Chapter 43

Chapter 43
NOAH
The sound of thunder outside was what woke me up and after watching the windows get hit by raindrops for several moments, I groaned and rolled onto my side. I felt miserable. Today was my birthday but it didn't feel like it was and I had come down with a cold. I still had a headache but I didn't have aspirin at home because anger had made me forget to drop by the pharmacy on my way home yesterday.
I grabbed my phone from the nightstand to check the time and saw that I had several missed calls and messages from mum, dad and a couple of other people but I wasn’t interested in dealing with them right now, so I didn’t bother to check the messages. I dropped the phone back on the nightstand before pushing myself into a sitting position and when I tried to take a deep breath, I realized that my nose was stuffed up.
“Crap.”
“You're up,” a voice said and I turned my head to the left to see Dalia walking into the room. Eh? I remembered talking to her a couple of minutes past twelve AM when she called me to wish me a happy birthday and she was the last person I talked to before I went to bed, so for several moments, I wondered if I was dreaming. She placed her hand on my forehead when she stopped next to the bed and picked up a washcloth that I hadn't noticed before from my pillow. “How do you feel?”
“Dalia?” I muttered after coming to the conclusion that this wasn’t a dream, and she raised her brows as she folded the washcloth. “Why are you here?”
“Huh? Do you… Do you want me to leave?”
“No, no. I mean… don’t you have class right now?”
“Oh. It’s just two classes. I’ll get the notes from Tamika,” she replied, running her fingers through my hair, and I gave her a small frown.
“You shouldn’t be skipping class.”
“Really?” she said with a grin and it took me a couple of seconds to remember that Javier had told her that we constantly skipped classes while we were in university. I then shook my head sideways before trying to get down from the bed but she stopped me by firmly placing her hands on my shoulders. “You should stay in bed.”
I had slept for more than ten hours, so staying in bed didn’t sound appealing at all. “If I stay in bed any longer, I might die.” Dalia pressed her lips together and reluctantly let me get to my feet. “When did you get here?” I asked after pressing a kiss to her forehead, and we began to walk out of the room.
“About an hour ago. I met Javier here but he left to go get you medicine.”
“Oh.” I muttered, glancing at the windows when we got to the living room. The first thing that caught my eye when I looked away from the window was what was hanging from the wall. It was a painting of a man and a woman sitting at a pier and watching the sun set and it looked so realistic. Saying it was beautiful would be an understatement.
“Whoa.” I jerked my head in Dalia’s direction after I spotted her name signed at the bottom of the painting next to a heart, and saw her fiddling with the hem of the hoodie she was wearing as she stared at me. “Dalia, did you…”
She nervously shifted from one foot to the other and nodded. “You didn’t have anything hanging on the walls, so I thought you’d uh… like it if I painted something for you. And you said you love watching the sunset.”
My lips curved into a smile and I wrapped my arms around her. “I love it… I love it. I’d kiss you but-” I sniffled and cleared my throat before hugging her even tighter. “Thank you,” I added and a little while later, she pulled away from me with a grin.
“I also got you this,” she said, gesturing at her chest and I raised my brows before slowly placing my hands on her boobs.
"Your boobs?" I asked just as her eyes went round and her lips parted slightly.
“No, the… the hoodie.”
My gaze fell back to the hoodie and I pulled my hands away from her, so I could read what was written on it. World's best boyfriend. “Oh!”
Her expression instantly lit up and she snorted before bursting into laughter while I felt like a fool. I then returned my hands to her boobs and when I squeezed them, she swatted my hands away. “I got drenched in the rain and I didn’t want to wake you up by moving around in your room, so I borrowed it,” she muttered and cleared her throat as she scratched the back of her neck. “I also didn’t know if you’d like it.”
“I do. I really do,” I replied and that earned me another smile from her. God, I loved seeing her smile.
“Sit down,” she said as she ushered me to a couch and gently pushed me onto it. “I made you something to eat. Let me go get it.” She then headed towards the kitchen and I leaned back in the couch before my eyes fell on a pile of gifts next to it.
The corner of my mouth quirked up when I figured out that they were from Javier and Dalia and as I moved to the right end of the couch, I heard the front door open. I immediately glanced at the hallway that led to the door, thinking Javier was the one that just walked in, but moments later, Taylor came out of the hallway, carrying a cake and bags of different sizes. I furrowed my brows, remembering that I’d given her my address when she called at midnight to wish me a happy birthday and told me that she had dropped by my former place.
Her eyes lit up when she saw me and she opened her mouth, making the bag she had been holding with her teeth drop to the ground, but before she could say anything, Dalia called out, “Javier?” Taylor paused while Dalia walked out of the kitchen and Dalia’s lips parted slightly after she saw my sister. “Oh!”
I had told her that Taylor was coming over when she called but she still looked quite surprised.
“Whoa, your hair,” was the first thing Taylor said several moments later and Dalia touched her hair before Taylor made her way over to her. “Dalia! So nice to meet you.”
“I, uh- It’s… nice to meet you too.” She seemed a bit nervous and Taylor must have noticed this because she switched from wanting to give her a hug to giving her a handshake instead. “Let me um, help you with those.”
“Oh, thank you,” she replied, letting Dalia collect the bags from her after she let go of her hand, and when her hands were finally free of the bags, she smiled at her.
“Stop ogling my girlfriend,” I said and Dalia snorted before walking back into the kitchen while Taylor walked towards me.
“Happy birthday!” she squealed as she wrapped her arms around me after dropping the cake on the centre table, and I groaned. “Oh, you’re hot.” She pulled away with a small frown and placed her hand on my forehead as I sniffled. “You’re sick?”
“I’ll be fine. Did you bake that yourself?”
"Yes," she replied and the corner of my mouth twitched while she grabbed the box from the table. "I wanted to make a medium-sized cake but it didn't come out well, so I made cupcakes instead… They're a bit salty though."
“Just a bit?” I muttered and she pursed her lips before I gently poked her cheek. “Thank you.”
“Let me go put this in the kitchen and see what Dalia baked,” she said after a smile crept onto her face, and I raised my brows as she got to her feet.
“She baked?”
“Yeah. Can’t you smell it?” she asked and moments later, I finally managed to perceive the pleasant aroma of cake. Then the front door opened, drawing my attention to the hallway before Javier came out of it and he sneered when his eyes fell on Taylor. “Ah, I knew something was missing.”
“What are you doing here?”
“What are you doing here?” she replied with emphasis on ‘you’, and I groaned while they glared at each other. They didn’t actually dislike each other, they just liked messing with each other and if I didn’t stop it now, it would go on for God knows how long.
“I’ll kick the both of you out.”
They glanced at me and Javier heaved a sigh as he walked towards me, flipping Taylor the bird when she stuck her tongue out at him, before handing me a small plastic bag. “Here's your medicine. Sorry I took so long. The pharmacies nearby were closed.”
“Thank you,” I said, my lips curving into a smile as I gently nudged him with my foot, and he waggled his eyebrows.
“You like me more, don’t you?”
“Can it,” I added and he let out a laugh, using the washcloth around his neck to wipe his face before heading towards the kitchen as Dalia came out of it with the breakfast she made for me in a tray. “I can smell what you’ve been up to. Are you trying to upstage me by baking?”
“It’s not upstaging if the attention was not on you in the first place,” she replied and he gasped loudly while she walked over to me with a grin on her face. She then sat next to me and collected the plastic bag from me to go through its contents after setting the tray on her lap.
“Dalia.” I tucked her hair behind her ear as I moved closer to her and she hmmed. “You got me so many things.”
“Huh?” she muttered, lifting her eyes to mine, and when I gestured at the pile of gifts next to the couch, she pressed her lips together. “...I panicked because I wasn’t sure you’d like the painting and I didn’t want to give you something you wouldn’t like… so I just got a bunch of things.” She looked so adorable while saying the last part and I couldn’t stop myself from letting out a laugh before grabbing her hand and raising it up to press a kiss to the back of her palm.
“Why did you think I wouldn’t like something you gave me? Of course, I would. I love everything you give me. I love y-”
…Huh?!
My eyes widened and I tightened my hold on her hand as I fully processed what I had been about to say. I love you. Her hand felt so warm in mine and my face seemed to grow hotter than it already was as I stared at her. When did I-
“You love what?” she asked, raising her brows, and as I stared at her, I couldn’t help but wonder if I would have scared the hell out of her if I had completed that statement.
“I -” I quickly paused again to clear my throat and let go of her hand before moving the tray from her lap to mine. “Your cookies. You baked, right?”
“Yes. How do you know?”
“I… I can smell it,” I replied and tried to take a deep breath but when my stuffy nose prevented me from doing so, she tipped her head to the side.
“Isn’t your nose stuffed up?”
“It’s… not that bad.”
“Okay. Eat up, so you can use the medicine,” she said and as she smiled at me, I couldn’t imagine any other place for me to be than next to her. I was in deep.