She's stunning when she answers the door to her apartment; black hair wavy and falling right above her shoulders, perfectly styled to do so. Her legs are wrapped in distressed denim, frayed edges sitting right at the start of her platform ankle boots. Adam's eyes drag up every inch of her frame, lingering on the smooth strip of skin between the top of her skinny jeans and the hem of her crop top; black like the boots but with long sleeves of blue velvet to break up the dark cloth. Her eyes are perfectly lined, the grey almost glowing in the dark as her lips fall full and pouty, coated in a pale gloss.
"Hello love," she greets, pushing onto her toes to peck his lips before she smiles up at him.
Adam knows beautiful women. He's been with quite a few of them. He knows how to appreciate the feminine curves of a body, and he enjoys it quite a bit actually. It isn't often that he's left speechless, but when Nina opens the door and her scent rushes out to meet him, he has to take a second to compose himself, to make sure that he doesn't come off like a bumbling idiot.
She's surprised when he pulls out the bouquet of irises and holds them out to her, a sheepish smile adorning his features. She takes the flowers, kisses him again, and invites him inside so that she can put them in water as she gushes about how thoughtful he is.
"I've never gotten flowers before," she tells him and his brows raise high on his forehead. "Well," she gestures to the rest of her flat, various plants cover a lot of the surfaces, "not from anyone but myself and a few friends. Thank you, love, you're so thoughtful."
Adam wants to buy her flowers every day. He actually has a difficult time believing that no one's done something so simple for her, because if anyone deserves to be adorned with beautiful flowers it's Nina. He learned with Hannah that flowers were a small, thoughtful gesture that can turn someone's entire day around. Hannah loved flowers, even if she had a bad habit of leaving them laying around on her counters to die instead of nurturing them for as long as possible.
Nina pulls out a dark green vase, with every intention of keeping these iris's alive for as long as possible and Adam can't help but think of the metaphor behind it; Hannah lets things die, and Nina fosters growth.
He smiles to himself, admiring her space, looking at pictures and charming décor when a doorknob clicking catches his attention. He sees a fiery looking red head come into the apartment, bags hanging off her arms and heels clicking against the hardwood.
"You would not believe the shite day I've had," the girl mumbles in an accent Adam can't decide is Scottish or Irish. She clearly doesn't notice she has company. "Three fucking times I almost die. Shite ass city drivers. Bout had it and yell at the las' car that I'm gonna tear his fuckin' di-oh!" She startles when she catches sight of Adam standing near the little kitchen table just as he decides she's definitely Irish. "Who da fuck are you?"
"Ash, this is Adam," Nina rounds the table, stifling a laugh as she links her arm through his and brushes her chest against it. This has become a habit of hers, linking herself to him, and he's in no way upset by it. "Adam, this is my roommate Ashley."
Adam watches as the freckled girl, who he acknowledges as quite attractive herself (he quickly pushes the thought of Nina and Ashley scissoring out of his mind, though he'll file it away for a time he might need it later), tries to manage her wild hair by tucking it behind her ears, curls popping free. She looks frazzled, and by the way she's groaning he has to guess she's just gotten home from a bad day at work.
"Adam? THE Adam?" Ashley smiles, "it's nice to finally meet you. I was beginning ta wonder if you were real or if Nina here had spun a tale."
"I'm real," he assures her, offering a hand for her to shake. She goes in for a hug instead, and he actually lets her, something he hasn't been so inclined to allow so easily before with others. "It's nice to meet you too."
"Jesus you're fucking tall," she says before wincing. "Sorry, I-I cuss…a lot. Me mum calls it a nasty habit. Imagine if she knew I smoke weed too."
Adam actually laughs, the corners of his eyes crinkling. He likes Ashley, he can already tell. Then again, if she's living with Nina then she must be tolerable. He trusts his girls taste in almost anyone over his own. "I fucking swear a lot too, no worries."
"Ah, I like you Adam. Good choice Nina baby." Ashley winks at the pair.
Nina has a short conversation with Ashley, filling her in on their plans for the evening. She actually invites Adam to be part of it, and when she doesn't reprimand him for his quirky responses, he grows more comfortable. Adam realizes quickly that Ashley isn't quite as refined as Nina, but she is more than passable as company and he hopes he gets to spend more time getting to know her. He assumes as Nina's best friend he's going to eventually be around her more often and he's okay with that.
He remembers being around Hannah's friends when they were dating. She kept trying to force him to be around them as much as possible, and he resisted for as long as he could. When he finally caved, tired of the screaming matches with Hannah, he felt like he was a constant burden or unwanted. Adam acted like he didn't hear Marnie tell Hannah he's a creep, that she deserved better, but he did. He always heard them talk when he walked out of a room. To be fair, Hannah did probably deserve better at the beginning, and he could definitely be creepy, but he can't change any of that now. Hannah's friends are, for the most part, pretentious snobs that he went along with for Hannah's sake, but he was grateful he only saw them on his own accord now.
Ashley, Adam quickly realizes, is nothing like any of Hannah's friends. She stops and looks at him when he's talking, something people take for granted until they realize just how much eye contact is avoided in everyday conversation. She doesn't shy away from what he's saying, or look at him like he's sprouted another head when he's blunt with her. She and Nina just smile and nod at his words, encouraging him to say what he pleases. Truly liking his significant others roommate is a real first for him, but only if he doesn't count Ray as one of Jessa's roommates when they all lived together. As short lived as that had been.
"Should I expect ya for breakfast?" Ashley asks in that accent he's growing fonder of, walking to her cupboard and taking down a wine glass as Nina tells her they have to leave.
"Behave," Nina scolds, but smiles as she leads Adam toward their front door.
"I should tell ya the same thing," Ashley retorts, bringing the wine to her lips and sipping as she eyes the pair in front of her, wagging her eyebrows in their direction.
"I like French toast." Adam winks, a twinkle in his eye.
It's all comfortable, the three of them melding into a working dynamic that's organic and natural and when they do finally leave, he tells Nina that he enjoys Ashley. That makes her happy, and she tells him the story of how they'd found one another as they catch their cab back over to Brooklyn; Ashley had been a nude model in one of Nina's painting classes in college, and the pair had hit it off immediately when the ginger girl had given one of her classmates the bird when she'd been scolded for smoking. Ashley had needed a roommate so she didn't have to go back to Ireland (he gave himself a mental high five for being right about her comings).
"We've been blissfully living together since," Nina smiles.
It's just as easy as it always is, falling into a flirtatious, comfortable way of just existing with one another. The cab ride is far too short, and before he knows it she's following him out of it, tucking her hand into his as he leads her toward the restaurant; a little deli type diner he had picked because it isn't often over the top busy, but the vibe is good and there's a killer high top on the second floor with views of the busy streets down below.
He's been here a few times; it's not far from a park he likes to go jogging through and it's just a few more blocks past there where he lives. Adam's trying not to think of how close his apartment is, how close his bedroom is and in relation his bed as he follows Nina up the stairs to the second floor of the restaurant. He tries not to stare at her ass, he really does, but it's a lost cost because it just looks fantastic in the jeans she chose to wear.
Just like that his thoughts are right back to what he likes to do in his bedroom.
She's in awe of their spot; the little high top he likes to sit at so he can have a good view of the fountain that dances just outside. She's peeking out the window and Adam gets lost as he's watching a smile tug at the corner of her lips. He pulls a seat out for her and smirks as she wiggles onto the stool. She's taller than his ex's, her shoes adding a couple inches to her frame, but she's still too short to sit in one swift motion on the taller chair. She catches him, and swats playfully at his arm.
"We can't all be born to giants," she snickers and he shrugs.
They have a short conversation about their heights (he learns she's 5'5") and she jokes about "climbing him like a tree" when she learns he's almost 6'4". He invites her to try, and the air around them shivers as her brow arches in a way meant to challenge him.
Then the waiter shows up, shattering the mood, and Adam's fist clenches a little under the table.
Nina, however, is smiling when he orders his usual seltzer water and lime, expecting her to order something fruity like he'd seen her drinking at the bar that first night. He's since learned that it was alcohol free, just orange and cranberry juices with a few drops of lime and a cherry from some of their previous conversations. She likes to have a drink every now and again, but she much prefers staying sober and he really appreciates that.
"Do you have strawberry milk?" Nina asks with all seriousness, watching the waiter laughing before he realizes that she isn't joking. Adam just stares at her.
"Um, we- I can make it, yes?"
"I'll have a carafe of your best strawberry milk please, and two wine glasses along with a glass of ice water. Thank you," she flashes a smile at the man (Adam thinks his name is Mark but he isn't positive) as he leaves to fetch their drinks.
Adam realizes what she's doing; having promised him she'd drink his celebratory drink of choice out of wine glasses to celebrate the audition he had, and then botched completely. As if she can read his thoughts she beams, "just because you didn't get the part, doesn't mean I'm going to break my promises to you and we can't celebrate that you had the audition at all."
She's got him. She's totally got him, and for a second, he feels light headed because of how thoughtful she's being just by…well, just by being herself. He isn't used to this. He's always been the thoughtful one in relationships, or he's tried to be. It's not something he usually has happen for him. He can feel the distrust building inside of him, but he shoves it away and does his best to focus on Nina and the way her eyes sparkle under the soft glow of the restaurant.
They're laughing about something when Matt (not Mark) brings them their drinks, placing their orders with him before she reaches for the milk and pours him the first glass.
"What do we toast to?" He asks, sitting up with better posture and bristling like he's a man of culture; presenting an air of integrity with his wine glass of strawberry milk and a dark grey tee shirt that has a small hole in his left arm pit. He's debated on wearing it, but ultimately decided he really likes the fit and he could hide the hole with his jacket. Now that he isn't wearing his jacket, he reminds himself not to lift his left arm, and switches the glass to his right instead.
"To you of course!" She mocks surprise that he hasn't guessed this already, shifting her posture to mime his, sticking her nose slightly in the air and adopting a prudish tone.
"To us," he corrects, adopting the same tone, and she nods in his direction as she clinks her glass to his and sips the milk.
They both burst into a fit of giggles, and Nina snorts softly, her cheeks flaming to life when the piggish noise leaves her. "I can't believe I just exposed my snort to you," she says, still laughing softly.
"That was the cutest snort I've ever heard," Adam tells her honestly, and Nina's pearly teeth sink into her bottom lips as she smiles.
Their food comes too soon, or maybe not soon enough but he wouldn't know. He's lost in Nina; lost in her words and her stories, her little snorts of laughter. He's enamored by the way she uses her hands to talk, letting them flit around her face to emphasize her point when she thinks it's important. He can listen to her talk all night. He hopes he gets the chance.
He wants to invite her back to his apartment after this. He wants to see where this night leads. His blood is constantly pumping through his veins. Adam is a red-blooded man, and Nina is unbelievably fuckable…but…even thinking that about her feels wrong. No, not wrong, fucking Nina can't be wrong. It feels, Adam thinks, second to actually connecting with her on a less physical plane. That's a strange concept for him to try and grasp as he carries on a decent conversation with this incredible creature, and he's positive he's in love with her.
Adam wants to spend the rest of his life learning how to touch her, and what spots on her body make her moan louder than others. He plans on taking full advantage of lazy afternoons with her locked away in either of their bedrooms once she gives the okay, but he isn't in a rush. Sex is something he's always used as a distraction from, well, basically everything, but he doesn't want to be distracted anymore. He wants to be present, and enjoy this.
He wants to enjoy her mind, not just her body.
But he's definitely planning on enjoying her body, too. As soon as she lets him.
He may not be in a rush, but he's certainly not going to say no if she wants him too.
"So where exactly do you live, Adam?" Nina leans forward after their meals are done, a glint in her eye and he suddenly wonders if she can read minds. They decline dessert, Adam wanting to take a walk with her through his park and buy her ice-cream instead.
"Not far," he tells her, counting a few bills out and tossing them on the table. He's left enough to cover their bill and then some for Mike? Mark? No, not Mark. Matt? He's barely paid attention to the man, distracted all night by Nina, which has him feeling pretty bad. He likes to treat his servers well, which might have something to do with the almost 50% tip he leaves. "Two blocks over from the park I want to take you to."
She nods, holding his stare as her tongue darts out to swipe at a few drops of water on her lip when she stands. He's watching her mouth and she catches him, grinning like the cat who caught the canary. His breath hitches as she saunters toward him, sliding her hand against his and pushing up onto her toes to catch him in a kiss. They linger against one another, not deepening the embrace because they're both aware they're surrounded by strangers in a place they very much would like to return to someday. She's sweet, and she smiles against him. He smiles too, and when she steps back, he pulls her against him once more, tucking her into his side and wrapping an arm around her shoulder as he leads her out of the restaurant.
They walk in silence, but it's not anywhere near uncomfortable. It's two people, eased against one another, warm where their bodies meet and totally content. Adam breaths in deep, the air even cleaner when he takes it into his lungs. Nina makes everything around him better, brighter.
He isn't sure what he's done in his life to deserve this. If he stops long enough to think about it, he'll remember that he doesn't, and that will send him into a full-blown panic attack, so instead he leads her along to the places he jogs and buys her a sea salt caramel ice cream cone. He gets pistachio, and they steal tastes of each other's flavors. He licks her hand when the beige cream leaks down it and she squeals in laughter and smears the cream along his cheek, leaning up to lick it clean after.
Before he realizes it, the sun has completely set and things start to shut down but neither of them seems to be slowing. He thinks of ending the night, and a pit grows in his belly. "I'm not ready to say goodbye," he admits to her with a tilt of his head.
"So, don't," she tells him, pushing closer to him and gazing up with pupils that are just a smidge bigger than they should be. "Take me to your place."
Her voice is low and sultry; he understands what she's saying underneath the mischievous sparkle in her eyes, and his breath catches in his throat. He does a quick mental checklist to make sure he hasn't left a ton of bullshit laying around and the place doesn't stink. He thinks there's probably some laundry in the living room, maybe some dishes sitting around but he thinks it should be safe enough.
Adam leads her through the park, only a few minutes separating them from being alone.
He might have a lifetime to learn her body, but he's all for starting now.