Questions With Noah

Decorating with Noah

The winery was coming along quite nicely. The lights were hanging from the exposed beams and draping from the barrels. All of the tables and were set up and the were covered in table cloths. I put up balloons around the room and set up the theme tables. There were three in total: a well-wishes table, where guests could write a short congratulations on a slip of paper, deposit it in a small glass bottle, and drop it in the bucket which would be filed with water tomorrow; the in memoriam table, which has a candle or lantern for the family members who passed away; and the guestbook table, which included sparklers for photos and envelopes so everyone could at least write their address on the envelopes and save Mom the hassle of looking everyone up.

Balloons were fastened to the walls around the room and we made sure that the various food stations were marked by outlets in car the caterer and servers needed electricity. I put the table centerpieces out in anticipation for the smaller flower bouquets that would accompany them when they arrived tomorrow. All of the chairs were covered including the one Noah was using as a ladder. Everything at this point was within his reach. Honestly, mostly everything was done within a couple hours. The rest was mainly hanging lights but I avoided Noah and found ways to make myself busy. We needed to finish so I could get back and, besides, I was already in over my head with him.

"How does this look, Mia?" Noah called out over shoulder.

"Perfect," I called out from the other side of the room.

He grabbed a box and began to walk over towards me. "Where should I put these?" He asked as he held up another set of lights.

Before he could get within 15 feet of me, I quickly pointed to the far side of the room opposite of me. "There is fine."

"Where is 'there?'" Noah tried as he looked behind me.

I opened my hand and ended just making circles with my hand. "That general area is fine.

"Ok, weird," Noah resigned. "Whatever you say."

When Noah finished, we took all of the bags and boxes and shoved them under a table. No one would be looking under there and we may need them tomorrow after the reception to clean up.

I leaned forward on a high table, checking my phone while Noah finished fastening the last strand. "All done," Noah called out as he walked over to me.

He stood next to me to admire the completed room. It was going to look great. He smaller great. A John Mayer song came over the speakers. I recognized the song as something about slow dancing.

Noah looked down at me and gave me that look with those eyes— the one that you know you're not going to resist. If I those eyes didn't get what they wanted, it's because he changed his mind and not because I had a strong resolve. "Can I have a dance?"

"No...," I tried.

He raised his eyebrow. "Come on, I won't be able to dance with you tomorrow."

"What makes you think I would dance with you tomorrow? I wouldn't. I don't dance." I sputtered.

"Well, that's a lie," Noah remarked.

"Which part?"

"All of it," he answered. Noah took my hand and walked backwards until we were in an open space.

"I don't know what I'm doing," I admitted. His hand went to my waist and the other clutched my hand in his. My stomach flipped backwards on itself. This is the deep and dying breath of this love that we've been working on.

"Just follow my lead," Noah whispered as I moved in closer to him. He stepped back before spinning me and turning in another direction. Can't seem to hold you like I want to so I can feel you in my arms. Nobody's going to come and save you. We pulled too many false alarms.

I didn't know where to look or what to say. I was so uncomfortable. This was better than the rocking thing where you shift your weight from one foot to the other during middle school dances but where do I look? Noah's eyes were trained on me. All I could think about was what my hair was doing, if my breath smelled bad despite chewing gum, if he could see how huge my pores were and oily my T-zone is, and literally everything else to show how imperfect I was.

Baby, you're the only light I ever saw. I turned my head to rest on his chest. His arm wrapped farther around my waist to hold me closer and we swayed. I felt so much better and more comfortable this way. Blame it on the insecurities. Blame it on the anxiety. Blame it on the nerves but having Noah look at me the way he was looking at me made my adrenaline course through my veins and my body felt under attack. I felt like he could see through every single wall I put up and he was looking at my soul. I was alone in my thoughts until I heard the bass in Noah's voice vibrate. He was humming along to the song.

When the song ended, I leaned back to look at him again. He still had his arm around my waist pulling me towards him. My heart was pounding out of my chest and my breath and hitched in my throat. The only reason our faces weren't centimeters apart was because of the height difference. "How'd I do?"

"Perfect," he shrugged. His eyes traced lines over my face and flickered down to my lips.

I couldn't help the smile forming and I tried to look down at my shoes but only saw our bodies melding into one. "Uh, we should probably go." I recognized the next song and it was sure to put me in my feels.

"Yeah," Noah agreed with a smirk. He knew my body was on fire. His fingertips trailed down the small of my back and brushed my arm. It gave me chills and I'm not sure whether it was deliberate but I felt his fingers snake down my arm to find my hand. With our hands intertwined, we left the winery.

I was trying to create distance and what did I get? The opposite of distance. In just one night, Noah made me feel alive. In one touch, he was able to wake up my sense and make me feel like I was the end-all, be-all to life itself. He walked with me over to my side of the car as he opened the door for me. He shut the door behind me and I made sure his door was unlocked from the other side.

"Your place?" Noah asked as he buckled his seatbelt and turned the engine over.

"Yeah, sure," I nodded. "Do you want to hang out by the lake?" I offered with closed eyes. I didn't want this night to end but I wanted to be careful. I was leaving and the last thing I needed to do was leave my heart in Los Angeles with Noah.

"Of course," Noah smiled and we drove off back to my house.

I know I didn't post yesterday but I plan to post two chapters of this story on Christmas so I figured it would be fair. Frankly, I was writing then started binge-watching Netflix and you know that goes. -JB