“Let’s order another round,” I said, forcing a smile and switching the subject. “We came here for bottomless mimosas.”
Laughter restarted around me, but my head was still somewhere else, allowing my insecurities to take over. The thought that one day, Quade would wake up and realize that I didn’t fit in this world had my heart breaking already.
I pulledup in front of Noa’s house and hopped out before I could even get my car in park. Something was off. Noa had left most of my messages yesterday on read. She’d said good morning, told me she was proud of me, and then good night, but other than that? Silence. I thought maybe she’d had a little too much fun at brunch yesterday, but today, all she’d sent was a picture of the bouquet of sunflowers I’d sent her, saying thank you.
I was trying not to overthink it, but that was exactly what the fuck I was doing. I’d spent most of the day trying to figure out if I’d done something wrong, but I couldn’t think of anything. There could be hundreds of reasons she was being distant. She could be tired. Her lupus could be flaring. Whatever it was, I wasgoing to get to the bottom of it as soon as she opened this damn door. Hopefully, the surprise I had for her would calm things down.
I jogged up her steps two at a time. I contemplated using my key, but I decided not to. I was going to give her a chance to come to the door. I leaned against the door, listening for movement, and for a split second, my head started filling with all the shit that could be wrong. I reached into my pocket to retrieve the door key and then heard her wheels moving across her hardwood floors. I exhaled, and then I heard the lock click.
She opened the door wearing a bonnet and a hoodie. She was trying to smile, but her eyes were puffy, like maybe she’d been crying or hadn’t slept well. I immediately stepped inside, closing the door behind me.
“Baby, what’s going on?”
“I was… um,… just about to text you back,” she said softly, and I gave her a look as I kneeled to examine her. I’d texted her an hour ago saying I was on my way. I wanted to call her on her lie. She knew damn well she wasn’t about to respond, but I had more pressing issues. I needed to make sure she was okay.
“You good? You hurting?” I slid my hand under her chin and stared into her eyes.
“I’m fine, Quade.” She tried to smile, but it didn’t reach. “Why didn’t you just use your key?”
“You never told me I could use it for personal reasons.”
“That never stopped you, either.”
“Yeah, well, today is different.” I stood to my full height and walked past her.
“Teagan here?” I questioned, looking around.
“No. She had something at school.”
I nodded. I wanted to check in with Teagan to see if everything was going well with Noa’s health. I was learning someof her warning signs, but there was still so much I couldn’t gauge.
“You sure you are good? You not having a flare? Did you drink too much yesterday?” I turned to look at her, and she just shook her head.
“I’m fine, Quade, just tired.” She sighed. I stood there in silence for a minute. There was something she wasn’t telling me.
“Are you up for an outing?” I finally asked.
She didn’t answer right away, just stared at me. “An outing?”
“Yeah, I was thinking we could go to dinner.”
“Dinner where?” She squinted at me.
“It’s a surprise. Go get dressed.”
She narrowed her eyes at me and sighed. “Quade, I’m not… I can’t… I’m just chilling in the house. I didn’t even brush my teeth today.”
I stepped closer to her, not trying to hear her excuses. I wasn’t about to let her get in her head and decline. I plucked her bonnet off her head. “There you go. Now you halfway ready.”
“Quade!” She laughed, snatching it back and hugging it close to her chest.
“Just put on something comfortable and fine, preferably a skirt,” I said, smirking.
“But… I?—”
“I’m not asking again, Noa. You coming.”
“And what if I say no?” She folded her arms.
