"I'm back!" I playfully whispered as I stepped into the astronomy clubroom which Nolan had just unlocked.

After I had finished dinner earlier, I found him waiting outside the dining hall for me. He said that there was something he wanted to tell me. I was a little baffled by his vagueness, but Nolan swept me up into a quick but warm hug before leading me away by the hand.

We left our bemused friends still standing by the open entrance.

Once we were out of earshot, Nolan finally answered me about where we were going. He needed some privacy for what he was about to discuss with me, so he was taking me to his clubroom.

So here we were, standing in the darkness again because we couldn't turn on the lights.

Somewhat quietly, he snorted after closing the door behind us. "Do you say that when you return to your room after school?"

"Of course not! I only said it because you're here."

I peered around, trying to make out the shadowy figures in the room. It didn't seem to have changed much since the last time I came in here. The large white telescope was still stood out the most, standing before the central windows.

"Oh, yeah," I said, gently grasping at the sleeve of his hoodie—it felt so thick and soft to the touch—before he could go any further. "I totally forgot; you never did tell me how you got the key to this room. Are you going to tell me now?"

"I forgot too. It's a very basic answer, though." He took my hand and walked me to the telescope. "I asked my father for a spare key. Sometimes I come in here to use the telescope. It's way better than my binoculars."

I raised my eyebrows. "He just gave it to you? Is that even allowed?"

"Not really," he said. "But I probably only use it about once a month. I'm usually too busy catching up with schoolwork to come here, even when I want to."

"Oh. Why couldn't you have just said that when I asked you?"

"You didn't know about my father yet, remember?"

I'd totally forgotten.

"Oops. That's true," I said. "So what did you want to talk about? You looked like you were in a good mood."

I sat down on the sturdy school chair he'd placed in front of me. Nolan pulled up a chair next to mine and dropped himself onto it.

The night was humid enough for me to feel the dampness on my skin, causing me to sweat more. I squirmed in the plastic seat, wishing I'd worn a skirt instead of jeans today. Even my legs were sweating. Pressing the sides of my calves against the cold metal legs of my chair, I held back a relieved sigh.

"Seeing you puts me in a good mood," he said, leaning over just close enough for me to see the smile on his face through the minimal lighting in here.

I laughed softly and bumped my shoulder into his. "Sure, but that's probably not all, or you'd look this happy every day."

"I wanted to tell you some good news," he said, sitting back in his seat. "After talking to you and thinking it over the last couple of weeks, I decided to talk to my father again. I went to him after school yesterday."

"Oh, good." I couldn't help but smile. Since he said that it was good news, I had to assume that it went really well. "What happened?"

"I told him that I blamed him for what happened to me. He apologized again and said that he understood." He looked up at the ceiling for a moment. "He apologized for not being a good father. It was the first time we'd ever had a conversation like that before. I can't even imagine him being able to understand. But he said it."

"That sounds like a good first step," I said.

"You know how you asked me if I wanted to forgive him? I was thinking about that. I realized that it's not that I don't want to—I just don't know how to."

I nodded.

"He said that if I was willing to give him a chance, he would do his best to make it up to me," he said. "Before I went to find him, I actually already had my mind made up. I wanted to move on from the past. I'm tired of being trapped under it."

"Did you tell him that?"

"I told him that I wanted to forgive him, but that didn't mean that I was okay with him. I just wanted to start moving forward again." Nolan shifted into a slouch. "He said he could work with that. He asked if we could start with dinner this weekend."

Silence stretched on between us for a while before he broke it again.

"I agreed to it," he said. "I can't even remember the last time we had dinner together. It's going to be just the two of us, without any phones or laptops around. He said he wanted to get to know me."

Upon hearing this, I couldn't help but break into a smile. The progress Nolan had made was incredible.

He'd gone from not speaking to his father unless absolutely necessary to agreeing to have a meal with him for the sake of potentially rebuilding their relationship.

I had no idea how difficult this would feel for me if I were in his shoes. However, judging from the back-and-forth deliberation he'd shown me when we were talking about this, I knew it couldn't have been a walk in the park for him.

When it came to other people, Nolan never had any trouble doing what he wanted to do, whether it was accepting invitations or declining them. I could only guess at how much inner conflict he was dealing with for him to be struggling so much with the idea of repairing his relationship with his father.

"I'm happy for you," I said, putting a hand on his arm. "I'm glad you're getting this chance to start over. I'm so proud of you for taking that step."

"You gave me the courage to take it," he said.

He returned my smile with one that faded almost as quickly as it appeared.

Tilting my head slightly to the side, I asked, "What's wrong?"

Wasn't this good news?

"Nothing's wrong." He stared straight ahead at the telescope. "At least, nothing's supposed to be wrong. It's like my brain can't even decide whether to be happy or sad."

"What do you mean?"

Nolan brought one hand up to his head to massage his temples. "I don't know. I kind of just ... lay in bed for the rest of the day after that. I couldn't get up to study. I spent the whole time trying not to think about it. I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't be unloading all of this on you. You've already listened to a lot."

I quickly squeezed his hand.

"No, it's okay. I want to listen."

He didn't have anyone else he could talk about this to. I didn't want him to swallow his emotions, thinking that no one was there for him.

"It's nothing, really," he said, his voice breaking a little. "I don't even know how to express what I'm feeling right now. Getting to start over, my father wanting to have dinner with me; anyone with half a brain can see that these are good things, but it's so—it's just so hard for me. Anyway, I—I'm just not going to think too much about it."

Despite my hurting heart, I smiled encouragingly at him. "Yeah, one step at a time, okay? Take it easy."

I hoped that someday, Nolan would manage to step out from the shadows of his past and be at peace with himself.

"Thank you," he said. "It still feels like a dream to have you by my side."

"I want to always be by your side," I said, inching to the right edge of my seat.

Then I quickly leaned forward to kiss him on the mouth. My heart made a little leap when my lips made contact with his soft warm ones.

Nolan's head jerked up a little as he stared at me. Heat crawled through my cheeks. Could he see how red they probably were right now?

The thought of meeting his eyes made me want to melt into a puddle on the floor and just evaporate away. I lowered my gaze to his chin and kept it there.

"Me too," he said. "If you ever need someone to talk to, you know you can come to me. I want to be there for you like you are for me. Even on my worst nights, just thinking of you makes me feel better."

Those words were so sweet, my heart felt like it was about to explode thanks to the joy overflowing from it.

"I will," I promised, unable to stop the goofy smile I was wearing. "Also, just thinking of you makes my whole day brighter!"

Even through the darkness, the brightness of Nolan's smile shone through.

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AN: second last chapter!! thank you for reading! all your votes and comments have really brightened up my day, so thank you for that too! :) hope you all have a great week ahead! please take care and stay safe （*'▽｀*）i love you all. ♡ฅ(ᐤˊ꒳ฅˋᐤ♪)