I couldn't believe what had just happened.

I wanted to announce to the whole world that Nolan liked me back.

I wanted to shout it at the top of my lungs.

As I walked, the floor beneath my feet felt like clouds—I couldn't even sense it when my shoes touched the ground.

The whole way back to the dorms, I savored this dreamy sensation.

Ashley looked up from her biology textbook at me when I entered her room.

"Where were you?" she said, uncrossing her legs on the bed. "Did a teacher make you stay back or something?"

"No. Sorry I'm late."

Dumping my bag on the floor, I flung myself into a sitting position on the edge of her bed.

Her eyebrows drew together. "Why are you smiling like that?"

"I have big news to tell you," I said, ignoring how my words were practically stuck together as they rushed out of my mouth. "Ash, I can't believe this is happening!"

"Okay, what big news? Tell me!" While she lowered her textbook onto her lap, Ashley stared at me with wide eyes.

I grabbed her by the shoulders, took a deep breath, and said, "Nolan told me he likes me, and I told him I like him back!"

Mouth agape, she said, "Wow. When was this?"

"Just now! I can't believe this. It feels like I'm dreaming!"

With her eyebrows still furrowed, Ashley's smile looked weird. "Wait, I thought you guys weren't talking? How did you get from there to confessing your feelings?"

After clearing my throat, I sat up straight. "Okay, so I was trying to talk to him to see what his problem was, and then I ended up chasing him around the school because he wouldn't stop trying to walk away, and then he gave up when I held on to his arm and told him he'd just have to drag me with him if he kept running"—Ashley's jaw dropped at this point, but I continued—"and then he gave up and we went to talk it out, and then we argued for a really long time, and then suddenly he told me that he likes me, and then I told him I like him too!"

While I was talking, her head had been slowly tilting to the right, and now that I'd finished speaking, she was practically resting it on her shoulder.

"I am so confused right now," she said.

I cracked a sheepish grin. "Okay, maybe I was talking a little too fast."

She raised an eyebrow. "If he likes you, then why did he ignore you for so many days?"

"I think I know why," I said, drawing my legs up onto the bed and hugging my knees to my chest. "He looked really shocked when I told him I liked him back. He didn't even really believe me until I insisted, like, five times that I did! I think ... I think it didn't cross his mind that I could like him back."

"Wow," she said, looking back down at her textbook. "Nolan doesn't look like the kind of guy who would stress over something like that."

I could see why she thought that, because the only times she ever saw or interacted with Nolan was during lunch or our study sessions. Although Nolan occasionally made small talk with my friends and teased me in front of them, there was still a big difference in the way he behaved when we were with my friends and when he was alone with me in the forest.

When it was just me and him, he smiled, talked, and laughed a lot more. Despite knowing that he still had his guard up around others, I was so used to him teasing me and being playful that I forgot Ashley and the others barely got to see him like that.

"He can appear pretty aloof," I admitted, "but he's actually really thoughtful and sweet." He brought hot chocolate to warm me up when we were in the forest, despite not even drinking it himself.

"He must really like you, then," she said, giving me a small smile. "I'm happy for you, Chels. You look like you've finally regained the energy you've lost the past few days. So, are you guys officially together now?"

I shook my head. "We haven't really discussed that yet. We're going to talk after dinner, so I'll see how that goes."

"Why after dinner? Why not now?"

"He needs to nap."

"Right when you've both confessed to each other? What?"

"I mean, if even the teachers can't get him to stay awake during classes, he probably really needs the sleep." Actually, he definitely needed the sleep, but I couldn't exactly say that.

Ashley made a face. "I guess that's not really out of character for him. But if he continues sleeping during the day even when you start going out, how are you going to go on dates or spend time together?"

"We'll figure things out." Now that I knew he felt the same way about me, I wasn't going to sweat the details.

Somehow, I just couldn't stop smiling.

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Derek set his tray of food down on our table. "Hey, we heard that you were chasing Nolan through the school or something earlier in the afternoon."

"Yeah, is that true?" Melissa said, sliding into the chair beside his. "You guys caused a huge commotion!"

Great. I had decided to wait until dinner to tell them what had happened earlier, since I didn't want to share something so important over text, but these two had already heard everything from the rumor mill before I had a chance to tell them anything.

"Yeah, it's true," I said, sighing.

Melissa leaned forward in her seat towards me. "What happened? Why was he running? Why were you chasing him?"

"Okay, first things first. What I'm about to tell you guys has to stay between us for now," I said, raising a hand. "You absolutely can't mention it to anyone outside of our group."

I wasn't sure of where I stood with Nolan yet, so I didn't want this getting out before we got to talk it over.

"Uh, sure," she said, exchanging glances with Derek. "Of course we won't."

"Now tell us," he said.

Ashley watched us talk as she ate her shepherd's pie.

"Nolan told me he liked me," I whispered. "And I told him I liked him back!"

A long silence fell over our table.

Finally, after what felt like ten minutes, Derek picked up his fork and speared some tater tots.

"Well, that wasn't what I was expecting you to say," he said.

"That was what happened? Really?" Melissa stared at me. "But I thought you guys weren't talking for whatever reason?"

Derek said, "Are you sure he was sincere? He made you so miserable for the past few days."

I sighed. "I already told you, we weren't fighting. He didn't make me miserable—where did you get that from? Anyway, when we finally got to talk, it turned out that he was avoiding me because he likes me. I think he thought that I couldn't possibly like him back."

Derek choked and burst into a coughing fit.

Immediately, Melissa rubbed his back. "Hey! Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah," he said, coughing a few more times before gulping down some bottled water. "I'm fine."

"I can't believe you choked on tater tots!" Ashley said. "You need to chew more carefully."

Groaning, Derek opted to drink more water instead of responding.

"So," Melissa said. "Is that why you look so happy?"

I shrugged. "I can't help it! I still feel like everything that happened was just a dream."

She smiled back at me. "Good for you. I'm seriously glad to hear that."

"You finally look like yourself again," Ashley added. "We were so sure some imposter had taken your place."

After he managed to regain his composure, Derek said, "At least you stopped denying that you like him."

He snickered when I rolled my eyes. "You were right, okay? Can we please skip the 'I-told-you-so's?"

"I already knew I was right," he said. "Anyway, fine. I guess I can see where he's coming from. But if he ever does anything to upset you again, you know that we're always here for you."

It was kind of suspicious how fast he changed his tune, but I wasn't about to question it. Derek was giving me his blessings, and I was more than happy to take them.

"I know." I beamed at them. "Thanks, you guys. You're the best."

"Now that we've established that, can we have the details now?" Melissa said. "Is he your boyfriend? Are you guys dating? How long have you liked him?"

"Okay, relax," I said, laughing a little. "I've liked him for a few months now, but I didn't have the courage to tell him. I wasn't planning on saying anything, but it all came out when he told me first. And I don't know if we're dating yet. We're meeting up for a bit after dinner to talk about things."

"Ooh, all the best," Melissa said.

"You got to confess in peace, huh? Shame I didn't get to ruin your moment like you did mine and Melissa's," Derek said, but he was grinning.

"Hey! You already know that it was an accident," I whined.

"It's not like we did it on purpose!" Ashley said.

As vigorously as possible, I nodded my head. "Exactly!"

"Yeah, but you still did it," Melissa said. "We wouldn't have made that mistake, right, Derek?"

"Yeah, we're not amateurs like you," he said. "We would never have done that to you guys."

Our mouths fell open, and Ashley and I stared at them in disbelief.

"Wait, why are you bragging about your spying skills? Are you going around school eavesdropping on private conversations?!"

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In response to the icy wind that was passing through, I ducked my chin into my muffler and shivered.

I was leaning against the wall of my dorm building, just a few feet away from the entrance, waiting for Nolan to show up.

"Hi," said a low voice to my right.

My heart slammed so hard against my ribcage, I wouldn't have been surprised if it fell right out of my body.

Slowly, I turned around to see Nolan with his hands in his coat pockets.

"Hey," I said, giving him a quick wave.

The corners of his lips curved up into a small smile. "I told you to wait for me to arrive before coming down. Aren't you cold?"

"A little, but it's okay. I don't mind." Moreover, I was way too excited to sit still in my room waiting for his confirmation text. I could handle a bit of cold. "Where should we go?"

I couldn't think of any place in school where we could talk privately without someone walking in on us or walking past us, except for in our dorm rooms.

Nolan's smile grew wider. "Have you ever been to the astronomy clubroom?"

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AN: [i know you guys probably just want more nolan/chelsea scenes but her friends will still have a relatively important role later on in the story relative to their relationship, so how they take the news/how they see him is important too] i might touch up on some minor details for this chapter later on. but anyway, thank you for reading and for all your support!! i'm so sorry for the late update. :( see you next Monday! thank you all for your comments on the previous chapter, i really appreciate them--LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH. take care and stay hydrated!! (also, i'm still sleeping late to catch up on writing lol so much for sleeping early smhhh, i'll do better next month) ♡ฅ(ᐤˊ꒳ฅˋᐤ♪)

dedicated to mysteriousauthoresta!! thank you so much for all your supportive and kind words throughout my writing of this novel, you're really so sweet i have no words to express how thankful i am for all your encouragement! ˉ̞̭(′͈∨‵͈♡)˄̻ ̊ i always smile when i see your username pop up in my notifications. thank you for often making my day!! ilyyyy ♡