CHAPTER FOUR
"I am too full," Indya groaned as she shoved the last taco into her mouth then rubbed her stomach in circular motions. She was spending the night at her best friend Lucy's apartment, the one she shared with her boyfriend Adam. He was out with his brothers while they were having a night of chick flicks and lots of junk food, enough to put them into a diabetic coma rather than going out. Not that she'd admit it to anyone, but she was fed up of the bar scene and much preferred a night in with her best friend, thankfully Lucy was the same.
"We've still got our three desserts to eat," Lucy said, as she rolled off the couch to grab the remote that had fallen off earlier. "Although, I'm willing to admit defeat if you are," she chuckled. "I'm sure the boys will demolish anything we don't eat."
"Boys?" she blurted out, "I thought it was just us until Adam came back." She struggled to get upright on the brown leather sofa she was sprawled on. It wasn't called a comfy sofa for nothing. If it was boys plural, it meant only one thing - Noah. Her heart fluttered at the thought of seeing him again and she let out a groan as she looked down at the trail of taco sauce on her black Guns n Roses t-shirt. Classy.
Lucy flicked through the Netflix screens like a pro, no doubt looking for the latest episode of their favorite show that had become their night-off tradition. She didn't even bother glancing over at Indya as she continued her search, "Yeah, Noah has decided to stay with us for a while."
He would be here?
"Erm Lucy," she said, "you said it would only be us here tonight." Her heart raced faster at the thought of him staying under the same roof as her. "You said he was only staying a few nights last we spoke. Which. Was. Just. Yesterday."
Lucy had found the show and her finger hovered over the 'play' button as she turned towards her with furrowed eyebrows, "What's wrong? Noah asked Adam yesterday if he could stay for a while as his plans had changed. Do you have an issue with Noah I don't know about?" The remote was now discarded as Lucy's full attention was now fully on her. "Indya? You got something you want to tell me?"
"I.." What could she say? There was nothing to say. Nothing had happened between them. Well, nothing other than he'd asked her out but then he'd of made conversation with whoever was at the bar and she happened to be there. At the bar. With Lucy.
"Oh my god! You like him," she said in a sing-song voice. "We could be sisters," she added with a grin a mile wide.
"What?" Indya screeched, "No! It's not like that." Except it was very much like that. She'd fallen for Noah Harrington from the moment he'd introduced himself at the bar a week ago in his deep husky voice and looked at her with his dark chocolate eyes. It definitely wasn't from the first time he'd heard him sing on the radio six years ago and she'd spent her babysitting money on his album and spent all her time holed up in her bedroom, listening to it, learning the lyrics and falling deeper in lo-. No, it wasn't then. It wasn't even the time she'd sneaked out at night to go see him when he played a local bar and she'd used her sisters fake id to get in.
He had been her secret crush. She'd not told Lucy about it as she'd been dating Mateo and it seemed disrespectful to him, although he knew about it and had made fun of her, so she'd not mentioned it again. She snorted, yeah as if it was worse than what he'd done to her. When they'd split up, she'd found out that Adam was Noah's brother and she knew it would have to stay a secret. Last week when he'd spoken to her she'd brushed him off. Acted as if she couldn't care less when her heart was about to pop out of her chest by breathing the same air as him. No, it would be too embarrassing to admit what a creeper she was when it came to Noah Harrington. She was relieved she'd taken down all the posters she'd had of him and boxed them up in her parent's attic when she'd moved in with the Franklins. Now that would have been embarrassing. It was embarrassing enough that Mateo had seen them.
"Why are you going red then?" Lucy quipped. "He's down-to-earth and easy to talk to when you get to know him, not like you'd expect a rock star to be." She wasn't so sure that Lucy would be so dismissive if she knew how bad her crush on Noah Harrington had been. "Act like you do around Adam, you'll be fine."
"Yeah, will do," she mumbled, lying back on the couch and putting her arm over her eyes. "Let's watch this," she said, to get the attention away from her.
The credits were just playing when she heard the front door opening and two male voices chatting away. "Yay, you're back," shouted Lucy as she moved to a sitting position and patted the space beside her with a warm smile. "Did you have a good night?"
"Yeah, it was fine. Met up with Finn at Woody's and had a couple of beers," said Adam as he sat beside Lucy and placed his arm over her leg. He gestured over towards Noah with his thumb. "Light-weight over here wanted to call it a night, so we came back early."
Her eyes automatically went towards Noah and found he was staring at her. When their eyes met, he glanced away. "Hey, less of the light-weight," he said, turning his attention to his brother. "After eight months, you'd be over it too. The bar was getting too busy, anyway. It's not like I had to twist your arm too much to leave," he smirked with a head nod towards Lucy.
Indya sat up and made up a big deal of standing and stretching. "I'm beat," she said forcing out a yawn, "I think I'll just head to bed. Thanks for letting me crash here." Before anyone could argue, she slipped down the hall to the guest bedroom she was staying in. Luckily they had two. She could feel eyes burning into her back until she got into the safety of the room. Indya took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. The last thing she was was a coward, and she needed to get over her crush and not make things anymore awkward. Lucy was her best friend and if Noah would be staying with them for a while, she'd need to learn how to be in the same room as him.
Her crush had to go.