Serendipity

CHAPTER 6

"Martha!" Ethan slurs out. "Open the door. We're heeere!"

We snicker at that. Martha opens the door and looks at us; Ethan leaning on the doorframe, a beer bottle in his hand; Mia sitting on the stairs, almost snoring. I'm standing against the railings, Noah leaning on me occasionally kissing my cheek.

"All of you are wasted. How did you drive home? Please tell me it was a cab!"

"Yes, it was, don't worry," I smile at her.

"Okay, come on in. You'll be having one heck of a headache tomorrow."

We walk inside, Noah clinging on to me like a creeper to a tree. When I reach my room, I turn to him. "Goodnight, Noah."

He pouts. "No goodnight kiss?"

Drunk Noah is cute and Cassie cannot say 'no' to him. So I lean in to kiss his cheek but he turns his face so I kiss his lips instead and pulls me closer to him, moaning out, "I missed this, damn it!"

I'm supposed to be angry at him. Angry for himself breaking the relationship we built in New York and now claiming to miss me. But maybe because of the alcohol, I don't. Instead, I pull him even closer. His tongue darts out to lick my lips, begging for entrance and I'm a goner.

He pushes the door open and pulls us both in, shutting the door behind him by his foot and pushes me gently on the bed. He just stands there for a while, staring at me sprawled on the bed, looking at him through hooded eyes, and then climbs over me, his head resting on my chest. He stays there for a while, not moving at all.

"Noah?" I call out as his breaths start getting even and slow.

"Hmm?"

"I thought we were going to...makeout?"

"No, we are drunk now. We'll do it when we are sober. For now, it's just cuddle," he wraps his arms around me so that I'm partially on top of him.

Before I can say anything, he drifts off to sleep. I wrap my arms around him, knowing I'm going to regret this tomorrow, but not wanting to waste this time.

° ° °

Saturday

"Cassie! Wake up!" Ethan's voice wakes me up.

My head is already throbbing and Ethan banging the door is so not helping.

"Oh, for fuck's sake, " I mumble, loud enough for him to hear. Thankfully he does and reduces the banging, but doesn't stop shouting.

Beside me, Noah shifts and lets out a groan and I melt at his morning voice.

"Shut up, Ethan!" he shouts.

There's a pause in the shouting. Then he screams even louder. "Noah! What are you doing in her room?! I swear if you tried anything with her-"

"I swear we'll talk later. Now go away, you moron!"

And he finally goes. I rest my cheek back on the pillow and close my eyes.

There's a tap on my cheek. "Cassie."

"Hmm."

"Wake up."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

I'm just going to ignore him until he goes away.

"Okay, ugly please?"

I suppress my smile until he sighs and goes away to take a shower. My head is pounding. I chug down an Advil from the nightstand and start massaging my head and digging my head into the pillow, trying to ease the pain. After a while, it starts reducing. I sigh a relieved sigh and try going back to sleep, knowing I'm still in the party dress I wore yesterday.

The bathroom door opens and Noah steps out. I still continue closing my eyes pretending to be asleep to avoid the awkward conversation of our cuddle session last night.

"Still sleeping? Oh, God!"

I don't reply at all.

"Wake up, Snorlax!" My lips twitch but I still keep my eyes closed.

"Too bad I don't have a Poke Flute," he starts poking my sides. "Wake up, wake up."

"Shut up, Jynx!"

He gasps. "You did not call me a Jynx!"

"I did, " I finally open my eyes to look at him standing with a hand over his mouth, looking shocked.

Then he recovers from it. "I'm Jynx, no? Then I should attack my opponent which is..." he pauses for some dramatic effect. "You!" he jumps on me, hovering over me on the bed and I let out a squeal of surprise.

"You know Jynx's attack, right?" Before I think about it, he answers, "A Jynx attacks its opponent by kissing them, " and without giving me time to speak, he attaches his lips to mine, moving them fervently, coaxing me to kiss him back. And I do. Oh, I do.

We kiss for a long, long time, the morning having taken an unusual turn and we only break out of it when Ethan shouts again, "Enough, you two! Open the door or I'm breaking it!"

"Okay, okay, wait, I'll open the door, " I push a pouting Noah away and open the door.

"Your parents called," Ethan tells me, his eyes covered by his hand. "Take your phone, it was with me, I don't know how. I didn't see anything between you two, continue now."

I laugh at his actions and call my mom but dad picks it up.

"Cassie! Just one day of us being away, and you already forgot us!"

I roll my eyes. "Dad! I'm sorry I just woke up late. Anyway, how's Bali?"

"Bali is amazing! Guess who is getting the infamous Balinese massage? That's right, me you jealous-"

Mom snatches the phone from his hands. "Ignore him. We miss you, Cassie. And yeah, it's nice here. We'll get something for you, don't worry. Enjoy with Ethan and his cousins but don't get into trouble."

"Your mom's boring," Dad has to say in the middle and I laugh.

Mom smacks his head and he lets out a groan. "Anyway, we love you, bye!"

"I didn't even get to speak anything! Okay, bye, " I cut the call and look at Noah, who is sitting on the bed, a serious expression on his face.

"What?" I ask.

"We need to talk."

Well, that escalated quickly.

***