The next day, Nolan was already, as usual, at his desk with his head down on his arms when I arrived at the classroom.

I couldn't help but smile as I walked towards him.

I was about to sit down next to my boyfriend.

Boyfriend.

That word, at least in relation to me, sounded so foreign and yet so thrilling.

The moment I approached my desk, he lifted up his head and smiled at me. Startled by his sudden action, I blinked several times at him.

"Morning," he said.

I started settling down in my seat. "Wait, weren't you asleep? Don't tell me I somehow woke you up."

"I was waiting for you," he said, and my heart almost stopped.

"What? Why?" I choked the words out, focusing on his nose instead of his eyes.

He shrugged. "Just wanted to greet you first thing in the morning."

My insides turned to mush. I had to struggle not to turn into a tomato right there and then. Why was he doing this to me?!

"That's nice of you," I managed to say. "Thanks."

Raising an eyebrow, he leaned a little closer to me. "Aren't you going to say it back?"

"What?"

"You know. 'Good morning.'"

"Oh, right. Good morning to you too, Nolan."

His green eyes were so warm as he grinned. I returned it with a tiny one of my own.

"Actually, shouldn't it be 'good night' since you're going to sleep now?" I asked.

"But it's the start of the day for you, which is why I said it. Okay, see you at the end of class," he said, lowering his head down to his folded arms on the desk.

He lay his head down facing away from me, so all I could see was his mop of short black hair.

Suddenly, I was filled with the urge to run my fingers through his hair.

At the realization of the numerous distractions that I'd have in the form of my new boyfriend Nolan in all my classes from now on, I sighed and forced myself to look away, desperately fighting down any signs of a blush.

For some reason, classes passed by really quickly today. It was a breeze to pay attention to what the teachers were saying, and the lessons were so much easier to absorb than they had been the past few days.

In a blink of an eye, it was time for lunch.

When I stood up from my chair, I found myself face to face with an expectant-looking Nolan.

"Um, hi," I said.

His gaze lingered on my face. "Hi."

"What ... what's up?"

"Do you want me to sit with you and your friends for lunch today?" he said, trailing after me as we left the classroom.

I couldn't believe that he was voluntarily offering to join us. As I beamed up at him, I could feel the sparkles in my eyes. It wouldn't be a surprise if he could see them, too.

Okay, so I probably should've expected this, considering that we were together now. But still!

"Can you?" I asked. "Will you be too tired afterwards?"

A half-grin lifted the corner of his lips. "Yeah, but I'm always going to be tired during the day. Don't worry about it. I can stay awake for a couple of hours with no real problems."

"Then please come with me!" I said happily. "I'm going to tell Derek and Melissa about us today, anyway, so it'd be nice if you could be there too!"

Nolan pulled his hand out of his hoodie pocket to hold mine, enveloping it with the warmth of his rough hand. Instantly, tingles tap danced up and down my arm, and a swooping sensation went through my heart. It thumped so hard in response that I had to look down at my shoes while we walked.

"Just them? What about Ashley?" His voice was incredibly normal, as though holding hands with someone else was a common everyday occurrence for him.

Well, we did hold hands on a weekly basis in the forest, but still. How was he this relaxed about the whole thing?!

"She already knows. I texted her last night," I admitted.

The second I parted ways with Nolan at our dorm last night, I couldn't hold back from whipping my phone out and immediately telling Ashley all about my new relationship status. As expected, she was happy for me, and patiently waited out my spam of squealing texts.

He stifled a yawn. "Okay, cool."

"You can nap at the table later if you need to."

"It's fine. I'll do some studying," he said, shaking his head. "I don't think I'll make the best impression on your friends if I just ignore them and fall asleep."

He had a point.

I nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

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

By the time we got to the dining hall, I could see Melissa and Derek already sitting at our usual table.

"Do you want to go and sit first?" I asked Nolan, letting go of his hand to join the lunch line.

Since he wasn't eating anyway, it would make more sense for him to do that.

"No," he said, following me. "I'll wait for you."

"Um, sure."

Maybe he didn't want to deal with them asking why he didn't get food all by himself. That would make sense too.

As we waited for the line to move again, he stood close to me.

He never stood this close to me when we were just friends. The proximity started to make me sweat, but the happiness that was bursting from my chest was enough to temper my anxiety.

Finally, we got my tray of food, and I almost tripped over myself in my haste to get to our table. Ashley was now there as well, opening her small carton of milk.

They looked up as we approached, and their eyes instantly went to Nolan, who was right beside me.

"Hi, guys," I said, feeling my face flush.

"Hey," Nolan said.

"Hi," they all said, shifting their stare from him to me.

"I'll just say this now." I took a giant breath before speaking so quickly that my next few words were almost indistinguishable. "Nolan is my boyfriend now. So, yeah. That's all! Thanks for listening!"

Then I set down my tray and pulled out a chair, falling into it. Nolan did the same.

"'Thanks for listening'?" Ashley said, clearly suppressing a smile. "You make it sound like you were giving a speech."

"It's about time!" Melissa said. "I am so glad you're no longer fighting."

"I already told you, we weren't fighting," Nolan said, but she was too busy beaming at the both of us to acknowledge what he was saying.

"Glad to hear that you've worked things out. Good for you," Derek said, nodding at me.

"Thanks, Derek," I said. "You guys are the best."

Having gotten that nerve-wracking announcement over with, I started on my lunch.

Next to me, Nolan opened his backpack to pull out his history textbook.

"You're not eating anything, Nolan?" Melissa said.

I froze mid-sip of my tomato soup. I'd known that my friends would eventually notice that he wasn't eating, but I wasn't expecting them to ask questions this fast.

"Nah," he said, opening his textbook. "I'm not hungry. I'll just study."

With obvious bemusement, she said, "Then why did you come to the dining hall? I mean, not that you're not welcome to sit with us or anything."

He cast me a sideway glance. "Well ... I like Chelsea's company, and she's definitely hungry."

Don't say that in front of them! I wanted so desperately to say, but the words were stuck in my throat like a huge wad of peanut butter. Instead, I remained silent.

Even as I continued drinking my soup, I could feel my face flush with heat.

"Aw, that's so sweet," Melissa said, and I could hear the mischievous grin in her voice.

I sincerely wanted to burrow myself into the ground and never emerge again.

"Are you sure you don't want to eat, even just a little bit?" I heard Ashley say. "What if you get hungry later?"

"I'll be fine," he said. "I'm usually in the library taking a nap during lunch, anyway."

"That's true. You're used to it," she said.

"Oh, yeah." Derek nodded at Nolan. "We're going to the mall this weekend. Want to come? Or did Chelsea already ask you?"

"I haven't asked him," I said, sneaking a peek at Nolan's face out of the corner of my eye.

He was looking at me in a way that suggested he was waiting for a cue.

I hadn't invited him because the thought hadn't even occurred to me. It just wasn't something that came to my mind after the flurry of events that had taken place in the past couple of days.

However, now that I was actively thinking about it ... Could he even come out with us?

Usually, we left in the mornings, and the sun was already out then. If exposure to sunlight for a couple of seconds was enough to blister his skin, didn't that mean that he couldn't go out during the day?

I should probably ask him after this.

Seeing that he was still staring at me, I said, "Um, I don't know if he can make it on Saturday. Can you?"

He turned back to Derek. "Sorry, I actually can't, but thanks for asking."

"Oh, well," Derek said. "You already have something on, huh?"

"Yeah, but thanks for asking." He didn't elaborate, but he didn't have to.

That 'something' was most definitely sleep.

We locked eyes, but I didn't dare to ask him for more details in front of everyone else. Resolving instead to bring it up later, I resumed eating my lunch.

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

We left the dining hall with ten minutes to spare before next period in order to take our time walking there.

As our friends walked ahead of us, Nolan grasped my hand and tugged lightly.

"Hey," he said quietly.

I shot him a puzzled glance. "Yeah?"

We both slowed down until we were several feet away behind the others.

"Sorry I can't go with you on Saturday," Nolan said quietly. "I hope you're okay with that."

Relief eased the knots of tension that had formed in my shoulders in anticipation of what he had been about to tell me.

Was that what all this was about? I thought he was going to say something really serious.

"It's no big deal," I said, lowering my voice. "You can't go out in the day, right? I totally understand."

For the briefest of moments, Nolan appeared startled.

"Yeah," he said, regaining his composure. "That, and I have to sleep. If I went out with you guys, I'd have to stay out there until you're all ready to head back. It wouldn't be nice of me to just leave after a couple of hours."

He was so thoughtful.

I shrugged and smiled. "I guess it'd be difficult for you to join us unless we leave in the evening. It can't be helped."

The others would definitely wonder what was up if I asked them to do that. The reason we typically left in the morning was to have more time to spend outside.

"Do you want to do something on Sunday instead?"

That caught me off guard. I wasn't expecting him to suggest anything, especially since I was the one who did most of the inviting in our relationship.

"Do you mean, like, going to the forest?" I whispered.

"What?" He paused. "No, it's too cold right now. I don't want you to freeze out there. I was thinking more along the lines of finding somewhere in school to hang out. We might have to meet in the evening, but if you're okay with that, I'd like to spend some time with you. Just the two of us."

Why, oh, why was my face growing warm again?!

It seemed like he was constantly saying sweet things to me without even realizing it, and the worst part was that I wanted to keep hearing more of it.

"Yes," I squeaked out. "Let's do something on Sunday."

Giving me a small smile, he said, "Great. I'll think of something. Although we'll be in school, I hope it won't be too boring for you."

I quickly shook my head. "If you're there with me, nothing can be too boring! We could be studying, and I'd still be having a lot of fun!"

He squeezed my hand. "Thanks."

"Hey, guys, what are you doing?" Ashley called out with her hands cupped around her mouth.

We were now lagging behind them by at least forty feet.

Whoops.

"Sorry!" I called back.

As we made large strides towards the others, I told Nolan, "I'm looking forward to it."

"Me too," he said. "Sunday."

Today was a regular school day, but it didn't feel like it at all. I was pretty sure that I had Nolan to thank for it, and the thought only intensified the exhilaration surging through me.

"Sunday," I said, practically bursting at the seams with excitement.

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

AN: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING! the story's not ending yet, dw! there's still quite a bit to cover! (and obv, they haven't kissed yet lol be patient please i promise it is coming! eventually (♡'❍'♡)*✧ ✰ ｡*) hope you've had a great weekend, and hope you have a wonderful week ahead! please take care, everyone! (∩˃o˂∩)♡ LOVE YOU!

dedicated to Crownarcher for leaving me votes all the time, your support means so so much to me!! i'm so glad you're enjoying my story!! you really make me happy, ilysm ♥（ﾉ'∀'）