Let me show you how proud I am to be yours

-Selena Gomez

I knew Claire couldn't be trusted. I knew her whole speech of how she cared about Theo and wanted to call a truce was just an act. There was a possibility that she had no ill intention when she invited Noah, that is was absolutely coincidental, but my gut told me she'd planned this.

Theo was trying his best to stay calm, I could see it. I knew Noah being here would disturb him, and I knew he didn't believe me when I said that I okay. He thought Noah being here affected me a whole lot, when that was actually not true at all. Honestly, I was fine because I really didn't care where Noah was and what he did. I'd frozen because of the shock, I hadn't really expected he would be here.

Theo's mother was talking to Claire when we approached her. "Oh, honey, you didn't tell me you'd made a new friend." She exclaimed when we reached her.

That's the moment I saw Noah standing beside her, grinning smugly.

"I didn't make any new friends, Ma." Theo gritted out, glaring at Noah.

"Come on, Noah here told me he had given the trials. He said you were a bit too harsh on him. You should always be polite to everyone, Theo." She scolded him.

Noah's grin widened. "Yeah so as I was telling you, Mrs King, the Eiffel Tower is much more beautiful in person. The lights, the glow, it's amazing and soothing at the same time. It-"

"Get lost." Theo muttered beside me. I squeezed his arm in warning. I noticed Claire eyeing my hand touching his.

His mother gasped. "Theo!"

"What? He's annoying me." He rolled his eyes as I bit back a chuckle.

She gaped at him again. "I'm so sorry Noah I really do not know what's gotten into him."

"That's fine, Mrs King." Noah shrugged. "Honestly, I can handle him."

"Oh you don't want to handle me." Theo said, his voice dangerously calm. "You really don't want to handle me."

"Uh, Theo," Claire interrupted. "Why don't we go and have a chat, okay?" Her hand wrapped around his bicep.

And he wrapped his arm around my waist. "I'm not going anywhere."

I smirked at her. She seemed thrown back, her eyes not leaving his hand on my waist. She blinked, seeming to be at a loss of words.

"Mrs King-"

"No, call me Anna, dear." She smiled at me.

My smirk widened, but I maintained a straight face when I talked to her. "Anna, can you give us a few minutes?"

She nodded and I pulled Theo away, rolling my eyes when he huffed. I pulled him to a stop just in front of the way for the restrooms, this part of the shop deserted. And before he could say anything, I pulled him down, crashing my lips on his. He moved forward until my back hit wall and I pulled him by his shirt towards me, our lips not leaving. He rested his hand on the wall, and with the other he cupped my breast through the dress.

"Why do you have to be so affected by him?" I whispered against his mouth. "I told you that you don't need to worry about him and I. It's the past."

"He is deliberately trying to get on my nerves." He said.

"And you're letting him. You're giving him the satisfaction of getting on your nerves. Do you understand what I'm saying?" I cupped his face. "Stop reacting to him. Stop losing your patience when you see his face. He wants to intimidate you, he wants to piss you off. Stop giving him what he wants."

He rested his forehead against mine. "I'll try. It's just tough, knowing he's got all of you before I did."

"I'm glad he got me before you did. You know why?" When he shook his head I continued. "Because he got the broken me. He got the stupid teen who was fed up from her life and the constant fights of her parents. He got the tears and the whining. But you," He looked in my eyes. "You got the real me, the one before all the drama. The one who was fed up of letting others dictate her life. The one who wasn't afraid to take matters in her hands, the one who was ready to take risks and move on. I changed myself, and I know for a certain fact that this, you and I, us, is gonna be so much better."

He started at me for about a minute, not blinking, not moving. And then his face broke into one of those smiles that weakened my legs. I held onto his shoulders to support my weight. His dimple popped out, his smile so wide and so big that I melted. "You are everything." He pressed his lips to mine. "Everything, always."

We stayed there for a few more minutes, absorbing each other. Then we left together, hand in hand. I smiled when I saw he was still smiling, pressing myself closer to him. Noah, Claire, or any fucking person would never take him away from me, I wouldn't allow it.

An hour later Dean and Bridget made their grand appearance. When I looked closely I noticed Dean's hair scattered in all directions, and Bridget's face turning red. A strap of her bra was visible beneath the dress she was wearing. I gaped, bursting into fits of laughter. Dean looked towards me and nervously rubbed the back of his head. I motioned with my eyes towards her chest and he glanced at his girlfriend, his eyes widening comically when he saw the bra. He whispered in her ear, moving in front to hide her. Bridget turned redder, if that was even possible, and discreetly tried to fix her bra.

I dragged her to the washroom, my laughter not stopping. "At least try not to be so open that you both are bunnies."

"What the heck does that mean?"

"You guys have sex like fucking rabbits." I said.

"Why? Do rabbits have sex a lot?" She asked, chuckling at her own statement, fixing her makeup. "I do look like I've just been thoroughly fucked."

"You think? Damn, isn't car sex difficult?" I asked.

"Yeah as if you haven't already done it." She rolled her eyes.

"I haven't."

"Come on babe don't lie now."

"Theo and I haven't had sex."

She chuckled, then stopped suddenly when she took in my serious expression. "Fuck you're serious."

"I am."

"Holy fucking fuck!" She whipped her head around, her eyeliner half done on the left eye and gaped at me. "You seriously didn't?"

"No, Bri."

"Sweet mother of Jesus. Oh my god! How the fuck did Theo agree to that?" Her jaw was about to hit the floor.

"To not having sex? He didn't ask me to sleep with him. We just never got an opportunity." I shrugged.

"If a guy wants to have sex, the guy would go out of his way to bring an opportunity."

"Well," I shrugged. "It's nothing like we want to wait or something. It just didn't come up."

"I cannot believe Theo would go almost a month without sex. Babe you've got him so bad." Bridget chuckled.

She finished her eyeliner, fixed her dress and then we left the bathroom. She tried ignoring the stares she was getting on our way back, but I laughed so hard that she smacked my head to stop me, I still didn't.

And then she froze, stopping suddenly. "Is that-is that Noah?"

I blinked. "I-I-uh, he..um, well...yeah." I stammered.

She turned her accusing glare at me. "What the fuck is going on?"

The next ten minutes I briefed her about everything. I left out the part of Theo and I in the bathroom when he'd met him the first time, because I felt it was too vulnerable and personal for him. She listened to me intently, her eyebrows raising with each minute.

"Wow." She cleared her throat. "Your life just got a hell lot of complicated."

"Well, it doesn't really matter much. I've told Theo not to worry, I don't feel anything for him anymore, so it's all cool."

"All cool?" She raised an eyebrow. "He clearly still has feelings for you. How can it be all cool?"

"How do you know if he has feelings for me or not?"

"He's literally taunting your boyfriend, he had this conversation with you where he said he missed you everyday and regretted leaving. He indirectly said he wanted you to fight for him. He's coming everywhere you are, he's pissing Theo off because he knows that'll get to you. He wants you to talk to him." She explained to me as if I was a child.

When she said it like that, it did sound like he had feelings for me. "I-I-yeah I hadn't thought like that. But I don't want to assume just for the sake of it. If he has feelings for me or anything, which I still doubt, he'll talk to me."

She shook her head and rolled her eyes but didn't say anything. The rest of the evening went pretty good. At one point Bridget wandered off to talk to Noah, she said she would get some idea of his intentions once she talked to him. I passed by Theo sometimes, we glanced at each other like forbidden lovers, smiling and staring, but didn't talk. He asked me with his eyes how I was feeling and I told him I saw okay. He was surrounded by people all evening, his family and associates, and I didn't want to disturb him.

The boutique was fabulous. The collection was great, and I couldn't help but stare at all the dresses in fascination. There were all kinds, all colors, almost everything you needed.

"I hope you like what you see." I looked to my side to find a woman staring at me, a small smile playing on her lips. She was wearing a heavenly shiny dress, her strawberry blonde hair a lot familiar.

I straightened my back. "Mrs Jackson."

She sighed, closing her eyes dramatically. "You and your boyfriend are excessively similar. Call me Lola. Mrs Jackson makes me sound old and I am not old."

I blinked in shock, trying to register in my brain that this was Claire's mother. "Lola, okay, I can do that."

"I come to know there's some bad blood between you and my daughter."

"Oh. Um-I, well-" I stammered.

She waved her hand. "No need. Honestly, I know Claire can be a bit over dramatic sometimes. You've gotta chill bro, seriously just take a breath and chill." I bit back a laugh. "She's a big girl, and you are a big girl, you both can handle it. Anyway, I just wanted to say that I am very glad Theo has found you. He used to be alone all time, and I had been pestering him to find himself a girlfriend because well, he's a great guy and deserves love. I wish you all the best."

"Thanks, Mrs- uh Lola. I wish you all the best for your boutique. I know it'll be a success."

"I know! Anna and I rule the world." She chuckled, shook her head and walked away.

I zoomed out for a minute, trying to gauge my head around the fact that I just talked to Claire's freaking mother, who was the exact opposite of Claire. I'd thought she might be worse than her daughter, but I was proved wrong.

"Ma'am," A waiter said to me and handed me a note. "This is for you."

I thanked him and opened the piece of paper, careful to not let anyone see it. It said, 'Meet me in the second changing room in 5 min.'

I looked up and my eyes met Theo's green ones. He was already looking at me. I smiled at him and his eyes lit up. He shook his head as if snapping out of a daze and smiled back at me.

Five minutes later I made my way over to the changing rooms, breathing deeply. I couldn't stop the smile on my face, I felt extremely giddy. The lights in the second room were off, and I entered without much thought. I saw a vague silhouette of a person, and my smile widened. I closed the door behind me.

"Hello, love."

I whipped around. No, that was not Theo.

"It's been too long."

*