Hello again everyone! As always, thanks so much for the feedback, although after some comments/questions from some of you, I thought I'd address them as to where this story is heading. Although this will heavily focus on Noah and Emma with slice of life components, I am also going to add in some references to a new season of Total Drama that was teased at us when Noah said he and Owen got asked to be on… even though it never happened and still sticks in my craw to this day about it never happening. :/ So I decided to take the liberty of making it happen to a degree in this fanfic! Anyway, without further delay, this chapter takes place the morning after the previous chapter. Let's say there's some sibling interactions that happen in this chapter, and it's not just Emma and Kitty.

(Emma's POV)

I could feel heat on my face and bright light as I slowly opened my eyes before gritting my teeth, realizing I forgot to close the blinds last night since the sun was glaring directly into my face.

I was going to get up and resign that I was just awake now until I felt something wrap around my waist that made my eyes go wide until I looked behind me slightly at Noah only to have him pull me back slightly against him until we were spooning.

It took a second until I heard Noah mumble something under his breath in his sleep that I couldn't make out, but still didn't mean that I didn't try to stifle back a laugh and smile to myself as I thought of something else.

After I got back home, I started going down a little bit of a rabbit hole. Mostly I started looking into Noah's previous resumé with his reality TV record.

What? I'm going to be a lawyer so I like doing my research.

Anyway, I really didn't watch a lot of reality TV since that was always more Kitty's thing and it just never really interested me. Considering it was her idea for us to do the race together as a fun sisterly bonding experience together before I got started with law school and she eventually talked me into it 100% when she said we could use the million to help me pay my way through law school.

So, either way, reality TV was never something that interested me until that moment.

But, I did hear of Total Drama when it premiered back in high school and I knew that it was where Noah got his start competing on reality shows when he was 16.

So before my classes got started, I finally decided to watch it.

Or you know, at least the few episodes Noah was in until he got eliminated since I wasn't invested in it after that… and okay, fine, I watch the old episodes of Total Drama that Noah was in when I really miss him and just want to see him and hear him make sarcastic comments about everything like he usually does.

But, this is exactly why I'm trying not to laugh right now.

During the episode in the first season where they were put through an all nighter competition, I had to stop myself from laughing again and all I was doing was just thinking about it!

During that episode, I saw when Noah eventually passed out near Cody and both of them woke up after accidentally almost fully spooning before they immediately started screaming and running away from each other. I don't think I ever laughed at something so hard in my entire life and right now was proof of how much I stupidly found that hilarious.

It really isn't THAT funny and I don't know if I only found it funny because it had to do with Noah… but I catch myself thinking back to it and laughing about it to this day randomly.

I never brought it up with Noah since I'm guessing it's probably something he doesn't want to talk about, particularly since I know that out of the few real friends from the show Noah has aside from Owen, he and Cody are actually pretty good friends who both just happen to be prone to painfully awkward situations as I also saw in the World Tour season.

Then again, at this point in my life, I can relate.

And as much as I had to use the bathroom right now, I also really didn't want to stop this from happening. I closed my eyes and smiled to myself, just deciding to give in for a while.

It had to at least have been another 10 minutes until I felt his hold slacken a little bit and I decided it was now or never since I had to get up at some point.

I slowly and subtly tried to slide out from under his arm. I was so close to getting out without him noticing until I felt his hand squeeze mine as I heard, groggy but still in that same dry tone, "Hey, I was just getting comfortable."

I smiled a little to myself before biting my lips and trying to even it out to a smirk as I looked back at him and said, teasing him a little, "What? I can't get up and use the bathroom?"

He still had a slightly groggy look on his face as he smirked back at me as he put his free arm behind his head as he just kept holding my hand.

"So, are you going to let go or are you going to keep holding me here against my will?" I teased, even though him holding my hand right now was anything but that.

He let out a half laugh internally as he held his usual smirk before letting go of my hand and saying, "Go ahead. I'm just gonna hang back here for a bit."

He proceeded to put both arms behind his head as he closed his eyes and settled into the middle of my bed with a smirk on his face still, definitely making himself comfortable.

I just smirked and playfully rolled my eyes for a second before commenting, messing with him, "Looks like you already are comfortable to me."

He shrugged his shoulders a little with a smirk before responding, "Hey, I'm just enjoying this before you inevitably throw me out in a few hours so you can study." "Not throw you out… but considering I slacked on studying from 4:30 yesterday until now, I'm going to have to ask you to leave in the next 2 hours so I can catch up." I teased again, knowing he wouldn't take offense.

I knew I was right when he smirked and replied, "Say no more. Just give me 15. All I need is breakfast, coffee and a shower then I'm good."

I decided to just go and use the bathroom as I called back, "I'll put another towel out."

After getting an extra towel out for Noah and using the bathroom, I got the coffee maker going and decided to start on making something for breakfast, usually I only have a bowl of cereal typically but I kind of wanted to make more of an effort here.

Even though all I had in my fridge that can be considered breakfast were eggs, milk, and bread.

Yeah, I still need to go grocery shopping.

Usually, I go out shopping after going out to eat on Saturday evening during my usual routine, but since Noah was here… that never happened.

Well, french toast it is then.

I got out a mixing bowl and pan out of the cabinet and I was about to start on making the mixture until I remembered something. I opened the smaller side cabinet in my kitchen and found the small box of spices mom gave me before leaving to help me with making meals and got out the bottle of cinnamon.

I smirked for a second as I thought back to when Kitty and I were kids and we used to have a family breakfast together every Sunday morning and we'd have french toast a lot since it was a favorite.

The way mom made french toast was always with a teaspoon of cinnamon and it wasn't until we got to high school and ordered it at a restaurant that we realized only mom made it like that and both of us figured out mom ruined every other kind of french toast forever and got dad laughing about it when we told him once we got back home.

I smiled a little to myself as I thought of that and added the cinnamon just in time to hear my phone vibrating on the counter.

Kitty.

Even though I knew exactly why she was calling me, I was determined to stay casual about it.

I picked up my phone and balanced it between my shoulder and my ear as I started mixing while saying, "Hey Kit, what's going on?"

"Seriously? What's going on? C'mon Em, you know what's up. How was your date?" Kitty asked, completely eager.

Initially I felt myself going off in a daze, trying not to think about the awkwardness that happened last night as I just thought of the actual date itself, which was great.

I hesitated for a second, trying not to completely give in, "It was nice… and productive."

"Productive? What? Were you having a meeting talking about starting a small business together or something? I highly doubt that. Now c'mon, sis! Details!" She said, sounding really excited and eager to hear about my date if it killed her.

I sighed, trying to remain relaxed and like my usual self as I started, keeping it to the point, "Well, we got dinner at that Greek place near me before going to see a movie and then we walked around downtown for a couple hours before he walked me back to my building. Nothing crazy."

It was silent for a second until she teased, "That's all?... Just kidding. Emma, I am so proud of you for actually getting out and having fun for once and…" "Hey Emma, the towel by the sink is for me, right?" Noah called out, making Kitty immediately go silent.

My whole stomach felt like it was contorting as I bit my lip and felt my face go red and heat up in total embarrassment, knowing I was busted.

Crap.

As much as I wanted to be mad at Noah right now, I knew I couldn't since I didn't tell him where I was putting his towel.

Also, I knew if I did get mad right now, it would only make Noah aware that I was talking to my sister and I did not want Noah to be pulled into this too.

I swallowed hard before calling back and trying to sound as normal as possible and keeping it short, "Yeah, that's yours."

"Thanks, you're the best." He called back before I heard the door close and the bathroom fan turn on.

As much as I would have probably really liked hearing that come from him under normal circumstances… right now all I wanted to do was just die since that just made this even worse.

It was dead quiet until I heard the call end.

I looked at my phone in confusion until I felt like having a heart attack when I saw Kitty immediately calling me back, video calling me.

For a second I bit my lip and debated whether or not I wanted to just ignore the call since I had a painful and embarrassing feeling at the conversation that was inevitably coming. I sighed as I tried to stay strong as I straightened up.

C'mon Emma, you're the older sister here. Take charge!

I let out a sharp breath and picked up the call only to see Kitty staring at me in total shock and surprise in silence until she finally started, "Noah's in your apartment… at 8 am?"

"Yeah... so?" I said, knowing I was getting defensive.

But, look I'm not stupid and I already know what the situation definitely seems like and I could totally read that from my sister completely right now.

I had no idea how she was going to react until I slowly saw her face go from shocked to this sly smirk as she teasingly narrowed her eyes at me until she started, "So… nothing crazy, huh?"

Crap, crap, crap...

But as much as I felt like I wanted to phase out of existence… I glared at her and said, maintaining my defiance, "Look, nothing even happened, okay?"

"Riiiiight, sure. Of course absolutely nothing happened." She teased and then proceeded to laugh to herself a little bit until I grit my teeth and retorted, knowing I sounded embarrassed but still trying to hold my ground, "Kitty!"

"Sorry, it was just too good. But, seriously, good for you. I mean, I knew you guys were really into each other, but I didn't think..." "Kitty, for the last time, I didn't sleep with Noah! Okay, we literally slept together in my bed, but nothing happened!" I blurted out, glad Noah was in the shower and probably couldn't hear this conversation.

Hopefully…

It was quiet as I slowly watched her face contort in confusion again until she tilted her head and finally said, "Um… wait, what now?"

Eventually I sighed and just gave in and told her pretty much everything. Well not every single detail, but I did tell her about what happened between Noah and I after our cut off make out session. Then just telling her about how we basically had a long talk and how we ended up just cuddling in my bed together.

At first, Kitty was so silent that I thought I broke her with the information overload until I heard her get out, "Wait, he actually told you he was a virgin mid-make out session?"

At first I gave her a look about that being the first thing that she brought up after everything I just told her, but then again I shouldn't be too surprised.

I was about to respond until I heard and then saw Kitty facepalm herself with her free hand before letting out a strained groan. I was about to question her about it until she responded, "You know what? I was right all along. You both are made for each other considering I have never met a more painfully awkward couple than you and him."

Okay as much as I always hate to admit it whenever my little sister is right like this… ugh, dammit, she's right.

But, I wasn't about to let her know that as I just gave her a glare. She caught it and shrugged her shoulders at me as she reaffirmed, "C'mon Em, you know I'm right on that one. But… honestly, now that you said all that, it actually all makes sense."

"Kitty, what are you talking about?" I questioned, still feeling a little offended, confused, and completely embarrassed.

"Hey, I'm just saying, when Owen and I were trying to hook you guys up during the race, I just kept thinking Noah was just nervous and socially awkward around you just because he had a serious crush on you, but now that I think about it, the fact you said he's never done anything really doesn't surprise me and makes a lot of sense for how he acted around you." She explained.

I gave her a look as I snapped a little, "And what of it?"

I saw her get a defensive look as she looked like she backtracked a little before responding, "Nothing! There's nothing wrong with it. It's just… wow."

I looked down for a second as she said, "Hey Em… I'm sorry for laughing before and I know I seemed like I was getting annoyed with you guys back during the race when all you guys did was distract each other, but you know I'm happy for you, right? Because I'm still seriously so proud of you for liking Noah, especially considering I don't think you're going to find a guy who is just as much if not more of a snarky, smart mouthed know-it-all as you. And you know I mean that in the nicest way possible, right?"

As much as I wanted to make a remark of some kind, I didn't want to ruin this.

We both even laughed at what she just said, knowing how true it was.

I just smiled and said, "Thanks Kit. Um hey, I think Noah's coming out of the bathroom any second so..." "No worries. We'll talk later. Love you sis!" She said, smiling and giving me a wave.

I smirked a little back as I responded, "Love you too."

Right when I hung up, it's like I had a moment of reflection about how the race literally changed everything in my life.

Up until the race, it was no secret that Kitty and I kind of drifted apart a little after my relationship with Jake and the break up over the past 3 years. And now Kitty and I are just as close as we were back when we were kids.

The whole time she kept giving me a push to trust her help and to tell Noah how I felt during the race, so… I owe a lot to that.

Finally I went back to making french toast and finally got to putting the first 2 pieces of dipped bread into the pan.

Right as I flipped the bread over I heard, "Well, that smells like it can't possibly suck." I looked over and saw Noah, already dressed, but he was smirking at me as he started toweling off his hair to dry it.

I smirked back and replied, "Prepare to have french toast ruined for you forever by having it served Park style."

He stopped and slung the towel over his shoulder before running his hands and fingers through his hair randomly until shaking his head like a wet dog a little bit. "Is that your usual routine with your hair?" I asked.

Okay, I know everyone, especially Kitty, likes to make fun of me for how much I'm pretty much infatuated with practically almost everything about Noah. But, honestly to me… ugh, Noah has great hair.

He smirked at me before shrugging and explaining, "Eh, pretty much. I don't think I've used a comb or actually dried my hair for as long as I can remember. The way you and everyone else always sees my hair is usually just how it dries naturally. Hey, it's been working for me my whole life and I have no complaints. Especially considering the amount of time I usually spend shaving almost everything, it's an easy trade off."

I almost forgot about the shaving thing with him. Whenever we all were stuck on planes together during the race between destinations, I always remembered seeing Noah and a lot of the other guys using electric razors to shave on the plane.

But, what always got me about Noah was I'd see him sitting in his seat and shaving his face and even his forearms sometimes on a regular basis, which made me kind of intrigued.

Every time I saw Noah with his shirt off, and got past the inevitable distraction, he had pretty much no body hair at all which kind of intrigued me for a guy in his early twenties.

"Why? Can't be as bad as shaving your legs in the shower once or twice a week." I teased, and also tried to subtly get him to elaborate.

"Oh trust me, when I say I shave everything, I mean literally almost everything and constantly since I was 15. Since all my brothers and I got the Mathai wolfman genes, it makes the guys in our family look like the Canadian Werewolf in Paris. If I didn't shave anything for a week or two, I'd end up looking like my dad with a full beard and I'd look so hairy it would look like I had a few centimeters of what looks like carpet on my arms, legs, and even my chest to the point where it looks ridiculous and I knew everyone would be commenting on it more than my track record of staying on shows. Also, I'd be itching like crazy if I didn't. Makes sense why I wear long sleeves and pants all the time, right?" He explains, as something he said brought something else up in my mind.

When we all got back together during the finale, Noah and I were sitting and talking at the pool at the hotel we were at as Kitty and Owen were playing chicken with the step-brothers in the pool to kill time.

But one of the things we ended up asking each other about was our last names so we could exchange numbers and find each other on social media to stay in touch.

And also led to me getting in touch with more than just Noah.

Anyway if I ever got married someday, I always thought changing my last name from 'Park' or at the very minimum hyphenating my last name is something that depended on my future husband's last name since it's something that would reflect on me professionally if I wanted to take the opportunity to change my name.

And look, I know Kitty told me to stop looking too far ahead in my relationship with Noah to keep myself from screwing things up, but not going to lie that Emma Mathai J.D. has a pretty nice ring to it.

Also, if we had kids they would have a last name slightly earlier on in the alphabet and… Okay, maybe Kitty does have a point.

I shook the thought out of my head and tried to keep myself on track but also feeling curious as I asked, smirking a little, "Why? What's Noah with a beard look like?"

He gave me a smirk and an eyebrow raise as he took his phone off my charger that I let him borrow after he told me about how his oldest nephew swiped his out of his bag before he left even though he told him he couldn't have it and looked like he was scrolling on his phone.

It looked like he finally found what he was looking for as he said, handing me his phone, "Fair warning, you may regret still wanting to date me after you see this, but this is me after only a couple days of growth from when I was almost 19 during the World Tour season. I didn't leave my hotel room for 2 full days doing nothing but sleep and play Dragon Assassin before the finale."

I gave him a playful look back and was about to comment about doubting that until my eyes went wide at what I was seeing.

Mostly because it was something that I didn't expect was possible. It looked like Noah took the picture in a hotel bathroom mirror with his usual deadpan facial expression and his face had a full yet short beard a little less than half a centimeter long.

Okay, again, I know this is me talking about Noah here but… ugh, he still looked totally hot with a beard.

But, I wasn't about to say that out loud to his face and inflate his ego… and possibly make myself look creepy for the millionth time, so I tried to keep it cool as I handed the phone back and kept trying to keep myself from burning the french toast, "I mean, I prefer you clean shaven since to me kissing a guy with a beard is like making out with sandpaper, but… you definitely could pull off a beard."

"Thanks, but lucky for you, my own beard even makes me feel like I have sandpaper on my face, so… no worries on me ever wanting to grow it out, even though it's one of the few things seen as manly that I have about me as my roid monkey brothers like saying about me. But, like I care." He responded with a smirk as he put his phone into a pocket on his cargo pants.

All I could do was smirk until I shook my head a little as I finally wrapped up making breakfast and served it up for us at the breakfast bar I never use, pretty much considering I usually just take all my meals to eat at my desk usually.

But, considering Noah is my first guest in 2 months since mom, dad, and Kitty helped me move in at the beginning of my semester, I figured I can eat like a normal human being this morning.

I sat next to him at the counter and pushed his plate in front of him. I watched him as he took his first bite as his eyes went wide for a second before looking at me.

After he finally swallowed it as he said, "You're right, normal french toast is now ruined for me forever."

"I'll be sure to let my mom know I'm continuing to convert people into liking her recipe." I said back, letting out a laugh as we kept eating.

I was trying to come up with what to say until I started, "So, other than Owen, do you have any idea who else is going to be there on the new season?" Noah shrugged before answering, "Well to be honest, at least so far, Owen is the only one I know of out of every one I can stand. So far Cody isn't going to be there or even Tyler. Hey, the guy has almost nothing in his head, but at least I know he's least likely to stab me in the back. Then Alejandro and Heather are going to be there again, so that's great. And with my luck I'll probably be on a team with either or both of them. Hopefully not Alejandro if I had to pick since we both hate each other's guts to completion. Now that I said that, I probably just jinxed myself into being stuck with the eel again."

"What's Alejandro and Heather's deal anyway? Like are they together or are they off? Or is that all fake? They seem like they can't stand each other most of the time. At least from what I've seen and don't know how much of that is real?" I pointed out, remembering what I saw from World Tour, quirking up an eyebrow.

"Oh, believe me. If there's such a thing as a true on again-off again couple, then those two are pretty much always on but have a faulty and sociopathic light switch that's about as oily as they are. That and those 2 together are a natural ratings magnet so go figure why they keep getting asked back. Besides, from my experience, let me tell you that there is very little fabrication on Total Drama compared to most other reality shows. It's all shot at pretty much real time with episodes airing back to back with us filming. Pretty much as fast paced as the race. Also, the reason there is no fabrication from writers and producers is because most of the contestants are either typically totally insane, a straight up idiot, or just total sociopaths so everything you see is actually not a bunch of BS. It's just that crazy. But, can't say everyone isn't full of BS though… Then again after growing up being the youngest of 9, none of that even phases me. Only difference is that this season is probably going to be a bit different from previous ones. It seems like this season is focused on fan input. That's why I was wondering why Owen and I didn't even need to audition since people actually voted for us to come back… probably just to see how much more insanity we can take. Then again I keep going back, so maybe I'm also just as crazy." He elaborates, taking another bite before taking a sip of his coffee.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I have a bunch of midterms in 3 weeks that might as well be organized by sociopaths with how criminally close they are together in the span of 3 days." I half joked, making me smirk when he let out a laugh before adding, "Guess that makes us both masochists. Then again, I need something to do that's not texting you constantly like some guy without a life. But at least you'll watch me while I decide to torture my sanity for a million bucks, right?"

I was expecting to see the smirk and eyebrow raise when I saw him actually smiling a little at me.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" I responded confused, especially since I already told him last night I was going to watch him when he's on the show. "No reason." He said, no doing the smirking eyebrow waggle thing at me before taking another sip of his coffee.

I smirked back and rolled my eyes as I was about to make a remark until a thought hit me as I said, "Wait here."

I immediately got up and ran to my room, wanting to do this before I totally forgot about it since he was here … and because I really wanted this out of my space. After finally digging the envelope out of one of the desk drawers and realized how much I probably just confused Noah to completion just by the look on his face.

"Okay, I say a lot of weird things around you and you didn't ditch me, but right when I'm actually being normal…" "C'mon Noah, its not that. I just wanted to make sure I gave this to you before you left… especially before you left for the new season." I interrupted, just handing him the envelope.

He kept giving me a confused look before he finally opened the envelope before he pointed out, "Wait… these are copies of your solo promo pictures for the race."

"Yes, that I really don't want. Sure Kitty accuses me of being full of myself sometimes, but I'm not some narcissistic weirdo that wants a bunch of pictures I was forced to have taken of myself to put up all over the place. Besides, I know on Total Drama they have pretty strict policies on you guys keeping devices so, I figured you could take these and maybe take one of them with you on the show?" I said, thinking maybe that was a little bit too much.

I was about to say something when he kept looking through the pictures until he said, holding up one of them as he gave me a smirk, "I think I have some ideas on where to put these."

I gave him a look as I shoved his shoulder, reading the possible subtext, as he responded, "What? I'm serious. I think this should keep me motivated."

He held up a picture of one of the many head shots I had to take. It was one of me smiling looking over my shoulder, from the beginning of the photo shoot. I could tell because I didn't look bored out of my mind and done with the day quite yet.

I smiled a little at him after he said that.

3 Hours later

I was back to hitting the books again and really trying to hustle since I spent all that time slacking when Noah was over and if I have a snowflake's chance on the surface of the sun with making it further in my program, I needed to maintain my focus.

Even though I don't regret a minute of it since I don't even know the next time I'm going to see him with him being off on the new season, which I gave him a kiss for luck… and also for no other reason at all.

Ugh, seeing him off 2 hours ago completely sucked.

As much as we both knew he had to leave so he could go home and so I could study, it was hard.

But, it was also really sweet.

Right before he left and I was going to go back inside, he tapped on the inside of his window to get my attention to show me that he clipped one of my pictures on an air vent in his car.

Yeah, I really wanted those pictures out of my desk, but I'm also glad Noah wanted them because I really wanted him to have them.

Sure, I can pull up videos of Noah so I can see him but compared to him, I don't really have too much out there other than what was filmed of me on the race, even my social media activity is pretty pathetic compared to most people.

Speaking of something like that and even though the date last night was amazing, I just couldn't help but shake the feeling that somehow we were being… ugh, never mind, it was probably nothing.

I shook my head before looking back at my stack of textbooks.

I sighed before getting a determined expression on my face and saying to myself, almost giving a pep talk, "Alright Emma, let's do this."

1 day later

(Noah's POV)

I finally pulled in the driveway of my parents house.

I'm exhausted, I'm hungry, and my butt no longer has any feeling in it after driving for almost a full day and sleeping in my car for a couple hours at that creepy rest area again… but totally worth it.

I looked over at the picture of Emma that I clipped to my car vent with a paperclip and smirked.

Oh yeah, totally worth it.

I would have probably just kept staring at it if I didn't have something slap against the driver's side window only to see Ben leaning on the car with his forearms and a smirk on his face.

I rolled my eyes as I gave him an unimpressed look.

Eventually I rolled down my window before remarking, "You know Ben, if I wanted a big, stupid gorilla leaning on my car, then I'd go on safari."

"Ah, c'mon little bro, lighten up for once. Can't I come out and help my little brother carry in his stuff? Considering you probably need it" He said, taking a jab at me.

He got out of my way a little as I just ignored him as I got out of my car and grabbed my duffle bag and jabbed back, "Help with what stuff? I have a duffle bag."

As I was grabbing a few other things to shove into my bag, Ben leaned next to me on my car again and crossed his arms while giving me a smirk before starting, "So… how was the girlfriend?"

I thought his face was going split as he kept eyeing me.

I totally saw through what he was doing, so I just kept doing what I do best. I ignored him and pacified him with a simple answer to try to avoid the inevitable teasing, "Emma's fine."

I was about to try to walk in the house when Ben immediately cut me off as he said, "C'mon man, you know what I'm really asking about here. So, how was she?"

He started chuckling slyly to himself a little bit as I scowled in annoyance and rolled my eyes again, knowing he was trying to get details out of me about what I did with Emma, not that I'd tell him even if something did happen.

Honestly, this has been my life since I got home from the race when Emma and I started officially dating. Mainly that was the one thing everyone in my family completely attacked me at the front door with when I got home from the race.

Well, particularly that was one of the few times my brothers actually were giving me props about something since they all up until that point saw me as practically some weird, brainiac mole creature that stayed in his room all day, at least that's how my brother Adam describes me, and not that I could've cared less and still don't.

But, after they were done teasing me to death about how I acted around Emma, all my brothers kept trying to do was high five me or pat me on the back for scoring a hot chick, using Ben's words.

And sure, yeah, Emma's totally hot but to me she's not just that.

To me Emma just has everything.

Sure my idiot brothers don't see stuff like that when I do.

There's a reason why she's the only girl I've actually wanted to date and let myself fall apart and act like a total idiot over. Then don't even get me started on how my sisters were with me since they wouldn't shut up or let me leave the room until I told them everything, well until I was able to escape to my room.

Ben just kept giving me the eye until I said, "Ben, I only took Emma on a date, that's it."

I tried to step past him when he cut me off again and said, "Seriously man? You're telling me that you drove all the way to Toronto to see a girl that hot and you didn't even get any action? I'm calling BS."

I just kept glaring at him unimpressed as I responded coolly, "Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I just took my girlfriend on a date to dinner and a movie. Now will you leave me alone? Besides, don't you have a protein shake to swill down or something?"

I could tell I was getting to him since his face looked like it was close to almost receding in on itself as his arms started shaking a little.

Then again, getting under someone's skin when they bother me is my specialty. Just like how I made the school bully cry back in grade 2 when I made fun of his shoes.

I was about to finally get past until Ben put his arm in my way and shoved me back a little as he said, holding the collar of my shirt one handed, "Look egghead, I don't care what you say. Just admit you finally got some real action for once from a chick that…"

I acted on impulse as I grabbed his wrist and gave him a hard glare.

({No POV})

Noah and Ben kept glaring at each other, well Noah was glaring while Ben was actually taken by surprise at his youngest brother actually physically lashing back at him instead of just verbally and mentally like he usually does.

Sure Noah was not strong enough to throw off Ben's grip, but Ben could feel the stern grip his brother was giving him as he let go of Noah's shirt, but Noah still retained his grip and his glare at his oldest brother.

It was silent until Noah directed, still in his even dry tone but also harboring some malice to it, "Say one more thing about me or Emma and so help me I will single handedly destroy you."

Ben just kept looking at Noah in total shock as his youngest brother finally let go and made his way into the house.

The door shut and Ben just stood out in the driveway in shock for several moments before his expression morphed into something that looked almost… impressed.

Ben slowly smirked and ran a hand through his hair while letting out a 'hmph' before saying to himself, "Looks like my baby bro is more of a man than I thought..."

Looks like Kitty wasn't the only one who assumed what happened between Noah and Emma. Haha. Anyway, I have always been intrigued by Noah's background and that it seemed like he was always described as being the runt of his 9 sibling litter and being an odd man out in his family. But, since nothing was elaborated on in the series, I decided to use my head canon and Noah is pretty much the only true intellectual of his family and that the rest of his family are the kind of people who encourage athletic achievement and he would probably have brothers and sisters who are all athletically inclined and don't understand Noah's complete disinterest in them. Particularly why he'd rather spend all his time by himself playing video games or having his nose constantly buried in books. So, I literally wanted to make Ben, Noah's oldest brother I took the liberty of coming up with, as being pretty much Noah's polar opposite as your typical meathead who gets easily frustrated by his youngest brother outsmarting and sassing him, even if he is an almost 40 year old man. Haha. XD Anyway, hope you enjoyed the longer chapter! As always, thank you so much for reading and constructive feedback and reviews are always appreciated!

Stay classy, healthy, and safe out there!

Dexter1995