You Are the Shell to My Tortoise | ✓

38

It was eleven at night, and I was lying in bed, staring at the new text that my phone had just received.

'Hey. Are you still awake?' It was from Nolan.

After he'd refused to tell me when his own birthday was this morning, I'd dropped the topic. Nolan had been happy to continue talking to me when I'd shifted my focus away from it. We ended up just chatting like usual, although I still found myself eyeing him from time to time.

I didn't get what his problem was.

'Why?' I sent him.

'So you are awake.'

I rolled my eyes at his text. 'Obviously! But why are you asking?'

'Open your window.'

My eyes snapped up to look at my window. There was nothing out of the ordinary.

'What?! Why?'

'Just open it.'

I jumped out of my bed and unlatched my window in a haste. I couldn't suppress the anticipation rising up in me. Was Nolan going to show up or something? It was a regular Tuesday, and we hadn't made plans to go to the forest tonight.

A few seconds later, I saw a hand clap over my windowsill. Nolan heaved himself up and into my room through the window. I gaped as he landed on my dorm room floor on both feet.

"Nolan?!"

He put his index finger to his lips and shook his head at me. "Can you at least try to whisper?"

"Sorry, I was just surprised," I said, feeling my heartbeat beginning to slow down. "What are you doing here?"

Nolan raised his other hand, and it was then that I noticed he was holding something in it. To be specific, he was holding a book.

"Happy belated birthday. Sorry it's not wrapped," he said, holding it out to me.

He'd gotten me a birthday present after he avoided telling me about his own.

Even in the face of his contradictory behavior, I couldn't help but reach out for it. "Thanks, Nolan. Why are you giving it to me now, though? Couldn't you have waited until tomorrow?"

It was the second book in a fantasy series that I was currently reading in my free time. I'd mentioned it to Nolan in passing during one of our forest outings. I hadn't expected him to remember that at all, let alone remember that I was still on the first book and hadn't gotten the second one yet.

He shrugged. "I'm already late by a day. If I waited until tomorrow, I would've been late by two days."

"It's the thought that counts," I said, turning the book around to admire the glossy book jacket. "I wouldn't have minded."

"If I'd known sooner, I would've gotten you one on time," he said.

"Thank you, really," I said, beaming at him. "I can't believe you remembered that I haven't read this book yet."

Nolan returned my smile with one of his. "I also remember that deer eat fallen leaves from quaking aspens. Isn't that cool?"

"Stop it!" I swatted at him.

"What? I thought you'd be happy that I was learning tree facts from you."

As I made a face at him, he snickered softly at me.

Curiosity overtook me as a thought struck me. "Hey, how did you get this in a day? Didn't you only learn when my birthday was yesterday?"

"That's a secret," he said.

His smile had suddenly become a lot more infuriating and a lot less endearing in my eyes.

"Everything's a secret with you," I complained. "Come on! Did you sneak out of school today or something? I can't believe you didn't get caught!"

Nolan strolled back to my window. "I'm not telling you."

"Why not?" I followed him. "You could tell me. It's not like I'd tell anyone."

"You probably wouldn't," he agreed, swinging a leg over the windowsill. "Alright, I'll see you in class tomorrow. Don't sleep too late."

"Look who's talking," I said. "Don't you think it's unfair that you get to give me a belated birthday present and I don't even get to know when yours is?"

"You still get an extra gift," he said, leaning against the side frame of my window. "It sounds like a good deal, actually. Why do you want to know when my birthday is, exactly?"

I frowned. "What do you mean? It's just one of those things your friends usually know about you. I also kind of think it'd be nice if I could celebrate it with you. I mean, it would be different if we were in different social circles, but..."

"I don't have friends, right?" he said, looking at ease sitting there on my windowsill.

"I didn't mean it like that—"

He grinned at my wide-eyed expression. "It's fine, I know what you meant. It's true, anyway. Nobody celebrates my birthday."

"Nobody? What about your parents?"

He nodded once. "Nobody. I'd like to keep it that way."

The darkness of my room made it all the more difficult for me to make out the expression on his face. I stared hard at him, trying to figure out what he was thinking. Was he upset but pretending not to be? Was he genuinely unconcerned about the whole thing? Why did Nolan insist being so mysterious?

With a weak shrug, I said, "You have to admit it seems a little unfair that you can get me a gift, and I can't even know when your birthday is."

"The difference is that you celebrate yours," he said. "I'll tell you if you don't do anything about that information."

"I won't, then." I kept my gaze on him. "If you don't want me to, I won't celebrate it."

"Seventeenth of October," he said. "Don't wish me a happy birthday."

Tentatively, I took another step closer to him. "Okay. I won't get you a present, either."

"Thanks."

"Would you answer me if I asked you why?"

"Probably not."

I expected an answer like that. "Okay."

"I should get going," he said. "See you tomorrow."

I smiled at him and waved the book at him. "Thank you, Nolan. I'm not just saying this just because you got me a present, but I'm really happy that we became friends. I appreciate the effort you made to get me something, too. Even if you had to sneak out of school to do it."

He snickered. "No matter how hard you try to fish for it, it's not going to work. I'm not going to tell you how I did it."

I laughed. "Fine! Good night, though I know that you're probably still staying up after this."

"Good night," he said, "and you're welcome."

Then he swung himself off my windowsill and was gone.

I smiled down the book he'd just given me. There were still so many things I didn't understand about Nolan, but there were also many things I learned about him possibly none of our schoolmates knew.

Nobody celebrates my birthday.

It didn't even really matter now that his birthday hadn't passed yet, since he didn't want anyone to acknowledge his own birthday.

There went my plan of getting him something.

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AN: thanks for reading, everybody!! please stay safe and take care and have a great weekend! i loooooove you! (♡'❍'♡)*✧ ✰ ｡*

dedicating this part to DreamStars57! thank you so much for all your support and your kind words, they mean a lot to me and it always makes my day when i see a comment from you!! (∩˃o˂∩)♡