Gold Digger – Story 18 – NOAH APOLOGIZES

Noah called on a Tuesday.

Not texted.

Called.

Which, as previously established, nobody does.

I almost didn’t answer.

I answered on the fourth ring.

“I was an ass,” he said.

No preamble. No hey or how are you or sorry to call out of nowhere.

Just that.

“Okay,” I said.

“The club. I left you at the table and I didn’t come back and that was – ” A pause. “I noticed afterward.”

“Afterward?”

“I know.”

“Noah. It was more than forty minutes.”

“I know.” Another pause. “I’m not good at the part where I remember there’s a person at the table.”

I sat with that for a second.

Because that was either the most honest thing anyone had said to me in months or a very sophisticated strategy and I genuinely couldn’t tell which and that itself was interesting.

“That’s a significant flaw,” I said.

“Yeah.” Something in his voice. “I’m aware.”

He asked if I’d have dinner with him.

Not a club. Not an event. Dinner. Somewhere quiet.

I said I’d think about it.

He said: “I’ll find somewhere without a DJ.”

Which made me laugh.

Which was annoying.

I went.

Obviously I went.

Small restaurant. No one Noah knew or if they were there he didn’t notice them. He put his phone face down when I sat down.

Three times during dinner it lit up.

Three times he ignored it.

The third time he physically turned it over.

Like resisting gravity.

He asked questions. Real ones. The kind that follow up. The kind that remember what you said three sentences ago.

Halfway through one answer he got distracted by an idea and started a completely different sentence before catching himself.

“Sorry,” he said.

“It’s fine.”

“It’s a habit.”

“I noticed.”

He looked at me.

Then smiled.

Not the charming one he uses on rooms.

The slightly embarrassed one.

That was new data.

Here’s the problem.

Richard keeps paying attention.

Noah keeps surprising me.

D keeps not existing in any official capacity.

And none of them are making this easier.

The plan assumed this part would be straightforward.

The plan was wrong about several things.

Spreadsheet status:
Noah → apology: accepted. annoyingly.
phone: face down. three times.
filed under: trying.
new note: easier to read. still working on that one.
Richard → dinner four: pending.
D → [row does not exist]

Nobody is making this easier. That was not in the acquisition timeline. – Mila