A Mighty Need

The rest of February flew by in the blink of an eye, as did most of March. As promised, Noel had flown out to Philadelphia around St. Patrick’s Day. Having Irish heritage on her father’s side, it was no surprise for her family to be heavily into celebrating. Noel thought it amusing how Americans with Irish roots celebrated more extensively and hardcore than most actual Irish in Ireland or the UK as a whole. They had gone to her parents’ house where Audrey’s mother had cooked corned beef and cabbage with carrots for dinner. Afterward, Austin and a few of his friends tagged along with Audrey and Noel, heading back to the city to hit up the Irish Pub on Walnut Street for St. Patrick’s Day festivities. Noel recognized it as the same place they’d eaten once during his first trip to Philly a few months back.

Noel had to leave two days later, as he was obligated to take part in the 2014 Teenage Cancer Trust, as he had the year before with Russell Brand. It was nearly another full month before Audrey and Noel saw each other again and it was getting obvious to those who know them well, respectively, that it was starting to become a problem.

Both were a bit moody and seemed to retreat into their own worlds. Like she had at the end of February, Audrey had flown out to Los Angeles to continue working on the pilot script for the Showtime television adaption of Girls Fart, Too which was being called What Girls Do because it sounded more appealing or whatever. In early April, Audrey had finished the script and she was sitting in on the initial casting process, which was a strange new world for her to be a part of. She was actually in Los Angeles for two weeks and, instead of going home to Philadelphia, she flew straight to London in time to celebrate Easter with Noel.

However, she was tired by the time she arrived and not much fun to interact with, which fueled the first actual argument between the couple. Audrey just wanted to sleep and was noncommittal in regards to dinner plans when she was finally back up and awake for the day after sleeping off her jetlag. She didn’t care what they ate or if they ate at all. When he went to hug her, she didn’t want to be hugged. It was nothing against him personally; it was just that she was still tired, both physically and mentally. She was sullen her first two days in London with him which caused him to withdraw from her as well. While she continued to sleep her jetlag off, write on her laptop or Skype with the executive producer and casting director for What Girls Do, Noel retreated into his studio to paint.

By Easter Sunday, Audrey woke up in a good mood and rolled over to hug Noel tightly. He welcomed her eagerly into his arms and any cloudy thoughts or moods that had been hanging over them burned away as if they never existed. They shared a long, warm bubble bath and then went out to grab brunch together at the Lockside Lounge in Camden. The weather was much nicer since the last time she was in England in February. The sun was out a bit, the temperature was milder and Audrey and Noel didn’t have to wear as many layers of clothing.

By the time they traveled to Mitcham for Easter Sunday dinner at his parents’ house, it was raining, which really wasn’t a surprise. When they arrived, Diane was waiting for them with small Easter baskets in hand. Each basket was filled with an array of chocolates and sweets; hollow chocolate rabbits, Chupa Chups, Cadbury crème eggs, Twix, Kit Kats, Goody Good Stuff Koala Gummy Bears and, of course, jelly beans. Mike wouldn’t be at dinner. He was apparently still dating Maggie and was spending Easter Sunday with her and her family in South Harrow. It would just be Audrey, Noel and his parents enjoying the lamb dinner Diane had prepared. There was a choice between custard tarts and bowls of ice cream for dessert as well as Easter eggs Diane had dyed the night before. Once their stomachs were settled, Audrey insisted on helping Diane clean up again while father and son retreated into the living room to enjoy a post-dinner drink together.

“How are things between you and Noel?” Diane wondered. “I know the long distance must be rough.”

Audrey shrugged. “Yeah, it has been. I mean, I’ve been busy enough lately to keep my mind off it, but when I’m home by myself or when I was by myself in my hotel room in LA recently, it basically sucks. I used to be fine being alone, sometimes I longed for it, but now it’s just…lonely.”

“If things progressed further between you and Noel, would you ever consider moving here?” Diane was clearly traipsing carefully about the subject. She was looking up at Audrey while placing the dinner glasses into the dishwasher, her hair pushed back over her shoulder.

“Well, I do love London; it’s one of the places I’ve always wanted to live, and I do love Noel, so I think it’s definitely possible I wouldn’t mind making such a move.” Audrey gave a rueful smirk. “At the same time, I would be so far away from my family and friends and all I ever knew. It would definitely be scary to leave all that behind.”

“I’m sure your family would be reluctant to let you go.”

Audrey shrugged again. “It would definitely be a big change for them, too. They won’t be able to just come over for a visit whenever they feel like it. Travel time will be a lot longer,” she chuckled. “I have, actually, been considering asking my brother Austin to be my personal assistant. I think, professionally, he’s a bit lost and he enjoyed his time here, too. I know him and Mike got along pretty well. If I was to live here and had Austin as my PA, he could move here with me, and then at least I would have some family here, too.”

“That would be nice. Oh, your brother was just adorable and polite…and handsome, too. I wouldn’t mind having him around.”

Audrey and Diane smirked at each other. Shortly thereafter, they finished up in the kitchen and Diane poured them each a glass of red wine before they joined the men in the living room. The four of them soon broke out the Monopoly board game and played one round before moving on a round of Mr & Mrs, a board game Audrey had never heard of before, and was designed to see how well players knew their family members or significant other. The latter game was won by Diane and Ray, which could easily be chocked up to them having been a couple for more than four decades while Noel and Audrey had only been together five months. Instead of heading all the way home at the end of the night, Noel and Audrey crashed in the extra bedroom which had been his childhood bedroom many a moon ago. They got up relatively early the next morning, or at least early for them, and headed back to Highgate by cab in the same clothes they wore the day before.

Once back to Noel’s house, they went upstairs to shower and change and then go about their day. Noel got bit by the painting bug again, but this time Audrey was in his studio with him. She was sitting at a table at the other end of the room, typing away at her laptop while Noel painted. Music was playing from the CD player nearby and as Noel twirled the paintbrush around on the canvas he casually shimmied his hips to the beat of the music, which caused Audrey to laugh whenever she looked up. Working on their own respective projects in tandem like that seemed to work well for them both. They could get done what they needed or wanted to get done while still being together in a way that didn’t bother each other while they were in “the zone.”

By evening time, they set aside what they were doing to head to the kitchen to make dinner. Audrey found a pot and filled it with water, which she placed on top of the stove to heat up, throwing in a small pad of butter. Noel broke out the box of spaghetti noodles and handed it to Audrey while he then went to find a large frying pan and set it beside the pot of water. Audrey dictated for Noel to pull some ground beef from the freezer and throw it into the microwave to defrost before it was put into the frying pan. Once the water was boiling, Audrey took the noodles from the box and cracked them in half over the pot before placing them in and giving them an initial stir with a wooden spoon. As soon as the ground beef was done defrosting, Noel looked to Audrey and asked what she wanted him to do with it next. She had him put it in the frying pan to brown the meat.

While the meat cooked and the noodles softened, Audrey scoured the cupboards for a jar of spaghetti sauce. She found some brand called Dolmio which would work fine. Noel was busy grabbing two plates from another cupboard and setting them down on the table. He took a seat at the table, finding it more amusing to watch Audrey moving about the stove rather than getting in her way. Something along the lines of too many hands in the pot…

When she realized he wasn’t nearby anymore, she turned around with the wooden spoon in her hand. There was a lone noodle draped over it and she smirked at him.

“C’mere and test this noodle,” she said. “Is it too soft or too hard for you?”

“How do I know you didn’t poison it?”

Audrey just rolled her eyes. “C’mon.”

Noel stood up and walked up to her. He blew on the noodle in case it was too hot and then picked it up off the spoon. He paused a moment, then lifted it up over his face and ate it. He let a piece dangling outside his mouth and slurped it up like a baby bird. “It’s fine,” he said while chewing.

Audrey chuckled and gave a nod, turning the burner underneath the pot off. “Pour the sauce into the frying pan and stir it in with the meat, ‘kay? I’m gonna drain the noodles. You have a colander, right?”

“The cupboard under the sink,” he said. “Maybe. I don’t remember.”

Crouching down, Audrey nodded. “Yeah. It’s here.” She put the colander in the sink and emptied the pot into it so the water would drain from the noodles. She rinsed them out with cold water and then let the noodles drain some more. “How’s the sauce coming?”

“With massive waves of orgasms.”

“Har-di-har-har,” she mock laughed.

After a few more minutes, Audrey had placed the colander on top of the now empty pot and placed both back on top of the stove. She found a nylon pasta server and stuck it in the noodles and then a nylon spoon for scooping the meat sauce.

“Dinner is served,” she commented.

They each grabbed their own plates up and helped themselves to whatever portion sizes they wanted. While they sat down to eat, they’d forgotten drinks, so Noel got back up to get some cups and pulled some milk from the fridge. When they were finally in the midst of enjoying their dinner, Noel grabbed the longest noodle he could find and put one end between his lips and then held the other end out to Audrey. She seemed confused at first and then realized he was referencing Lady And The Tramp. She laughed and clamped her lips down on the end offered to her. Slowly, they ate at the noodle, meeting in the middle. They had to stand up a bit and lean over the table but they achieved their “goal”, ending with a kiss. Since they hadn’t eaten anything else that day, they eagerly helped themselves to second helpings before they were a bit full. They stored the rest of the noodles and sauce into separate plastic containers and put them into the fridge and cleaned what dishes they had.

Noel and Audrey retired to the living room for a while, deciding to watch a movie before they returned back to the studio. Noel went back to painting, Audrey went back to writing which didn’t last too long for the latter when she hit a brick wall, figuratively speaking. She came down with a sudden bout of writer’s block and turned her laptop off, instead choosing to watch Noel as he painted. She walked over to sit on the floor a few feet behind him and he occasionally looked back at her with a smile or making some sort of joke about this or that.

Sometime after midnight, Noel turned around again when he realized Audrey had fallen silent. He noticed she wasn’t just silent, she was asleep; curled up on the floor into a tight ball and there was no way she could possibly be comfortable. Noel set about cleaning his brushes and setting them aside to dry before walking up to Audrey and crouching down to her level. He ran a hand along her shoulder to the side of her face, causing her to stir back awake.

“Hey there, sleepy. Why don’t you get up off the floor and we can go to sleep?”

She seemed disoriented at first and then got up to her feet with his help. Before either could say anything or leave the studio, Audrey threw her arms around Noel’s waist and buried her face against his chest. He simply smiled in response and pressed his lips to the top of her head before ushering them out of the studio. He turned the light off and closed the door and they headed up to his bedroom.

Audrey peeled off her clothes until she was wearing only her underwear and then dove into bed. Noel did the same, wearing the same amount of clothing. He curled up beside her and they both rested their heads on separate pillows while looking at each other. Noel kissed her on the forehead, and then she kissed the tip of his nose, which led to them kissing each other on the lips. As her eyes drooped, she reached a hand up to rest on the side of his face.

“G’night,” she murmured.

“G’night,” he replied.



The following day, Audrey threw on a light jacket while Noel wore one of his capes and a top hat; the pair heading out by late afternoon for tea at a nearby pub before going to Trinity Square for the daily Jack the Ripper tour, followed by the London Dungeon. Their guide and a few of the tourists seemed well aware of whom Noel was and he played up his outerwear of choice more than once, including maniacal cackling and covering his face at times with his cape like a dastardly villain. For the most part, however, Noel just enjoyed the tour with Audrey and the rest.

After all that, they hit up the Groucho Club for a few drinks and headed home about two hours after that. In the days that followed, Noel was painting again. He was preparing for another art showing that would be held at Maison Bertaux in a month’s time, which would fall around his birthday. Audrey realized that it wouldn’t make sense for him to come to Philadelphia at that time like originally planned, because of his showing and birthday falling within days after. It would be too much on his plate and Audrey didn’t want that for him. Before she left to return home to the States, she booked a roundtrip flight to visit him toward the end of May instead and he changed his flight plan to visit her for a few days around Mother’s Day so that it wasn’t just all her doing the traveling.

When he did arrive, like his trip in March, it wasn’t a full week. But Audrey already knew that and it was okay. She would be flying back with him to London when he left. He got in the day before Mother’s Day and the twosome spent what was left of the day, once he got to her condo, holed up indoors, eating Chinese delivery for dinner and making love into the night. The next day they were at her parents’ house for dinner, which wasn’t too eventful. Her sister and brother-in-law were in town for the week because Crystal was a bridesmaid for a friend who was getting married the upcoming Saturday. So, on Monday, Audrey offered to take her niece and nephew for a few hours since she hadn’t seen them since Thanksgiving. Noel was cool with it, being a big kid at heart anyway, and the two of them took the kids to the Please Touch Children’s Museum. Noel found the name hilarious, wondering aloud if there weren’t any better names available.

Once there, they all seemed to enjoy themselves; Noel even sat down with little Avery to paint some pictures in the Program Room where parents and children were doing the same. At eight years old, Tristan wasn’t as enthused to paint, so Audrey went off with him for a while. Eventually Noel found Audrey, walking up to her, hand in hand with Avery and there was just something sweet about it.

“Did you have fun painting, Avery?”

The four year old girl nodded and held up a few sheets of paper with chaotic paint strokes all over it. “I painted these. Uncle Noel painted some, too. Show her, Uncle Noel.” Avery looked up at him with such admiration in her little face. Audrey was certain her niece was a bit taken by him. Again, he was like a big kid, after all. He could just easily get down to her level.

“Yeah, Uncle Noel, show me your paintings,” Audrey egged on.

Noel rolled his eyes at her, but still smiled, holding up two sheets of paper. One looked just as chaotic as Avery’s and the other looked to be some sort of cat wearing earmuffs on its head while the rest of its body was contained in a light blue box.

“What’s the blue box?”

“It’s not a box, it’s an ice cube,” Avery defended.

Audrey made an apologetic face. “Oh, would you look at that; yes, it is. I guess Aunt Audrey needs to have her eyes checked.”

“It’s a Cool Cat,” Noel remarked which caused Audrey to snicker. “It’s pun-tastic.”

After a couple more hours, they ended their adventure at the museum by riding the Dentzel Carousel. While heading back to Audrey’s car, she left it to the kids to pick where they wanted to get dinner and they chose McDonald’s of all places. What kid wouldn’t?

Audrey drove them to the McDonald’s on City Avenue that she used to work at during her senior year of high school before she went off to college. Nothing had changed about the place, aside from a slight remodel. None of the people she once worked with worked there any longer. While the kids dined on Happy Meals, Audrey and Noel kept to two separate orders of large fries and cups of Coke. They didn’t want their actual meal to be McDonald’s. After dropping the kids back at her parents’ house where Crystal, Jeremy and the kids were staying, Audrey and Noel returned back to the city and to her condo.

As draining as it was to keep after two kids, the two of them found renewed energy once they were home. Noel had pinned her to the wall between the kitchen and dining room and removed her of her pants. In under three minutes, they were both bare as the day they came crying and going at it like animals in heat right there on the floor; twisting and moving in ways that seemed both new and impossible. When they were spent, they were curled up together on the floor, a mess of limbs and sheens of sweat.

“Are you looking forward to turning forty-one next week?” she asked.

Noel shrugged. “I already hit forty. I got over that hurtle without a scratch. I think the next birthday to mean anything, numerically, would be fifty, but I got time.” He then frowned. “That just seems weird to me; I’m nine years from turning fifty. When I was a kid, fifty seemed so old, but I don’t feel old.”

“You’re not old.”

“But I will be.”

“I’ll be right there with you, then; we can be old together.”

“You’ll only be forty-two. You’ll still be just a baby, you lucky bitch.” He smiled cheekily at her and kissed the corner of her mouth.

“Well, I can’t fast forward time for just myself so we’re equal. You’ll just have to suck it up and deal.”

Noel wiggled his eyebrows at her. “Oh, I’ll suck it up alright.” He moved to hover over her for a moment before sliding down a bit.

Audrey slapped the top of his head. “Don’t be gross about it.”

In response, he just laughed and then proceeded in making Audrey’s eyes roll into the back of their sockets.



On Wednesday evening, Audrey and Noel caught their nonstop flight back to London; getting in just before six-thirty in the morning, local time. However, while the rest of the country was waking up and getting ready to head to work, Audrey and Noel were going to his home in Highgate and straight up to bed to sleep. They didn’t wake back up until after three in the afternoon when they shared a shower; fumbling around for shampoo and body wash because they hadn’t properly woken up just yet. After they were showered and dressed, they both left the house with wet hair they hadn’t bothered to dry. Noel and Audrey walked for a few minutes until they reached the Archway Underground Station and grabbed the tube to the Tottenham Court Road Underground Station, which they arrived at in just under fifteen minutes. From there, they walked on together, enjoying the somewhat late spring air.

There was a slight breeze, but other than that it was a nice evening out. The sun was still in the sky; a far cry from the dismal evenings of fall and winter when the sun set so early. Audrey reveled in being able to wear a pair of simple slim-fit boyfriend style jeans and a grey, V-neck cashmere t-shirt with some silver, glittery flats on her feet. Noel dressed rather simply, as well; for Noel, that is. He wore his regular black skinny jeans, a black Rolling Stones t-shirt and a fedora on his head. He also wore his silver Chelsea boots but, again, that was simple. They didn’t stand out at all as they walked along, hand in hand until they ducked into the Starbucks at the corner of Charing Cross Road and Goslett Yard. Noel was noticed right away, but no one inside the establishment made anything of it.

With coffees in hand, they went on their way, down Charing Cross and turning right onto Manette Street before they came upon Greek Street where they made a left and walked until they reached Maison Bertaux. They went inside, greeted by co-owner Michelle Wade who was behind the counter and gave a wave.

“Tania’s upstairs in the tea room, Noel,” Michelle said.

Two customers at the closest small table to the patisserie’s entrance looked up at the couple coming in with curiosity. Meanwhile, Noel and Audrey just nodded at Michelle and went on their way up the stairs to the second level where the blonde art dealer and other co-owner, Michelle’s sister, was seated with some papers and scrolling through something on her cell phone. The blonde looked up and smiled at Noel.

“Hello, darling,” she said, standing up and giving Noel a hug and a friendly kiss.

“Hey, Tania.” Noel gestured to Audrey. “This is my girl Audrey. Audrey, this is my art dealer, Tania.”

Both women shook hands. “Nice to meet you,” Tania smiled.

“Same here,” Audrey agreed politely, gripping her cooling coffee.

“Have a seat, you two,” Tania gestured to two of the seats around the table she was sat at. When the couple did, she continued. “So, Tell me you’re excited about Saturday’s showing,” she directed toward Noel.

“I am,” he assured. “It’s been a while since I’d had one. I’d say I’m due.”

“The buzz about your new work has been building. People are just as excited to see what’s has come out of that mind of yours this time.”

“The Church of Ferry pieces have been moved to make room, yeah?”

Tania nodded. “Most have sold so there wasn’t much to move.”

“That’s good.”

Audrey looked between the two. Aside from her two stints on Never Mind The Buzzcocks and actually watching him paint, this was the first time she’d seen him “working”; haggling the details of his newest art exhibition. This was one of those moments where he was just like any other working stiff in the art industry. She listened quietly to Noel and Tania discuss further about Saturday, occasionally slipping into a daydream. When their sit down chat was over, the trio got up and Tania led them to the area where his new exhibit was going to be showed. It was completely closed off to anyone else, so it was neat to be allowed behind the painted veil, so to speak. She noticed several of the paintings, having previously seen them in his studio at home. Some pieces were new, that she didn’t remember. What she noticed right away, though, was the large painting of her he had given her for Christmas and she had left behind at his house because bringing it back to the States would’ve been a major hassle.

Her mouth fell agape, finding it there, at the end of the room, and seemingly the focal point from which all the other pieces stemmed from. “It’s me,” Audrey commented. “I was wondering why I hadn’t seen it anywhere at your house.”

Noel smirked. “Yeah, I kinda wanted to show it off; well, you, technically. I’ve realized I like to show you off.”

Audrey pressed her lips firmly together and walked up to her painting, folding her arms underneath her chest. “It’s surreal.”

“The art style or painting in general?” he asked. He seemed a bit self-conscious, suddenly, as if waiting for her to give the okay to go ahead with allowing the painting to be viewed by the general public.

“The fact that you made me into a work of art and a lot of people will see this,” she responded, sounding somewhat nonplussed, but in a good way. “You kind of immortalized me, you know?” Audrey glanced over her shoulder at Noel who was looking back at her with unsure eyes. “You turned me into Mona Lisa.”

“Is that a good thing?” He scrunched his nose and bit his bottom lip.

Smiling, Audrey reached out and took hold of his left wrist. “Since when is Mona Lisa a bad thing?”

“He hasn’t done just this painting of you, did you notice?” Tania spoke up, gesturing to a few other paintings scattered along the other walls. They were smaller canvases. Some were of just an eye or a mouth or a hand holding a mouse. Then there was the painting of the rabbit holding a mouse that she had watched him paint that afternoon after Bonfire Night; the painting that got him calling her Foo Foo. “It looks to be you’re his new obsession,” Tania smirked, stepping back to give the couple a wide berth.

To Audrey, being referred to as Noel’s newest obsession didn’t sound like a good thing. It came across that she was just a passing fancy he would eventually get over before moving onto the next thing; that what they had was just a moment in time and wouldn’t last too long. Perhaps she was reading too much into the comment, but it still struck her to the core. She didn’t like the feeling, so she recoiled and didn’t say much of anything else while they remained at Maison Bertaux.

When they left, they went to get something to eat for dinner, ending up at the French restaurant Café Rouge which was directly across from the entrance to the Leicester Street Station. They didn’t linger after their meal, they just hopped the tube back to the Archway Station and then walked back home to his house before calling it a night. The entire time, however, Audrey was quieter than usual; her mind still on Tania’s comment, which the art dealer most likely meant nothing by but Audrey still couldn’t shake. Noel noticed the wall that had gone up and tried to see if something was the matter, but Audrey just shrugged it off and put on a smile, assuring him everything was.

Once safe within the confines of his home, jet lag caught up again and they decided to turn in for the night. Donning barely any clothes to bed, the pair curled up together like two otters worried about drifting apart from each other while they slept. Audrey leaned over Noel and looked him in the eyes before kissing him goodnight; eventually rolling over to sleep on her side. While darkness descended in the form of sleep, Audrey felt the shift of the mattress underneath her as Noel rolled onto his side as well and draped an arm around her waist. He moved closer to her, pressing his chest to her back and his nose into the crux of her next before resting his head down on the same pillow as her.

And like that they remained for most of the night while they slept.



Saturday night, Noel and Audrey were back at Maison Bertaux for his latest gallery showing an they were dressed a bit more to the nines; Noel in gold skinny pants, gold Chelsea boots and a tie-dyed kaftan blouse while Audrey wore a cage neck babydoll dress, the black suede knee-high boots she wore on New Year’s and her black cloche hat. They really did make a handsome pair as they milled about the upstairs tea room with flutes of champagne in their hands while they talked to Noel’s friends and family, art connoisseurs, fellow acquaintances from different branches of the entertainment industry that knew Noel, one or two art critics, journalist types and even a few of Noel’s fans who were lucky enough to nab entrance into the exclusive opening night of his new exhibition which he was calling Mona Lisas And Madcap Shambletons. The name was changed the day before, quite last minute, from All Bleeding Coming Together, which came from a line his character, the Dondylion, from his Luxury Comedy series was known for saying. The new name was after the comment Audrey had made about him turning her into Mona Lisa and also in reference to his book The Scribblings of a Madcap Shambleton. Lastly, it was a play on the Elton John song Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters.

The exhibit was received very well; either because everyone truly enjoyed what they saw or they were just appeasing the artist. Negatively criticizing an artist’s work in their presence was just unheard of and damn impolite, especially for such a British lot. Several asked about the large painting of Audrey, which was simply named Audrey; wondering if it was for sale. Noel had to shake his head and smile, explaining it was actually Audrey’s Christmas gift he was simply displaying as part of the exhibit.

Later on in the evening, Paloma Faith showed up and greeted Noel with smiles, hugs and kisses and was then introduced to Audrey; the two ladies hitting it off quite well and ending up talking to each other for the rest of the night while Noel catered to his “adoring public”, or at least when he had to force himself detach from Audrey’s side. A few people did come up to Audrey and ask her about being Noel’s new muse to which Audrey just smiled and gave a quick answer of “It looks that way.” When those particular people walked away, Paloma, nursing a flute of champagne which had been given to her, looked at Audrey with a frown.

“That’s a bit weird of them to be asking, isn’t it? Why did they have to say ‘new’ muse? It’s not like you’re the latest in a long line of muses,” Paloma commented, sending a withering look in the direction of the last person to ask Audrey the same thing. “I don’t recall Noel creating an art installation about anyone else other than Brian Ferry, and that was more as a joke, I think.”

Audrey shrugged it off. “I kinda feel like they think this is all fleeting; like I’m just another flash in the pan.”

Paloma shook her head. “No, don’t think like that. If anyone makes you feel that way you tell them to go fuck themselves and then help yourself to delightful squeeze of Noel’s bum.”

Audrey laughed, although it was a bit forced. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

The whole ‘new muse’ and ‘latest obsession’ thing was starting to eat at her. She liked being thought of Noel’s girlfriend, because she loved him, but she didn’t like being thought of as someone who was occupying his life simply for the time being. Granted, she had no idea what the future held. She didn’t know what things would transpire for them, but she chose to remain optimistic. The major relationships she’d had previous to Noel hadn’t been much to write home about, especially in the end. Even with hindsight being 20/20, while in those relationships she had a sense there was not something lasting about them. It was different with Noel. It was the first time being with someone she had a sense of optimism and hope. Yet, at the same, time, she felt that if she put too much in of herself too soon she might be setting herself up to fall. She did her best to push the negativity from her mind, closing her eyes tight for a moment before letting a sigh escape her lips.

When she reopened her eyes, Noel was walking up toward her and it was like a breath of fresh air. She smiled brightly at him, and he muttered an apology to Paloma, claiming he had to steal Audrey away for a while to introduce her to someone.

“Don’t go anywhere,” Audrey commented. “We need to swap numbers so we can hang out at some point.”

Paloma raised her champagne flute. “I am like stone.”

Linking his arm around her waist, Noel leaned in to whisper in Audrey’s ear. “You look so pretty tonight.” He looked at her to see her reaction. She smiled which made him smile.

“I don’t look too much like a flash in the pan, do I?” she asked boldly.

Noel scrunched his nose, a bit confused. “What’re you talkin’ about?”

Audrey gave a noncommittal shrug. The negativity was creeping back up despite her mentally trying to shove it down. “It’s nothing…”

Noel licked his bottom lip and looked in the direction he was originally leading her. He held up a finger to whoever it was he had been about to introduce her to, signaling for said person to give them a minute while Noel lead him and Audrey over to a quieter and not as crowded area of the tea room. “C’mon, tell me. What’s wrong?”

She avoided looking at him at first, having never been too keen on confrontation. When she met his eye contact, she shrugged again. “I just…everyone seems to think of me as your new muse, or your new obsession. It’s like they’re taking bets to see how long I last because I’m really just this passing fancy of yours.” She noticed his frown and she looked toward the floor. “I hate how this makes me sound like some clingy bitch but I just need to know, straight from your own lips, that that’s not how you see me.”

“As a clingy bitch?”

“No, as temporary.”

Noel pulled her close and leaned his face in; nuzzling her cheek and brushing his lips against her ear. “As far as I’m concerned, anyone who thinks you’re temporary can eat a load of shit. I’m in this for the long haul if you are.” He pulled back and looked her in the eye again. “You’re my girl.”

Audrey let the smile on her face arrive slowly but surely. She responded, not with words, but with wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tight. He kissed her forehead and when they parted from the hug, he gave her a slight shake to relieve her of the bad thoughts.

“You feelin’ a bit better?”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

“Alright,” he smirked. “Let me introduce you to this one last person and then we’ll try and make our way out.”

“But this is your showing. Don’t you wanna stay till the end?”

It was Noel’s turn to shrug. “I’d much rather be holed up in bed with you the rest of the night.”

“No,” she insisted. “Enjoy your night.”

He just looked at her for a moment, pausing in his step which delayed them reaching the person in question Noel was trying to introduce her to. “Fine, alright. I’ll stay till the end, but then…”

Audrey laughed. “Yes, and then you can be holed up in bed with me the rest of the night. We won’t go to any after parties or out to drinks with anyone else if they offer. Just you and me and bed makes three.”

Noel beamed, and continued them onward. “Sounds perfect.”