Adore You [H.S]

19 // The One That Got Away

"Lili, are you okay?" Noah asks worriedly. This was one of the only times he's called me Lili since we've met. "You seem a little shaken up."

I stare down at my phone in shock.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I breathe out, ripping my eyes from the screen and forcing myself to put the phone down. I wanted to text back right away and tell him yes a million times. But I'm on a date with Noah right now. I shouldn't even be thinking about Harry, let alone talking to him. I look back up to meet Noah's concerned stare and pry my lips into a smile.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, no. Everything's fine!" I shake my head vigorously, scooting my chair in so I could rest my elbows on the edge of the table. Noah looked at me with an eyebrow raised.

"You're uncomfortable," He establishes, finally noticing my discomfort. "Do you want to change the subject?"

"Please."

"Okay," He thinks for a moment, "what are you going to order?"

"Is this a test?"

"Yes."

"I'm ordering a cheeseburger, thank you," I tell him in a matter-of-fact way.

"Very American," He observes, nodding approvingly.

"At least it wasn't a salad," I point out.

"That's true," He says, "Since you knew it was a test, why don't you just tell me more about yourself."

"Well, what do you want to know?" I smile innocently, knowing my dodgy statements were driving him insane.

"Tell me about your job, your hobbies, your life philosophies, your deepest darkest secrets, your pet's name, something," He suggests.

"You already know I'm a nail tech. I work at a salon in Denver. I love reading and painting and collecting sunglasses," I pause to chuckle, "and I had a cat named Louie, but had to give him away when I went off to college."

"You didn't say your secret," He points out.

"It's a secret for a reason." I wink.

"What about your philosophies?"

"Don't have any." I shrug. "But I do think I was born in the wrong generation."

"Why?"

"Everything's already been discovered," I begin to say before our waiter returns to our table, interrupting our conversation. She took our orders quickly before stepping away. I continued, "Not everything, I mean. But back like 100 years ago, cars and telephones had just barely been discovered. They had no idea you could take a picture and put it on a platform for anyone anywhere in the world to see and look at whenever they wanted. They couldn't listen to any song in their car just using their phone. Headphones were brand new and no one probably even thought of wireless ones, but here we are with Airpods."

"Wow," Was all he could say.

"Sorry," I apologize lowly, "that got really deep really quickly."

"You don't need to apologize," He assures me. He paused for a moment. "Are you sure that's not your deepest darkest secret?"

"Trust me, it's not," I tell him, laughing and he chuckles also.

* * *

"Thank you so much," I say gratefully to him once we arrive at the hotel after our date.

"Anytime," He says, smiling toothlessly.

We stand there awkwardly for a few moments before his face slowly starts to inch toward mine. My breath hitching from the sudden action, I quickly take a step backward away from Noah. His eyebrows furrow together in confusion and his lips remained pursed together.

"Is something wrong?"

"I-I'm sorry. I just, don't...usually kiss on the first date."

"That's okay." He backs away from me a little.

"Sorry," I say again, cringing at the scenario playing out in front of me.

"No need to apologize," He says reassuringly. "That's your decision, and I'll respect it."

"Thank you," I say so quiet, I wasn't sure if he heard me. But his slight nod gave me all the confirmation I needed.

"I should get going, it's getting late," He excuses.

"Right," I say, folding my arms as I shiver in the frigid London air.

"I had a great time, Liliana." And we're back to my full name.

"Me too." I push my lips into a thin curved line that wasn't quite a smile. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"I don't work Saturdays."

"Sunday ?"

"No actually," He says, sighing sadly. "That's something I've been meaning to talk to you about."

My heart thumped roughly in my chest. "Okay?"

"I'm going home for Christmas," He says finally, making my heart drop. "That's why my dad called me, asking me to come home and spend time with my mum and sisters."

"Oh," I say.

"I'm sorry," He shakes his head ruefully, "I should've told you sooner, but I just found out earlier today."

"It's okay, you need to spend time with your family," I tell him. "When will you be home?"

"The day after Christmas," He says, cringing slightly.

"That's the day I fly home," I tell him sadly. "I leave early that morning."

"So we'll see each other before then!" He says, strong hints of hope in his voice. "I'll be packing most of the day tomorrow, but maybe we can squeeze something in?"

Coffee date with Harry, I think to myself.

"I think I might be busy," I say, telling him a half-lie. I knew I would be busy and I knew exactly what I'd be doing.

"Well I'm going to drive down to my parents' early Saturday morning," He explains.

"So this is our last time seeing each other?" I ask, almost on the brink of tears.

"I guess so." He nods slowly, shoving his hands into his pockets. We both stay silent for a moment, standing there like bafoons who had no idea what to say to each other.

"I really like you, Noah," I admit to him finally. His face brightens as he tears his gaze from the ground by my feet to finally look at me.

"Really?" He asks hopefully, grinning like a kid in a candy store.

"Really," I confirm. "But..."

"But?" His eyes widen. "No buts!"

"But I'm going home," I say. "And I would stay, but I need my money to help pay rent. Things are already tight as is and I can't do that to Jess."

"Well then let me pay for your hotel!" He offers quickly. "Or you can come stay with me in my apartment."

"I can't ask you to do that."

"No please, let me," He insists.

"Noah, no," I say sternly. It may have come off as a little rude the way I said it, and I could tell that by the way, he stepped back, almost like my words were physically pushing him. "My roommate will get separation anxiety if I leave her for too long, I'm sorry."

"It's all right," He says enthusiastically, but he didn't do a good enough job of masking his hurt for me not to see it.

"Maybe we'll see each other before either of us leave," I say, trying to give him hope.

"Maybe."

"I'll see you later, Noah," I say, smiling sweetly.

"Goodbye, Liliana," He says and with that, he walks away.