After looking through the telescope to admire the constellation that he'd found for me, we had lapsed into a comfortable silence.

"So," I said, abruptly finding the quietness in the dark clubroom deafening, "what does this mean for us?"

I already knew what I wanted to hear as an answer.

He took a while to reply. "I don't know. What do you want this to mean?"

"Don't turn the question back on me! I asked you because I want to know what you want," I protested.

"I know what I want," he said. "I also know that I don't know what will happen in the future. I don't want to cause trouble for you."

I squinted at him in bewilderment. "Why would you cause trouble for me? Also, what do you want?"

He hesitated for a couple of seconds, and then he tugged at my hand. "Let's sit down. There's something I should tell you first."

Was he going to tell me that actually he didn't want to be together? Was he going to tell me that he just wanted to stay friends even though we liked each other?

I didn't want that, but if that was what he wanted, then I could only accept it.

As we let go of each other's hand and sat down in our respective chairs, my heart squeezed painfully.

"Chelsea, I have to be honest with you," he said.

Dread filled my stomach. Here it comes.

"Okay ... What is it?"

"Like I told you earlier, I trusted that friend who attacked me. She was in my grade. I thought she was my age. But on the evening that she attacked me, she said a bunch of things that didn't make sense to me at that time."

He looked down at his hands.

"Among them, one of the things she said was, 'Now we can really be friends forever.' And then she implied that she'd been young for a while. I don't even know if she really is my age, but I doubt it. I don't think I can trust anything she's ever said to me."

"I'm so sorry," I said softly. "That must have been really scary."

Why was this 'friend' of his so creepy? I was getting the chills just hearing about her.

He shrugged. "Anyway, here's the problem—I don't know if I'll age. I don't know if my appearance will change. Right now, I'm still a teenager, so it isn't that obvious yet. I'll only know for sure later on. Knowing this, do you still want to be with me?"

This was a point that I hadn't thought of. Now that he'd mentioned it, a small seed of worry for what the future would hold was planted in my heart.

Was he always going to look like this, even as we grew older and into our mid-thirties? Our late sixties?

What was I going to say to people when Nolan stayed the same over the years?

Wait, why was I thinking that far into our relationship?! We weren't even together yet!

"I'll understand if you don't," he continued, his gaze still averted from my face. "It took me a year to finally accept what happened, and I only accepted it because I still have to live with myself. But you don't."

A searing ache ran through my chest. Nolan had gone through so many things alone, so many things that he couldn't tell anyone, despite being the victim. I wanted to hug him. I wanted to make everything okay for him. I wanted to take away the despondence in his voice.

"I really like you." The words hadn't even filtered through my brain before they practically barreled out of my mouth. "I don't—I don't know what we might have to face in the future, or how well everything will work out between us, but I still want to try. If you want."

We sat in silence for several seconds before he spoke again. "I ... I want to be with you. To be honest, I'm scared of what awaits me in the future. If any of it ever gets too much for you, just tell me, and I'll let you go. I won't blame you."

The resignation in his tone made my eyes begin to sting.

"Don't say it like that," I said. "I don't want you to let me go."

"You never know," he said. "In the end, you might."

"Dummy." I tried, rather unsuccessfully, to force out the wobble in my voice. "I won't."

"Wait, are you crying?" Nolan sounded alarmed as he cupped my cheek with his hand. "What's wrong?"

As tears escaped from my eyes, I forced down an oncoming hiccup. "I just hate the fact that you're so sure that you're going to be all alone. I don't want you to feel alone. I want to be there for you, and I want you to be assured knowing that there's always going to be someone there for you."

He gently wiped his thumb across my cheek.

"Hey," he said. "I'm going to hug you, okay?"

Through my crying, I managed to feel the burn of embarrassment anyway. "Why would you ask something like that? Don't ask questions like that! Just hug me!"

His simultaneous laugh and groan made a strange combination. "Why are you so cute?"

Then he pulled me into a tight embrace, and every emotion except for relief and happiness fled from my mind. As he turned his face to the side of my head, I felt his lips against my hair. My heart went on a thumping rampage.

"Thank you," he said quietly. "I'm used to feeling alone, but now I'll try to keep in mind that I have you. I'm glad that I have you."

I responded by sniffling and bringing my arms up around his back. It felt so good to be in his arms.

The hug felt like it ended too soon when he eventually pulled back, but the soft smile he gave me melted away all my disappointment.

"Kind of late to be doing this, but you'd probably like it better if I did it properly, right?" he said, taking both of my hands into his.

"Huh?"

"Chelsea, I really, really like you. Please be my girlfriend."

Seriously? I thought we'd already covered that. All the same, I couldn't help the grin tugging at my lips.

"Of course I will," I said.

"Okay." He flashed me a bigger smile. "From today onwards, you're officially my girlfriend."

I'm Nolan's girlfriend now!

Out of elation, I desperately wanted to squeal and roll around on the ground—or maybe jump around, I couldn't decide on which.

Before I could say anything in reply, he leaned over and pressed his lips to my cheek. Although he pulled back almost immediately, the soft and pleasant sensation lingered on my skin. Heat rose up my neck and flooded my face as I stared at him with my eyes wide and my mouth agape.

"Just to seal the deal," he said. "Are you going to be blushing every time we're together? Because I really like that."

"Stop making me blush more!" I hissed at him.

He snickered. "I'll try not to, but no guarantees."

"Okay, so, I still haven't finished asking all the questions I wanted to ask yet," I said, getting my phone out from my pocket again in an attempt to change the topic. "Can I continue?"

The mischievous smile stayed on his face. "Sure. What else do you want to know?"

"What do you eat? I mean, you said that you can't eat normal food. But at the same time, you also find animal blood disgusting? Is there anything you can eat?"

Shrugging, he said, "It is disgusting, but I have no choice—I still have to drink it. I go to the forest every night for my daily drink."

"Does that mean they're not appealing to you at all? Just like ... us?" I gestured vaguely around the room to signify that I was talking about the people in our school.

I didn't understand how he could manage to drink it if he found it so gross.

He paused. "I think you're misunderstanding a bit. After I ... changed, animals started to smell like food to me. It's the same way pizza smells to you. It smells like food."

I nodded. I could get that comparison.

"Animals have never smelled that way to me. I hate that it smells like food to me now, because it's irrefutable proof of what I've become. Mix that with the change in my tastebuds, and none of it is even remotely appetizing." He looked out of the window. "It's same for humans, but worse. I don't even want to feel this way towards you guys. I hate it. I drink the bare minimum that I need to not starve, that's all."

"What about normal food? Haven't you eaten it before at our lunch table?"

With a wry smile, he glanced back at me. "I don't know how to put this nicely, so I'm just going to say it. I threw it all up every time I ate with you guys."

No way.

My jaw dropped. "What?"

"Yeah. It would look suspicious if I didn't eat anything when I was supposed to be joining you for lunch."

"Why do you have to throw it up? Does it taste bad to you now?"

"It tastes normal," he said. "But my body can't handle it anymore. I had to puke it out the first time I ate normal food after the change. It makes me sick."

"If you knew that it makes you sick, then why did you do that?!"

"I told you, I like you. Puking it out lessens the effects, anyway. I didn't mind doing that if it meant I could sit with you. You looked pretty happy every time I came along, too."

He was doing it for me. I couldn't believe it. How could he do something like this?

"How can you do that just to blend in?!" I scowled at him. "You've been eating with us for months! I can't believe you've been doing that for so long!"

"Actually, I'm surprised that you haven't noticed that I always go to the toilet after we leave the cafeteria," he said.

"Some people just have to relieve themselves after eating a lot! How would I have been able to come to the conclusion that you were throwing it up?"

"Exactly. I didn't want you to figure that out, so it all worked out."

I gaped at him again. "Nolan! You can't do that again. I forbid you from eating regular food if it means that you have to vomit!"

"But it's going to look weird after a while. What if your friends start asking why I don't eat anything?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," I said. "The worst that can happen is that you stop joining us for meals. But you're not going to eat stuff that makes you ill just to fit in!"

"Okay, okay," he said. "I won't, if you're really that insistent on it."

"Insistent? I'm forbidding you, you hear me? You are not allowed. It is not permitted under any circumstances. You are banned from eating it!"

"Yes, I hear you loud and clear," he said, actually having the audacity to sound amused.

"This is not supposed to be funny, so you better stop smiling right now. You're not going to knowingly hurt yourself for my sake—scratch that, you're not going to knowingly hurt yourself, period!"

"Alright. Thanks."

"Why are you still smiling?" I demanded.

"I like how much you care about me."

I spluttered. "Y-yeah, well, I do, so never do that again, okay?"

"I won't," he said, reaching out to grab my hand. "Promise."

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AN: ok so it's REALLY late here right now so i'm going to sleep! i'll reply to comments tomorrow! if there are any mistakes i'll fix them asap tomorrow. thanks for reading and for all your support, LOVE YOUUUUU ₍՞◌′ᵕ‵ू◌₎♡ HAPPY MONDAY AND G'NIGHT, HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

hey Aru_writes_, thank you for voting!! i appreciate it so much. it's really encouraging and brightens up my day. love you! ♡ฅ(ᐤˊ꒳ฅˋᐤ♪)