"Okay, my dad's here," Melissa announced, pocketing her phone. "I'll see you guys after the break. Have a great Christmas!"

School had officially ended today, and we were waiting in the foyer for our parents to pick us up. Derek had already left, so it was just Ashley, Melissa, Nolan, and me. Initially, Nolan had been nowhere in sight, and it took me asking him where he was via text and suggesting that he joined us for him to show up. Now, he was beside us, sitting on top of his luggage.

All around us was the hustle and bustle of students saying their goodbyes and calling their parents. Cody had come and gone as well, wishing us an enjoyable break.

"Don't forget to reply to our texts!" Ashley said, waving at her. "You always forget!"

Melissa was the absolute worst texter in our group. She'd open a new message, read it, and then promptly get distracted by something else. We often had to send her texts reminding her to reply to our previous ones. As a result, she was usually MIA in our group chat conversations.

As she pulled her luggage along, Melissa laughed. "Oops, sorry. I'll try my best to remember this time!"

"You'd better," I said. "Enjoy your break!"

"I will!"

After checking her phone, Ashley said, "My parents are reaching too. I should go."

"Okay," I said. "I'll text you later!"

"Alright," she said. "Bye, guys!"

"Bye," Nolan said to her. "Have a good break."

"Thanks, Nolan! You, too!" Ashley beamed at the two of us, and then she pulled her luggage along after her out of the main doors.

The approaching winter cold made me call off a last outing in the forest with Nolan, because I was pretty sure that I would need at least a thick coat to keep me alive in the weather at night. My usual outfit just wasn't going to cut it and wearing something too bulky was inconvenient for all the climbing and running we had to do.

I wound my muffler one more time around my neck. "Wow, I can't wait to go home. I'm exhausted."

"Get a good rest." He stifled a yawn. "You deserve it."

"Yeah, I'll take a long nap!" I said, grinning at him. "Is your driver arriving soon?"

When we were all announcing that our parents were coming to pick us up, I'd asked Nolan—quietly—if his stepfather was the one who was coming to get him. He'd said that his father was sending a driver who would be taking him home. I was mostly surprised because he had never mentioned his biological father up until now. It sounded like he was going back to his father's place, but he'd previously implied he stayed with his stepfather outside of school, so it left me with plenty of confusion.

As much as I wanted to ask him, the last thing I wanted was to ruin these last few moments we were spending together if the question turned out to be overly prying.

Shaking his head, Nolan said, "He's going to take a while."

"Oh," I said, sitting down on my luggage too. "Then I guess we still have time to chat."

"Yeah."

I was suddenly struck with a need for reassurance from him that we would still remain in contact over the Christmas break. We hadn't spoken about it yet, and it seemed like it would be a little weird if I just brought it up out of nowhere.

There was a sharp twinge in my chest at the thought of completely not hearing from him for the next couple of weeks until school started again.

Our friendship still felt new and a little tentative. Even if I didn't text or call Ashley and the others over Christmas break, I knew that we would pick up exactly where we left off when we met again. I wasn't absolutely certain I could say the same for Nolan and me.

Besides, deep down, a part of me wanted to be updated on how he was doing, especially since I knew that he wasn't looking forward to going home. There was something forlorn about the look in his eyes when he received my non-birthday present. If he abhorred celebrating his own birthday this much, I couldn't imagine that family holidays were something he found enjoyable either.

As silly as it sounded, he looked lonely to me.

I didn't want him to feel alone, and I didn't want our goodbye now to last all the way until the new semester began.

It took me looking down at my hands to realize that I was playing with the sliding mechanism of my luggage handle. "Hey, is it okay if I text you during the break?"

The drowsy expression on his face gave way to a more alert one. "Sure. Why not?"

A smile broke out on my face, and I couldn't stop it from growing wider. "Just wondering."

I'd been afraid he would reject me. Nolan still turned me down sometimes. He'd join us for lunch one day, and then refuse to come the next day. I could never get him to eat dinner with us, and he only studied with us once in the library after dinner. Despite all of this, he was willing to walk with me to our mutual classes, even if my other friends were with us. It wasn't like he disliked their presence—on the contrary, he seemed to be growing more and more accustomed to them. As a result, I could never figure out what factors played into his consideration of my invitations.

"Text me whenever you want," he said, shrugging. "I'll reply as soon as possible. It's not like I have anything else to do, anyway."

I made a face at the way he'd said it. "Don't you have any hobbies? I thought you liked stargazing."

"Yeah, but you can only stargaze at night, right?" He gave me a flat look. "It's not like I can spend all day doing that."

"You have a point. But then what else do you do in your free time?"

"I read up on astronomy or study," he said. "There isn't much else I do."

"I'm really impressed now," I said, narrowing my eyes at him. "You can study during Christmas break? Even I wouldn't do that!"

"I'm not sure I'd call that impressive, but thanks. What do you do?"

Unable to contain my excitement, I slapped the sides of my hard case luggage. "I'll catch up on all the reading I've been meaning to do! And I'll probably do some writing. I'm really looking forward to sleeping in, too."

There was a tiny grin on his face. "Sounds good. I plan on sleeping in every day, too."

I snorted. "That's not a holiday plan. That's your everyday routine!"

Just then, my phone rang with a call from Dad. He was probably here already.

Jumping to my feet, I said, "I have to go now. See you after the break! Oh, yeah, I'll take a picture of the night sky from my house for you. Where we live, the stars are really visible at night. It's really pretty!"

"Nice," he said. "See you next semester."

Beaming, I gave him one last wave. "Look forward to it!"

The last thing I saw before turning around and taking the call was the gentle smile on Nolan's face. His green eyes were barely open, and his expression looked so unguarded. My heart thumped. I'd never seen him smile like that.

I was so taken aback that I could barely respond to Dad as I spoke to him through the phone.

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

"Welcome home, sweetie," Mom said, as we stepped out of the car.

Her arms quickly opened up as I flung myself at her. "I'm back!"

I had returned just a month ago for Thanksgiving break, but I was still glad to be back home.

She chuckled when I pulled away and gave Dad a hug too. "Are you tired? You should take a shower first."

Dad got my luggage out of the trunk. We began walking towards the front door of our house.

"Yeah, I should probably shower first," I said. "By the way, what's for dinner?"

Dad laughed. "Why am I not surprised that this is the first question you're asking upon coming home?"

"It's still too early for dinner, honey," Mom said. "If you're hungry, you can snack on some fruits first."

Grimacing, I said, "I know it's too early. I was just asking. It's not like I want to eat dinner right now!"

When we entered the house, Dad told me that he'd bring my luggage upstairs, and that I could go ahead and take a shower first. I practically bounded up the stairs to my room. On the way, I passed by Annabel, our housekeeper of almost a decade.

"Hi, Annabel! I'm home," I said, barely slowing down as I rushed past her.

"Welcome home, Chelsea," she said, her brown eyes widening as she reached one hand out in my direction. "Please be careful while running!"

"I will!" I called back over my shoulder. "Don't worry!"

Flopping down on my wonderful bed after a delightful warm shower, I released a massive sigh of contentment. Being at school with all my friends was fun, but my dorm room was nothing like the comfort of my own bedroom. Here, I didn't have to worry about curfew or staying in my room after ten. Well ... unless I got caught by my parents fixing myself a late-night sandwich.

Ryan was usually complicit in our midnight snack activities, so even if he encountered me in the kitchen, all he would do was insist that I make him one as well. I was looking forward to him returning from college, which was just two days from now. We weren't as close now that we were slightly older, but I still appreciated the occasional interactions we had. I used to complain about all the petty problems I had to him in exchange for listening to him rave to me about the stars, and he often tried his best to give me relevant advice.

Sure, they were usually tricks like how to stay out of Annabel's sight when I was trying to sneak cookies or pie slices from the kitchen, how to recognize when it was Mom's or Dad's footsteps that was approaching, and other such similar tips, but that was big brother knowledge he was imparting to me. It felt like he had a large wealth of knowledge back then, and I went to him for almost everything I needed help in that I didn't want my parents to know about.

Moreover, without Ryan's frequent 'sharing' that bordered on full-blown astronomy lessons, I wouldn't have been able to engage Nolan as much in the topics he loved the most.

I blinked up at the blank ceiling. Where had that thought come from?

I pressed Georgie to my chest, petting his flat—but still soft—blue fur. Squishing his little cute face between my hands so that his beady black eyes were close together, I beamed at him.

I was finally back home.

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AN: SORRY FOR MY LATE UPLOAD. next monday will be on time! also, thank you so much for all your comments, i'll be sure to reply to them tomorrow (i'm going to sleep now, it's past midnight)! i'm so so sorry for being so late, i've just been way too caught up with RL stuff lately. so little TIME for reading and writing and many things in between. anyway, thank you so much for reading, please take care and stay safe and have a wonderful week ahead ('∀｀)♡ i love you all!!

dedicated to atnivterrain, thank you for all your votes and support on my story, i appreciate them all so much! your support really makes me smile and i'm so happy that you're following my updates. sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, thank you again!! ♡ฅ(ᐤˊ꒳ฅˋᐤ♪)