Noah (25 page)

Ugh!
S
he was
so
weak!  The second Veronica heard Rita’s name and realized this was the girl who Noah had been with so recently and would probably be with again real soon her insides were on fire.
She’d never been that type of girl but
as much as she
tried,
she could not stop looking at her.
She’d nearly lost her appetite all at once and had to force herself to eat while trying not to stare at
Rita
.

“Um, yeah.” Noah shifted in the passenger seat. Veronica had sensed his discomfort at the restaurant as well.

“She seems nice.” She really had—
too
nice.

“She is,” Noah said glancing out the window.

“She’s pretty.” If you liked the overly made up type with massive tits.

Veronica could almost imagine those huge
thing
s bouncing above Noah as Rita
rode
him hard. This time Veronica was the one who looked out her window
grinding her teeth
and squeezing her eyes shut.
Stop it.

“I guess.”

Noah was obviously not going to
willingly
contribute to this conversation but for some stupid reason Veronica couldn’t drop it. She should
.
S
he really should especially after coming to the conclusion that Noah’s feelings for her were passing the friendship line and she had to put a stop to it
.
She’d already made a conscious decision to start pulling away.
But her insides were still boiling just thinking about him and Rita and where he might be spending his
free
time now that she was in town.

“So I guess you two will be hanging out, now that she’s here for the holidays right?” And her stupidity continued.

Noah shifted again in his seat and he cleared his throat. “I don’t know. We didn’t talk about it or anything. Probably not.
”
 
 

Veronica chuckled. It came out sounding a little more sarcastic and louder than she expected to.

“What?” Noah asked turning to her.

Veronica backped
a
led feeling like an idiot. She shrugged. “Nothing.”

“That didn’t sound like
nothing
.” 

She stared ahead not wanting to look at him.
Let it go. Say you were thinking of something else.
“It’s just that well… you know. After what Hector said the other day. I’m pretty sure you’ll make the time.”
Why
did she never listen to that little voice of reason?

“Once you get to know Hector a little better you’ll know
that
half the stuff that comes out of his mouth is bullshit.”

Finally, she forced herself to do the right thing and change the subject but not before rolling her eyes. “Listen about Christmas Eve—”

“Unless you have other plans you’re going Roni. I don’t want you home alone.”

“But—”

“If you don’t go I’ll stay home with you.” 

Veronica frowned as she pulled into her driveway. She’d agreed to go but had every intention of getting out of it. Noah and Rita hadn’t gotten so much as a moment alone at the dinner much less done anything
cozy
, but Veronica knew now without a doubt it wasn’t something she’d want to be witness to
. There would likely be drinking involved on Christmas Eve and an atmosphere that might allow for
more interaction
between them but she
c
ouldn’t have him stay home on her account.

They both got out of the car and headed for the front door. “Noah, you can’t do that. It’s just that I’d feel more comfortable if I stayed home. Those are
your
friends. Just because I’m your roommate—”

“You’re my friend
,
too,
remember? And as far as I’m concerned we’re more than friends now.”

Veronica froze as she pushed the front door open and glanced back at him. Their eyes locked and then he added
,
“
w
e’re like family now.”

She let out a slow breath and stepped in the door with Noah behind her.

“I mean it makes sense right? You don’t have anyone and I don’t either but we have each other. If you wanna stay home Christmas Eve then we’ll stay home but I won’t leave you alone.”

She exhaled as she walked toward
the dining
room. He wasn’t going to give her a choice. Staying home was not an option. She wouldn’t keep him from yet another one of his holiday traditions.
She’d have to bite the bullet
sooner or later. If they were going to continue to be roommates—friends, then she may as well get it over with. Seeing him with other women was inevitable and like it or not, something she was going to have to get used to.

Placing her purse on the table, she gave him a little smile. “I’ll have to make something to take. I won’t go empty handed.”

He grinned at her satisfied. “I’ll help you make it. You’re not getting all the credit.”

Her smile felt a little more genuine
this time
even though the idea of being around Noah and Rita made her more anxious than she’d ever admit.

A couple of things had been confirmed tonight
.
F
irst of all Noah had this friends-with-benefits thing down to an art. Everyone there assumed Veronica and Noah had
something
going on. Yet Rita hadn’t seemed bothered by it at all. Something Veronica knew she could never do. At first, she thought it was an age thing but Veronica was certain even at
twenty
she would not have been able to handle seeing the guy she’d just slept with a few weeks prior walk in with another girl and be so amicable about it. I
t
just took a certain personality and
Veronica
didn’t have it. Period.

Second
,
most of the guys there didn’t even make an effort to be discreet about the way they gawked at Rita’s bust. They were so obvious it was almost funny. Veronica’s delusional theory that Noah was just protective
of
his friends, especially girls and that’s why he acted the way he had with the Edward guy at the gym had been squashed.
Veronica had
watched as the guys openly flirted with Rita and Noah had
n’t
so much as flinched. He didn’t seem bothered by it in the least. Leading her to her final confirmation—one she’d suspected for weeks. Young and impressionable Noah had begun to fall for her and in the process was becoming territorial. Something she really needed to discourage. Yet every time she said she was going to, she took one step backwards. Possibly encouraging him further.           

First, his employee Christmas dinner. Now Christmas Eve
again
with his friends whom he considered closer than family. So much
for pulling back.

***

Noah had succeeded
i
n turning Veronica into a believer. Anytime they went somewhere together now she made him drive so she could play with his phone.

“I told you I’d sell you on it,” he said with that handsome grin of his.

Just then the only thing she hadn’t quite gotten a grasp on about his phone happened. A text came through and she pressed something that had it pop wide open for her to read. She hated for him to think
she was being nosey but it was impossible not to
r
ead the text before she
could
figure out what happened.

“Oh! You got a text,” she said shoving it in his direction so he’d know she wasn’t trying to read it though she already had. It was from Gio telling him he better not be flaking tonight.

Noah read it as he came to a stop at the red light and smiled. He pushed something then spoke into his phone. “I’m around the corner.”

Veronica giggled about the insanity of it.

“Really? You don’t even have to text anymore?”

“Nope
.”
he said handing it back to her.

She played with it again until another text popped up that she tried not to read but she did catch something about the guys making bets about whether he’d show or not. Veronica frowned knowing she was the reason they were betting he wouldn’t show. She set the phone down as they pulled up in front of an overly decorated home. The kind where the decorations have no rhyme or reason and there’s big, small, multi
-
colored and white lighting going on. As if they just thr
ew
every decoration
they’ve
collected in the past twenty years onto the front lawn. “Is this his house?

Noah chuckled s he got out of the car. “Yep
.
T
his is the famous Bravo Christmas fiasco. It gets worse… uh better every year.”

They hadn’t been kidding about Christmas Eve at Gio’s. For starters his family was huge. Noah told Veronica about Gio’s dad passing a few years ago but that his side of the family, the Mexican half was still very much in touch and a lot of them were here tonight. But then there was his mom’s side of the family—the Italian side who it seemed were
all
here tonight and the place was packed. Between Gio’s dad
’
s side of the family bringing all the tamales and a bunch of other Mexican dishes and his mother
’
s side who Noah had mentioned several times before
w
ere known for going overboard on food even when it wasn’t a holiday, there was an endless amount of food.

The two loaves of zucchini bread Noah and Veronica had baked together were quickly lost on the buffet table where they were told to set them. Most of the
younger
crowd—cousins and friends around Gio’s age and younger spent the majority of the evening in the back yard. It seemed there were three main generations here. The older generation in th
eir
forties an
d
up
—u
ncles
, aunts
,
grandparents etc.

Then there w
ere
the young adults like Gio and the older teens, some in their early twenties with their young girlfriends or boyfriends
who
hung out in the back having drinks and listening to music.  The crowd Veronica should’ve been in was the older cousin crowd. The young married couples dealing with young kids and babies inside talking about more pregnancies, Santa Claus and shopping for toys.

After a while of obsessing about things like that and casually watching Rita for any signs of jealousy or resentment and finding none, Veronica decided to just relax and have fun.

Unbelievably she was coaxed into playing some of the silly games and even won a prize, though she was certain it was a pity gift. She never even came close to winning any of the games. Veronica was embarrassed
when she met Gio’s mom. The only thing she knew about the woman was that she was Italian and she cooked a lot. With that in mind Veronica had kept to the stereotype and pictured Gio’s mom as short and heavy.
To Veronica
’s
surprise, the woman had a body
a
twenty-year-old would envy and she was very young looking for her age.
And Gio had obviously gotten his striking green eyes from her. Since
Gio was
twenty
Veronica assumed his mother was in her early forties at least
,
yet she could pass for early thirties.

By the end of the night, Veronica was completely stuffed and exhausted. The night had begun with her dreading it and now she was so glad she’d gone. She really had a pleasant time and she had to admit, it did beat staying home alone.

When they got to the party she’d warned Noah that she m
ight
leave early but that he should stay as long as he wanted. Of course his response had been, “We’ll leave whenever you’re ready.” 

As sweet as that was it was
also
worrisome. Noah was becoming far too devoted to their friendship. As much as she appreciated his loyalty as a
friend
,
she now knew he didn’t see it as
just
that.

For now, she had nothing to worry about. There was no one else in her life. But just like she’d never dream of asking Noah to close that door in his life she wasn’t closing it in hers either. Judging from the way he’d acted with Edward if she didn’t get a handle on this now, things could get ugly later. 

~*~

After running his five miles Christmas morning, Noah got back to the house to find Roni still asleep.
Perfect
. He made a pot of coffee before jumping in to take a quick shower. Her door was still closed when he got out of the shower. He changed into a pair of lo
o
se sweats and a t-shirt
,
grabbed the gift bag from the closet and brought it out to the front room placing it under the tree.