You Are the Shell to My Tortoise | ✓

36

There was something I'd been thinking for a while now, since Nolan had declined my invitation to have dinner together two weeks ago.

When he turned me down then, he hadn't exactly said that he didn't want to be around me or my friends. He just said that he had just woken up and didn't have an appetite.

We'd gone on our weekly forest outings as usual, and I'd successfully managed to get Blue to be comfortable enough around me not to fly off when I approached him. I wanted to think that we were close enough friends now for me to try again. After all, we'd already been hanging out for over a month now.

I wasn't stupid for hoping that if I asked again, he might just say yes, right?

It was with that in mind that I gathered my courage and spoke to him when the bell for lunch period rang.

"Hey, Nolan," I said, before he could get up from his seat. "Want to join me for lunch today?"

He blinked at me. "Why?"

I stared at him. "You know ... for the usual reasons people eat lunch together? Companionship? Friendship?"

"Right," he said, slowly getting up.

"I just think it would be nice," I said. "I've probably said this before, but my friends are really friendly. I'd really like to have lunch with you."

He stared back at me for a few seconds.

"Nah," he said finally. "Thanks for the invite, but I'd rather sleep."

At least I tried.

"Oh, well," I said, shrugging. "No problem. Have a good nap!"

"See you." He gave me a small wave before heading out of the classroom.

I had to admit, I was disappointed but unsurprised. It made sense that someone basically nocturnal like Nolan wanted to get more rest, but except under special circumstances I could never prioritize sleeping over eating during lunch period. That was literally what this period was for.

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"I love fall," I said to Nolan, as we stood beside a beautiful quaking aspen tree near the forest clearing that we frequented. "I bet if it were daytime right now, I'd be able to show you the gorgeous colors of this gorgeous tree."

"Stop saying 'gorgeous'," he said, watching Blue hop from his hand to mine. "You've used that word fifty times already."

"You stop exaggerating," I said, shooting him a quick glare. "I've used it, what, maybe ten times, maximum."

"This gorgeous tree grows so gorgeously fast," he said, adjusting his voice into a higher pitch that completely did not suit him. "It's so gorgeously resilient, like gorgeous cockroaches. It can clone itself gorgeously, did you know?"

"I did not say it like that," I said, narrowing my eyes at him. "Also, my voice does not sound like that. Please cross voice-acting off your list of potential careers."

"It was basically like that." He paused. "Sorry, I meant gorgeously like that."

"Nolan Rowe!" I placed my hands on my hips, and Blue flew away in a flutter of wings. "Oops, sorry, Blue!"

He cocked an eyebrow at me as Blue returned to perch on his left shoulder. "See? You even scared Blue away with how excessively you were using it." Nolan snickered, holding his hand out so that Blue could fly back onto it.

"Firstly, I would never put gorgeous and cockroaches together," I said, narrowing my eyes at him. "You should know me better by now! I was saying that—"