About You
Episode-1 Just Another Saturday
Noah had been inside Alex's house for less than a minute when Alex heard his mother laughing downstairs.
That was usually a bad sign.
A few seconds later, his bedroom door opened.
Noah
Your mom just showed me your graduation picture again.
Alex looked up from his laptop.
Alex
Why does she keep showing people that?
Noah
Because you look miserable in it.
Alex
I was standing in the sun for three hours.
Noah
No, it's the hair. What were you trying to do there?
Noah
I'm serious. You looked like somebody's divorced uncle.
Alex
You came all the way here just to piss me off?
Noah
No. That happened naturally.
Noah dropped onto Alex's bed, making himself comfortable.
Alex
I watched you step in a puddle outside.
Noah
And now they're cleaner.
Noah kicked them off, deliberately sending one beneath Alex's desk.
Noah
You know, all those tattoos really fooled me into thinking you were dangerous. You're basically somebody's mother.
Alex
And you're basically homeless considering how much time you spend in my house.
Noah
Your mom said I'm welcome whenever I want.
Alex
She says that because she doesn't know you properly.
Noah
She's known me longer than most marriages last.
Alex
And somehow you still haven't learned to knock.
Noah
Why would I knock? What are you hiding in here?
Noah reached toward Alex's laptop.
Alex slapped his hand away.
Alex
Yes, Noah. At two in the afternoon with my bedroom door open.
Alex
I know. That's one of your many character flaws.
Noah
Because I came here to study.
Noah
Don't look so shocked.
Alex
I'm trying to imagine it.
Twenty minutes later, Alex was actually studying.
Noah was lying on his stomach across the bed, watching videos.
Noah
It's barely making noise.
Alex
I can hear it from here.
Noah
That's generally how sound works.
Alex
That's becoming my problem.
Noah
Everything becomes your problem eventually. It's one of your talents.
Alex turned around in his chair.
Alex
Didn't you say you came here to study?
Noah
Before you started watching me.
Alex
I've been facing the other direction.
Noah
Exactly. You missed it.
Alex grabbed the nearest pillow and threw it.
Noah caught it against his face.
Alex ducked, and the pillow knocked a framed photograph from the shelf behind him.
Alex
How the hell was that me?
Alex
You're the one who threw it like you're trying out for the national team.
Noah
Okay, listen. Nobody needs to know what happened here.
Noah
Exactly. Take responsibility.
Noah
Alex, think about our friendship.
Alex
I'm thinking about ending it.
Alex picked up the photograph. The frame hadn't broken.
By late afternoon, Noah had somehow convinced Alex to abandon studying completely.
They were downstairs looking for something to eat when Noah's phone rang.
His expression changed immediately.
Noah
People smile, Alex. You should try it sometime.
Alex
You looked at your phone and smiled like an idiot. Who is it?
Alex
Because if you've finally found someone willing to tolerate you, I want to congratulate them personally.
Noah turned away and answered.
Noah
Hey... Yeah, I'm still at Alex's.
Alex opened the refrigerator, only half listening.
Noah
Tonight? Yeah, probably. Send me the place.
Noah
Okay. I'll see you there.
Alex
Why are you being mysterious about it?
Noah
Because it's annoying you.
Alex
It's not annoying me.
Noah took a drink from the refrigerator and walked past him.
Alex
You going somewhere tonight?
Noah
Maybe she's not a girl.
Noah was already walking upstairs.
Alex
That doesn't answer the question.
Noah
It wasn't supposed to!
Alex stood at the bottom of the stairs for a second, staring after him.
Upstairs, Noah was smiling to himself.
But neither of them knew that the person waiting for Noah that night would eventually become someone Alex couldn't laugh about.
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EPISODE 2 — Mystery Person
By seven-thirty, Noah had changed twice.
Alex knew because the first shirt was hanging off the back of his chair, while the second had somehow ended up on the floor beside the bed.
Noah stood in front of the mirror wearing the third.
Alex
Are you planning on cleaning any of this up before you leave, or have you officially decided my room is where your clothes come to die?
Noah
I'll pick everything up when I get back. Stop looking at it like I've destroyed your entire room. It's two shirts.
Alex
You're not coming back here tonight, so we both know that's a lie.
Noah
Alright, then I'll do it tomorrow. You survived having clothes on your floor for twenty minutes. I'm sure you'll make it through the night.
Alex
They're your clothes on my floor. That's the part you're conveniently ignoring.
Noah
You know, for someone covered in tattoos, you're unbelievably particular about where a T-shirt is allowed to exist.
Alex
And for someone who has his own house, you're unbelievably comfortable making a mess in mine.
Noah laughed and turned back toward the mirror, running his fingers through his hair before adjusting the collar of his shirt.
He looked at himself for a few seconds, then glanced at Alex through the reflection.
Noah
Alright, serious question. Does this one actually look better, or should I have kept the other one?
Alex
You look exactly the same to me.
Noah
Alex, I changed the entire shirt.
Alex
Yeah, from one black shirt to another black shirt. Huge transformation. I barely recognized you.
Noah
They're completely different. The other one was too loose.
Alex
Nobody is going to be examining the tailoring of your shirt over dinner.
Noah
I'm not asking what everybody at dinner thinks. I'm asking you. Does this one look better?
Alex finally looked away from his laptop and gave Noah a proper once-over.
Alex
It's fine. Wear that one.
Noah
“It's fine.” You have such a gift for compliments. Really makes a person feel good about themselves.
Alex
What exactly are you expecting me to say? That you look breathtaking and the entire restaurant is going to stop eating when you walk in?
Noah
See? There you go. That's much better.
Alex
I was taking the piss.
Noah
Doesn't matter. I'm keeping the compliment.
Alex
Do whatever you want. You usually do anyway.
Twenty minutes later, they were in Alex's car.
Noah had connected his phone to the speakers before Alex had even pulled away from the house, which meant Alex had already complained about three different songs before they reached the main road.
Alex
Can we please skip this one? I let the last two go without saying anything.
Noah
You complained through both of them. That's not the same as letting them go.
Alex
Because somehow every song you play is worse than the one before it. I'm actually impressed.
Noah
Coming from the man whose playlist sounds like background music for hiding a body, I don't think your opinion counts.
Alex
At least I listen to actual music. Half your playlist sounds like something you'd hear while trying on jeans in a shopping centre.
Noah
And yet you know half the lyrics whenever I play them.
Alex
Because you've forced me to listen to this shit hundreds of times.
Noah
Sure. That's definitely why.
Noah turned the volume up.
Alex immediately reached over and lowered it again.
Alex
I'm driving. I get final say.
Noah
That's not a rule. You just made that up because it's your car.
Alex
Exactly. My car. Glad we're getting somewhere.
Noah
One day I'm going to get my own car back, and when you sit in it, I'm going to play this song on repeat just to watch you suffer.
Alex shook his head, but left the song playing.
After a few minutes, he glanced at the navigation screen.
Alex
So are you ever going to tell me what tonight actually is? Because all you've said is that Lucas invited some people and apparently that required three outfit changes.
Noah
It was not three outfit changes. I tried two shirts and then went back to this one.
Alex
That's three decisions about shirts. Same thing.
Noah
Why are you so invested in what I'm wearing anyway?
Alex
I'm not. I'm trying to understand why getting dinner with your friends suddenly required a fashion crisis.
Noah
There's no crisis. We're having dinner, probably getting drinks somewhere afterward. That's literally it.
Alex
And the person who called you earlier is going to be there?
Noah turned his head slowly.
Noah
You're still thinking about that phone call?
Alex
I'm not thinking about it. You deliberately acted mysterious because you knew it would be annoying.
Noah
Yeah, and apparently it worked much better than I expected. It's been hours and you're still asking.
Alex
I'm asking because you made it sound like there was something to ask about.
Noah
Maybe there is. Maybe there isn't. You're the one who said you didn't care.
Alex
I don't care. I'm curious. Those are different things.
Noah
That's such an Alex way of explaining it. “I don't care, I just need all the information.”
Alex
Whatever. Keep your secrets.
When they reached the restaurant, several people were already standing near the entrance.
Noah leaned forward slightly, looking through the windshield.
Noah
Oh, they're already here. I thought we'd actually be early for once.
Alex
Which one is the mysterious person, then? Since I've apparently driven all this way without being allowed to know.
Noah
You spent the entire drive telling me you weren't interested. I'm respecting your wishes.
Alex
You're enjoying this way too much.
Noah unfastened his seat belt.
Before he could open the door, one of the guys standing near the entrance noticed him and walked over.
He was tall, confident, and seemed comfortable enough with Noah that there was no awkward introduction between them
Ethan
There you are. I was starting to think you were going to text me with some terrible excuse about not coming.
Noah
I nearly did, actually. You can thank this miserable bastard for getting me here.
Ethan bent slightly to look through the open passenger door.
Ethan
Wait... you're Alex, right?
Alex looked at Noah before answering.
Alex
Apparently I've been discussed. Should I be concerned about what he's been telling you?
Ethan
Nothing too damaging. Although I feel like I already know quite a bit about you considering we've never actually met.
Noah
Don't encourage him. His ego is already difficult enough to live with.
Alex
You're the one talking about me to people I've never met.
Noah
You come up occasionally. Don't make yourself important.
Ethan
“Occasionally” is doing some work there.
Noah
Alright, both of you can stop now.
Noah climbed out before the conversation could go any further.
Alex rested an arm against the steering wheel.
Alex
Do you need me to pick you up later, or have you actually planned that far ahead?
Noah
No, don't worry about it. Ethan's driving back my way, so he said he'd drop me home.
Ethan
Yeah, I've got him. You don't need to come all the way back out here.
Alex
Alright, then. Just don't call me at one in the morning saying your plans changed.
Noah
When have I ever done that?
Alex
Do you genuinely want me to answer that?
Noah
Okay, fair. Just go before you start listing examples.
Alex
And tomorrow, come get the disaster you left all over my room.
Noah
I knew you couldn't let that go. I'll come by tomorrow.
Noah
Thanks for driving me. And try not to spend the whole night enjoying the silence too much.
Alex
I'll do my best to cope without you.
Noah
See? I knew you'd miss me.
Noah laughed and closed it.
Alex waited until they moved away from the car before pulling out of the parking lot.
As Alex's car disappeared onto the main road, Ethan glanced over at Noah.
Ethan
So that's the famous Alex I've been hearing about.
Noah
Don't call him famous. If he ever hears you say that, I'll have to deal with him being unbearable for the next month.
Ethan
I'm just saying, you talk about the guy enough that I already had a picture of him in my head. I wasn't expecting him to look quite so... intimidating.
Noah
Alex? He's not intimidating. He just has that face.
Ethan
That face, the tattoos, the whole silent-staring thing... yeah, completely harmless.
Noah
You get used to him. Half the time he's just pretending to be annoyed because he likes having something to complain about.
Ethan
You really do know him well, don't you?
Noah
Of course I do. I've known the idiot forever.
Ethan smiled slightly as they started toward the restaurant.
Ethan
Alright. I'm not going to say what I'm thinking because you'll accuse me of making things weird again.
Noah
See, saying that automatically makes it weird. Now I want to know what you were thinking.
Ethan
No chance. You had your mystery earlier. I'm having mine now.
Ethan
Come on. Everyone's waiting for us.
Ethan laughed and put a hand briefly against Noah's back as they headed inside.
For Noah, it was nothing worth thinking about.
And Alex was already halfway home.
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EPISODE 3 — Things You Don’t Know
The next afternoon, Noah showed up at Alex’s place wearing sunglasses and carrying the clothes he'd left behind the day before.
He still opened the door before Alex answered.
Alex was standing near the mirror, dressed in black jeans and a fitted T-shirt, fastening his watch. The tattoos covering most of his forearm disappeared beneath his sleeve.
Noah
Before you say anything, I knocked this time. I’m becoming a respectful person, and I think you should appreciate the effort.
Alex
You knocked while opening the door. That defeats the entire purpose of knocking.
Noah
No, the purpose is to warn you that I’m coming in. You were warned. Whether you had enough time to do anything with that information is between you and God.
Alex
One day you’re going to walk in here and see something you really didn’t want to see.
Noah
Please. I’ve known you too long to believe there’s anything interesting happening in this room.
Alex
Keep talking. I can still throw you out.
Noah
You say that every time, and yet here I am.
Alex gave him a small grin before picking up his phone.
Noah
Wait, where are you going? You actually look like you made an effort today.
Alex
I always look like this.
Noah
No, normally you look like you got dressed in the dark and somehow made it work. Today you’ve got the watch, rings, everything. Who are you meeting?
Alex
A couple of guys from the gym. We're getting drinks later.
Noah
You made friends without telling me? I don’t know whether to be proud or offended.
Noah
You have me. That's not the same thing.
Alex
Trust me, I’m painfully aware.
Noah
See? That was almost affectionate.
Noah dropped onto the bed while Alex searched through the drawer beside his desk.
Instead of leaving, Noah stretched out comfortably and picked up the television remote.
Alex
You came here to collect your clothes. Why are you getting comfortable again?
Noah
Because you’re still here. I’ll leave when you leave. Besides, I haven't recovered from last night yet.
Noah
Actually, yeah. We had dinner and then Ethan convinced everyone to go to this bar across town. Lucas disappeared halfway through the night with some girl, Sophie got tired and went home, and somehow I ended up staying until almost one.
Alex
So Ethan's the one who drove you back?
Noah
Yeah. He lives pretty close to me anyway, so it wasn't really out of his way.
Alex
Seems like a decent guy. I thought he was going to climb into my car yesterday and introduce himself properly.
Noah
That's because you're terrible at meeting new people. He was trying to be friendly and you were sitting there looking at him like airport security.
Noah
You looked him up and down first.
Alex
I look at people when I'm talking to them. What was I supposed to do, close my eyes?
Noah
There's looking, and then there's whatever you do. You have this face where people think they're about to be questioned about a crime.
Alex
Maybe Ethan's hiding something.
Noah
Yeah, I'm sure he's terrified you’ll uncover his criminal past.
Alex laughed and tossed the remote toward Noah.
Alex
Did you at least have fun?
Noah
Yeah, I did. Ethan's actually pretty funny once you spend some time with him. We ended up sitting outside my place talking for almost an hour after everyone else went home.
Noah
What do you want, a transcript? We talked about university, family, people we know... normal things.
Alex
You two got close quickly.
Noah
I've known him for a while. You just haven't met him before.
Alex
How long is “a while”?
Noah lowered the remote and looked over.
Noah
Why does this suddenly feel like an interview? Are you going to ask for his address next?
Alex
I'm making conversation. You're the one acting like I'm investigating him.
Noah
Because you've asked more questions about Ethan in five minutes than you have about my classes all month.
Alex
Your classes are boring. Ethan's new.
Noah turned back to the television.
His phone buzzed beside him.
He looked at the screen and smiled before typing something.
Alex
You two really did become best friends overnight.
Noah
Relax. He sent me something stupid from yesterday. I'm allowed to have friends other than you.
Alex
Never said you weren't. Just remember who you're coming to when all these exciting new friends start annoying you.
Noah
That's rich coming from you. Half the reason I need other friends is, so I have someone to complain about you to.
Alex
And apparently you do that a lot, considering Ethan recognized me immediately.
Noah
Maybe you're just memorable.
Alex
There we go. Finally, admitting it.
A little later, they headed downstairs together.
Alex grabbed his keys from the kitchen counter while Noah stopped at the door.
Noah
Oh, Ethan said something funny about you last night.
Alex
I'm already regretting asking, but go on.
Noah
He said you looked intimidating. Apparently the tattoos and the whole quiet thing made him think you were going to tell him to stay away from me or something.
Alex
Why would I care who you hang around with? You're twenty. If you choose terrible people, that's your problem.
Noah
Exactly what I told him. Well... I left out the part where you think everyone I meet is terrible.
Alex
Not everyone. Just most of them.
Noah
And that's why people think you're intimidating.
Alex
Good. Saves me having to talk to them.
Alex opened the front door for him.
Noah laughed as they walked toward their cars.
He didn't mention what else he and Ethan had talked about the night before.
Later that evening, Alex was standing at the bar with two friends from the gym when someone tapped him on the shoulder.
For a moment, he simply stared.
Lena
Wow. That's all I get? I disappear for almost a year, and you've already forgotten how to speak?
Alex
Lena? What the hell are you doing here? I thought you were still in London.
Lena
I came back three days ago. I was actually going to message you, but then I saw you standing here looking exactly as unapproachable as I remembered.
Alex
You could've said hello instead of staring at me from across the room.
Lena
I wanted to see how long it would take you to notice me.
Alex
Apparently not fast enough.
Alex smiled and pulled her into a brief hug.
When they separated, Lena kept one hand against his arm as she looked at the tattoos disappearing beneath his sleeve.
Lena
“A few”? Last time I saw you, that arm was practically empty.
Alex
You've been gone a long time.
One of Alex's friends glanced between them.
Daniel
Are you going to introduce us, or are we supposed to figure this out ourselves?
Alex
Right. This is Lena. We used to—
Lena
What? That's what you were going to say.
Alex
I was going to say we knew each other.
Lena
That's a very boring way of describing it.
She turned back toward him.
Lena
So... are you seeing anyone?
Lena
I've been gone a year, Alex. I don't have time for small talk.
Alex
No. I'm not seeing anyone.
Before Alex could answer, Lena took his drink from his hand, tasted it, made a face and handed it back.
Lena
Still drinking terrible whiskey too. Some things really don't change.
Alex
And you're still stealing people's drinks without asking.
Lena
You never minded before.
Alex looked at her for a moment before smiling.
Alex
No. I guess I didn't.
author
Guys it's a slow burn story, so the first few episodes will be a slow and is about character's emotions and introduction to know them
let me know your thoughts in comments section guys 🙌🙂↕️
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