"...up. Hey."

My ears dimly registered Nolan's voice as I felt my arm being nudged.

I was resting my head on something that smelled really good, and a little soft. It was so comfortable that I didn't want to get up. Turning my face towards it, I nuzzled the soft material, inhaling deeply. It smelled like a mix of various soapy fragrances, sweet but not too cloying at the same time. I couldn't get enough of it.

Why did I feel like I'd come across this scent before?

I took a few more contented sniffs, smiling to myself at how pleasant it was.

"Uh ... what are you doing?"

I froze as my brain processed the question.

As my mind cleared up, I forced myself to open my eyes and sit up, instead of leaning against this cozy warmth pressed against my arm.

Nolan's half-lidded green eyes met mine.

I took in the sight of his slightly furrowed eyebrows. Despite looking like he was on the brink of falling asleep himself, the confusion on his face was evident.

Was my head really just on his shoulder a second ago? No, scratch that. Was I really just shamelessly—although semi-unconsciously—sniffing at his hoodie?!

No wonder I thought it seemed familiar. I'd been addicted to this very same scent that emanated from Nolan's comforter when he lent it to me a month ago. The memory of me lying in bed clutching onto his comforter swam into my mind, and I swiftly waved it away.

"I'm so sorry!" I blurted out, covering my mouth. "I didn't know I was resting on your shoulder!"

Shaking his head, he gave me a half-smile. "Nah, it's fine. It was probably more comfortable than the wall."

"You should've woken me up," I said, cringing inwardly.

"I could have," he allowed. "I didn't mind, though."

"But you asked me what I was doing," I said.

"Yeah ... because you were sniffing me," he said.

Warmth instantly surged into my cheeks. "Sorry, I was half-asleep."

"Do I smell that weird?" He looked down at the front of his hoodie.

"No!" I quickly said, before burying my face in my hands. "Please don't judge me, but whatever detergent you're using smells really, really good. I was half-asleep. I couldn't help myself."

A few seconds of silence passed between us. I braced myself for his oncoming laughter. To my surprise, it never came.

"Yeah," he said, "I like it too. My live-in nanny used to mix different fabric softeners and detergents to get this kind of fragrance. I do my own laundry for that reason."

"You had a nanny?" I asked, curious.

We had a housekeeper, but never someone who was hired specifically to take care of me or Ryan. My mom didn't like the idea of someone else spending more time with her children than she did, so she worked from home. Her job as a graphic designer allowed her that freedom.

Despite being very busy with their careers, my parents always made sure to take time out of their schedule to spend it with us. My dad flew out of state all the time for business trips, but he was always home for family holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas.

"She looked after me until I went into middle school," he said. "Her father got into an accident and she had to quit to take care of him."

"I'm sorry to hear that," I said, unsure if offering condolences was the appropriate thing to do in response. "You sound like you were really close to her."

He must have been really attached to her if he had chosen to do his own laundry because he wanted that particular scent.

I wondered if that strong attachment meant that he wasn't as close to his parents.

He nodded, still looking straight ahead. "I was."

It suddenly struck me that he was sharing something personal with me. Nolan talked with me about school, his sleeping schedule, stargazing, and even a few interesting adventures he'd had in the forest, but he'd never spoken about things that were so obviously close to his heart before.

He always evaded personal questions, like why he stopped swimming, and why he didn't want to see a doctor for his insomnia. I almost couldn't believe that he had opened up to me about something I hadn't even asked him.

"If I had a recipe for such fragrant laundry, you bet I'd do my own laundry too," I said, partly to lighten the mood that somehow seemed to have grown a little heavy.

He laughed, but it sounded a little forced. "I'm not giving you the formula."

"Hey, you make it sound like I was fishing for it!"

Nolan stood up, and then reached out to me with his hand. "Come on, we should get going. The bell's going to ring soon."

Smiling, I took his hand and got up. Together, we made our way down the stairs in comfortable silence.

--------------------------------------------------

Tonight, as I threw my rope out of the window, I saw Nolan already waiting for me on the ground below. When he caught me looking, I waved at him. He waved back.

I went down even faster than I did the previous time, and we sprinted for the wall. Climbing up the wall for me was also easier than it was previously. Once we were on the other side of the wall, I beamed at him, delighting in my accomplishment.

"I've gotten a lot faster!"

"Good job. Did you bring your gloves?" Nolan asked.

"Yep," I said, pointing to my fanny pack. "I...I hope I can handle this."

"Let's see them," he said, beckoning to me with his hand.

"Um, okay." I unzipped my fanny pack and pulled them out.

They were my hideous pair of puke-green winter gloves. It was a gift from one of my aunts during Christmas, and I could never find a time to use them. They were practically impossible to match with any of my outfits.

Gladness was an understatement to describe how I felt about finally being able to put them to good use for once. There was no way I was going to use any of my nicer gloves to touch those bugs that were supposed to be Blue's food.

"Seems thick enough," Nolan said as he felt them. "You probably won't even feel any of the insects."

"Yeah, but if they fly at me while I'm holding them," I said, tugging them on after he returned them to me, "I'm afraid I might just scream the whole place down."

I had gone easy on the insect repellent tonight, and I was hoping that it wouldn't come back to bite me.

"Just hold on tight," he said. "They can't fly if you don't give them a chance to."

"I'll do my best," I promised.

I grabbed his proffered hand as we began walking through the forest.

We were getting close to the clearing when Blue flew out from among the trees and landed on Nolan's shoulder.

I wanted to reach out to it, but from past experience, I knew that it would fly away the second I raised a hand to even wave at it. I would have to wait until we were settled down in the clearing.

Instead, I resisted the urge and grinned dopily at its cute little figure. "You're so adorable."

Of course, it ignored me as it remained perched on his shoulder.

By the time we reached the clearing, Blue was happily nestled in Nolan's hair. He handed me a folded piece of plastic sheet he'd taken out from his fanny pack.

"Here. You can spread this over the ground."

Caught off-guard, I rubbed my fingers over it. It seemed to be the same type of plastic wrapper you pulled out from a large roll to wrap books. "For...?"

He shot me a funny look. "So that you can sit instead of standing up the whole time?"

"Right, of course." Embarrassed by how slow I had been on the uptake, I cleared my throat and immediately began unfolding it. "Thanks, I appreciate it."

"No problem."

As it turned out, the plastic sheet was just wide enough for me to sit on, without much room to spare. Nolan settled down on the grass beside where I had chosen to lay the sheet. Still feeling touched by his small act of consideration, I smiled at him once I was comfortably seated.

"Okay," he said, raising his arm a little so that Blue could smoothly run down it, "time for you to try feeding Blue."

From his fanny pack, he pulled out a plastic container with tiny holes poked through the lid. I caught sight of movement within the box, where a few insects were crawling and hopping about.

I recoiled at the sight of the little box of horrors. "Where did you get these?"

"Caught them myself," he said.

He popped open the half-lid, and I flinched, half-expecting all the insects to fly from the box. With a bare hand, Nolan took out a small beetle. I tried not to shiver at his bravery. He snapped the lid back on before the remaining bugs could escape.

"I usually hold it like this," he said, gripping the beetle between his thumb and index finger.

He left a part of its body exposed as he offered it to Blue, which was perched on his other forearm.

Blue promptly grabbed it with its beak. It tipped its head back as it made chomping motions, and I watched in fascination as the beetle disappeared.

"Now you try," he said, opening the container again.

I gulped. "Okay."

"A cricket might be easier for you to hold. It's a little longer." Nolan held it out towards me, away from Blue.

As I took a deep breath, I gathered all my courage.

"Thanks," I said, reaching out for it.

The moment my gloved thumb and index finger closed around it I scrunched my eyes shut. I felt it twitching and moving about in my firm grip, and I had never been so thankful that Aunt Sharon had gotten me this pair of gloves.

"Are you okay?" He actually sounded amused.

"I'll be fine ... eventually," I said, opening one eye to look down at the critter I was holding.

Nolan lifted the forearm that had Blue hopping along on it to me. "Whenever you're ready."

Ignoring the trembling in my hand, I held up the cricket about a few inches away from Blue's head. It didn't move. I edged a little closer towards it, and it ran up Nolan's forearm.

"It might take it a while to get brave enough," he said.

I watched as it cautiously stepped towards my hand, eying the cricket I was grasping. "I'll wait."

He nodded, lowering his forearm so that it was resting on his lap. "We have time, anyway."

"So, I've been wanting to ask you something," I said, still observing Blue's movements.

The question that I had been dying to ask for the longest time balanced on the tip of my tongue. It was almost too weird to ask, considering that it had been over a month since we started talking to each other. Taking into consideration the fact that Nolan didn't seem to talk to anyone else, yet was willing to chat with me in-between classes, we were probably good friends, right?

"What?" came his smooth and charming response.

"What's your last name?"

---------------------------------------------------

AN: it's Monday! have a great week ahead everybody! whether you're in school or work or neither, i'm hoping it'd be wonderful for you -ω('•ω•｀)♡ as always, thank you for reading and voting, i love each and every one of you who is reading this right now!

i'm dedicating this chapter to mellimack for being so supportive and encouraging! i really love reading all your reactions when things happen in the story XD thank you so so much for sticking with it till now!! (♡'❍'♡)*✧ ✰ ｡*