To my surprise, Noah smiles again. Well, sort of. It’s more of a slight tilt of his lips, but I’m learning that’s about as good as I can expect.
“Horrible,” he echoes.
“I don’t want to force you, though, if it’s going to be a complete nightmare for you. I can totally make something up about you being busy or something.”
“No, I . . .” He frowns, thinking. “I can go.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “Really?”
“Did you not want me to?”
“No, no.” I shake my head. “I guess I’d just assumed there’s no way you would want to.”
“Like you said,” he reasons, “I’m sure people will expect it.”
“Right.” I can’t say why, but for some reason, his answer makes me feel some distant cousin of irritation, but it’s gone as quickly as it comes. “I guess it’s a date then.”
He’s the one to look surprised now.
“Just kidding,” I quickly correct.
He nods slowly. “Right.”
“To be clear, though, literally everyone is going to be grilling us.”
“You think so?”
“Oh, we are hot gossip number one. My friend Priya is practically foaming at the mouth.”
He grimaces. “Should I be worried?”
“I think we can handle it,” I assure him. “We just have to pretend like we’re a deliriously happy couple, right?”
“Right,” he confirms.
“Oh. Also, we need to be thinking of a story about how we met.”
“How we met?”
He’s still frowning at me like he’s trying to figure something out. Or maybe that’s just his face. Actually, that’s plausible.
“Apparently, it’s a hot topic that keeps coming up. I managed to dodge the question today, but Priya is not one to let things go.”
“Does it need to be overly sensational?”
“That depends,” I say seriously. “How opposed are you to the idea that you wrote me highly emotional poetry?”
His expression isn’t the least bit amused.
“Fine, fine,” I laugh. “It can be simple. I mean, we can stick mostly to the facts, really. We met at work. We could even stick to the simple truth to begin with. That we met when I came to your office for a consult question. Then we start adding the murky bits about hitting it off and falling in love and whatnot.”
“I’m surprised you remember how we met,” he says.
“You asked me why a resident was bringing you a consult.”
“I did?”
“You don’t forget someone saying you look ‘barely old enough to tie a suture,’？” I answer, surprising myself by laughing.
“Wow.” He shakes his head. “I really am an asshole, aren’t I?”
“I used to think so, but . . .” Weirdly, I’m still smiling. “I’m starting to think it’s just part of your charm.”
“Charm,” he echoes.
“I’m surprised too,” I tease.
His grin is still slight, like most of the time he graces me with a smile, but it really is starting to grow on me. Honestly, it sort of works for him. I like how every smile or laugh from Noah feels earned. I wonder absently if there is a possibility that I’m the first person he works with to ever see him smile. It’s a mildly satisfying idea.
“Anyway, I don’t want to keep you. I just wanted to check in and see what you thought about the party.”
“I’ll try my best not to embarrass you,” he deadpans.
I laugh again, knowing that he’s most likely only half joking. “Cool. So I guess I’ll let you—”
“My scent has faded,” he says suddenly.
I go still, one hand on the arm of the chair as I freeze in a position between standing and sitting. “What?”
He blinks, looking as surprised by his sudden outburst as I am. “Sorry. I just . . . I can’t smell it as much anymore. Hardly at all.”
“Oh.” Is this what he’s been brooding over? I press my nose to my coat, inhaling. “I guess you’re right. I hadn’t even noticed.”
“I should . . . I mean, it wouldn’t make sense for it to fade if we were supposedly living together and sharing a bed.”
Now, why does that make me flush? He didn’t say anything about sex, just sharing a mattress. There’s no reason to get flustered. I blame Priya and all her talk about knots. Since my brain apparently now goes straight from Noah to bed to knots when given the opportunity.