Let Love In

Max met them at the door, slapping back stage stickers on their shirts and walking right past security to the backstage door. As the four walked through the hallway, Colin and Max chatted about the drive with Riley tapping away at her phone. Noah trailed behind a few feet, alone in her thoughts, still unsure of what happened.

As they turned the corner, John jumped out of a door farther down the hallway, and in three strides met Riley in a huge bear hug. Max and Colin pushed past them and went into the dressing room while Noah stood there awkwardly, staring at the couple.

“Hey there, Beautiful…” Noah looked up to see Garrett heading toward her with a shy smile playing on his lips. He pulled her into a hug and placed a gentle kiss on her lips, causing Noah to melt into him and pushing Colin out of her mind.

“I missed you.” She mustered up a whisper after a moment, inhaling his scent and feeling his body heat against her exposed skin.

“I’m sorry that I suck with communicating when we’re on tour. It just gets busy, y’know?” Garrett whispered into her ear, the two of them still standing in the hallway in the same position as John and Riley a few feet away. He kissed her again as she smiled, accepting his apology with a nod and a sigh. Their fingers intertwined as he pulled away, leading them into the dressing room toward a couch in the corner. Noah waved a few hellos to the others in the room before they sat, immediately curling into Garrett’s side and staying there next to him for the foreseeable future.

“You guys drove all the way out here just to see us? Y-You’re crazy.” Pat shook his head in disbelief, sitting down on the arm rest of the over-sized plush chair Kennedy sat in, drawing the attention of the group to Noah and Riley.

“Of course, we missed our guys too much.” Riley leaned up to kiss John on the cheek, causing his famous smirk to make an appearance.

“I missed you too, Baby.” He mumbled in response, pulling her closer to him.

Noah didn’t respond as she felt Colin’s eyes on her, only nodding in agreement and curling further into Garrett’s side. Garrett traced shapes up and down her arm with his fingers as the group continued their conversations, waiting for Tim to come back and tell them it was time to go on.

Colin ignored Noah in conversation for the next hour or so, but every once in a while, Noah would turn to catch his gaze in her direction. Anxious butterflies swept through her insides every time she’d see him looking at her, but because she was with Garrett and not Colin, she would try to push it out of her mind and lean in to kiss Garrett’s cheek, or grab his hand into hers, playing with his fingers, or drawing shapes on his jeans against his thigh. Garrett was oblivious to Colin’s gaze, pulling Noah closer to him at each new movement, and sneaking glances at her with a smile.

Noah was distracted; she was going through the motions in flirting with Garrett, but her mind was stuck on Colin across the room. She couldn’t get him or the kiss out of her head. She tried to shake it all away, but was doing a horrible job, and Garrett was starting to notice.

“Yo, Ken, how much time do we have left?” Garrett’s voice echoed in Noah’s ear as she leaned against his chest, bringing her back into focus.

“Uhh, probably half an hour? Maybe? The guys before us just left to set up.”

“Great, thanks.” Garrett stood up and stretched, licking his lips before extending his hand toward Noah. “Um, wanna go for a walk? Get some fresh air?”

“Oh, uhh, yeah, sure.” Noah gave him a half smile as she grabbed his hand, pulling herself up and into his arms. The two walked out of the room, Garrett leading the way. Instead of walking back the way they entered, Garrett took them down the hallway the other direction toward another room. He opened the door and walked in without turning on a light, closing the door behind Noah.

“Gare—” Noah didn’t even finish her thought before Garrett’s lips were on hers. Noah easily melted into him, running her fingers through his hair. They stumbled around the dark room for a moment entangled in each other until their knees crashed into the armrest of a couch that appeared out of nowhere. Just like that, they flipped over the arm rest, crashing against the couch cushions, Noah hitting her head against the other arm rest. Their eyes had adjusted to the dimly lit room, and Noah realized they were in an empty dressing room. Garrett's eyes flickered from her eyes to her lips and back again before kissing her softly, holding back obvious anticipation and trying to take things slower than the past few minutes. He reached over to pull her hair off her shoulder, pressing his face into her neck and kissing her softly all over, from just below the jaw to across the exposed section of her collarbone. Noah sighed as she closed her eyes, focusing on the feeling of his lips against her skin, allowing Garrett to help clear her head.

“Oh baby, I’ve really missed you.” Garrett broke the silence, mumbling against her skin. “You guys coming here was a good idea.” Garrett’s choice of words was a reminder of Colin, and Noah felt her mind start to run away from her again. Pushing him out of her mind again, her hands ran through Garrett’s hair, pulling his head toward her lips, focusing on how they moved together and the taste of his lips on hers. His hands ran all over her, his fingers settling on tracing her hip bone that stuck out from under her t-shirt that had ridden up toward her ribs. Garrett broke away from the kiss momentarily to look at Noah again, smiling his crooked smile as he pulled his shirt over his head and reconnected their lips. Noah didn’t have time to blush before his hands pressed shapes into her exposed skin around her waist, an obvious representation of what was on Garrett’s mind.

Noah wanted it as bad as Garrett did, but she started to worry that he would push her away again like last time, and subconsciously pushed at his shoulder, disconnecting their lips. Garrett sat up, taking a deep breath or two and blushed at the sight of them. “S-sorry. I guess I got carried away…” Instantly, Noah regretted making him stop, wanting to continue whatever it was they were doing, and felt the cool air start to settle in against her skin. Garrett ran his fingers through his hair with embarrassment, and Noah shook her head no, smiling sheepishly back at him.

“I’ve missed you too.” She whispered, licking her lips. Noah took a breath before crashing her lips against his, catching him off guard. Garrett smiled into the kiss, leaning back against the couch, with Noah crawling onto his lap. Their lips moved in sync as Noah ran her fingers through his hair and across his shoulders. She focused on the muscles of his shoulders, and his skin burned at the touch, the electricity between them increasing by the second. Noah could feel Garrett’s fingers twisted into the bottom of her t-shirt, slowly pushing it up toward her ribs as his hands continued to roam.

“…The fuck? Dammit, I can never fucking figure these things out.” Garrett mumbled into Noah’s ear as she kissed his neck, his hands reaching under her shirt toward the clasp of her bra. Noah giggled into his skin, reaching to pull her shirt over her head.

“That better?” She whispered, and Garrett nodded, his fingers abandoning her back to play with the straps against her newly exposed shoulder. He kissed her skin, starting at the shoulder and settling on the skin around her collarbones, sending shivers down her spine. Noah could tell from sitting on Garrett’s lap where his mind was focused, and she giggled to herself, pressing against him before reconnecting their lips. Garrett let out a moan or two as he kissed her harder, his hands slipping back to focus on the clasp.

That moan quickly turned into a pissed off groan as he disconnected their lips and struggled to pull out his phone from his back pocket. “What the fuck man, this better be important.” Garrett snarled into the phone without checking to even see who had called. Pat’s voice mumbled through the phone that Tim was calling them back for a note or two and then it was just about time to go on. Garrett let out a frustrated sigh before replying with a “yeah, okay, right, uhh, be right there,” and disconnecting the call. Noah pressed a few light kisses against his lips and jaw as he tried to steady his breathing.

“T-that was Pat. We gotta get back…” Garrett whispered, rubbing his hands against his face and letting out another frustrated sigh into his palms. Noah smiled at him as she climbed off his lap to stand up.

“I’m sorry babe, and now you have to go on stage like that. Aww, you poor thing.” Noah’s smile was sympathetic as she handed Garrett back his shirt, readjusting her own clothes and brushing her fingers through her hair. Their disheveled appearance wasn’t going to get much better than it was at this point, but they did the best they could to straighten themselves out after turning on the light and locating the mirror by the door.

Garrett moved to run his fingers through his hair, attempting to tame the mess, but Noah stopped him. “No, leave it. I think it looks sexy like that. The fans waiting for you will too.” She winked at him and he kissed her cheek, taking her hand in his as they opened the door.

“We’ll finish this later, this isn’t over yet.” Garrett whispered suggestively as they walked around the corner. Noah giggled and whispered an equally suggestive “oh, so not over,” as they walked back into the dressing room to everyone waiting. Noah avoided Riley’s smirk and obvious stare as Tim took over the conversation.

Noah and Riley stood off to the side as the boys circled up to begin their usual “We like, we like to party,” chant, bringing the energy of the room back up. Noah admired the boys as they huddled, smiling to herself at how cute they were, noticing Colin out of the corner of her eye, looking back at her with an undecipherable expression and licking his lips before walking toward the door. Riley leaned in, whispering to Noah, “What’s up with him?” Noah shrugged, unable to answer her.

“Letting Colin come with us was probably a bad idea.”