Chapter 8: Just One Night

*Joe's POV*

Did she really ask me if she could spend the night at my place? The whole night? I came here to try to evict her out of my head, not bring her home with me. I couldn't even recall the last time I let a woman stay till breakfast.

"You at my apartment?" I let go of my bottle once I set it down on the counter, "Without me having to pull shit this time?"

"Yeah, it's just," she paused, glancing away as she lowered her beer bottle, "I don't really have anywhere to go. Just for tonight."

"What's wrong with your place?" I questioned, "Or your boyfriend's?"

"Uh," she drew out before grimacing, our gazes connecting, "I can't."

"What, does he still live with his parents or something?" I chuckled before immediately switching up in a panic at Natalia's facial expression change, "Not that anything's wrong with that. In this economy? I wouldn't blame him. Or you if that's your situation too. No judgment. I mean, I'm sure there's times I wish I could live with my parents. Actually, sorry, not really."

My rambling abruptly stopped once I noticed her smirk as she listened. Not a flirtatious smirk, but one that made me feel like a fucking idiot.

I scratched the back of my head as I felt a hot rush straight to my cheeks, "Yeah, I'm gonna shut up now."

"Not yet!" she playfully smacked my arm, "You haven't answered my question!"

I glanced at my beer bottle, the majority of its content still undrunk. If she hadn't approached me, I would've been on my third bottle already. This was only my first.

"Just tonight?"

"Just tonight," she assured.

"Fuck it," I sighed out, "Sure. It's just one night."

"Really?" she perked up as she opened her purse, taking her phone out, "Thank you! You're literally a life saver. I take back any negative thing I've ever thought or said about you."

My eyebrow raised, a small tinge of ache poking my heart, "You said and thought negative things about me?"

She glanced up from her phone, the screen illuminating her face, "It wasn't anything too bad. I just didn't have the greatest first impression of you, you know? I thought you were a creep following me, and you were a bit of a dick by trying to prove something and wasting both of our time. Looking back now, it's pretty funny. But at the time, it just...wasn't. But hey, for what it's worth, you were a great last one-night stand."

A great one-night stand that led her straight to her ex-boyfriend. That's probably what she meant by that.

"Yeah, um, maybe it's not the best idea," I gulped, "You spending the night at another guy's place that you barely know. Not because I'm that creep that you thought I was, but because—"

"Because of how we met?" she cut me off, "Don't worry about it. It's in the past. It's not like we're obsessed with each other or anything."

"Because I don't know your boyfriend would be comfortable with it," I finished my sentence, "I've seen the way he looks at me. It's obvious he doesn't like me. I don't want to cause any problems."

"Joe," she rested her hand on my forearm, instantaneously shutting me up by simply calling me by my actual name, "It won't be a problem. You said yourself, it's just one night. Besides, I can have guy friends, right? Is that a problem?"

"No," I softly replied, "No, it's not. It's just a friend helping a friend."

A friend. I never thought any of my one-night stands would've ended in a friendship, let alone even wanting that. That's why the universe kept on bringing us back together. We were meant to be friends. It was a bit fucked up for our start to be us having sex in a club, only for one of us to move into a relationship, but I'll take what I could get.

"I'll order us an Uber," she looked back down at her phone once she took her hand back, "I just need you to put your address in."

"It's okay, I have my car," I told her, "I can drive us."

Pointing to my beer bottle, she condemned, "You've been drinking though. I'm not getting in the car with someone that's been drinking before getting behind the wheel."

The second she asked if she could spend the night at my apartment, the plan to get drunk was out the window, "I only had like three sips before you walked over. Don't worry. I'm good. I've done some dumb things, but drinking and driving was never one of them."

She slowly nodded her head in approval, uncovering her eyes by removing her sunglasses, "Alright. I'll be your passenger princess then."

"Just don't get used to it," I joked along as we stood up, leaving our drinks behind on the counter.

On the drive, I gave Natalia control over the music with her phone plugged into the aux cord. Someone's taste in music really told me about them, but all Natalia's told me was she was confusing as fuck. Or extremely diverse, every song being in a different genre or era.

Before I could comment on it, she piped up while turning the volume a few notches down, "Why exactly did you drive to a bar if you were planning to drink alone?"

"I didn't plan on drinking," I admitted, turning off the main road to take a short-cut, "And I wasn't alone. I was actually on a date."

"A date," her back comfortably leaned further into the seat as she turned her head towards me, "If you were on a date, why were you alone then? Wait, please tell me you didn't just walk out on her while she was taking a massive shit in the bathroom."

"No," I chuckled, "No, I didn't walk out on the date. It just, um, it didn't go as intended. I was gonna call one of my brothers to come pick me up after a few drinks in, but I obviously didn't get that far."

"Well, I'm sorry for ruining your sulking," she teased with a small smirk before her lips formed a straight line once she didn't get a laugh reaction from me like she was hoping for, "I'm also sorry your date didn't go well."

"It's okay," I presented her a quick small smile, "It's not like I saw her as my future wife or whatever. What about you? Where'd your friend go?"

Her brown eyes squinted, "So you did piece it together."

How could I not have? I literally mistook her friend as her. If I was told they were twins, I would've believed it. Their voices were different though, the biggest telltale sign she wasn't Natalia if I wasn't staring into completely different colored pupils. The rest of their facial features and body proportions were scarily identical.

It didn't cross my mind that she was there with Natalia though. Maybe it was me protecting my sanity by being oblivious to perception, or maybe I was that dumb until it was staring right in front of my face. Until she was sitting right next to me, our faces a foot apart at one point.

"Something like that," I breathed out, parking in a spot near the front of the building.

The last time we were here together, she refused my offer to come inside. No offense taken. For all she knew, I could've been a charming murderer.

This time around, there was zero hesitation on her end. I, however, questioned if this was the right thing to do.

Setting my keys and sunglasses down on the dining table, I watched Natalia browse around her surroundings after taking her black heeled boots off by the front door. All my unique and quirky décor caught her attention, the hidden parts of my personality now on full display.

Standing behind her a few feet away, my hands casually digging in my jacket's pockets, my mouth opened before I could tell myself to keep my wandering thought internally, "Why can't you?"

She whirled around, her eyebrows knitting together, "Can't what?"

"Why can't you go to—" my right hand left its secure spot in my pocket and pointed at her, "Uh, what's your boyfriend's name?"

"Noah."

"Noah," I repeated without a beat, "Why can't you go to Noah's place or your own?"

Her feet shuffled along the wooden vinyl flooring, "My place is slowly becoming his again."

"So he doesn't live with his parents," my side leaned against the wall as my leg crossed the other, "Are you tired of seeing his mess of redecorating or something? Need a break away from it for a night?"

Her face fell while her gaze broke away, disappointed and regretful with a hint of fear that didn't belong towards me, "Yeah, you're right. I don't know why I'm here. This was stupid. I don't know why I thought I could trust someone I barely know, or why I thought you wouldn't judge or interrogate my life choices."

She hurried past me, pulling her phone out of her bag before reaching down to slip on her boots.

"Hey! Natalia, wait!" I rushed after in pursuit of fixing my wrongs, gently grabbing her forearm.

In a sudden rise up, a hot sting lingered on my cheek. Instinctively, I lifted my hand to it in an attempt to stop the pain Natalia's hand caused.

"Don't ever touch me again," her words were sharp, cutting the air between us. Her eyes told a different story, that same fear they presented a few moments ago never having gone away.

"I'm not—I'm not going to hurt you," I stuttered, still stunned by the utter shock, "I'm sorry I scared you. I won't even touch you with the tip of my finger, okay? You're safe."

Tears glistened in her eyes, begging to fall at any given point, as she stood there with her shoes dangling from her hand.

"You're okay," I reassured, "You're safe."

It didn't take long for the liquid to fill up, a few escaping down her cheeks before she quickly wiped them away, "It's a defense thing. I'm sorry. I should go."

My own defense mechanism screamed at me to let her leave. An open slap to my face should have been it for me, but my gut told me something was off. Not with me. Not with her. Not with her and me. But just...something.

"Please don't," I delicately spoke, "There's a few guest rooms upstairs. The whole floor would be yours. The kitchen too if you need a drink or snack. I'll stay in the master bedroom. It's just down the short hall connected to the living room."

"Why are you doing this?" she inquired as she let her shoes drop to the floor, a question even I was asking myself.

Our unbreakable stare was remarkable, her energy rubbing off on me as if I, too, were going through whatever she was.

The sting on my cheek crawled up to my eyes, that burning sensation I almost always felt while tears formed appearing as I whispered, "I don't know."