Enjoy this bonus chapter!

Little Talks

8 Minutes

Rex hopped from foot to foot as he waited for the elevator to descend the few floors down to where his suite was located. He was a bundle of happy nerves. It had been a while since they'd been able to hang out and even fresh from a conversation about just how much Rex enjoyed Noah's company he was eager to see Noah. Just when he was thinking he ought to have taken the stairs the elevator landed on his floor.

When the door slid open Rex was greeted to his best friend and secret crush leaning against one of the thick, white support pillars that stood in strategic places in the hallway. He grinned, unable to hold back just how pleased he was to see him. Noah turned at the sound of the elevator, his eyes widening as he spotted Rex.

"Hey, Noe, what's up?" Rex asked power walking towards him. He noticed that Noah was panting slightly and his face was so flushed that for a wild moment Rex thought Noah had taken the stairs. Worry spiked through him. "Is everything okay."

Noah pulled out his cellphone and rapidly tapped on it, most likely unlocking it. Wordlessly, Noah reached out to Rex, his phone in his palm. He made a gesture indicating he wanted Rex to take it.

Confused, Rex did and looked at the screen. There was an audio feed with times and dates and phone numbers. It was a list of voicemails.

"Play the first one," Noah instructed with a bob of his head.

Rex obeyed and quickly placed the phone up to his ear to listen, a smile frozen over his face.

At first, it was difficult to hear clearly, but then came the unmistakable sound of his own voice.

"What makes you think I am in...that I could possibly feel that way towards another guy?

"No, not just another guy, but towards Noah." Holiday's voice.

Oh, no.

Rex wrenched the phone away from his ear. He looked at the message length. 8 minutes. 8 minutes of Rex talking about his feelings. For Noah. And the hopelessness he felt about Noah's response to those feelings. Rex's eyes shot to Noah's. The blush on the blonde's cheeks darkened at Rex's intense stare.

How in the world had this happened? Rex desperately thought. Then it came to him.

Apparently, when Rex slammed the front chair legs down he had also pocket dialed Noah, who didn't answer because Rex was pretty sure he had basketball practice, but it did record a message.

Rex was horrified. Panic over Noah's reaction flooded him.

"Noah-"

"Is it true? Do you have a crush on me or is this some prank? Because if it is, it's in pretty poor taste."

Fear and sorrow rise in Rex. Afraid of how Noah will reject him Rex opened his mouth to refute the claim, to maybe play it off as a bad joke and apologize, when Noah smiled.

Noah tells Rex how "It is true, isn't it? You can't deny it now, Rex. I was able to read the answer on your face the moment I asked."

"But-"

"You have a pretty shitty poker face," Noah continued. "How do you think I always beat you at basketball? You practically telegraph what you are about to do."

"Wait, so does that mean you knew about my...how I feel?"

Noah looked away and shrugged. "I may have had an inkling. Though let's just say I was hoping there was a there -there. It's good to finally get you on the record and have confirmation."

"Confirmation?" Rex said confused.

"Yeah. I mean, it's kinda sucks trying to hide my crush when I promised I would never lie to you again."

"Um, excuse me," Rex said, defaulting to his polite mode as he fought to process what was happening. "What are you saying, exactly?"

Noah smiled sheepishly and stuffed his hands into his jean pockets. "What I'm saying is I like you. I like-like you and I've been trying to figure out if you'd be interested in a guy like me."

"A guy like you?" Rex repeated, not sure which was more shocking that Noah returned his feelings or how Noah couldn't see why Rex liked him.

Rex grinned. For once, he knew how to respond. "You're right. You're not an EVO. You're so much cooler. If our roles were reversed I'm a hundred percent sure I wouldn't be able to keep up with you."

Even more pink rose in Noah's cheeks at the unexpected praise. Rex enjoyed seeing Noah react that way and now that the floodgates of his emotions had been opened Rex was going to take the opportunity to tell Noah exactly why Rex had fallen for him. "You're kind and funny and so smart and clever and sarcastic and I'm addicted to the sound of your laugh and the sight of your smile."

Noah put a hand to his mouth self-consciously covering the grin Rex had just complemented. "Rex, stop," he said though it was muffled through his hand. "You're going to make me die of embarrassment."

"Nah, you'll be alright," Rex promised. His own cheeks were starting to hurt from all the grinning he was doing. He couldn't believe this was how his confession was going to go. Here he was standing in front of his room with his love confession on Noah's phone and Noah racing over here to tell him that he felt the same way. It was better than he could have hoped for. The best, actually. All this time he'd hidden this part of him all the while Noah was struggling with the same thing. "So what do you want to do now? I mean, where do we go from here?"

Noah thought for a moment. "Well, for starters, I'd like my phone back."

Rex laughed and handed it back. "You're going to delete that voicemail, right?"

Noah eyed him, a gleam of mischief in them. "Are you kidding me? I'm saving this. It'll be a great way to remind you that you confessed first."

"Oh, god, no," Rex pleaded and tried to grab the phone back. Noah chuckled and stepped back holding the phone aloft, just out of Rex's reach. He huffed out a breath as he backtracked into the door of Rex's room.

Now cornered, Rex held the advantage. Using his superior strength, Rex pinned Noah against the wall with the side of his body. He placed a hand on Noah's hip while grabbing the arm with the phone and tugging it down, forcing Noah to lower his arm. Rex's hand slid across Noah's arm down to his wrist. He paused as a puff of Noah's breath ghosted over his cheek. He cocked his head to look at Noah, his breath catching as he realized just how close they were. Noah tilted his head back enough so that he could meet Rex's gaze. They had been this close before, countless times during basketball games, but mixed with the knowledge they shared this familiar innocuous pose held a new meaning. A more teasing, sensual meaning that made Rex's heartbeat quicken. A small smile twitching at the sides of his mouth and all thoughts of the phone were forgotten. The only thing which mattered was their closeness. In fact, if Rex wanted to he could easily lean down and...

And Noah burped in his face.

Rex pulled away disgusted while Noah laughed unabashed at breaking their tender moment. Then, Rex was laughing, too.

"I can't believe you just did that."

"What? It's not like we'll never make out. We'll do that loads of times. Just, not yet. Okay?"

"Okay," Rex readily agreed, his entire body thrilling at the idea of being able to make out with Noah. Loads of times in the not so distant future.

They made plans to get something to eat and watch TV while Noah worked on homework. While they lined up in the Mess Hall for some grub, Rex took out his phone and shot Dr. Holiday a quick text message thanking her once again for their little talk and asking to schedule another one soon. He had updates and he wanted Holiday to be the first one to know about them.


Well, that's it! I hoped you enjoyed this story! Thank you so much for reading!

With love,

Bramblerose4