“My boss seems to have disappeared, so I can’t ask him for further instructions. What a shame.”
“Yeah, you seem extremely broken about it.”
“Just because the heartache doesn’t show on the outside doesn’t mean I can’t be devastated on the inside,” Alex said. “I’m putting on a brave face for you.”
Noah rolled his eyes. “I’m touched.”
“You should be. I wouldn’t go through all that trouble just for anybody.”
Noah didn’t reply to that, just started typing on his laptop. Alex leaned back in his chair with a smirk and observed. Every once in a while, Noah threw a glance in Alex’s direction.
“You’re getting mildly annoying now,” Noah murmured, eyes fixed on the screen.
“Only mildly?”
Noah huffed out a breath and finally—finally—looked Alex in the eye. “Why are you really here?”
“I told you I—”
“Yeah, yeah, you had a question. May I also remind you that I already satisfied your curiosity about the cow?”
Alex’s lips twitched. “You did. And yet, I feel so very unsatisfied.”
Noah considered him for a moment. Then, he stood up abruptly. “Right. Since Carl is gone, I guess I’m his next in command, and I just happen to have a perfect project in mind. Let’s go.”
Alex didn’t usually like to be ordered around like that. Nearly every teacher he’d ever had had, at one point or other, used the words has trouble with authority. Alex found he didn’t mind it that much with Noah, if only because strolling after the guy gave Alex a perfect view of Noah’s very nice, very firm ass. Alex wasn’t even sure what it said about him that Noah’s obvious irritation only made the whole experience that much hotter.
Noah stopped in front of another one of those nondescript, brown sheds that were everywhere on the property. Noah pushed the door open and motioned for Alex to go inside. Alex stopped in the doorway, just a few inches away from Noah and turned to face the other guy.
“If this is a plot to murder me, just remember that I will come back as a ghost and stop you from making it look like an accident. Also, I’d prefer a shotgun to suffocation, just saying.”
“I don’t like tools. My bare hands will do the job,” Noah said in a voice devoid of all emotion.
“See, I’d think you were joking, but I do tend to wake homicidal tendencies in people. Anyways, make it quick, and you don’t have to worry, my father will most likely not press charges.”
Noah frowned at that, but Alex marched inside, not especially eager to hear Noah’s thoughts on that little insight to Alex’s life.
“You brought me to a dilapidated shed,” he said as he looked around the place. He turned to Noah. “I’ve gotta tell you, it wouldn’t have been my first choice for a romantic getaway.”
“Do you ever just shut up?” Noah asked, but not in the exasperated way of teachers who passed Alex so that they wouldn’t have to deal with him for another year. Noah asked it like it was a question stemmed from pure curiosity.
“Sure. I can name multiple occasions. When I sleep. When I eat. When there’s something more pleasurable to do with my mouth than talk.”
“Shit!” By the looks of it, Noah had just tripped over something and landed on his ass. His face was all flushed as he glared at Alex like Alex had tripped him, which couldn’t have been further from the truth. The shed was full of crap. No wonder Noah had stumbled on something. Towers of rusty buckets, old, wood blanks, broken furniture—it was like somebody had decided to use that shed as a temporary storage, and over time it had just developed into a dumping site for stuff that wasn’t exactly garbage but nobody had any idea what to do with either.
“So…” Alex said. “You have a hoarding problem.” He turned toward Noah. “See, it’s good. We’re getting to know each other. Learning the deep, dark secrets. Thank you for sharing. Now I don’t feel so bad when I tell you that I’m left-handed.”
Noah got up from the floor and started brushing away the dust on his jeans. He gave Alex a long, level look. “Are you actually trying to tell me that your deepest, darkest secret is the fact that you use your left hand instead of your right when you do stuff?”
“Do stuff? How very ambiguous. Is this your sly way of digging for information?”
“Not in the—” Noah started to say, but Alex was already talking over him.
“Fine, fine, I’ll give.