Let Love In

A gentle kiss on the lips brought Noah’s eyes fluttering open and into consciousness. Garrett’s tired eyes were warm and loving, his face hovering an inch or two over hers as he gently woke her up. “Morning Sunshine, time to wake up.” His whisper brought a sleepy smile to Noah’s lips as she gathered the energy to lean forward to kiss him again.

“Do we have to get up? I don’t want to go yet.” Noah shut her eyes tight, attempting to pull the covers over her and Garrett. He stifled a laugh as he helped her engulf them with the covers. “We don’t have to be up for another hour or so, I just thought you might like to spend more time together before we had to leave. Everyone is still sleeping though, so we have to be quiet…” His voice was barely above a whisper, hiding behind the finger against his lips.

“I’d like that.” Noah leaned forward to kiss him, gently running her fingers through the back of his head and melting into him. Garrett adjusted himself to kiss that sweet spot on Noah’s neck, causing her toes to curl and some incoherent mumbles to escape into the blankets covering her face.

“Shhh. You. Have. To. Be. Quiet.” Garrett mumbled against her skin, his voice still barely above a whisper. Noah covered her face with her hands, her cheeks turning a light pink as she nodded silently. His fingers slowly grazed her curves, appreciating every moment they spent together under the covers.

“Good god, Gare, you better not be trying to get it in while we’re over here one bed over.” A pillow came flying out of nowhere, colliding with the covers and pulling the two back to reality.

“Shut up John and go back to sleep.” Garrett pulled his head out of the covers, reaching for the pillow and throwing it back at a snickering John and Riley a few feet away before flashing his middle finger their direction. He sighed as he turned his head back, returning Noah’s knowing expression that their time together was up. He rested his face in the crook of her neck, breathing in deeply and inhaling her scent.

There was a loud knock at the door; Tim’s booming voice of “Breakfast in thirty minutes, guys!” making its way through the door frame. Garrett quietly groaned into her neck, pushing himself up onto his hands before regaining his balance. “C’mon beautiful, time to start the day.”

Breakfast was somewhat uneventful, minus the usual antics at the continental breakfast buffet line. They said their long goodbyes as the guys loaded the bus, each couple was off in their separate corner of the parking lot. A loud honking came from the bus as Tim yelled a “We gotta get moving, guys!” from the bus door, signaling their time was up. Garrett gave Noah one last kiss on the forehead as they broke away from their hug, promising they’d see each other soon enough before he backed away toward the bus. Noah wandered slowly toward the car, the others already waiting for her.

As each returned to the seat they came in, Noah could feel Colin’s stare through the rearview mirror. She focused her attention to the traffic outside her window as they pulled away from the venue, already counting down the days until her and Garrett were back together again. A week and a half. The guys were making their way north through Idaho and hitting up a few dates in Canada before heading back south through Seattle and Portland and then they’d be in California.

The ride home felt quicker than the ride to Vegas, but then again, they were sober this time around and not hungover. Pulling alongside the curb in front of Noah’s house, Colin exhaled loudly before shutting the car off, shooting a brief look at Noah through the rearview mirror and unbuckling his seat belt. Sarah was waiting on the front porch, the afternoon sunlight reflecting brightly against her sunglasses as she rocked back and forth on the porch swing. Colin quickly joined her, and Noah and Riley left them for Noah’s room, remembering once they entered their sleepover and the tornado effect the whiskey had on it. As became customary with every parting, the two climbed into Noah’s disheveled bed, having grabbed all of the blankets off the floor and tossing them on the mattress without bothering to fix anything past that, and curled up into a ball to sleep away the numbing heartache of having to say goodbye to the boys they loved. It was the end of another interesting weekend, and while they had work in the morning, neither had plans for the rest of the day, opting to spend it either sleeping or continuing on with their romantic comedy marathon. They had snagged the left over pizza from the other night in the fridge and brought it with them up to the room.

“I wish we still had some whiskey left over. That’d be nice right about now.” Riley mumbled absentmindedly after a while, breaking the silence outside of the movie playing that neither was really watching.

“Yeah, that would be nice… I miss Garrett already.”

“I miss John too. Hey, at least we got to see them, and it’s only a few more days before we see them again.”

“Long distance sucks.” Noah sighed and rolled over with her back to Riley, curling up against the pillow and closing her eyes.

“Yep.” A hard p-sound finished off Riley’s response as she stared at the ceiling in thought. “Last night, John let it slip that they’re working out the details for possibly recording after this tour, like going into the studio and putting out another full-length album.” Noah’s “mmm” in response was hardly convincing that she was even paying attention anymore, but Riley continued with what little information she possessed. “He didn’t tell me too much about it ‘cause obviously we didn’t do a lot of talking, but I’m excited for them. That’s a big thing to get to go into the studio. They’re really starting to make a name for themselves, it makes me happy. They deserve everything.”

“I know. That’s why I think I need to tell Garrett about Colin. What frustrates me the most is that it was all Colin. I didn’t ask for any of it, it just happened. I’m fucked, aren’t I?” Noah rolled back around, her head falling against the pillow as she stared up at the ceiling in defeat.

“If you’re going to tell him, I’d advise you to do it in person. I could never cheat on John, but you’ve got a pretty fucked up situation going there with the whole Colin thing, so I guess in a way, I see how this came to be. That’s tough, ‘cause I know your crush history with Colin, and how you feel about Garrett. Good luck with that one. Definitely not a place I’d want to be in right now.” Riley finished off her sentence with a shrug, not knowing what else to say to ease the sticky situation.