#tabilb

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The first thing you noticed when you woke up this morning was the sound of the rain pounding against the window. You felt warm, totally secure and in peace. You heard low puffs of breathing and a radiant heat from behind you, which made you curl up in the sheets even more. You enjoyed the silence and the thunderstorm. It calmed you, knowing that the nature was drowning, while you were cosied up.You slowly opened your still heavy eyes, taking in your surroundings. The rain was hitting the window hard and the dimly lit room was soothing, It was a blank room in white and cream shades, being decorated with a few grey accents - and your clothes on the floor.

You had to smile, remembering last night as you slowly turned around to the snoring person laying sprawled out next to you. You put the covers upwards to your chin, hiding in them so the cold air of the room couldn’t get to you, as their heaviness comforted you even more. You were able to smell his Cologne on the bed sheets, as you inhaled deeply. He was sleeping peacefully with his mouth a tad open, snoring quietly. His face at total rest while his bare chest was raising steadily. It all felt so natural. You still can’t believe the actions of last night and how the night played out.

Your friend Janine came over to yours to held your weekly movie-night. Yet as she turned up your doorstep, not wearing her worn-out jumper and some joggers, but instead a nice dress and some heels, you knew that you wouldn’t get to watch your favourite rom-com on TV. You were just ten minutes into the film as she finally succeeded in persuading you to go out and about. You agreed reluctantly. Usually you would be watching at least two movies, while snacking and chatting along to it. Yet as she didn’t want to stop annoying you about how girls your age should get out of their flat on a Friday night, partying. That it has been months since you two went to a Karaoke Bar and how you two could still do a movie-night the next day. And that’s why you found yourself running down the busy night streets of LA, thirty minutes later. The pelting rain, which suddenly appeared after you left your apartment building, hitting hard on your face. You couldn’t stop yourself from thinking about how you actually preferred a night in, sipping a few glasses of the cheap red wine and sinning on these chocolate cookies. But instead you were cold, totally drenched from head to toe (you were sure your socks and knickers were soaked as well) and the Karaoke Bar wasn’t in sight at all.

Janine was rushing you through a small alley as a sign with the word “Bar” in bold red letters appeared. You didn’t have to think twice to seek some shelter in it, waiting for the rain to stop and to warm up a bit. Frankly, the outside of the bar didn’t look welcoming at all and you were sure you didn’t want to spend more time than needed inside, but it was better than standing outside for sure. Maybe the barkeeper could call you a cap, so you could finally head home and catch a few late-night episodes of the Friends re-run.

But except from entering a worn-down biker bar with some old men drinking beer, you were flashed with an interior that didn’t quite match the concrete façade altogether. The whole room was flooded with fairy-lights, while a dark brown wooden counter rested in the middle of the room and armchairs were spread around the whole place, inviting guests to sprawl themselves in. Your eyes beamed as you saw a big shelf reaching from one side of the room to the other, full of different kinds of books. You instantly fell in love with this place and weren’t that mad anymore to have left your cosy home.

Janine headed to the bar, ordering some drinks, while you settled down on an armchair in the very back of the room, listening to the banter of the people around you. You really enjoyed hearing them laugh and having fun. There even was a live band covering songs to which you sang along and the more your glass of alcohol emptied the more your inside heated up again.

You didn’t know how long you already were in here, but as your returned from your way to the bar desk, ordering another round for your table, you suddenly bumped into a strong broad shoulder. You never were a solid standing person and so the encounter threw you back a bit, making you fall onto the ground. But before you really touched it, your right hand was grabbed, and you were already pulled back up on your feet by the owner of said broad shoulder.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry. Stupid me. Are you alright down there?” the boy in front of you asked. You opened your eyes, which you automatically closed as you were awaiting your bum to hit the ground. But instead of looking in some random boring face, you stared directly in a pair of warm and worried looking brown eyes, scanning your face for any hint of anger. You couldn’t move, you were paralyzed. This boy literally took your breath away. You could not believe the affect his eyes had on your mind.

“Is everything good?” he asked once again. You shook your head to get rid of the fog inside your head. You weren’t sure if your brain was working that slow because of the alcohol in your system or because he was just so handsome.

“No, I’m a little… No, I mean yes. Yes, I’m alright. Thanks for catching me. Sometimes I’m a bit clumsy.” You uttered, offering him a little smile, which he returned warm-hearted.

“Don’t worry. It was my fault, shouldn’t have turned over that fast. But I slipped earlier, and everyone saw, so jokes on me, right? The whole rain makes everything slippery, I guess.” He paused, smiling at you again. “I’m Noah, by the way.”

“Yeah, the rain is terrible. It totally drenched my friend and me. My clothes are still wet and - oh, I’m Y/N, Nice to – “

You stopped mid-sentence as you suddenly were aware that he didn’t let go of your hand since he pulled you up. And you didn’t let go either. You stared at your entwined hands for a moment, but quickly pulled yours back, while the heat of embarrassment was creeping up your cheeks, tinting them in a soft pink. Noah chuckled at your reaction as he pulled his one away as well, scratching the back of his head with it. The short conversation was followed by a bit of silence, in which both of you didn’t know what do or say. But as you decided to end this whole encounter with showing him another smile and already wanted to raise your hand to wave him goodbye, it seemed like he gained back his consciousness and eventually spoke up once more.

“I know it’s already late, but I wanted to fetch my friend Mark from this bar, he works here, but he just told me that he isn’t done yet. So if you’re free, I can get us a few drinks until his shift’s over and your clothes are dry again. But only if you want to, you know, like if you’re not busy or – “Noah rambled, eying his shoes as his cheeks flushed a light pink as well. You couldn’t believe how well the tint fitted his olive skin tone, making him even more adorable.  

“No! I’m not busy. My friend’s sitting over there, you can join us” you answered him relieved, pointing over to Janine, who was already watching curiously what was going on between you and the good-looking stranger. He showed you a wide grin, as he followed you to your booth.

A few hours later his friend’s shift has ended a long time ago and your clothes had been dry since forever as you were still glued on the armchairs, having fun. After he told you a bit about himself, you made up your mind that Noah was indeed a charming guy, with a big heart and with whom you could have a lot of fun. As the night dragged on you did also notice how he seemed to scoot over closer to you from time to time. At first, he was just sitting next to you, asking you some random questions about why you moved from the UK to the US and listened attentively to what you want to become once you have finished Uni. But as the amount of alcohol increased he started to loosen up a bit more and cracked silly jokes, which never failed to make you laugh out loud, almost spitting out your drink, while he worked on slinging his arm over the back of your chair, slowly wrapping his arm around your shoulder, pulling you a bit more into his side. Or how he “accidently” kept stroking your knee with his until it rested next to yours, touching it totally. But in the last hour he had grown even more confident and put his hand closer and closer to your thigh until he ended up with drawing little patterns on it absently while he was wrapped up into the playful discussion your best friend and Mark, who joined you as well, had going. Chuckling lowly on how serious both took the banter.

You would be lying if you said that it didn’t startled you at first. No one has ever been that forward with you after such a short amount of time  and the thought creeped into your head that he may was just an affectionate drunk and acted the same with his friends on a night out. Yet as he continued glancing over to you and taking in every single word you said, you caught your heart speeding faster and louder. You suddenly felt so enclosed with him, like you had known him for years. There was this kind of bond, something unknown pulling you closer to each other every worn on second and it felt good. Even if it was just for this moment.

As the bar owner finally called it a night, you felt disappointment and didn’t want to say goodbye just yet, fearing that you probably will never see him again. But as the four of you were walking down the street, Janine and Mark in front of Noah and you, his finger kept brushing against yours, sending little sparks whenever you fairly touched. You held your breath as you gathered all your courage. You intertwined your fingers with his, eying him sideways to take in his reaction. You already wanted to let go of it as the outer corners of your eyes saw how a smile spread on Noah’s face. He pulled your body   a bit back,slowing you down so the other two wouldn’t hear what he was about to say. He eyed you hopefully as he told you that his place was just a few minutes of a cab ride away and, if he remembers it correctly, he still had some hot chocolate left in his kitchen cabin. You both could sip on it , while he showed you his Vinyl Collection he told you earlier about. He also offered you his guest room to crash in, so you didn’t have to drive home late at night.

You eagerly nodded, agreeing on him as his eyes lit up. He tucked you under his arm, yelling to the other ones, that you two would be leaving. You promised Janine to text her as soon as you were at his home and to stay in contact with her just to make sure that he wasn’t a serial killer, who was keen on killing you, while Mark was pulling kissing faces into your direction, to which Noah, plastered with a lopsided grin, only shook his head to.

The cab ride was full of careful touches and giggly conversation, raging a fire in your belly for him as he didn’t stop to compliment you.

“You know, she’s the prettiest girl I have ever seen”, he told the cab driver as if you weren’t sitting right next to him, with your head rested on his shoulder, hiding your blushing cheeks, while he stroked his thumb over your still intertwined hands.

“She’s just … I don’t know … I’m speechless. And I swear her name’s the prettiest I’ve ever heard as well. Breath-taking. That’s the right word. She’s totally breath-taking.” He rambled on.

The cab driver just hummed, not really spending attention to what he was saying. But it didn’t matter, because you soaked in every word and somehow, he made you feel special and giddy at the same time. Needless to say, that you didn’t spent the night in his guest room, but instead in his master’s bedroom. Which takes you to where you are right now. In Noah’s king-sized bed, tucked underneath the heavy grey covers.

You watched him, as his browns frowned and a subtle pout appeared on his lips. Taking in every single detail of him to remember it for later. The longer you overserved him, how his lips moved in his sleep, how he seemed so calm and so perfect, the more insecure you became. What if he expected you to be gone before he wakes up? He was a good looking guy and he had for sure brought some other girls in here as well, you weren’t the only one. Suddenly you were unsure if you should leave or stay, you’ve never been one to make love with someone you’ve just met before and so you had absolutely no idea which was the right way to behave. What if he didn’t feel the same connection as you? Or what if he now, being sober, doesn’t see anything attractive in you? On the other hand wouldn’t it be even more strange to just leave? What if he catches you right in the act? Waking up right in the moment when you pull up your pants?

But before you could even make up your mind on what was the best thing to do, you heard him lowly mumbling as he lazily started to stretch out his long limbs and turned over onto his side body, facing you and wrapping his arm around your waist, pulling you closer to his chest. Your heart stopped beating as his warm hand stroke your heated skin underneath his shirt you were wearing. He slowly fluttered his droopy eyes open, squinting to adjust to the light as they finally focus on you. He instantly flashed you a sleepy lopsided smile.

“Good morning” his voice was still raspy, but you didn’t mind at all. Not one bit.

“Good morning” you chirped back, your voice being muffled, since the blanket still covered half of your face.

“Are you still freezing? Thought last night’s actions should have warmed you up” he chuckled lowly, wiggling his eyebrows in a mocking way. But as he saw how your cheeks glowed up in a dark pink once again and your eyes refused to meet his, he couldn’t stop his chuckles. His name escaped your lips in a scolding tone, while you were trying to hide your face furthermore in the heavy duvet. Noah just hugged your body closer, as his eyes sparkled even more. The memories of what you two have done in his bed in the early morning hours flashed your mind as he kept trying to pull your hands down gently. You couldn’t help but join into his chuckles.

“No, no, don’t hide from me, darling.” He snickered, holding your hands to his chest.

“Yep, here we go. Well see, what do we have here? A very shy Y/N. What a nice view to look at this particular morning” he slowly let go of you as he beamed, taking a short glimpse of our lips.

You couldn’t resist but just smile widely from ear to ear as well, being totally unable to wipe it off your face anytime soon, you felt like a little child falling in love for the first time over again. But there was no help in sight. His long chocolate curls were hanging low into his face and you had to withdraw the need to stroke them softly out his gorgeous eyes, which stared so intensively into yours, spreading a warm fuzzy feeling in your belly.

“What do you think of breakfast?” he asked “I can cook the best breakfast in the whole wide world. Toast with fried eggs and bacon, sounds good?”

You nodded. “Do you have peanut butter as well?” a grin playing around your lips as you suddenly noticed how hungry you actually were.

“Yeah I do. So do you rather want some peanut butter toast?” he asked, his fingers lightly placing falling hair behind you ear.

“No, I need it for ‘The Elvis’.”

He kept his glance on you for a few more seconds, trying to understand if you were joking or not.

“The Elvis?” he asked, looking confused as ever.

“Yep, it’s my special treat for special days.” you explained, already thinking about hoe good it will feel to feed your tummy.

“Alright, but what is ‘The Elvis’?” he tried once more, still not knowing what about exactly you were so fond.

“Are you serious? You don’t know what ‘The Elvis’ is?” you looked him dead in the eye as he just shrugged his shoulders, shaking his head no.

“And I thought you were the American.” You fake gasped “Peanut butter and Bacon? Aka the best combination ever? Sweet meets salty! You need to try it!” you exclaimed, sitting up excitedly on the bed.

He watched you sternly for another second unsure if this really was something nice to eat, but as he saw how your lips were puckering, you both fitted in another giggle.

“That’s sounds so strange, I need to try it myself.” he told you before he got out of the bed, handing you over a big hoodie and some joggers to put atop of his big T-Shirt hanging long on your shoulder.

“Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!”you reminded him proudly.

After he left the bedroom, you headed to the bathroom to brush your teeth. You heared him lowly humming along to a song on the radio as you passed a mirror in the hallway and took a sight of yourself in it. Even though the clothes were way too big, you liked the way you looked in them or rather drowned in. Totally wrapped up in Noah and Noah’s smell, you grinned like a Cheshire cat as you entered the bathroom.

While you were getting ready, Noah has started to prepare your breakfast. You didn’t miss the way he was eying you as you walked into the kitchen, propping yourself up on the counter across of where he was standing, peering into the pan where he scrambled some eggs. He also wore a big hoodie and some joggers, matching your look quite well. You drowned in the thought of how nice it would feel to cuddle him right here and right now. He seemed so fluffy and cuddly, with his tousled hair and observant look on you. You could get used to him, faster than you liked.

You were torn out of your imagination as Noah handed you a big pastel green cup with white dots on it and a dark brown liquid inside. It smelled incredible sweet and reminded you of your childhood as you took a sip. You hummed pleased as the warm chocolate taste was slowly spreading on your tongue. Noah watched you curiously.

“Promised you a hot chocolate last night and I keep my promises. Do you like it?”

“It tastes amazing. It’s the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had, it really is.” You told him as you took another sip of the warm liquid. You may as well never want to drink any other hot chocolate. It’s sweet but not too sweet and you could drown in it. Not like you would ever tell him, but no matter what he had poured into this cup, you would have devoured it.

“Lucky me, I feared you would instantly run off if you didn’t like it. I have no croissants though.” He was filling two plates with scrambled eggs and carried them to the kitchen table, so you both could sit down.

Two hours later your bellies were filled with delicious food and you had poured down your second cup of the sweet liquid, as you kept on talking. Everything just felt so at ease with him, so carefree. You hadn’t felt like this since a long time. Around him it wasn’t hard to be yourself. You forgot every worry on your mind.  He was everything you ever wanted. There was almost no topic, you couldn’t talk about. And he really seemed to care about your life. You spotted how he always crinkled his nose when you had an amusement story to tell about your daily life, which made him cackle or how his eyes travelled down to your lips when you were rambling on about some random things that happened to you recently. And you identified a special way of tenderness when he did it, leading your heart to almost burst. Right as he was telling you a story about how he once was bitten by dog but how he still loved them with all his heart, your mobile phone started ringing, bringing you both back into reality.

“Well, guess I have to leave. I promised my neighbour to go grocery shopping with her today. She’s pretty old and can’t do it on her own, so I need to help her out. She’s already waiting.” You explained, after you ended the phone call with the elderly woman, putting it back into your bag as you sat up from the table, quickly entering the bedroom to put on your last night’s clothes.

Noah’s feet were tapping nervously as he waited for you at his front door, leaning at the wall next to it. You both just stared at each other in silence, a tensed mood filling the room as no one knew how to say goodbye to each other. You two were far from dating or being friends but had shared something so personal last night, as you drifted into your own world, totally forgetting that it was still spinning outside. After a few more unsure eye shots, Noah just pulled you into an awkward side hug, slowly putting the hoodie he wore earlier over your head as he let go off you.

“You can wear it for your way home. You know, it’s still chilly out there and you seem to be always freezing. So yeah, you can keep it.”

You were surprised by his act of kindness and how he cared about you, being a bit speechless, but you gained your senses back quite quickly as butterflies started to explode in your belly. How could he be so affectionate and caring? You put your arms through the sleeves, rolling them up, so your hands weren’t hidden anymore.

“Thanks, I will bring it over to yours and leave it at your front door this week. Alright?” You stated.

“Nah. Really, keep it. I have hundreds of them folded in my closet and it looks better on you anyway.” He smirked a lopsided grin, and you couldn’t help but chuckle at his cheesy comment, while rolling your eyes. You were a bit sad, that he didn’t want it back, you would have tried to accidently meet him, when you were placing it. On the brightside you at least had a little reminder of him in which you could burry yourself into for those lonely nights.

You hugged him once again, this time squeezing him tighter than before and waved him goodbye as you stepped outside, rushing down the pathway of his house. However, before you could even make it halfway to his gate you heard him shouting out.

“Y/N?” you turned around and walked the path up to him again, meeting him at the front door where he was standing, his hands buried deep in the pockets of his joggers.

“What do you think about doing it the right way?” he broke through another short silence.

“The right way? What do you mean?” you frowned, not quite understanding where he was heading.

“Like taking you out on a proper date, really getting to know you and you really getting to know me. Usually I don’t do this whole thing. You know. This whole “one night and leave the morning after”. But you just overwhelmed me yesterday. How flustered you looked as you entered the bar in your wet clothes and how happy you turned when you saw the bookshelf. And suddenly you didn’t seem to longer care about the rain leaving you drenched. You just sang along to the songs and enjoyed where life has thrown you into. I just don’t know. You had me wrapped up. Yeah, so I would be really happy if you would like to go on a date with me.” He looked you seriously in the eyes, hoping you would understand what he means, hoping you were feeling the same way. His heart was beating rapidly.

“Wait, so you noticed me before you bumped into me?”

“Yeah.” He answered, looking a tad frustrated that this was the only thing you seemed to have heard.

“I’m still sorry for that, by the way. But I’m also glad it happened, not gonna lie. I had no idea on how to approach you at all. Feels like it was destiny.” He shrugged his shoulders, a heat creeping up his neck. “Well stop, scratch the destiny part. Sounds pretty stupid.” He frowned.

You stared at him blankly, before you broke into a fit of uncontrolled laughter. He just blinked, not being able to read your reaction, but you couldn’t help it. Somehow it was one of the cutest ways someone has ever asked you out and somehow you couldn’t get the picture out of your head how you met someone so lovely while almost falling on your bum.

“Believe me, you could have hit on me with one of these cheesy lines and I wouldn’t have turned you down.” You paused for a second, while grinning from ear to ear.

“If I had just realized this back then, I know like a ton.” A relieved smile broke onto his lips.

“Well, you need to give me a taster of them when we go on our date then. Don’t want to miss this unique experience.”

“Wait, Really? You want me to take you out on a date?” he beamed at you stunned.

“Yes. I really do.” You nodded at him assuring, as his eyes twinkled even more.

“How about Sunday morning? I can fetch you and we can go to this little French café. It serves the best croissants.” He suggested as you were already agreeing.

After you both were finally able to part, giggling like little teenager as you were exchanging phone numbers, you were eventually on your way back home, not believing how much changed in one night.

And as the sun slowly made its way from hiding behind the dark clouds, warming up your face, leaving the whole rain behind. You think about how you have never been more thankful for a rainy night in LA.

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