It was quiet between Norman and I as we made our way to his apartment. He lived a couple floors above my brother. "Sorry if it's messy. With Mingus being over, you never know what he leaves behind," I cracked a smiled. "I live with Jordan. A mess is not a problem," I said.

Norman chuckled a little and slid the key into his lock and opened the door. He quickly kicked off his shoes and turned on a light and I followed suit. I looked around his living room and took it all in. "Nice place you got here," I said. He smiled and a little and shrugged. "It's nothing special. Just a home," he said. I followed him into the kitchen where he opened the fridge, grabbed a couple beers and offered one to me.

I gladly took it and followed him into the living room and we both plopped down on the couch. I was definitely grateful for the beer hoping that it would loosen me up a little. "So why'd you decide to move to New York?" he asked me. I took a sip of my beer to give myself a second to think.

"Fresh start?" I questioned not actually sure myself. He chuckled. "I don't know you tell me," he said. I smiled. "Yeah, a fresh start. It was time to move. Something more adventurous and fun," I said. Norman pondered over what I said for a second. "So the city that never sleeps?" he asked.

I smiled and nodded. "Exactly." Norman sat his beer down and popped the movie into his DVD player. "What movie is this?" I asked him. He pulled a face. "Truthfully, I have no idea. I get movies sent to me all the time and I slowly watch them on my off time," he said. I chuckled and turned my attention to the TV.

~~

I woke up what seemed like shortly after I had fallen asleep. Wait, I fell asleep? I felt heat around me. I opened my eyes to see a blanket was thrown over top of me, but that wasn't the heat I was feeling. I looked down at my feet to see another set of feet. That's when I also noticed my back pressed into someone and arms wrapped around my upper body.

I knew who it was, Norman. I mean who else would it be? I turned slightly to see his head against the back of the couch and he was breathing deeply so I knew he was asleep. I guess we both fell asleep last night. I looked down at the arms and wrapped around me. This was different. Chase and I never slept together and when I say slept I really mean slept. Get your head out of the gutter, but we never had sex if that what's you're wondering too.

I placed my hands on Norman's arms and sighed. He stirred a little and tightened his grip around me but didn't wake up. I looked down at his watch. It was only six in the morning. I usually didn't wake up til at least nine, ten at the latest. I leaned back into him and sighed again. Eh, what's a couple extra hours of sleep?

~~

When I woke up again, Norman was stirring behind me. I turned around to see that he was actually already awake and he was trying to grab his phone. I watched him for a second. He was trying to be quiet about it and not wake me, but he failed to do so. He still didn't notice I was awake. One of his arms was still resting on top of me and placed my hand on it lightly.

Suddenly he looked down at me. He smiled a little. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," he said quietly. I smiled up at him. "It's okay. I need to get up anyway," I said. I stretched my arms trapping Norman's head between them. I locked my hands around the back of his neck and smiled again. He stopped what he was doing and wrapped both arms back around me.

"So how was the movie?" I asked him. We both seemed to be ignoring the fact that our arms were wrapped around each other. He shrugged slightly. "I don't know. I fell asleep before it was over," he said. I chuckled lightly. "We were both either really tired or the movie was boring," Norman smiled then shifted and grabbed his phone.

"It was probably both," he said. I grabbed my phone. I had five texts from Jordan and a group message from Stacey and Morgan. Jordan couldn't keep his mouth shut at all. It was already 10:30. I sighed and let the screen on my phone go dark. "What's your day like?" Norman asked me. I sighed and ran a hand over my face. "Actually I was supposed to go apartment hunting today," I said. Norman pulled a face.

"I could make this easy for you," he said. I shifted to look at him. "How's that?" I asked. "The people a couple doors down just moved out," he said. I smiled. "That would be awesome," I said. He smiled and I finally pulled myself away from him. "How about you go get ready and I'll meet you at your place in an hour," he said. I smiled. "Perfect."

~~

When I made it to Jordan's apartment I was hoping he was still asleep. I slowly opened the door and started creeping through the living room. "Well someone's doing the walk of shame." I jumped and turned around to see Jordan lying on the couch. "It's not like that," I stated. He sat up and ran a hand through his hair. "I was worried about you."

I put my hands on my hips. "I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself. Besides I was at Norman's." Jordan cocked an eyebrow. "And what were you doing at Norman's?" he questioned. I rolled my eyes at him. "I don't have time for this. I'm leaving in an hour," I said while stalking to my room. I heard Jordan grumbling on my way back there.

I slammed my bedroom door. I read my text messages from Stacey and Morgan. They carried on a conversation without me. Jordan did tell them I wasn't home and they must have figured out I was with Norman. I tossed my phone on my bed making a mental note to reply to them later and headed towards the bathroom.

I took a quick shower and quickly got dressed. I looked at my phone to see I had about 40 more minutes to get ready. I sighed and decided to text Stacey and Morgan back. I figured I owed them that much.

"I'm alive," I sent both of them. I hit the play button and The Psychedelic Furs filled my room. I felt a smile creep on my face as I let the music relax me. I heard my phone beep and I looked down to see both girls had texted me back. "OMG, you didn't," came from Stacey and "How was it?" came from Morgan. I cocked an eyebrow even though they couldn't see me.

"I'm sorry?" I questioned, "wait what did I do?" I instantly got a text back. "How was the kiss?" Stacey said. I laughed out loud. "I didn't kiss Norman," I texted back quickly. I laughed again and walked into the bathroom to start blow drying my hair.

While I was blowing drying my hair I continued to text Stacey and Morgan who were asking me juicy details about last night. For some reason they couldn't get through their heads that nothing happened. I sighed and stood back up after finishing my hair.

I jumped when I saw Jordan in the mirror. "Can I help you with something?" I asked him while I continued getting ready. He crossed his arms and arched an eyebrow at me. "Where are you going?" he asked. I rolled my eyes. "I'm going to look at an apartment," I said. Jordan sighed. "With Norman?" he questioned. I looked over at him.

"Is there a problem?" I asked him while leaning against the bathroom sink. He shook his head. "Forget it," he said while walking out. Okay, that was weird. I grabbed my toothbrush and started brushing my teeth. It was the last thing I needed to do before I met back up with Norman.

I bent down and spit in the sink. When I looked back up I jumped again because this time Norman was in the mirror. "Is it your and Jordan's job to scare me all the time?" I asked while walking past him. "Woah, didn't mean too," he said while holding up his hands.

I sighed and slipped on my shoes. I ran a hand through my hair. "Sorry, I shouldn't have snapped," I said. Norman gave me a slight smile and held a hand out to me. I stayed where I was for a second wondering if taking his hand was the best idea with Jordan around. I smirked a little and took Norman's hand anyway. I could do whatever I wanted.

We walked out into the living room and Norman instantly dropped my hand. I tried not to let it show that I was a little offended. I grabbed my bag. "I'll be back later," I said to Jordan while walking out the door with Norman behind me. I put a smile on my face and looked over at Norman who was walking quietly beside me. I was met by his sunglasses again which caused me to smirk. "So, how about that apartment?"

~~

I checked out the apartment along with Norman who seemed to be happy about me moving a couple doors down. I filled out the application and now all we could do was wait. Norman and I decided to grab some lunch down the street while we waited.

"What about your parents?" Norman asked. We had spent the last 30 minutes playing 20 questions with each other trying to get to know each other better. I chuckled. "I'm surprised Jordan hasn't told you anything about them," I said. Norman smiled. "Honestly, he only talked about you," I felt my face go hot as I tried to cover it.

"My dad is a preacher making my mom a preacher's wife," Norman snorted. I cocked an eyebrow at him. "I'm sorry," he said between chuckles, "you just don't strike me as the preacher's daughter type." I smiled a little. "Nobody does when I tell them but I was."

Norman chuckled again. "We traveled a lot as kids. My parents were missionaries when I was younger. Jordan was 16 so he would stay with friends so he wouldn't have to go, but of course they couldn't leave a baby behind. By the age of six I had a full passport."

Norman let out a low whistle. "I'm glad I'm not the only one," my face pulled into confusion. "That's another story for another time, continue," Norman said. I nodded. "When Jordan turned 18 he went to college and I never saw him after that. He barely came around and liked to keep to himself. Without him around I was supposed to be the responsible one."

Norman looked a little confused. "I wasn't allowed to date. I was only allowed to court meaning I wasn't allowed to be alone with boyfriends, I wasn't allowed to hold their hands, hug them, kiss them, nothing." I watched Norman's eyebrows arch behind his sunglasses.

"What happened?" he asked. I sat silent for a second before throwing down a French fry and answering. "College, I met a guy and things just kind of went from there. My parents didn't approve of him which made me like him," I looked up at Norman trying to push thoughts of Chase out of my head. "What about now?" he asked. I shrugged again. "Things are complicated. I just want to get settled here before I think about anything else."

Norman nodded. "You're not from New Jersey," Norman stated simply. I shook my head. "How'd you know?" I asked him curiously. He smirked. "You have a little bit of a southern accent," I smiled a little. "My family is originally from Georgia but I grew up in Alabama when we weren't on mission trips. I hope my accent isn't that bad," I said.

Norman shook his head. "It's actually kinda cute," he said. I chuckled. "Well that's mighty kind of you, sir," I said letting my accent drawl a little which just made him smile wider. Norman asked for the check and we were on our way back to the apartments. It was quiet between us as we walked. Somehow we had gotten comfortable with just each other's presence and it was nice.

My phone started ringing and I answered the random number. "Hello?" Norman stopped walking and we leaned against a wall while I listened to the person on the other line. "Yes...uhuh....okay....no, thank you!" I hung up and looked over at Norman who was paying attention to me intently. "I got the apartment!"

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