Midnight Kisses| ✓

Chapter 21

"You ready?" Novahk calls from his window, while I flash him with my mobile from mine. Its twelve at night and I already have butterflies in my stomach, both from apprehension and sneaking out at night coupled with the fact that Novahk would be with me tonight.

I sneak downstairs trying to make as less sound as possible. Mom's room is in the opposite direction of the alarm but still one can never be too sure. I tiptoe to the door, and hear if anybody is awake, mom walking towards me in a bath-robe or something. But there's no noise except from the constant hum that refrigerators gives away, the only thing in our house still awake.

The garage door opens and I  have to take a second to find it. My old mountain bike. It seems ages ago that I had last ridden it, back when Emily had still not got her car back in freshman year. Hen on her sixteenth b'day when her dad had gifted her the Prius all the bike rides around the town pretty much came to a full stop.

The seat is dusty and I can tell  the wheels dont have much air left in them.  I punch in the alarm code, now changed, thanks to yours truly, the garage door glides open without any glitch.

I look back at the open door leading to the house one last time before I drag my bike out into the night. Even though I am in atleast here layes of clothings, the cold find its way inside. The cold, humid-y weather of Northfield has the cpabilty to do that.

It takes a moment for me to notice who as usual is clad all in black, almost blending into the shadow is house casts. No windows have light sin them in our neighbourhood. Everybody has gone to sleep ours ago.

"You ready?" Novahk asks breathing the fog out.

"Just one thing. I don't know how much air..." Novahk holds out the air-pumper. "Don't worry. Got you all covered." Even those words are enough to make me feel al warm from inside. There is something really wrong with my mechanisms. But when I reach my hand to take it from him, he shakes his head, pointing back at his house. "On the enxt sreet." He whispers though there's no living person awake to hear him anyways.

I balance my bike sideways and Novahk does the same till we are in the next lane where Novahk parks his bike and then takes mine, our hands coming into contact in the process, shooting stars in my nerve.

He carefully places the bike on a grassy area and sets the air-pumper beneath the ground so that air can flow freely to it and without much effort. But even then it taken fifteen minutes to blow out both the tires to their original size.

He then tastes both the tires and satisfied with the result, rubs his dirty hand on his jeans and tosses the pumper into a hedge nearby. "We'll pick it up on the way back. Where we are going we need our hands free."

We bike, Novahk slightly infront of me showing the way. 'So where are your friends Calvin Harris and " I feel asligh apprehension rising in my throat. What if tis is some sort of rave he's taking me too. I should have asked him to be more clear wth me before. But I trust him, even now as I continue to paddle with him, mimicking his movements on the cycle. Cycling, like swimming or reading, you never forget but when you're out of practice it sometimes becomes a bit tougher now that the road has turned from firm gravel to rocky splinters. We are enar the docking area of the river. The river here is relalys hallow et soe tourist cruises, whatever we have left of them anyways and shipping services still works.

"They don't know about this place," he says.

"I saw them, atleast it was someone on a bike. I thought it was Caleb. That first day when you came to my room he picked you up that day didn't he?" He chuckles without any humor.

"No that day was different because I want to forget, just some time alone. They don't know what I do on other days though," he says sighing quietly. "Nobody knows," he turns back to look at me. "Until now."