Page 51 of Catching My Dreams

“Ella’s got a bit more on her plate than assignments,” Noah said, a hint of warning in his tone.

“Alright, why don’t we see what’s going on?” Julian said.

He helped Ella lie back on the bed, and she stared up at the ceiling as he walked to the head of the table and started working. The pain intensified when he pressed his thumb into one of the many knots in her neck, but it became the kind of pain that Ella didn’t mind because it meant she’d feel better later.

“Thanks for seeing me, by the way,” she said after a few awkward minutes of silence had passed.

“Anything for the man who holds my career in his hands,” Julian joked, making Ella smile. “Besides, based on what I’m feeling, you really needed the appointment. Have you done dry needling before?”

“Yes.” Because of her fear of needles, she’d been reluctant to try the treatment that was similar to acupuncture, but her usual physiotherapist had finally convinced her a month or two earlier.

“Can I use it on your neck and shoulder muscles?” he asked.

“Sure. Do you think I’ll be okay for cheer practice tomorrow?”

The physical therapist scoffed. “Not a chance. You need to take at least a week off, I’d say.”

“Is there anything we can do to make her more comfortable?” Noah asked, surprising Ella with his use of ‘we’.

“Lots of heat and no strenuous activity for the next two days.”

“Anything else?”

“She’ll probably be sore tomorrow, but a gentle massage should help with that.”

“Okay.”

Ella swallowed. Surely Noah wouldn’t come over again the next day to give her a massage. That would be completely out of character. The idea alone was laughable. Ridiculous, really. Definitely not appealing. Definitely not something she secretly and desperately wanted.

The next thirty minutes or so passed in a blur of pain, and though Noah and Julian kept up a steady conversation, Ella didn’t contribute or pay much attention to it. Instead, she spent the time actively trying and failing not to imagine Noah’s hands on her body.

???

“Thanks for organizing that,” Ella said. “I feel a lot better.”

They were in Noah’s car and heading back to her house.

“Of course.”

Of course. As though Noah Warner couldn’t even imagine saying no to her. As though it was natural for him to help her. Ella didn’t know if she should laugh or grab a fistful of his shirt and pull him in for a kiss.

“Now, I know I promised Taylor Swift, but what about we binge-watch some movies or a series instead?” he asked. “Your choice, of course.” There was that phrase again. Of course.

“My choice?” she asked.

“Yeah, whatever you want.”

Ella grinned, already knowing what they’d be watching. “Careful, Noah, or you may just suffer yet.”

“I can handle it.”

But he could not, it turned out, handle it, which became very evident less than two hours later.

“How could she say no?” Noah demanded to know after pausing the movie playing on Ella’s TV. “This is the worst movie ever.”

“Did you hear that pathetic excuse of a proposal?” Ella asked, her voice rising to meet his outraged one. She still couldn’t comfortably turn her head to the side, so she turned her entire body to face him. “He basically said Elizabeth is beneath him, but he’ll deign to marry her since he can’t keep himself from loving her.”

“I mean…yeah, but he does love her, and she loves him. They obviously want each other.”

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