The Tortoise and His Sunrise | ✓

6. Thunder

The sun had set an hour ago, and the stars were already becoming visible in the rapidly darkening sky. After I had my uneventful dinner with Nolan accompanying me through it, we ended up strolling around aimlessly on campus.

Nights when we didn't particularly have anything planned except for spending time with each other easily ranked among my favorites. Sometimes we had long conversations that lasted hours, and sometimes we didn't exchange more than a few words. I loved them all.

"Cold?"

I looked up at Nolan, who had just asked me the question, and shook my head.

"Just a little."

He grasped my wrist and gently pulled my hand up towards him.

"Here."

His other hand drew something out of his large hoodie pocket. He placed it in my palm, and the warmth gave my hand an instant relief from the cold.

I gave him a big grin. "Thank you!"

"No problem."

Pocketing it, I tucked both my hands in my own pullover hoodie pocket and savored the heat that emanated from it.

Nolan stopped walking all of a sudden.

"Did you feel that?" he asked.

I didn't. "Feel what?"

He put his hand out in the air. "I think it's starting to rain."

"No way," I said, drawing my hood over my head as a precaution. "I don't have my umbrella on me."

"My dorm is nearer than yours. You can take my umbrella when you go back."

"Sounds like a plan."

We set off at a much brisker pace, and he took my hand to make sure I was keeping up.

We were several feet away from the building doors when the faint drizzle abruptly transformed into a pouring storm, replete with lightning flashes and crackling thunder.

"Let's run," he said.

He didn't have to tell me twice. We broke into a sprint simultaneously.

Rain pelted down on me, and I could feel multiple parts of my hoodie rapidly dampening against my skin.

"Oh no," I moaned. "We're going to get drenched!"

I ran as fast my legs would carry me. I really appreciated that he kept the same pace as me, because I would definitely have been left in the dust if he didn't.

When we arrived at his room, a startling peal of thunder cracked over the sky. I jumped slightly and grabbed his arm.

"Don't worry." He drew me into a short hug. "It's just thunder."

"Mm," I said, trying to ignore my racing heartbeat. "Thanks."

After that, we got out of our hoodies and hung them on the hooks on the back of his door.

"At least we weren't too far away when it really started to pour," Nolan said, looking down to examine the black T-shirt he was wearing. "That was sudden."

I pulled on mine slightly to check how much of the water had gotten to it. I was glad that it felt mostly dry, thanks to the thick material of my hoodie. Both my shoes and jeans were in the same condition—splattered with raindrops but not wet enough to be uncomfortable.

Pleased that my socks still felt dry, I pulled my sneakers off to set them by his mini shoe rack. Nolan did the same before striding to his desk.

Unlike me, he stayed in a single and didn't have a roommate, so I didn't have to worry about intruding on others. Occasionally, I came over to hang out or study with him.