The Tortoise and His Sunrise | ✓

1. Catching Up

"Hey," I said brightly to Nolan, who had just set his tray down on the cafeteria table.

"Evening," he said, pressing a brief kiss to my cheek as he sat down beside me. "How was your day?"

Shifting his messenger bag onto his lap, he opened it and began rummaging around in it.

"It was alright," I said. "Nothing new. How was yours? Did you manage to stay awake in your classes today?"

After pulling out his tablet, he pushed his tray aside to make space for it on the table. Nolan could really only drink water and eat mints, but he still got food on most days to blend in when he joined me for dinner.

He always ended up offering it to me, knowing that I was more than happy to accept free food. It helped that he only got small portions like side dishes, so I could definitely finish them.

"Yeah, for the first couple, anyway," he said. "I had to watch the recorded lecture for the third one because I fell asleep."

As I nibbled on a cheese stick, I watched him scroll through the notes he'd taken down.

"I guess it can't be helped," I said, putting my head on his shoulder.

He leaned his head against mine. "It's the weekend tomorrow. Want to do something?"

"Yeah, definitely. Did you have anything in mind?"

"We could visit the Taughannock Falls State Park. I was thinking we could take a walk around the park."

Most of my dates with Nolan weren't exactly conventional since he couldn't go out with me in the day unless the sun was hidden by dark rainy weather. For the typical movie and dinner dates, we went out in the evenings. Otherwise, we sometimes visited cafés in the evenings until they closed for the day.

Although I'd eventually gotten used to it, I still didn't particularly like being the only one eating on our dates. That was the reason why I didn't really like going out for dinner with Nolan, knowing that he could only sit and watch me eat.

I mean, what kind of one-sided dates were those? Even if he said that he didn't mind, it still kind of killed the enjoyment for me.

To my surprise, Nolan managed to figure it out without me having to voice my thoughts. Recently, he'd been suggesting things like exploring parks and quiet places, so that I could just snack on something while we strolled around.

"Oh," I said. "Yeah, why not? Wouldn't it be kind of dark to see anything in the evening, though?"

"I can see." He paused. "But I guess it'd be too dark for you."

Closing my eyes, I sniffed at his hoodie-covered shoulder. I'd grown to associate the fragrance with Nolan, and his scent was always comforting.

"I mean, I don't mind. It'd still be nice to walk around in the park, right?"

"We should go right after the sun sets, so it won't be that dark." He let out a dry laugh. "People are going to think we're weird for starting a hike so late in the day."

"Who cares," I mumbled, pulling his arm up and draping it over my shoulders.

His warmth enveloped me, and I sighed happily. Was this how baby chicks in eggs felt while they were being incubated by their mother hens?

"You smell so good," I said.

"Way to help yourself," Nolan said, but he tightened his hold on me anyway.

I loved it.

"Yup," I replied. "I'm going to hang out with Ash tomorrow, by the way. Well, I say 'hanging out', but we'll mostly be studying."