The Tortoise and His Sunrise | ✓

29. Friends

The bright sun shone down with an unrelenting, scorching intensity from the cloudless blue sky as I held onto Nolan's arm delightedly with both of my hands. Even the sweat that was starting to form on my forehead and arms couldn't dampen my spirits.

I never really thought about it, and ultimately I couldn't miss something I never had, but having a boyfriend whom I could meet during the day and could freely introduce to whomever I wanted to was unbelievably freeing. By senior year of high school, I'd convinced myself it was fine, that I didn't mind that Nolan could only ever hang out with me in the late evening, and that, while Derek and Melissa could spend all day with each other, I had to wait till nightfall for Nolan to even feel awake.

I hadn't even realized how much it had been weighing on me until the heaviness had been completely lifted off me.

I beamed at him as he kissed my forehead.

Nolan had officially ditched his trademark hoodie except for when it was raining or if it was cold. The sun beat down on his exposed face and arms, but he had never looked happier.

Now that he wasn't physically compelled to fall asleep in the daytime, he no longer spent every second of it outside of classes in his bed. He would go to the library sometimes to study, or he would find some place to sit down to work. The joy in his eyes, even though he never said anything, these days was so obvious that it made me happy too.

He'd just picked me up from my class, and now we were strolling across the sunny courtyard.

"What do you want to eat?" he asked me.

"Anything," I said. "You should pick! Let's go with your mood."

"How about Thai food?"

"Yeah, let's go."

"Let me check where to go," he said, pulling out his phone.

As he scrolled on it, I said, "It's the weekend tomorrow. Any plans?"

"Probably just the gym, then nothing. Why? Do you want to do something?"

I pulled back a little to peer at him in surprise.

"Wait, you're going to the gym?"

"Yeah ... why?" he returned my stare with an inquiring one of his own.

I had never thought about him working out before. By his own prior admission, he'd never been to a gym before. The only physical exercise he'd ever done was in the forest when he was hunting for food after nightfall.

But if he did want to maintain his current physique or, at least, keep a reasonable level of stamina and strength, it stood to reason that he would have to start some kind of physical training.

"Nothing," I said lamely, when I realized that I'd been staring at him for too long without giving a reply. "I guess I just hadn't thought that you'd be hitting the gym now that you don't have that super strength anymore."

With a smile, Nolan turned back to his phone. "While I'm definitely not going to be able to lift a full fridge anymore, I thought you'd appreciate it if I could still give you piggyback rides."

Oh, I totally still wanted piggyback rides.

I cheered and threw my arms around him. "You're the sweetest sweetheart ever!"

In the end, we settled on a casual Thai restaurant that Nolan said looked interesting.

into a booth by the window. While we were lazily perusing the menu to decide on our order, a girl with a tall ponytail among a small group of people which was walking past our table waved and smiled at Nolan.