Page 35 of Noah

"Oh my god, Brody," Alesia said. "What's that on your face?"

I instinctively touched my face wondering if I'd left some shaving cream beneath my ears. It took me a second to realize Alesia was talking about the hint of a smile I was wearing.

"I'm happy," I replied as I lifted the stack of mail on her desk and started to sort through it.

"It looks good on you. Any reason for this happiness?"

"Noah asked me on a date."

"The pub owner?"

"He asked me to go hiking with him on Saturday."

"One of your decompression days? You're willing to give that up?"

"Noah makes me feel calm. He's very understanding. Doesn't treat me with anything but respect. It's like he knows me and my needs already."

"He knows you're on the spectrum?"

"I told him. He listened when I shared things."

"You don't feel like that scared him."

"No. We've started touching each other."

"Any kissing yet."

I shook my head. "Too soon for that. I like that we're taking things slow."

"Are you glad you didn't sleep with him that first night?"

"I think that might have scared him off. I get all jumpy after sex when I don't know someone very well. I definitely wouldn't have gone back to his pub after freaking him out."

Alesia leaned forward on her desk. "Tell me about him."

I sighed. "He's beautiful. All rugged with wild auburn hair. And I told you about his eyes. They're like the deep recesses of glaciers. And he has the poutiest pink lips."

"Mm. And he sounds like a sweetheart if he's treating you so good."

"He volunteers at the Rainbow LGBTQ Youth Centre."

"Liking him even more."

"There's a young boy on the spectrum there. I get the impression Noah spends a lot of time with him. Noah asked me all kinds of questions about how he can best support him."

"Really liking him now. What else?"

"I think he might be a bit of a perfectionist. He's hard on himself when it comes to that pub. I'm not sure where that perfection complex comes from. The pub appears to be thriving."

"It must be stressful running a business like that."

I hadn't thought of that. Noah was under a lot of pressure. He had many people relying on him to keep a roof over their heads and food on their table. I wondered how organized Noah was at work. Organization helped me immensely. I couldn’t succeed without it.

"He works long hours."

"You must be really important to him if he's taking time off for a date."

"It feels right … what we're doing." Historically, I'd never dated someone before having sex with them. My ex-boyfriend was the only guy I'd ever dated, and we'd had sex first.

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