The party was still in full swing. It was clear that some people were passing through Tipsy and straight to Drunk, fairly quickly. An uncomfortable feeling spread through me and I squeezed Noah's hand to get his attention.

"I think I need to go check on Mel, and make sure she's okay." It didn't really feel okay leaving my best friend alone here for so long when I begged her to come. Maybe she could join us on the house tour.

Noah just grinned at me and nodded his head in the direction on what must have been the designated dance floor. My eyes followed his gaze and settled on the familiar shape of my best friend, dancing with his pink-haired sister.

I stared at her, my mouth falling open when I noticed she had a huge grin on her face. Tara leaned toward her and said something, her hand grabbing hold of Melissa's, and my best friend laughed. I could have sworn her cheeks were colored redder than they used to be and I was pretty sure it wasn't because she added extra blush to them.

"I haven't seen Mel this happy in a long time," I commented without really thinking about it, my lips pulling up into a smile.

"Same goes for Tara actually."

I turned to look at Noah at that, tilting my head to the side. "Really? She seems like such a happy, bubbly person though."

"She's really good at masking," Noah said and let out a sigh, an almost sad smile on his face as he looked out to his sister. "Usually the people that seem the happiest have the most scars."

It felt like there was something oddly personal about that statement, seeing as how he always seemed to be full of energy and smiles. Maybe he was just as good at masking as his sister was.

"Ready for the infamous tour of the house?"

I nodded enthusiastically, perhaps a bit too much even, and Noah started leading me through the house. Even though it was obvious what every room we passed through was – living room, kitchen, first bathroom, guest room, second bathroom... – he leaned toward me and spoke into my ear to introduce each one. When we moved upstairs, the volume from the bottom was more muffled, and there didn't seem to be any other people there.

"How come this area is so deserted?" I asked, curious.

"The upstairs is off-limits. Even Tara makes sure that's followed. Our dad's study is here and he'd kill her if something happened to it."

"Oh wow, now I feel special, being allowed here."

"That's because you are." Noah winked at me and my breath got stuck in my throat. My heart hiccuped.

Did he just call me special?

"And this is me," he said, leaning on the wall next to a door, before pushing it open.

Oh shit. I never actually considered the tour would probably end at his room. Which kind of made me dense, because hello, of course it would. I'd watched enough rom-coms and read enough romance books to know that the bedroom was always the end destination for any party or house tour.

I swallowed hard and glanced at him, and noticed the smirk on his face that popped up as soon as he saw my uncertainty. As usual, my stubbornness kicked in, and I raised my head higher before stomping inside full of very fake confidence.

Noah chuckled and walked in after me, closing the door behind him.

His room was spacious, much more spacious than mine, but it also seemed like it wasn't really lived in. There was a bed, a small couch and TV, a desk with some books, a guitar and keyboard tucked into a corner and another shelf with books. That was it. No pictures, no posters, no stickers of his favorite bands.

The room felt very sterile.

"Well, that's the first time I heard someone describe it that way."

And that's when I realized I'd spoken that last part out loud. My cheeks heated in embarrassment and I turned around to face him with a horrified expression. Noah just laughed when he saw me and shook his hand dismissively.

"Don't feel bad, I don't really live here most of the time," he said, a small smile on his face.

"What do you mean? Where do you live then?" I asked, instantly concerned that his sister had just broken into a random house to host this party.

"It's my dad's house," Noah answered and grinned in a way that told me he could tell the direction my mind had been going in.

"I thought your parents weren't divorced?"

"They're not. After what happened with Jake's mom... my dad thought moving out would make it all less stressful on my mom. It did the opposite really, I think it just stressed her out more." Noah let out a sigh and moved to sit down on the small couch.

He was trying to make his words sound nonchalant but there was obvious hurt in his voice. Something he was trying to mask and I had no intention of making that difficult.

I walked toward the musical instruments in the corner, and turned back to smile at him. "I forgot you were like a music prodigy."

Noah snorted, shaking his head. "Far from a prodigy. Music school can make anyone good at playing if they practice."

"So dismissive of your talents." I tsked at him and he shrugged, a goofy grin on his face. He pat the area of the couch next to him and I took a quick breath before moving to sit there.

The music and noise from downstairs was barely audible here. It felt private, very private, and it was easy to forget there even was a party downstairs.

"You sure it's okay we're up here? Don't you have to keep an eye on the party?" I asked, twirling a strand of my hair, my eyes looking at everything but him.

His hand reached out and took hold of mine, stopping the assault on my hair. "I think we're good. For a while at least."

"Uh, do you wanna do some questions then?" I asked, feeling increasingly more nervous by the second and just praying for something to distract me from the fact that we were very alone behind a very closed door.

"Good idea, we still have quite a few." Noah nodded, and pursed his lips in thought. "Okay, so, your house and everything you own catches fire. You manage to save your loved ones and pets and then you have enough time to safely make one final dash to save any one item. What would that item be, and why?"

"Ugh," I mumbled and rolled my eyes.

"What?" Noah asked, chuckling at my reaction.

"Nothing, I just always thought that was such a stupid question. Why would you take just one item? Like might as well grab anything in the proximity of that item if you're already there. Or just grab anything on the way out as well."

For a second he was just quiet and then he started laughing. "That's such a typical Skyler Fox answer, I should have known." Then he shook his head and, grin still firmly on his face, tried again. "Let's say for arguments sake that you're too panicked to think of filling a duffle bag with everything that winds up in your path, and you had to choose one item."

"Fine." I caved and let out a sigh. "I guess in this not at all believable scenario, I'd take my photo album."

"You have a photo album?" Noah asked, justifiably curious considering non-digital photo albums were probably close to being extinct.

"Yeah, a polaroid one though. My parents got me a polaroid camera when I was 13. For a long time I took a lot of pictures of everyone and everything. Including my grandma who's no longer around. I'd want to save those memories."

"You don't take pictures anymore?"

I shook my head and shrugged. "Not really. I just kind of stopped one day. Still look through the pictures occasionally though."

"I'd love to see them one day," he said and squeezed my hand.

"Maybe I'll show you, one day."

Noah grinned at that, as if I'd just promised him a pot of gold, and I started feeling a few shades too hot again.

"What about you?" I asked, needing a distraction.

"Hm. There's a guitar. Not this one, another one, back at home," he started and I instantly knew that for him home was the house his mom was in. "It's the first guitar, first instrument really, that was ever mine. My mom got it for me when she saw me staring at it in the store window. I didn't know how to do anything but make awful noise back then, and still my mom would sit there with the biggest smile and clap like it was the best sound she'd heard in her life."

As always when he talked about his mom, his face seemed soft and full of love, but there was sadness there too. Probably due to everything she'd gone through because of his dad. I also couldn't blame him for his obvious dislike of his dad. The more he spoke about his mom, the more wonderful she sounded and the less I understood how someone could ever cheat on a person like that, let alone repeatedly.

"She sounds like an amazing mom," I mentioned one part of my thoughts out loud.

"She's the best." Noah smiled, that soft smile that increased my heartbeat. "Time for the next one?"

I nodded and he went back to thinking, and then his eyes widened and he turned to face me. "I remembered a good one. What role do love and affection play in your life?"

A shiver ran through me. That was a loaded question in this situation, and I had no idea how I was supposed to answer it. Luckily, at least I'd have time to think it through for a bit seeing as he had to go first, which I ensured by giving him the go-ahead through a hand gesture.

"Ah, yes, me first." Noah cleared his throat and bit down on his lower lip. "You know I don't have the best opinion on love. For me love and affection are just a road toward pain. It's giving another person the chance to break you. But I guess there's also a part of me that wants to believe there's more to it than that."

Yeah, I should have expected that answer from Mr. I-don't-believe-in-love. Then again, I couldn't exactly judge him for that outlook anymore. Not after I found out how warped his experience with seeing love in others was. He didn't have my warm childhood of watching parents that were clearly still in love even after all these years.

"I think for me, it's the opposite." Time to open up, Skyler. "I know I made it look like I'm some expert in love, which is, like, far from the truth. But... I do have a strong opinion on it."

"You don't say?" Noah commented with a grin, and I glared at him. "Sorry, sorry, please continue."

"Anyway." I cleared my throat and decided to look at the floor while speaking because it seemed easier. "I think love makes you strong. It helps you face things you'd usually be afraid of facing, because you know you're never alone, or well, even when you are alone, you're never lonely. Love is kindness, and patience, and trust. It's being vulnerable and giving someone the option to break you but trusting that they wouldn't.

And sure, some people might break that trust and won't deserve that love, but that say something about them, not you. Love isn't perfect. It's messy, and complicated, and difficult, and painful but it's also the most beautiful, amazing thing you'll ever feel. Love and life... are kind of similar in that way."

I exhaled after finishing my little Love TED talk and swallowed hard. This was a lot to dump on someone like Noah who had the complete opposite view of things, but I couldn't help but hope that maybe at least some of that would give him hope that love doesn't have to be the villain of his story.

The silence that stretched between us made me think that maybe I had just made a fool of myself – after all, I prefaced all of this stating I didn't know much and then did a whole spiel as if I had a doctorate degree on that emotion.

Time to change the subject.

"Okay, next question," I muttered, clearing my throat.

"Can I kiss you?"

My brain short circuit. There was no way I heard that correctly.

"Sorry, what?" I glanced at him nervously, and his eyes made my temperature skyrocket.

They were soft but seemed to radiate heat, as his gaze went from my eyes to my lips with intense focus. The attention made me realize that I had probably heard him correctly the first time and now he was going to repeat the same thing and make my heart stop on the spot. Noah let out a silent hum, and licked his lips before leaning a bit closer to me.

"I'd really like to kiss you, Skyler," he said and his voice, hoarse with emotion, sent a shiver down my spine. "Is that okay?"

I could feel my heart in my throat, pounding so loud and so quick I was sure it was about to leap straight out of it. Noah Archer wanted to kiss me. It should have been an automatic no. After all, what good would a kiss do for our situation? The only thing it could do was complicate an already complicated situation. I had to say no.

Only that one simple word refused to leave my lips, and even though I wanted to deny it, I knew why.

Because, if I was being honest with myself, I wanted him to kiss me.

"Yes." I whispered, my breath catching in my throat.

One corner of Noah's lips pulled up for a second, before he zeroed in on my lips and his face went serious again, the heated focus in his eyes unmistakable.

He reached out his hand and gently brushed his fingers along my cheek before brushing a strand of my hair behind my ear.

Then his hand brushed against my ear, finally settling on the back of my head as his fingers curled against my hair.

He leaned closer, slowly, maddeningly. I closed my eyes.

As I waited, my head felt like a mess of white noise and anxious heartbeats.

His nose brushed against mine lightly, and then his lips pressed against mine. My heart stuttered in my chest, and the whole situation felt like an out of body experience. As if it was happening to someone else, not me.. It was the softest kiss at first, a whisper of a kiss really. Until his fingers tightened against my hair, and that light pressure seemed to snap me back into the moment.

I kissed him back, and his tongue brushed against my lips, so I let him deepen the kiss, and oh my, was that a whole other experience entirely.

The kiss was no longer just a whisper. It was a bold, loud statement. A declaration that in this moment, I was his and with a guy that could kiss me that thoroughly, who would want to be anyone else's?

My head was getting dizzy. Oxygen was becoming low in supply. Just when I was starting to wonder whether I was going to pass out from too much kissing, Noah pulled back.

He pulled back, but he didn't pull away, leaning his forehead against mine. One of my hands had ended up resting on his chest, and I could feel his heartbeat pounding under my palm, just as loud and erratic as mine.

"Damn, that was way better than I imagined," Noah muttered, taking in a shaky breath.

"You imagined this?"

"Oh yes, many times," he said, pulling back a little to stare into my eyes, a mischievous smirk on those devilish lips.

"I think we could do better," I said, licking my lips.

His eyes instantly followed the motion of my tongue. "Do you, now?"

"Yup."

"Well, I definitely don't mind t–"

I wrapped my fingers against his collar, pulled him closer, and did the only thing that made sense at that moment.

I shut him up with another kiss.

Hello loves!!! ❤️

Let me start this by saying... AHHHHHHHHH, IT HAPPENED!! Can you believe it??? 🥳🥳🥳

How did you like the kiss??? Was it okay considering how long you had to wait?

I mean, it was a bit hard to write cause I didn't want to disappoint you all so, I hope you're somewhat satisfied but don't worry, it's also far from the last kiss in this book. ✨

But, yessss, I'm so glad we've finally reached this point in the story. I'm SO EXCITED about all the future chapters, and I really really hope I can manage to finish it all by Friday. WISH ME LUCK. ❤️

Now onto the two questions from this chapter:

13. Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire. After saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be? Why?

There's two things I'd probably try to save. One is an ugly orange teddy bear that's full of stitched because of how many times it broke and I had to fix it, because it's the only thing I have left that my real mom gave me, and I would want some kind of memory of her. Which leads me to my second thing, and honestly, I think this would be the main thing I try to save with the teddy being the second, I'd save the photo album I have from when I was a kid. It's the only place where I have pictures of my mom, and since I was so young when she died, I do need the pictures to kind of remind myself of what she looked like. I'd also like to be able to show my potential future children their grandmother in the future, so there's that.

14. What roles do love and affection play in your life?

HA, ain't that just the perfect question for a romance book writer? 😂 I think for me love (and affection) mean hope. Whether it's from books or the kind you experience in real life, toward friends, family, or a significant other I think love is something that gives you hope for everything else in life. As long as love exists in this world, things will always be able to get better. It's something I kind of realized during the pandemic too. When times become the hardest, it is love - toward others, toward your country, toward this world - that keep you fighting, and pushing, and not giving up. It brings us closer together, and makes us support each other. 

I mean, I think it's pretty clear I'm a die-hard romantic so... I don't think you could have expected a different answer from me really. 

OKAY, THAT'S IT FOR NOW. I'll see you tomorrow with the new update(s). 

❤️ Stay strong, stay safeee! ❤️