Company, cocoa and kisses
Characters: Maddy Cornfoot, Emily Summers, and Noah Macmillan
Authors: kate_lamb, lis_lamb, and keeley_lamb
Date Set: 2034
Rating: Anyone
Summary: Emily & Maddy drop in on Noah unexpectedly. There's friendly ribbing, cocoa, and snogging.
It wasn’t often that Emily deigned someone important enough to bake for. It was hard to imagine that the snooty little event planner could bake, let alone enjoy spending time in the kitchen. Then again, her mother was Mandy Summers (neé Brocklehurst) and the petite woman would hardly let any of her children out of her house without teaching them how to feed themselves (that did not involve a take-away menu), even absent-minded and easily distracted JJ. With that thought in mind, Emily Apparated to Noah’s flat. If he was working on a Saturday afternoon, she was going to hex him.
“Hullo?” Noah called, shivering as the wards tingled on his skin. He wasn’t too bothered by someone Apparating in - the only people who had access were close family and friends, and they usually only came over when they thought he was starving to death, or turning into a hermit. Either way was a good thing. He liked food and company.
“So you are here and alive, thank Merlin.” Smiling, Emmy made her way into the room her absent minded friend was currently occupying. “And not at work.” The petite brunette took a seat opposite Noah and uncovered her basket of baked goods. “Muffin or scone?”
Maddy knocked on the door to Noah’s flat, a spur of the moment stop on her way from visiting with her parents. She’d had to miss their usual coffee date this week because of an interview at Aunt Alexa’s company and she wanted to see him. What exactly that said about her friendship with Noah, she didn’t examine too closely.
“Hmm, muffin. Wait, what kind of scones?” While not a picky eater by any sense of the word, he did have favorites, which were usually used to bribe. He didn’t have a problem with that at all. The knock reverberated through the room and Noah perked up. “I’m popular today.”
“It must be your dashing good looks,” Emily said dryly as she selected a cranberry-orange scone for herself. “And it’s an assortment. I couldn’t decide what to make this morning.”
“Right,” he drawled over his shoulder. “Don’t eat any of the chocolate ones.”
Noah pulled open the door and grinned at the woman standing on his stoop. “Hey, Maddy.”
“Hi,” the blonde said, returning Noah’s smile. “I’m sorry to just drop in, but I was,” sort of, “in the area and thought I’d see if you were free.” Noises came from further inside the flat and Maddy’s eyes widened. “Oh, you already have company.”
“Yeah, Emmy brought over some baked goods. Come on in,” he reached for her hand and tugged her in, letting the door swing shut behind them. “And if you’re very nice, I might let you have a chocolate one.”
“There’s plenty of chocolate to go around, Noah Macmillan,” Emily sniffed. “If you do not share, I shall tell your mother.”
“She’s so mean to me,” he whispered to Maddy.
Maddy giggled and followed him to the promised baked goods. Her plan had been to spend time just with Noah, but it had been awhile since she’d seen Emmy. If she didn’t get to keep Noah all to herself, at least she was sharing him with a friend. A friend who’d once had a crush on him, but Maddy was fairly sure that was long since past. “Hi Emmy,” she said with a grin.
“Scone? Muffin? Take something with chocolate.” The little brunette smirked at Noah as she passed the basket to the other woman.
Making a show of looking through all the goodies, Maddy finally settled on a banana nut muffin. She picked a bit off and sampled it. “Are you sure you went into the right business?” she asked the dark-haired woman.
Emily blinked before breaking off a bite-sized piece of scone. “I get to micromanage and order people around. What’s not to love?” Brooke had commented on that enough, so as much as Emily hated to do so, she had to agree with her sister.
“I can’t argue with that,” Maddy admitted with a sigh. Having minions was always appealing.
“You guys are so weird,” he told them, picking chocolate chips out of his muffin.
Emily narrowed her eyes at him, fingering her wand. “You’re supposed to eat the whole muffin, Noah David, not just the chocolate.” She sniffed. “Also, you’re supposed to be nice to girls. Calling us weird isn’t being nice.”
“I will eat the whole thing, I’m just eating the best part first. Bossy.” He squirmed, feeling all of five when she used his middle name. He hated that.
“Somehow I feel like we’ve had this sort of conversation before. Possibly on the Hogwarts Express,” Maddy teased, reaching out and snatching a chip from Noah’s muffin.
“Probably because we have had this sort of conversation before.” Noah scowled and held his muffin closer to his chest. “Hey, you chose not-chocolate, so hands off mine.”
Emily giggled, breaking off another piece of her scone. “You know, I wonder sometimes.” She tilted her head to the side. “You have a rather unhealthy love of chocolate for a male.” Not that she disapproved, of course. Noah understood the healing values of a good piece of Belgian chocolate.
Maddy’s eyes turned to Noah, suspicious. “You said you weren’t -”
“I am not gay! I just happen to have a sweet tooth.” He sank lower in the cushions, feeling very put upon.
“A very good and highly selective sweet tooth.” The small woman reached over to pat Noah’s knee soothingly. “He’s not gay,” she turned to Maddy. “Just oblivious.”
The blonde blushed, clearing her throat. “He’s been very good about remembering engagements lately,” she said, though she had a feeling that wasn’t the sort of oblivious Emmy meant.
“I’ve only forgotten once,” he told Emmy, poking her side. And that one wasn’t really his fault, since they’d brought two boxes down to the archives, and he couldn’t just leave them sitting out, could he?
“And I shall lord that one time over your head forever.” Emily mock sniffed. “It’s what friends do.” She smiled then. Noah was utterly oblivious. He had no idea when a girl liked him. Merlin, hadn’t she nursed a healthy crush on him during her sixth and seventh years? Perhaps if he had noticed, things might have turned out differently, but for once Emmy could say she was happy about the turns her life had taken.
“Friends should not torment other friends.” Unfortunately, most did. It would bother him a lot more if she was being mean-spirited about it, but she wasn’t.
Emily snorted. “My parents torment each other as foreplay. If you can’t handle it...” She shrugged.
Nose crinkling, Maddy pulled a face. “Could we not talk about parents and sex? It’s bad enough I have to check with the elves to make sure it’s safe to walk through Sans Souci without fear of finding mine naked, I’d rather not bring the subject into my leisure time.” Sure, maybe she was a prude, but ew.
Noah’s brows quirked and he turned to Emmy. “You consider this foreplay?” He may have been a bit of a shut-in, but he had quite a different idea about what foreplay should be. “You should get out more, Emmy. And that’s coming from a bonafide hermit.”
The brunette choked on her piece of scone. “No. And certainly not with you, now.” Perhaps when they had been younger, before she knew what foreplay really was. “Sorry, Noah.”
“I think there must be more enjoyable kinds of foreplay anyway,” Maddy interjected. Not that she really knew. David hadn’t been particularly keen on the pre-show activities.
“Of course there are.” The conversation had taken an uncomfortable turn somewhere along the line, and Noah was anxious for a subject change. “But I would like to talk about something else, please.” Anything else.
“Gladly.” Emily stood. “Do you have any tea, Noah? I think a bit of scone went down the wrong way.” That, and a cup of tea made everything better.
“‘Fraid not. I haven’t had a chance to go to the store.” He had a grocery list all written up, but by the time he remembered that he needed groceries, the stores were all closed.
Emily opened her mouth and then closed it with a shake of her head. Noah was absent minded, she had to remind herself. “Do you have coffee then? Hot chocolate?” If he had none of these things she was Apparating back to her flat for tea and then she was going to take Noah shopping. It was a miracle that the man was still alive. If his head were not bolted to his neck she theorized that he would be liable to leave it some place.
“Do you actually keep coffee at your flat?” Maddy asked, shifting on the sofa to look at Noah. They went out for coffee all the time, so she’d just sort of assumed he didn’t make it at home. It was a silly assumption. She had coffee at her flat. She just liked having an excuse to go out with Noah.
“You’d have a better chance of finding coffee than you would of finding tea, but I’m not sure if I have any. I do have hot chocolate, though.” No pantry should be without hot chocolate, even if it was bare of everything else.
“I’ll just be fetching that then.” Emily looked between the two and smiled to herself. Noah was oblivious, but that was normal. Maddy on the other hand was sending out completely different signals. After she made hot chocolate for the pair she’d take her leave, the woman decided. She could always come back with the kitchen staples for Noah later.
If she was meddling, that hardly mattered, Emily decided as she stood and withdrew to the kitchen. Sometimes people’s lives needed to be meddled in.
“Thanks, Em.” He kicked back on the couch and grinned at Maddy. “So, I missed our coffee date this week. I had to sit there all alone and lonely.”
He’d missed her. The smile that grew from that knowledge was unbidden, but Maddy quickly toned it down lest Noah think she was glad he’d been lonely. Leaning over, she pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, just a little closer to his mouth than was strictly friendly. “I missed it, too. Threw my whole week off. That’s why I came by today.”
A tiny wrinkle appeared between his eyebrows as he analyzed the gesture, certain he was reading too much into it. She’d kissed him before, but it was always chaste, friendly. He tried not to read into those either. “Let’s not do it again, then.”
“It’s a deal.” It was just fine with her if they kept up their schedule of coffee dates. Maybe she’d even try to finagle a few extra lunches or dinners in from time to time. Who knew? Maybe if she hung around enough Noah would pick up on the hints she gave him. Eying his muffin, Maddy batted her lashes. “Can I have another chip?”
Noah glanced down at the half eaten muffin in his hand and back up at her. His eyes narrowed. “Fine, one more. You’re lucky I like you.”
“That’s true,” the blonde agreed as she watched Noah pull off a bit of muffin and hold it out to her. She felt slightly ridiculous and she could feel the heat climbing up her neck, but on a whim Maddy leaned forward and nibbled the piece of baked goodness right from his fingers. She really had no shame. She’d be lucky if he didn’t laugh her out of the flat.
Noah flushed, turning bright red as her lips brushed his skin. This was harder to brush off as merely friendly, but he didn’t know what to think. His first instinct had been to pull his hand away, but he didn’t. He wasn’t sure why, but he didn’t.
It took a moment for Maddy to get the courage to look at him. Noah wasn’t laughing at her, but he wasn’t saying anything either. When she finally met his bemused gaze, all she could get out was, “Sorry.”
Untangling his tongue took a minute, but it did happen. “It’s fine.”
It was fine. Fine. What the hell did that mean? Fine in a ‘you’re my friend and I accept that you’re a freak’ way or fine in a ‘no, that’s okay, eat from my hand anytime because I like it’ way? As long as it wasn’t more chocolate, of course, since he’d only said she could have the one additional chip. She didn’t know quite what to do now so Maddy just sank back into the sofa and contemplated her own muffin. “Okay. That’s... good.”
They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence, with Noah glancing over every so often. “So, how’s work?” he blurted out as the silence wore on.
Maddy’s eyes cut to the side, narrowing as she looked over at him. Crossing her arms over her chest, she said shortly, “It’s fine.” Somewhere inside she knew it wasn’t fair to be grumpy with Noah, but her little stunt hadn’t done a bit of good and now she just felt stupid.
“Oh. Good.” He cleared his throat. “I’m, uh, I’m going to go see how Emmy’s coming along.”
Noah pushed up from the couch and ambled into the kitchen, walking past Emmy and going for the cups. “I made Maddy mad,” he announced, pulling mugs from the cupboard. He glanced over his shoulder to see how Emmy was reacting to this news.
Emily blinked. “I’ve been gone less than three minutes, Noah. How could you have made her mad?” Noah was too sweet to hurt a fly. He couldn’t make anyone mad. Spelling the spoon to stir the chocolate and bubbling milk by itself, the shorter brunette went to fetch the mugs from her friend’s hands. “Explain,” she demanded.
“I don’t really know what happened. She wanted another chocolate chip, I gave one to her, and now she’s upset.” Ghosting over the... nibbling thing seemed like the best way to go. He still wasn’t sure what to think about that.
Emily put a hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow. “You gave her what she wanted and she’s upset? That doesn’t make sense unless you’re leaving something out.”
He shrugged and rubbed at an imaginary speck on the mug. “Nope, not leaving out a thing. Not a single thing.”
She plucked the mug from his hand and turned to go fill three of them with the hot chocolate bubbling away on the stove. “Well then perhaps I should ask her?”
That gave Noah pause for the briefest of moments. It didn’t matter if Emmy asked Maddy, unless it did, of course. She’d gotten angry when he’d brushed it off, but he wasn’t sure what that was about. Women were just...confusing. “If you want.”
Merlin, he was sending mixed messages. If he was this way with her, how was he treating Maddy? Emily didn’t want to meddle. She didn’t mean to. But it was beginning to be obvious that she would have to. “Noah, I didn’t think you meant to make her mad.”
“Of course I didn’t mean to make her mad.” These sorts of things always happened to him. He didn’t know how or why, but they did.
Sitting in the living room, Maddy started to get antsy waiting for her friends to come back. What if Noah had gone to tell Emmy what she’d done? It hadn’t taken even a few minutes for Emmy to figure out that she was interested in Noah, now she’d just seem desperate. With a groan, the blonde stood and walked to the kitchen. Imagining what they were talking about was killing her.
“Hey,” she said as she pushed through the door, “how many people does it take to stir cocoa?”
Noah jolted at the sound of her voice and cleared his throat. “Looks like our lucky number is three. It’s almost ready.”
“Oh, good.” Maddy’s eyes moved from Noah to Emmy and back again, trying to determine if her stupid behavior had been shared. Aside from a bit of nervousness on his part and perhaps a little confused suspicion on hers, there was nothing obvious in the way they looked at her.
After a moment Emmy went back to tending the stove and Maddy came to stand close to Noah, whispering under her breath, “I’m sorry I was snippy.”
“It’s alright,” he replied, matching her tone. He wasn’t upset or angry at being snapped at, it happened fairly often, but he was still mulling things over.
“Could I talk to you for a minute? In private?” It was clear her little advances were not wanted but Noah was too sweet to say so. She would just have to accept his friendship and promise not to push further anymore.
“Sure.” He took her hand and, after a quick ‘we’ll be back’ to Emmy, led her out of the kitchen. “You okay?”
A small knot had started to build in his stomach, and his heart was pounding. ‘We need to talk’ was never something you wanted to hear, especially when a pretty girl, one of your best friends, was saying it.
Heat rose in her face, pinking her cheeks. It was embarrassing to admit she’d been hoping for more than the friendship they had, but if that was all her friend was interested in Maddy would rather have Noah as her friend than not at all. Even if it stung her pride.
Nodding in answer to his question, Maddy bit her lip, eyes cast downward. “I just wanted to apologize for all my silliness. I won’t trouble you with it anymore. If you’re happy with our friendship as it is, I will do my best to be content with it, too.”
Noah blinked. Whatever he had been expecting, that wasn’t it. “Wait, what?”
“Noah,” Maddy whined, “don’t make me say it again. I get it. You’re not interested. It’s fine.”
“Wha-” He was starting to wonder if he’d fallen and hit his head on something and just couldn’t remember. “Maddy, what are you talking about?”
He couldn’t be serious. She’d literally eaten out of his hand, kissed him on any number of occasions, asked if he’d checked out her charms. No one could be that oblivious. “I’ve been flirting with you for ages, Noah. You can’t tell me you never noticed any of it.”
“I just thought- I mean- I don’t know.” If there was a note of panic in his voice, it was because the knot in his stomach had sprouted spikes and was bouncing around. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t hoping for something like this to happen, only in his version he looked like less of an idiot.
Fantastic. He didn’t even know and now that he did... Nothing. “Well, okay then. So, like I said, no need to worry about that. Not that you were, I guess.” She shifted awkwardly. “I think maybe I should go now and we’ll just pretend I never brought it up, yeah?”
“Don’t go, Maddy.” Noah reached for her hand, stopping himself at the last moment. “I am interested, I’m very interested.”
It took a moment before she remembered to close her gaping mouth. She’d convinced herself that the attraction was all on her side. Finding out she was wrong was a shock. It was amazing, but still a shock. Stepping closer, Maddy’s eyes were wide as she looked up at him. “Really?”
“Really.” He reached up to brush a lock of hair behind her ear. Hesitating briefly - just in case he’d misread all the signs and everything they had just been talking about - he summoned all of his courage and leaned in to kiss her. “Sorry. It seemed like the most appropriate thing to do under the circumstances,” he said once he’d pulled away.
“It’s fine,” she said with a smile even as she slipped her arms over his shoulders. “Perfectly appropriate,” she added just before pulling him in for a proper snog.
Pleased by this turn of events - and still slightly surprised by the fact that she’d been flirting with him for months, though not so much that he hadn’t realized it - he slid his arms around her.
“The cocoa--” Emily stopped short, seeing Noah and Maddy locked in what looked like a very passionate embrace. Clearly they no longer needed her here to make things awkward. Placing two mugs down on a nearby table, she quietly put a stasis charm on each, keeping one for herself. She’d return the mug when she came to fetch her basket.
With a small, self-satisfied smirk, the brunette snuck back into the kitchen to Apparate away. She’d confront the pair of lovebirds later... when they weren’t in the midst of what looked like a good snog.
Authors: kate_lamb, lis_lamb, and keeley_lamb
Date Set: 2034
Rating: Anyone
Summary: Emily & Maddy drop in on Noah unexpectedly. There's friendly ribbing, cocoa, and snogging.
It wasn’t often that Emily deigned someone important enough to bake for. It was hard to imagine that the snooty little event planner could bake, let alone enjoy spending time in the kitchen. Then again, her mother was Mandy Summers (neé Brocklehurst) and the petite woman would hardly let any of her children out of her house without teaching them how to feed themselves (that did not involve a take-away menu), even absent-minded and easily distracted JJ. With that thought in mind, Emily Apparated to Noah’s flat. If he was working on a Saturday afternoon, she was going to hex him.
“Hullo?” Noah called, shivering as the wards tingled on his skin. He wasn’t too bothered by someone Apparating in - the only people who had access were close family and friends, and they usually only came over when they thought he was starving to death, or turning into a hermit. Either way was a good thing. He liked food and company.
“So you are here and alive, thank Merlin.” Smiling, Emmy made her way into the room her absent minded friend was currently occupying. “And not at work.” The petite brunette took a seat opposite Noah and uncovered her basket of baked goods. “Muffin or scone?”
Maddy knocked on the door to Noah’s flat, a spur of the moment stop on her way from visiting with her parents. She’d had to miss their usual coffee date this week because of an interview at Aunt Alexa’s company and she wanted to see him. What exactly that said about her friendship with Noah, she didn’t examine too closely.
“Hmm, muffin. Wait, what kind of scones?” While not a picky eater by any sense of the word, he did have favorites, which were usually used to bribe. He didn’t have a problem with that at all. The knock reverberated through the room and Noah perked up. “I’m popular today.”
“It must be your dashing good looks,” Emily said dryly as she selected a cranberry-orange scone for herself. “And it’s an assortment. I couldn’t decide what to make this morning.”
“Right,” he drawled over his shoulder. “Don’t eat any of the chocolate ones.”
Noah pulled open the door and grinned at the woman standing on his stoop. “Hey, Maddy.”
“Hi,” the blonde said, returning Noah’s smile. “I’m sorry to just drop in, but I was,” sort of, “in the area and thought I’d see if you were free.” Noises came from further inside the flat and Maddy’s eyes widened. “Oh, you already have company.”
“Yeah, Emmy brought over some baked goods. Come on in,” he reached for her hand and tugged her in, letting the door swing shut behind them. “And if you’re very nice, I might let you have a chocolate one.”
“There’s plenty of chocolate to go around, Noah Macmillan,” Emily sniffed. “If you do not share, I shall tell your mother.”
“She’s so mean to me,” he whispered to Maddy.
Maddy giggled and followed him to the promised baked goods. Her plan had been to spend time just with Noah, but it had been awhile since she’d seen Emmy. If she didn’t get to keep Noah all to herself, at least she was sharing him with a friend. A friend who’d once had a crush on him, but Maddy was fairly sure that was long since past. “Hi Emmy,” she said with a grin.
“Scone? Muffin? Take something with chocolate.” The little brunette smirked at Noah as she passed the basket to the other woman.
Making a show of looking through all the goodies, Maddy finally settled on a banana nut muffin. She picked a bit off and sampled it. “Are you sure you went into the right business?” she asked the dark-haired woman.
Emily blinked before breaking off a bite-sized piece of scone. “I get to micromanage and order people around. What’s not to love?” Brooke had commented on that enough, so as much as Emily hated to do so, she had to agree with her sister.
“I can’t argue with that,” Maddy admitted with a sigh. Having minions was always appealing.
“You guys are so weird,” he told them, picking chocolate chips out of his muffin.
Emily narrowed her eyes at him, fingering her wand. “You’re supposed to eat the whole muffin, Noah David, not just the chocolate.” She sniffed. “Also, you’re supposed to be nice to girls. Calling us weird isn’t being nice.”
“I will eat the whole thing, I’m just eating the best part first. Bossy.” He squirmed, feeling all of five when she used his middle name. He hated that.
“Somehow I feel like we’ve had this sort of conversation before. Possibly on the Hogwarts Express,” Maddy teased, reaching out and snatching a chip from Noah’s muffin.
“Probably because we have had this sort of conversation before.” Noah scowled and held his muffin closer to his chest. “Hey, you chose not-chocolate, so hands off mine.”
Emily giggled, breaking off another piece of her scone. “You know, I wonder sometimes.” She tilted her head to the side. “You have a rather unhealthy love of chocolate for a male.” Not that she disapproved, of course. Noah understood the healing values of a good piece of Belgian chocolate.
Maddy’s eyes turned to Noah, suspicious. “You said you weren’t -”
“I am not gay! I just happen to have a sweet tooth.” He sank lower in the cushions, feeling very put upon.
“A very good and highly selective sweet tooth.” The small woman reached over to pat Noah’s knee soothingly. “He’s not gay,” she turned to Maddy. “Just oblivious.”
The blonde blushed, clearing her throat. “He’s been very good about remembering engagements lately,” she said, though she had a feeling that wasn’t the sort of oblivious Emmy meant.
“I’ve only forgotten once,” he told Emmy, poking her side. And that one wasn’t really his fault, since they’d brought two boxes down to the archives, and he couldn’t just leave them sitting out, could he?
“And I shall lord that one time over your head forever.” Emily mock sniffed. “It’s what friends do.” She smiled then. Noah was utterly oblivious. He had no idea when a girl liked him. Merlin, hadn’t she nursed a healthy crush on him during her sixth and seventh years? Perhaps if he had noticed, things might have turned out differently, but for once Emmy could say she was happy about the turns her life had taken.
“Friends should not torment other friends.” Unfortunately, most did. It would bother him a lot more if she was being mean-spirited about it, but she wasn’t.
Emily snorted. “My parents torment each other as foreplay. If you can’t handle it...” She shrugged.
Nose crinkling, Maddy pulled a face. “Could we not talk about parents and sex? It’s bad enough I have to check with the elves to make sure it’s safe to walk through Sans Souci without fear of finding mine naked, I’d rather not bring the subject into my leisure time.” Sure, maybe she was a prude, but ew.
Noah’s brows quirked and he turned to Emmy. “You consider this foreplay?” He may have been a bit of a shut-in, but he had quite a different idea about what foreplay should be. “You should get out more, Emmy. And that’s coming from a bonafide hermit.”
The brunette choked on her piece of scone. “No. And certainly not with you, now.” Perhaps when they had been younger, before she knew what foreplay really was. “Sorry, Noah.”
“I think there must be more enjoyable kinds of foreplay anyway,” Maddy interjected. Not that she really knew. David hadn’t been particularly keen on the pre-show activities.
“Of course there are.” The conversation had taken an uncomfortable turn somewhere along the line, and Noah was anxious for a subject change. “But I would like to talk about something else, please.” Anything else.
“Gladly.” Emily stood. “Do you have any tea, Noah? I think a bit of scone went down the wrong way.” That, and a cup of tea made everything better.
“‘Fraid not. I haven’t had a chance to go to the store.” He had a grocery list all written up, but by the time he remembered that he needed groceries, the stores were all closed.
Emily opened her mouth and then closed it with a shake of her head. Noah was absent minded, she had to remind herself. “Do you have coffee then? Hot chocolate?” If he had none of these things she was Apparating back to her flat for tea and then she was going to take Noah shopping. It was a miracle that the man was still alive. If his head were not bolted to his neck she theorized that he would be liable to leave it some place.
“Do you actually keep coffee at your flat?” Maddy asked, shifting on the sofa to look at Noah. They went out for coffee all the time, so she’d just sort of assumed he didn’t make it at home. It was a silly assumption. She had coffee at her flat. She just liked having an excuse to go out with Noah.
“You’d have a better chance of finding coffee than you would of finding tea, but I’m not sure if I have any. I do have hot chocolate, though.” No pantry should be without hot chocolate, even if it was bare of everything else.
“I’ll just be fetching that then.” Emily looked between the two and smiled to herself. Noah was oblivious, but that was normal. Maddy on the other hand was sending out completely different signals. After she made hot chocolate for the pair she’d take her leave, the woman decided. She could always come back with the kitchen staples for Noah later.
If she was meddling, that hardly mattered, Emily decided as she stood and withdrew to the kitchen. Sometimes people’s lives needed to be meddled in.
“Thanks, Em.” He kicked back on the couch and grinned at Maddy. “So, I missed our coffee date this week. I had to sit there all alone and lonely.”
He’d missed her. The smile that grew from that knowledge was unbidden, but Maddy quickly toned it down lest Noah think she was glad he’d been lonely. Leaning over, she pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, just a little closer to his mouth than was strictly friendly. “I missed it, too. Threw my whole week off. That’s why I came by today.”
A tiny wrinkle appeared between his eyebrows as he analyzed the gesture, certain he was reading too much into it. She’d kissed him before, but it was always chaste, friendly. He tried not to read into those either. “Let’s not do it again, then.”
“It’s a deal.” It was just fine with her if they kept up their schedule of coffee dates. Maybe she’d even try to finagle a few extra lunches or dinners in from time to time. Who knew? Maybe if she hung around enough Noah would pick up on the hints she gave him. Eying his muffin, Maddy batted her lashes. “Can I have another chip?”
Noah glanced down at the half eaten muffin in his hand and back up at her. His eyes narrowed. “Fine, one more. You’re lucky I like you.”
“That’s true,” the blonde agreed as she watched Noah pull off a bit of muffin and hold it out to her. She felt slightly ridiculous and she could feel the heat climbing up her neck, but on a whim Maddy leaned forward and nibbled the piece of baked goodness right from his fingers. She really had no shame. She’d be lucky if he didn’t laugh her out of the flat.
Noah flushed, turning bright red as her lips brushed his skin. This was harder to brush off as merely friendly, but he didn’t know what to think. His first instinct had been to pull his hand away, but he didn’t. He wasn’t sure why, but he didn’t.
It took a moment for Maddy to get the courage to look at him. Noah wasn’t laughing at her, but he wasn’t saying anything either. When she finally met his bemused gaze, all she could get out was, “Sorry.”
Untangling his tongue took a minute, but it did happen. “It’s fine.”
It was fine. Fine. What the hell did that mean? Fine in a ‘you’re my friend and I accept that you’re a freak’ way or fine in a ‘no, that’s okay, eat from my hand anytime because I like it’ way? As long as it wasn’t more chocolate, of course, since he’d only said she could have the one additional chip. She didn’t know quite what to do now so Maddy just sank back into the sofa and contemplated her own muffin. “Okay. That’s... good.”
They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence, with Noah glancing over every so often. “So, how’s work?” he blurted out as the silence wore on.
Maddy’s eyes cut to the side, narrowing as she looked over at him. Crossing her arms over her chest, she said shortly, “It’s fine.” Somewhere inside she knew it wasn’t fair to be grumpy with Noah, but her little stunt hadn’t done a bit of good and now she just felt stupid.
“Oh. Good.” He cleared his throat. “I’m, uh, I’m going to go see how Emmy’s coming along.”
Noah pushed up from the couch and ambled into the kitchen, walking past Emmy and going for the cups. “I made Maddy mad,” he announced, pulling mugs from the cupboard. He glanced over his shoulder to see how Emmy was reacting to this news.
Emily blinked. “I’ve been gone less than three minutes, Noah. How could you have made her mad?” Noah was too sweet to hurt a fly. He couldn’t make anyone mad. Spelling the spoon to stir the chocolate and bubbling milk by itself, the shorter brunette went to fetch the mugs from her friend’s hands. “Explain,” she demanded.
“I don’t really know what happened. She wanted another chocolate chip, I gave one to her, and now she’s upset.” Ghosting over the... nibbling thing seemed like the best way to go. He still wasn’t sure what to think about that.
Emily put a hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow. “You gave her what she wanted and she’s upset? That doesn’t make sense unless you’re leaving something out.”
He shrugged and rubbed at an imaginary speck on the mug. “Nope, not leaving out a thing. Not a single thing.”
She plucked the mug from his hand and turned to go fill three of them with the hot chocolate bubbling away on the stove. “Well then perhaps I should ask her?”
That gave Noah pause for the briefest of moments. It didn’t matter if Emmy asked Maddy, unless it did, of course. She’d gotten angry when he’d brushed it off, but he wasn’t sure what that was about. Women were just...confusing. “If you want.”
Merlin, he was sending mixed messages. If he was this way with her, how was he treating Maddy? Emily didn’t want to meddle. She didn’t mean to. But it was beginning to be obvious that she would have to. “Noah, I didn’t think you meant to make her mad.”
“Of course I didn’t mean to make her mad.” These sorts of things always happened to him. He didn’t know how or why, but they did.
Sitting in the living room, Maddy started to get antsy waiting for her friends to come back. What if Noah had gone to tell Emmy what she’d done? It hadn’t taken even a few minutes for Emmy to figure out that she was interested in Noah, now she’d just seem desperate. With a groan, the blonde stood and walked to the kitchen. Imagining what they were talking about was killing her.
“Hey,” she said as she pushed through the door, “how many people does it take to stir cocoa?”
Noah jolted at the sound of her voice and cleared his throat. “Looks like our lucky number is three. It’s almost ready.”
“Oh, good.” Maddy’s eyes moved from Noah to Emmy and back again, trying to determine if her stupid behavior had been shared. Aside from a bit of nervousness on his part and perhaps a little confused suspicion on hers, there was nothing obvious in the way they looked at her.
After a moment Emmy went back to tending the stove and Maddy came to stand close to Noah, whispering under her breath, “I’m sorry I was snippy.”
“It’s alright,” he replied, matching her tone. He wasn’t upset or angry at being snapped at, it happened fairly often, but he was still mulling things over.
“Could I talk to you for a minute? In private?” It was clear her little advances were not wanted but Noah was too sweet to say so. She would just have to accept his friendship and promise not to push further anymore.
“Sure.” He took her hand and, after a quick ‘we’ll be back’ to Emmy, led her out of the kitchen. “You okay?”
A small knot had started to build in his stomach, and his heart was pounding. ‘We need to talk’ was never something you wanted to hear, especially when a pretty girl, one of your best friends, was saying it.
Heat rose in her face, pinking her cheeks. It was embarrassing to admit she’d been hoping for more than the friendship they had, but if that was all her friend was interested in Maddy would rather have Noah as her friend than not at all. Even if it stung her pride.
Nodding in answer to his question, Maddy bit her lip, eyes cast downward. “I just wanted to apologize for all my silliness. I won’t trouble you with it anymore. If you’re happy with our friendship as it is, I will do my best to be content with it, too.”
Noah blinked. Whatever he had been expecting, that wasn’t it. “Wait, what?”
“Noah,” Maddy whined, “don’t make me say it again. I get it. You’re not interested. It’s fine.”
“Wha-” He was starting to wonder if he’d fallen and hit his head on something and just couldn’t remember. “Maddy, what are you talking about?”
He couldn’t be serious. She’d literally eaten out of his hand, kissed him on any number of occasions, asked if he’d checked out her charms. No one could be that oblivious. “I’ve been flirting with you for ages, Noah. You can’t tell me you never noticed any of it.”
“I just thought- I mean- I don’t know.” If there was a note of panic in his voice, it was because the knot in his stomach had sprouted spikes and was bouncing around. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t hoping for something like this to happen, only in his version he looked like less of an idiot.
Fantastic. He didn’t even know and now that he did... Nothing. “Well, okay then. So, like I said, no need to worry about that. Not that you were, I guess.” She shifted awkwardly. “I think maybe I should go now and we’ll just pretend I never brought it up, yeah?”
“Don’t go, Maddy.” Noah reached for her hand, stopping himself at the last moment. “I am interested, I’m very interested.”
It took a moment before she remembered to close her gaping mouth. She’d convinced herself that the attraction was all on her side. Finding out she was wrong was a shock. It was amazing, but still a shock. Stepping closer, Maddy’s eyes were wide as she looked up at him. “Really?”
“Really.” He reached up to brush a lock of hair behind her ear. Hesitating briefly - just in case he’d misread all the signs and everything they had just been talking about - he summoned all of his courage and leaned in to kiss her. “Sorry. It seemed like the most appropriate thing to do under the circumstances,” he said once he’d pulled away.
“It’s fine,” she said with a smile even as she slipped her arms over his shoulders. “Perfectly appropriate,” she added just before pulling him in for a proper snog.
Pleased by this turn of events - and still slightly surprised by the fact that she’d been flirting with him for months, though not so much that he hadn’t realized it - he slid his arms around her.
“The cocoa--” Emily stopped short, seeing Noah and Maddy locked in what looked like a very passionate embrace. Clearly they no longer needed her here to make things awkward. Placing two mugs down on a nearby table, she quietly put a stasis charm on each, keeping one for herself. She’d return the mug when she came to fetch her basket.
With a small, self-satisfied smirk, the brunette snuck back into the kitchen to Apparate away. She’d confront the pair of lovebirds later... when they weren’t in the midst of what looked like a good snog.