The Tortoise and His Sunrise | ✓

18. Interference

I caught sight of Nolan's back right away, but he was moving fast.

Hoping to catch up with him, I broke into a slight jog.

Thankfully, there weren't many people on this street tonight. A couple of them glanced in my direction, but they soon lost interest and diverted their attention elsewhere.

I almost called out to Nolan, but at the last second, right as my mouth opened, I thought the better of it.

He was obviously chasing after her, so he probably wouldn't want to draw attention to himself.

This was such a bad idea.

If she was unhinged enough to turn him without his informed consent, how could any form of confrontation between them possibly go well?

On the other hand, it wasn't that I couldn't understand at all what was probably on Nolan's mind. If I saw my former-friend-turned-enemy who had ruined my life on the streets, I'd want to demand some answers too.

But what kind of answers would she be willing to give him? I doubted that she would be all that forthcoming with explanations for her past actions.

I dodged past a couple of girls, huffing out a quick apology when I brushed past one of them. She shot me an annoyed look.

"Sorry!" I repeated before racing after Nolan.

He was almost within reach now.

He ducked behind a building, likely due to the fact that there was currently nobody between him and Eri to hide behind. I slowed down as well, wondering if he could hear my footsteps. My shoes hitting the concrete sounded deafening to my ears in the now relatively quiet street.

My unspoken questions were swiftly answered when Nolan, who had been peering around the wall, snapped his head around to look right at me. The shock on his face instantly transformed into a glower.

Well, that was mean.

He mouthed something at me, but I wasn't near enough to read it. Although he continued to steal glances past the wall, Nolan stayed put where he was.

Trying to make as little noise as I could, I hurried over to him.

"I told you to wait for me," he whispered, his tone harsh. "What are you doing here?"

"Of course I couldn't just let you go on your own!" I whispered back, glowering at him. "What kind of girlfriend would I be if I did that?"

An expression which I could only describe as—to my shock—pain flashed across his face.

I'd never seen this look on him before, not even when he was talking about his strained relationship with his father.

A spike of worry pierced into me, and I moved to touch his elbow. Nolan shifted away just before I could touch him.

"Nolan?" I whispered, hearing my own voice falter but being unable to do anything about it.

The searching look in his eyes was what made me reach for his arm again, but when he flinched a second time, I dropped my hand.

Trying to ignore the hurt that was rapidly stirring up a tornado in my heart, I attempted a smile.

It trembled on my lips, and all I could do was hope he didn't notice.

"What's wrong?"

He shook his head but looked back over his shoulder again. When I joined him in peeking out, Eri's silhouette was rapidly becoming smaller into the distance.

"I have to go," he said. "You can't follow me. It's dangerous for you. I don't know what she might do."

"It's dangerous for me?" I blurted out. "What about you? Don't you think that I'll be worried for you too?"