No Strings Attached

33

Quinn spent the morning listening to Noah's first album. Every song was brilliant. Noah was a talented musician and Quinn could tell he poured a lot of his heart and soul into the lyrics and the sound, getting them just right.

Around lunchtime, Quinn's phone went off with a call from Noah.

"Hey." Quinn answered it. "How's work?"

"It's good. I'm actually done so I figured if you're up to it, we could go shopping." Noah said.

"Shopping?" Quinn repeated.

"Yeah, for the baby." Noah replied. "I have a crib and some furniture on hold, but I didn't wanna buy anything without your input."

Quinn nodded slowly.

"If you're not up to it or you don't wanna go today, I can just finish up here and then come home." Noah stated.

"No, we should go." Quinn said.

"I'm glad you said that 'cause I'm kinda already in the car to get you." Noah told Quinn. "I'll be there in, like, five minutes."

"I'll see you then." Quinn responded as she hung up the phone. She put her shoes on and furrowed her eyebrow as someone knocked on the front door.

Expecting Noah, Quinn opened the door with a smile. Her smile faded when she saw a black car parked just outside of the gate and a man she didn't recognize at the door.

"Is Noah home?" The man asked, eyeing Quinn's baby bump before looking back up at her face.

Before Quinn could answer, she saw Noah's car pulling into the gate. She watched as the car raced up to the steps and Noah jumped out.

"This is private property so you have about five seconds before I call every single security contact I have." Noah stated as he stood between the man and Quinn.

"I came here to talk."

"Not interested." Noah said as he looked at Quinn. "Are you okay? How long has he been here?"

"I'm fine. What's going on?" Quinn asked.

"You picked a good one to knock up, Noah. She's gorgeous."

"Don't talk about her like that." Noah hissed as he grabbed the man by the shirt. He swung his arm back and punched him, knocking him to the ground.

"Noah!" Quinn exclaimed.

Noah picked the man up and shoved him. "Stay the hell away from her."

Quinn furrowed her eyebrow as Noah went into the house. She followed him and locked the front door behind her.

"Noah." Quinn said.

"I need ice." Noah muttered, leading Quinn into the kitchen.

"What?" Quinn asked.

"For my hand." Noah stated. "I can't play with a messed up hand."

"Sit down, I'll get it." Quinn responded as she walked over to the fridge. She opened the freezer and took out a bag of peas. She tossed it to Noah. "Here, these are cold."

"Thanks." Noah said, holding the bag over his knuckles as he slowly sat down at the counter.

"Calm down so we can talk." Quinn stated. "Tell me what just happened."

Noah nodded. "That was my dad."

"Your dad?" Quinn repeated.

"Yeah, he hasn't showed up here in a while, but every so often he shows up for money." Noah told Quinn. "I usually just ignore him until he leaves."

Quinn nodded slowly.

"He broke in a while back when I was out of town and stupidly enough, I didn't press charges." Noah added.

"Well, he's your dad." Quinn stated.

"He's just an asshole I share DNA with." Noah shrugged as he looked at Quinn. "He didn't hurt you, right?"

"No, he didn't touch me." Quinn said. "He just got here."

"Okay, good." Noah nodded. He paused for a minute. "Look, I know I said we could go shopping today if you were up for it, but-"

"Now you're not up for it." Quinn finished. "Yeah, it's fine. We have plenty of time to get that done."

"I promise we'll go another day soon." Noah said. "Whenever you want."

"Sure." Quinn nodded.