Page 68 of All of Him
Then, there was the fact that I really just wanted her company.
37
Amanda
THE HOUSE WAS FINISHEDjust in time for Noah’s party. My dad promised to check in on him from time to time, though he knew I’d be spending time with Noah anyway. I no longer feared that finishing the house meant we’d spend less time together. It only meant we wouldn’t be fixing walls or patching old plumbing work. Instead, we could actually do something different.
We’d sent out twenty-five invites for the party, mostly for people we liked at the office, but also Delia and Teel. We didn’t age discriminate, but Dad said he was “too old for that shit” and bowed out. To my surprise, both Claude and Oscar had agreed to come.
“You’re awesome,” Noah said, looking around at the decorations. “This is great.”
I wasn’t worried about his anxiety; he seemed to be warming up to the party idea. It might have helped that we had an actual food and cocktail spread versus a dirty dorm couch and a keg of cheap beer. It wouldn’t bring back his unfavorable college memories.
“You’re welcome,” I said, letting him pull me into an awkward side hug. We’d barely touched since the morning I’d taken a nap in his bed. While I wanted to constantly hold his hand or have my lips somewhere on his body, I tried to hide that.
As he pulled me closer, I tucked my head down to his chest and grabbed him for a full hug.
Noah let out a long breath as I pulled him flush to me by his beltloops, his exhale blowing the top of my hair. With my arms encircling his tiny waist, I held him there, right where I wanted him, my face buried in his chest.
“Oof,” he grumbled suddenly. “We’re standing under mistletoe.”
Goddamn it.
“Did you mean to…”
“No!” I laughed, only hugging him tighter. “I forgot that was even there. I’ll put it in my book, I guess.”
Noah’s hands ran up and down my sides slowly, giving me chills. His fingers accidentally bunched up my shirt, leaving my exposed skin on fire with the touch of his hand. He cleared his throat and hastily pushed the fabric back down.
“Don’t put it in your book. This doesn’t feel awkward. You give good hugs, Manda. You just latch on and refuse to let go.”
Both of us shook lightly with laughter, and I looked up at him. He’d gotten a haircut, but his hair was still long enough for me to run my hands through if I wanted—not that I’d ever done that. If I had, the moment would have ended up in the book after all.
“Would it be okay if I kissed you on the cheek?” I asked. “Weareunder mistletoe.”
Noah seemed to debate it but finally shrugged. I smiled and stood on my toes, letting my lips collide with his scarred cheek. They lingered there, but only for a second, allowing me to savor it as much as possible.
“Good?” he asked, letting go of me and shoving his hands in his pockets.
I nodded, then turned to look at the amount of food and drinks we had. We’d even set up beer pong in case anyone wanted to get wild. Something told me it might not get used, but if the opportunity presented itself, I wanted Oscar on my team.
“Ten minutes,” I said to Noah. “You ready?”
“Yeah,” he started, looking around. “I’m actually…excited? This should be a good time.”
“Yes!” I yelled, pumping my fist into the air. “This is going to be awesome. Maybe you won’t even need to run to your room.”
Noah laughed and shook his head.
“I think I’ll make it the whole night, Manda. I’m going to party.”
The party was in full swing, and the beer pong table was being set up. I needed to at leasttryto convince Oscar to play, but I couldn’t find him anywhere. With the way he slowly made his way through the office, I wasn’t sure he could even make it up the staircase, but I checked anyway. Going from room to room, I opened doors but didn’t find anything.
Finally, I got to the spare room at the end of the hall that had basically just been a dumping ground while renovating. There was maybe a couch and some boxes, but I opened the door to look anyway. On the couch, I found Oscar…kissing Claude.
I made some sort of squeak and fled the scene, completely embarrassed that I’d just caught my boss hooking up. I wanted to hide but heard footsteps quickly, so I opened a nearby door and went through it.
A closet.Cool.
