Chapter 5
1102 Words
Eating at Oleander was Lina's idea.
She texted the group on Thursday saying Noah needed food and company, Tae replied with thumbs up emojis.
It was actually a good afternoon. The food was good, the table was by the window and for the first time since tuesday, Noah felt like himself again. He laughed at something Tae said about his coworker, he ordered a second glass of water and let the week feel less stressful than it had been.
Then he looked up and saw him.
Reid was sitting at a table in the corner, in a clean sleek suit, two other men sat across him with documents spread on the table between them. He looked exactly the way he looked that night at the bar, composed. His hand was wrapped around a glass of water and he was looking at whatever the man across him was saying with a cold expression.
Noah looked back at his food.
"So I told him," Tae was saying, "I said if you schedule another 7am meeting, I will actually quit and I meant it. He knows I meant it because…" he stopped, "Noah?"
"I'm listening."
"You're not."
"7am meeting," Noah said. "You threatened to quit."
Tae pointed at him. "See, that's the surface level listening, your eyes went somewhere."
Lina looked at him over her glass, she didn't say anything yet but she had that look.
"I'm fine," Noah said, "keep going."
Tae kept going, Noah kept listening properly this time and the conversation moved on. The food was served and things were fine.
He didn't look across the restaurant again.
He was very intent about not looking across the restaurant again.
"Okay," Lina said, setting her fork down. "We need to talk about the message you dropped in our group chat."
Noah picked up his wine.
"You sent that message," she said, "about Nate cheating on you and then nothing. Your phone was off for the whole night and most of the next morning."
"I told you I needed some time."
"You needed some time," Tae repeated slowly. "After finding out your boyfriend of nine months was cheating on you, you needed some time alone?"
"Yes."
Lina and Tae looked at each other.
"Noah," Lina said. "Where did you go that night."
"I went out."
"Out where?"
"Just out. I got a drink, cleared my head and I came home."
"You came home the next morning," Tae said. "That's not clearing your head, that's an entire activity."
Noah said nothing and took a sip of his wine then looked at the table.
He could feel both of them looking at him the way they always looked at him when they knew he was holding something back and were deciding how hard to push.
His face felt warm.
Lina noticed, she always noticed.
"Something happened," she said.
"I'm fine Lina."
"I didn't ask if you were fine, I said something happened." She tilted her head slightly. "You don't have to tell us everything but something happened that night and whatever it was, it's showing on your face right now."
Noah looked at her, then at Tae who was watching him with his chin in his hand looking genuinely invested.
"I met someone," Noah said.
The table was quiet for a few seconds.
"At the bar," he added quickly, "It was one night, it didn't mean anything. I just needed the distraction and it happened."
"One night," Tae said.
"One night."
"And?"
"And nothing, that's it, just one night."
Lina picked up her glass and looked at him over the rim in a way that made it very clear she didn't believe the 'and nothing' part at all but was choosing not to say so right now.
Tae looked like he had a lot of follow up questions but was physically restraining himself.
"Okay," Lina said simply.
"Okay," Noah said.
The conversation moved on. Tae started talking about something else, the lunch continued except for the one moment when he quietly looked at that corner and saw that the two men at that table had gathered their documents and were shaking hands. The meeting was probably wrapping up.
He looked back at Lina, she was already looking at him.
He smiled, she raised an eyebrow, he shook his head slightly and she turned back to Tae.
Ten minutes later, Noah excused himself from the table. He walked towards the back of the restaurant where the restrooms were.
He didn't look at that corner as he passed it even though he was very aware of who sat there.
He pushed the restroom door open and went to the sink. He ran cold water over his hands, looked at himself in the mirror then thought about nothing for a moment.
The door opened behind him.
He didn't need to look up to know but he looked up anyway.
Reid was standing inside the bathroom letting the door close behind him. Same face, same jaw, same composed expression except that his eyes were doing that thing they did at the bar, taking Noah in which was very hard to look away from.
They looked at each other in the mirror for a moment.
Noah turned around, leaned back against the sink and smiled.
"I didn't think I'd run into you again," he said.
The man said nothing.
"Small city," Noah said.
"It's not a small city," Reid replied.
"No," Noah agreed, "It's really not."
He looked at him for a while, that same easy aura he had at the bar, completely unbothered.
"You're still not smiling."
"I don't smile."
"You should, I already told you what it would do for that face."
Noah bent his head slightly. "And yet here you are, sitting at a restaurant looking all serious and expensive, making it very difficult for people to focus on their lunch."
Reid looked at him, "you noticed me?"
"It's hard not to," Noah said it simply. "You noticed me too."
Reid's jaw tightened slightly.
"Your friends," he said, "they were probably asking you questions."
"They were."
"About that night?"
"Among other things," Noah crossed his arms loosely. "Don't worry, I didn't have much to tell them, I don't even know your name."
Reid's expression changed briefly then it was gone.
The restroom was quiet, Noah stood against the sink looking at this man who occupied the doorway and apparently, a significant amount of space in Noah's head for the past week without even trying.
He felt something warm in his chest.
"It's really good to see you," Noah said quietly. "I never thought I would see you again."
- Writer
