Page 24 of Chasing Infinity

Noah

“Noah,” a singsong voice calls my name. I groan, rolling over on the lumpy pillow and squeeze my eyes shut tighter. My nose is hit with the warm vanilla and lavender scent, trademarked to Addison Parks. She does this every morning, and it has yet to lose its ability to grate on my nerves.

“Goaway, Parks. I’m sleeping.”

“It’s a nice day out. You should get up and stop being a lazy bum.”

I roll back over and open my eyes wide enough so she can catch the full force of my glare. Instead of scaring her off as I’d intended, she giggles like a schoolgirl, causing me to scowl at her even more.

“What is so funny?”

“Your hair is a disaster. Come on, get up. There’s coffee and breakfast downstairs. I want to see you in five minutes, chop chop!”

I groan again, listening for the tell-tale sound of the door closing and her feet bounding down the stairs to the diner. As soon as she’s gone, I push myself up into a seated position and stretch my arms up and back over my head, hearing thepopof both of my shoulder joints as I stretch. I’ve officially been roommates with Addison for almost a week now, and every moment has been just as irritating as this one.

She is impossible to live with, but I’ve secretly enjoyed it—early mornings and all. At the very least, it’s a massive improvement from sleeping in the back of my car. Maybe she’ll even make me an early riser one of these days, though I doubt it.

I push off the blanket and get up, locating a t-shirt and jeans and shucking them on before heading to the bathroom to straighten my hair out. I startle when I catch my reflection in the mirror. Addison was right; my hair is a wreck. What the hell was I doing in my sleep last night?

I comb my fingers through the long strands, thinking, begrudgingly, that I might need to schedule a haircut. This mess is getting out of control. Giving up, I undress and hop in the shower, rinsing off and wetting my hair to help tame it. When I’m done, I get dressed again and pull my wet hair back into a bun with my green hair tie on the back of my head. I’ll worry about it more once I’ve got some coffee in my system.

I head down to the diner to see Addison pouring two mugs of coffee. When she spots me, she makes a show of checking an invisible watch on her wrist and clucking her tongue. She told me five minutes, and I definitely took longer than that, but she just grins and hands me a mug full of coffee.

“Looks like you’ve made it just in time.”

I accept the steaming drink from her gratefully and raise it to my lips, taking a deep gulp of the brew. Immediately my eyes go wide, and I spit it right back into the cup. It tastes like lukewarm bean water. “What the fuck?”

“Oh shoot, Noah. I’m so sorry,” Parks apologizes profusely, embarrassment coloring her features. “Usually Grace or Jack makes the coffee, but they’re both running late today, which left me to be the one to start it. I’ll admit, I’m not very good at it. I was hoping that I had the right measurements, but I guess I didn’t.”

I watch her incredulously, cocking an eyebrow and trying to fight the smirk that’s threatening to take hold of my lips. “So you’re telling me that you, Addison Parks, owner extraordinaire of a delightful little diner, can’t brew a cup of coffee?”

Addison groans and drops her head into her palms. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

I can’t help but toss my head back with a laugh as I scoot my butt out of my chai and round the counter towards where she is. I raise my eyebrows, silently asking her permission before I cross the invisible line behind the register. Addison waves her hand in awhatevertype of way.

I’m still laughing as I make my way to her coffee machine, pulling out the carafe and putting on a big show of pouring it down the drain in the sink right next to it. Addison huffs and then crosses her arms.

“Am I supposed to thank you for coming to my rescue or something?”

I shoot her a grin over my shoulder as I start measuring out coffee groundsthe right way. “If you must.”

“You’re a pain in the ass.”

“That’s why you love me.” The words slip out before I can stop them, and an awkward silence falls over the two of us. I let it linger for a little too long, not really knowing how to get rid of it.

Finally, I clear my throat uncomfortably and look over at her again. “See, this is how you measure out coffee. I usually stick to about a scoop to scoop-and-a-half per cup. It doesn’t make it too strong but still gives you that kick.”

Parks takes my fumble in stride and walks over to me, making gallant effort of observing my instructions. “I see. I guess that’s where I go wrong. I can never get the right measurements.”

I glance at her out of the corner of my eye and smile. “For someone who used to love chemistry, that’s a pretty big admission.”

“Yeah, maybe. Look where I ended up, though,” Parks turns and sweeps her arm in front of her at the empty diner. “I think I still came out on top.”

“Why didn’t you go?” I ask her, honestly curious. We’ve been living together for better or for worse for the last week, but she’s been so busy. I feel like we haven’t had a chance to talk much, and questions are burning a hole in my mind begging to be asked.

When I left, her plan was to get into a prestigious university on a scholarship, major in science, and then continue in grad school to become a researcher. Diner-owner was never on the agenda at that time. Addison’s one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever met. The sky would’ve been the limit had she wanted to go that route.

Addison exhales and looks at me, unsure. “I don’t know, I guess I—” she purses her lips, contemplating, and then shrugs. “It just wasn’t what I was meant to do, I guess. After everything, the thought of leaving here just made me sick. I was all ready to go but then you….”

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