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Well you’ve gotta find something interesting to do with it then.”

“I’m not going to pretend like it never happened. If I did that every time then I never would’ve gotten over the struggles in my life. This small bump in the road is no exception.”

“Well you know you’ve always got me to talk to, right?”

“That’s true. They’re very different but the situation is the same. The only difference really is that you realised your feelings for her long before I realised mine for Emma. I had to kiss her to realise.”

“I never lie, Noah. I always tell the whole truth. There’s absolutely no point in lying.” 

“Whatever you say, Alexandra.”

“Hey, don’t be mean. It’s not my fault that it looks good.” She answered with a small laugh. “Do you not want to start with dessert? It looks like you have a lot of different foods- we can start with anything,” Emma then said. She soon realised that it felt very good to be with Noah, and times like this completely reconfirmed that for her, not that she could ever forget how she felt with him. She completely loved the feeling she got when she was with him. 

Noah chuckled and shook his head, “No, no. I don’t mind. We can start with the cake. It’s probably the best thing here,” He got out a knife and cut a slice for him and her. He took a bite for himself and sighed in content. It was good. He collected another bit on his fork and held it out to her, “Go on, try it. It’s heavenly.”

“Seriously, tell her how you feel. The whole camp will thank you for it,” Noah joked but then he added seriously, “I told Emma how I felt and now I’m with her. That could be you with April, Caleb. So grow a pair and tell her.”

“I don’t know about you, but I came prepared,” he shrugged, taking a cig out and letting it dangle from his lips as he reached into his pocket for his lighter.

Noah reached for the cig packet in his pocket and came up with an empty one, “Damn. Got one to spare, Gabe?”

“How’s she doing?” Jonah asked politely. “Me? Minus the girlfriend? Nothing,” he replied with a chuckle.

“She’s doing great,” Noah replied with a nod, “You live an incredibly boring life, did you know that?” Noah teased.

“Sorry– I just can’t help it at the moment. It’ll get better in time.”

“Hey, what’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“Well you’re the one she’s looking at so you’d have to be very observant to notice. Next time you’re with her, keep an eye out, Caleb,” Noah shook his head, “You’ll keep telling yourself that until it’s too late.”

“Why not? When have I ever not told the truth, darling brother.”

“Actually, I’d say you lie a lot, Alex.”

“I suppose for those reasons I can excuse it,” She joked, giving a small laugh. Emma soon learnt that she really liked having his hand on her. It didn’t feel unnatural in the slightest, instead, it just felt right. It felt the opposite once he dropped his hand from her face. “Uhhm,” Emma hummed at his question, looking at the food in front of them. “What’s that?” She asked, pointing to something, “Can we try that?” 

“Good,” Noah replied with a grin. So far so good. The new relationship was going good so far and it felt right being here with her. He’d said it before but he hadn’t felt this way since June. If anything, he was starting to feel more for her than he had for his late girlfriend. It seemed fast but Noah usually fell hard when he did. He’d prevented himself from doing that for five years and now he was opening his heart up to someone he’d already opened up to, “That’s chocolate fudge cake,” Noah said with a laugh, “I suppose we could go straight to dessert if you’d prefer that,” He teased.