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 Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 8:42 pm
Noah was practically zombified. Thanksgiving week was not a good week when you were in the food business, especially when you were known for pie. To keep up with take out orders he'd been working non-stop, and hadn't even left work in the last twenty hours, though he had shared a few tired phone calls with Phina, unfortunately trapped in baker's prison and completely unable to escape.
But it was over. And his exhausted eyes were gratefully set on the apartment door he hadn't seen in what felt like ages. If he could figure out which key was the door key.
He totally did, eventually. But it was just further evidence Noah was run ragged, if the circles under his eyes and the fact he was coated in a light dusting of flour from his head to his arms to his jeans didn't give it away. He spent the last several days cooking and now it was the ending hours of Thanksgiving and he hadn't even eaten in what felt like eternity.
He shambled in, responding to poor lonely Harley's enthusiastic greeting a distant pat on the head and collapsing face first on the sofa, half dead until he decided to try pushing his shoes off with his feet. And totally forgetting to shut the door behind him.
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Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 9:04 pm
Noah had sounded tired when Phina had talked to him. She hadn't really like the fact that he'd been working for so long on thanksgiving, even she had dinner with Lily and enjoyed a bit of time off. She hadn't cooked the majority of it of course, preferring to get thanksgiving dinner from a nice restaurant and bring it home, but Lily had insisted on making banana pudding and she had indulged the girl adding banana pudding to the list of things she could now cook, which had grown a bit during Lily's stay with her.
Currently she was making her way to Noah's with a plate of thanksgiving dinner and two bowls of banana pudding because Lily insisted Noah should give some to Zia in case he saw her first. Phina couldn't help to smile at the thoughtful girl even if she wondered when her little stay would being ending. She thought the girl really needed to talk to her family.
She got to Noah's apartment and frowned at the open door, frowning even more at being greeted enthusiastically by a dog which couldn't really pet with her hands full.
"Noah," she whispered walking into the apartment and spotted Noah on the couch. She frowned shaking head and closed the door before heading into the kitchen to sit the food down, finally able to pet the excited dog before heading back into the living room to poke him.
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Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 9:15 pm
Noah was face first in a pillow but he wasn't asleep by any means. All of the adrenaline from trying to get everything done and making it by the skin of his teeth kept him wide awake longer than he cared to be.
The stupid dog was running around but what else was new. God he hated that dog. And he kind of liked him too, but it seemed like just when they were close to maintaining some kind of bond, the sadistic animal would go chew a three foot wide hole in the drywall. Which he hadn't gotten around to fixing yet.
So Harley bouncing around and greeting this nice lady who smelled like food and loyally following her every step didn't clue him in, and he must've been out of it to not even hear her voice. Until she poked him, and he was finally clued in to the fact someone else was in his apartment.
"Holy s**t," His whole body jumped in reaction, and he ended up falling off of the couch, smacking his already aching head on the hardwood floor. "Ugh..." He groaned and sat up, quirking an eye at the redheaded addition. "Phina? I... did you say you were coming over?" He asked dumbly, reaching for the jeans pocket he usually kept his phone in, only to realize he had no idea where his phone was. "Oh s**t..." And then out of nowhere, "Did you bring food?" He could've sworn he smelled it, but was also super aware that could've been the fact he was starving.
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Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 9:37 pm
Phina jumped a little herself not really realizing she would startled Noah so badly laughing a little when he went from asking questions to searching himself to the subject of food. She chuckled lightly and nodded, "yes, I did bring food and no I didn't say I was coming over. It was a surprise and I can see you were."
She held out her hand to Noah, "Come on you, lets get some food in you. Lily and I made banana pudding. I hope you like it. There is extra turkey too, you dog can have some too."
She helped him up and headed for her kitchen, patting her hip to get the dog to follow. She flashed a smile at Noah, "it's all pretty cold now since Lily and I had dinner hours ago, but I'm sure a little microwaving won't hurt. The restaurant I got it from really is one of the best. Sorry it's not home cooked, I'm not the best cook exactly."
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Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 9:56 pm
Harley had become well aware of the fact he was 'dog' and at the mention of his name as they walked towards the kitchen made his tail whip back and forth with enough force he knocked a lamp off of an end table.
Noah just ended up plopping on a stool in front of the breakfast bar of his kitchen which served as his sad version of a table where the actual table was covered in a mountain of piled up papers, boxes, bills, books and whatever else he didn't have time to deal with. And then let his head fall limply on the bar because he couldn't muster up the energy to care about the stupid dog.
"I'm just grateful you thought to share," Noah laughed weakly, reaching under the foil to grab a piece of turkey with his fingers. He hadn't eaten in over 24 hours, he didn't care if it was cold at this point.
"Oh god, gotta get ready to go another round for Christmas," He thought in abject horror before reaching over to pull another attempt at face stuffing like a cave man stunt.
"Seriously, Phina, I appreciate this so bad."
So it wasn't home cooked. So maybe on a better day he would've mentally been thinking he could've cooked so much better. Right now it was the greatest thing on earth.
"Did your day go better?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 10:19 pm
Phina smiled at Noah, but it turned into a frown with the dog knocked the lamp off the table and it deepened even further when Noah started eating with his hands then like a caveman.
"I'm really glad you appreciate, but Noah manner's please, ew," she said bending over to pick up the broken lamp and deposit in the trash can. She moved back over to the table grabbing a bit of the extra turkey and putting it in the dog's bowl.
"It was fine. My parent's are in California right now, so they I didn't get to see them this year, but Lily and I had a lot of fun, though she snuck off after I left. Never made banana pudding before so that was new. Really thanksgiving isn't to much different from most days, my parents and I usually just go to a fancy restaurant and catch up and it's not like they come every holiday. It just happens more on thanksgiving than most holidays."
Phina leaned against the breakfast bar, "You should probably get a little extra help for the Christmas rush, youre covered in flour you know. I'd offer my help, but I can't really cook." She gave a small laugh patting the back of his shirt and watching the flour come off.
She frowned, "you need a shower."
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Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 11:08 pm
"You don't have to do that!" Noah protested when she went to go clean up the shattered lamp, but he couldn't will his legs to work well enough to stop her before she was already done.
Harley, however, appreciated the turkey.
He recoiled his hand when she made a comment about his manners and started weighing the options of starving versus needing to move to go get a plate. Or at least a fork.
"Ugh, trying. It's hard to find people to work the kitchen. Any kid who can do math can be a busboy," Or maybe he meant waiter. He complained and shrugged, not wanting to go off on a string of negativity. "But it's whatever. Good business."
He turned and gave her a crooked grin. "Yeah, I'm filthy. You gonna help me out with that shower?" But then he didn't have the energy to follow through on his offer. "I'll just change and worry about cleaning up in the morning. I feel like my arms are going to quit on me any minute." Hours and hours of rolling out dough? Noah was pretty sure it was comparable to hard labor.
"Shouldn't you be bracing for Black Friday?" He asked, remembering the business Phina was in. "Not that I'm not completely enjoying this." And he was. There was something comforting about a helping pair of hands where you weren't expecting them, and the fact those hands were Phina's was so much better. To the point where he looked at her and seemed downright smitten, not that he had clue. He was so exhausted he was barely self aware enough to realize he was going for more turkey, still with his fingers.
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Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 11:24 pm
Phina had totally ignored Noah when he said she didn't need to clean up the lamp, she was aware of that, but she hadn't worked all day and Noah had. It really didn't bother her.
'I'm sure you'll find someone good to help you by then." Of course Phina was being optimistic, but she wanted to cheer Noah up and did hope he would find help. She didn't think it was healthy for anyone to work the way he just had.
Phina gave wink at the helping comment, but nodded when he said he would just change. Phina could see he was tired and didn't think he would be able to make it through a shower even if it would make him feel better, but it could way.
Phina laughed at the Black Friday comment, but nodded anyway. "Yes I've got to be in tomorrow to open for the sale, but no earlier than usual. I imagine I do a fair bit of business, but Black Friday is more for Electronics and Toys. Clothes yes, but not as much."
She grinned at Noah happy to help him out. She was having fun with Noah and it was nice to do the dating thing. It was something she hadn't really done in forever. She raised an eyebrow at the smitten look, but she was distracted by Noah getting more turkey with his fingers causing her to frown and look for a fork.
Once she found one she gave it to him, "finish up and get changed. You look like you could use a massage and I happen to be a great back masseuse."
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Posted: Fri Nov 23, 2012 10:29 am
Noah nodded at this new knowledge. Shopping wasn't exactly relevant to him, so the nature of Black Friday was a mystery outside of people trying to get you in their stores right now. His busy day of the Thanksgiving weekend already happened.
But with fork in hand and full clearance to dig in, he devoured everything in record time, pausing only when he was halfway through inhaling dessert that he paused, pointing down at the bowl with his fork and nodding with his mouth still kind of full, "This is excellent."
He was still sore and exhausted, but at least he didn't feel like he would collapse in starvation.
He shuffled off to go change, trying to be conscientious of the fact there was a classy lady in his apartment and his usual route of not caring and was a good boy who found a pair of pajama bottoms stuffed in a dresser drawer. Add in a t-shirt that wasn't coated in flour and cinnamon and he looked nearly clean, though ruffling his own hair did give off the slightest cloud.
"You don't have to... uh... hm." He was trying to think of a polite thing to say here, which was especially hard when trying to give what they were doing here. He would probably call it dating too, though pinpointing the moment they stopped hanging out and stated legitimately dating was nearly impossible.
He leaned against the door frame with folded arms, watching Phina for a minute like he was trying to figure it out. Or maybe he just liked watching her. "I mean, I'm not trying to put you out, but you don't have to stay here and take care of me. Or you could stay. It's pretty late. And I don't mean 'stay' as a euphemism for getting in your pants because I'm planning on turning into a catatonic rock for the next 20 hours once my head hits the pillow."
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Posted: Fri Nov 23, 2012 9:25 pm
Phina watched Noah devouring they food she bought even giving a compliment to the banana pudding causing her to smile and make a mental note to let Lily know her pudding was a hit. It was a nice feeling to have someone like something you made.
"Glad you like it," she said giving a small chuckle, she hadn't been certain at first he could even taste it with way he was eating.
When he went to change his clothes she decided to pet the dog a bit and telling him how good he was and all that jazz animals seemed to like. Phina herself hadn't ever really had a pet because she was so busy, but she did like animals.
She looked up when Noah spoke raising an eyebrow a bit at his first words. The raised eyebrow turned into a frown and Phina went over to Noah grabbing his hand and dragging him over to the couch.
"I don't do anything I don't want to do and you look like you could use a massage and a good night's sleep. So that's what you'll get, alright. And I think I'll stay and trust me wasn't thinking you wanted to get into my pants just because you offered to let me stay." She rolled her eyes and sat on the couch patting the cushion beside her.
"Come on then, you'll love it. Though she might fall asleep in the middle."
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Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2012 1:11 pm
Harley adored the attention. The poor dog had spent the majority of his life being spoiled beyond reason and then one day his mommy decided to drop him out of nowhere at Noah's and Noah was never even home and when he was he ignored him and he never fed him treats or threw the ball and Christ he was a six foot dog when he reared up on his back legs and he was living in an apartment.
It was hell.
But he was happy to try and keep his massive head under Phina's hands once she started petting him. And when she wanted to stop petting him. Hey, wait, he wasn't done!
Noah held up his hands in a surrender motion and complied, collapsing next to her. "Whatever you say." He didn't have anything witty to say. His brain was off.
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Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2012 7:45 pm
Phina grinned when Noah came over and sat down. She gave Harley another quick pet before turning kicking off her heels and pulling her legs up indian style on the couch. She pulled Noah so he was facing away from him and went to work.
"What's the dog's name anyway? Did you tell me before?"
She started to massage his neck, moving down each arm one at a time, then down both sides of his back. While she worked her lips were pursed in concentration.
"Enjoying it," she asked followed by a yawn not really sure whether or not Noah was still awake.
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Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2012 8:19 pm
Noah mumbled something unintelligible. Had he been more awake, he probably would've gone on and on about how he wasn't his dog but he was the worst dog in the world and also his name was Harley, and he was pretty sure he was the devil.
But instead all that came out was some sleepy gibberish as he leaned forward to hug one of the couch pillows and went entirely unconscious before he could even lament the fact Phina was touching him and he couldn't do anything about it.
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