Before the Morning [BEING EDITED]

26 | Three, Two, One

"Heads up!"

Nolan twisted just in time to catch a bundled sleeping bag as it hurtled at his face. Andy grinned. Beside him, Willow rolled her eyes and grabbed her own sleeping bag from the back of Nathan's car, hoisting it over her shoulder. "Throw it back at him," she said.

"No-No wouldn't do that," Andy said. "He's too n—"

Nolan's sleeping bag slapped him in the face.

Laughter erupted. Even Nolan snickered as Andy blinked away his shock. "Nice," Andy finished blankly.

"What gave you that idea?" Max asked. He clapped Nolan's shoulder and held out his fist. Nolan bumped it.

"No-No's a sweetheart," Willow said with a mischievous smile. "Right, Nora?"

Nora tensed, one hand on the trunk door, the other on her sleeping bag. Nolan's eyebrows creased. Was she okay? She'd seemed fine since she arrived at his apartment, but that still didn't erase what happened at her house.

"The sweetest," she said with a grin. "Riley told me herself."

"Well, then it must be true," Andy said. He thrust Nolan's sleeping bag in the air. "Proof be damned, eh?"

"Swear jar," they chorused.

Andy rolled his eyes and laughed as he tossed the sleeping bag back to Nolan. Nolan caught it easily, a small smile drifting across his lips.

They headed for the front doors. Nora, Willow, and Andy towed along their various snacks—homemade chocolate chip cookies, Bettermade potato chips, and superman ice cream, respectively—along with their sleeping gear. Nolan's lack of contribution bothered him, but he couldn't afford to ask Greg for an extra expense.

There wasn't a point in dwelling on it. He decided to look forward to the pizza, which Willow confirmed would be there when Nathan went inside ahead of them. "He's just excited for pizza," she'd whispered conspiringly. And who could blame him? Nolan definitely couldn't.

Ryan was there to greet them at the door. "Heyo," he said. "How's everyone doing?"

"Fantastic," Nora said.

"That's what I like to hear." He took the snacks and gestured behind him. "Sleeping bags in the sanctuary, alright?"

"Alright."

The lobby was filled with laughter and scurrying feet. The occasional group stood around and chatted, away from the music blasting from the event room. Even as the sanctuary door closed behind him, the base of the song—a catchy Christian tune he distantly recognized as one of the songs that played on the radio—pulsated beneath his feet.

Sleeping bags scattered the sanctuary. They were piled on the floor, strewn across the pews, set along the walls. Nora and the others claimed one of the pews by the back. Nolan set his next to Willow's as Andy and Max tossed theirs haphazardly onto the floor.

"Pizza!" Erin exclaimed, tossing her sleeping bag next to the boys'.

"Pizza!"

The pizza was at the front of the event room—at least fifteen boxes stacked on a wooden table, along with plastic plates and napkins. The cookies, chips, ice cream, and countless other snacks had found their way to the table, too. The ice cream was already three-quarters of the way empty.

Nolan melded in with the line, blue plate in hand, and turned his attention to the rest of the room. Some kids sat at the tables lining the walls, talking and eating pizza and snacks. Others were busying themselves with board games, card games, puzzles. Still others had stationed themselves toward the middle of the extensive space—clear of any tables, with numerous games afoot. Twister, human battleship, relay races...