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“I guess I understand,” she says after a few seconds of silence that felt like hours.
“That’s why I went away for a while. I was afraid you wouldn’t need me anymore. Wouldn’t want me around anymore. That I wouldn’t matter to you, I guess.”
“You’re the one person that matters to me, Maverick."
Her words hit me unexpectedly. The conviction in them is so raw.
I’ve been such a dick. I can see that now.
Am I really the type of man who deserves this level of respect? Especially from someone as pure and innocent as Noelle?
I haven’t been that type of man ever before, but words really make me want to step up.
"You matter to me too, Noelle. More than you can ever know.”
“I do?”
“Yes, sweetheart, you do. I’m at a stage of my life that I don’t know how to deal with surprises, and ever since you came along, my life has been one surprise after the next."
"I guess. But surprises aren’t always bad, though. If you hadn’t chased me all the way up to my apartment that night, we wouldn’t be here now.” The fondness in her tone makes me squirm in mortification. “I mean, I had the entire night planned out, thinking everything was going to go so well with Mr. Dating App. And when it doesn't, you show up. Like a fallen angel."
I smile at her. "Want me to let you in on a secret.”
She looks up at me. “What’s that?”
“I was watching you two all night.”
Her lips parts in surprise. “What?”
Nodding, I continue, “I saw when you came in. I was watching every scene, basically because it was outright entertaining.”
“No, it wasn’t.” Noelle narrows her eyes and huffs. “It was anything but entertaining.”
“It was, to me. Few minutes into the conversation, I saw the way that smile wiped off your face when you figured out who he truly was. And I was thinking, someone’s got to save her. She looks like she’s ready to knock him out if he continues with this shit.”
Noelle laughs. “That is… realistically true. I was thinking the exact same thing.”
“I’m glad I came to the rescue.”
“Me too.”
We gaze at each other, sharing a tender moment.
“I guess, that specific contingency plan seems to have worked out well enough for the two of us.” And I mean it.
“Indeed.” she whispers.
Life, they say, has a way of doing you a favor, especially when you least expect it. I didn't plan on having an hour long conversation at a bar table with a stranger that I saved from a terrible date. Or on giving her a ride home to her place and having some of the best sex of my life with her. Or falling in love with her.
Life's fucking weird.
What I feel right now is too deep, too profound, too… sacred to express in words. Even if I had the words to tell her, I don’t know if I could…I don’t know if I’d dare.
I don’t know if I can make myself so vulnerable to her…
Yet. I want to. I want to tell her how I feel. I owe it to the both of us.
I get up and hold out my hand and she takes it, a puzzled expression on her face.
