The First Flight ❀ COLIFER

Chapter 37 ❀ Nugget names

We'd been eating with just the soft sound of the radio in the background for a few minutes when he looked over his shoulder at Evan and smiled. "He's out for the night."

I smiled back at him, pretty sure there was ice cream on my face— which was confirmed when he raised a brow and explicitly stuffed his mouth full of ice cream.

"I'm doing a Jen impression," he pointed out.

"Don't mock me, O'Donoghue."

"You started it."

I shook my head and kicked off my shoes so I could pull my knees up to my chest. I shifted in my seat and turned sideways, but I just looked at him without saying a word.

"Liking the view?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes and looked up at the ceiling. "Oh, pretty please."

"Pretty? Yes, I can confirm tha—"

"Colin." I looked back down at my cone; the blood was rushing back to my face. "I just... this is nice. I like that we're not fighting for once."

"Oh." His smile softened, but it didn't disappear completely. "I know."

"Can we just... stop the fighting altogether? Can we at least try to be friends again?"

We both forgot about our ice cream cones when he stared back at me. I felt like he was looking right through me, like he knew exactly what I was feeling.

"I'm sorry," he said. "You know, I really meant what I said in Hawaii."

My eyes widened automatically. This was the first time in months one of us had mentioned Hawaii, because we were both just trying to forget about it— or at least I was.

Not that it was really working.

"I'd rather just say nothing than fight with you," he said.

Memories of the night in Hawaii when he took me to see the stars washed over me like a tidal wave, and for a moment I was completely absorbed by it. Eventually I nodded and stuck out my hand. "Okay. Friends?"

I waited with an expectant smile on my face, but I saw the mischievous twinkle in his eyes when he shook his head and pretended to be serious again.

"No, no no no no no no no," he said with his Dark One-voice and the corresponding hand movements.

"What do you mean?"

"We're not just friends, Jen."

Oh my god. He is not going to say what I think he's going to say.

But he did.

"We're special friends."

"Oh. My. God." I pulled my hand away right before he was able to grab it and slapped my forehead. "You did not just say that again."

"Again?"

"Yes, you—"

Crap. Of course he didn't know that, because he didn't know about the dream. That stupid, infuriating, hell of a dream.

"Never mind." I shook his hand and then I rolled down the car window to chuck the empty ice cream cone in the bushes.

"Hey!" he protested, but he lowered his voice when he remembered that Evan was in the backseat. "Why did you do that?"

"It tastes like plastic. And it isn't bad for the environment: it's degradable."

"Hm..." He thoughtfully looked down at his own cone, and then he shrugged his shoulders before he chucked it out my window too.

"Let's hope these are still hot," he said, gesturing at the box of nuggets. "I like my nuggets fresh."

We opened up the box, and Colin let out a shriek of victory when he tasted the first nugget.

"Still warm?" I asked.

"Still warm," he confirmed, making a face as if he'd just gone to heaven.

I wasn't really that fond of nuggets, but I absentmindedly put more in my mouth as we playfully kept bickering. When there were eight nuggets left, I leaned back against the headrest, and I knew blooming well why I felt as light as a feather.

I'd missed this. I'd missed our conversations; I'd missed how nothing in the world mattered anymore when he smiled at me without holding back. I'd almost forgotten how easily he could make me laugh.

It felt like I got my best friend back.

"So, have you thought about names?" I asked, still looking up at the ceiling. Right when I said that, "Just a Kiss" from Lady Antebellum came on.

*PLAY THE MUSIC NOW HEEHEE*

"Names? For the nuggets? I'm not that attached to—"

"For the baby, you eejit."

"Oh." He stuffed another nugget in his mouth before he answered. "Just don't try Irish slang, it doesn't suit you. And to answer your question: no. We're still thinking about it. We're literally the worst at picking names, and Helen is incredibly indecisive."

"Sounds reasonable. I mean, you're talking about a kid."

"Yeah, I guess. Suggestions are welcome."

"Okay..." I stretched out my legs on the dashboard and sipped on my drink as I thought about it. When the first name popped up in my head, I let out a snort of laughter.

"What is it?" he asked immediately.

"I would be the worst at choosing a name. My first suggestion was 'Emma'."

"Okay, that's not helpful at all."

"I never said I would be helpful. Okay, let me think... Emily? Eve? Lily? Abbie?"

He'd wrapped an arm around the headrest of my seat and he was looking back at Evan as I attacked him with name suggestions.

"I just want it to go perfect with his name," he said. "I can't believe he's going to have a little sister."

...We don't need to rush this, let's just take it slow...

I took a deep breath. "Hm..." Then it came to me, out of the blue; my lips parted, the straw popped out of my mouth and tiny droplets of coke sprinkled everywhere.

I lowered my legs. "Okay, how about this: Millie."

It was silent for a few seconds, except for the song in the background, and Colin didn't move.

... I don't wanna mess this thing up, I don't wanna push too far... 

And then he slowly turned around. His eyes widened as he looked at me, until the brightest smile broke out on his face, and it wasn't more than a breath when he said it.

"Millie." 

❀ FACT: Colin signed a picture at the FTV convention and he wrote "I like my nuggets fresh". Helen recently gave birth to a baby girl, Millie! (And thank you to the people on Instagram for the name suggestions 😆) ❀