"Cody, I don't even know how to start solving this," Ashley said, tapping at a question on her math worksheet with her pen. "Can you help me?"
"Yeah, of course," he said, scooting his chair closer to her.
I peeked up from my fan fiction notebook and hid my smile at the sight of their heads leaning closer. Under the pretext of getting help with schoolwork, Ashley had been talking to him a lot more during our study sessions together. Of course, it probably helped that they definitely had many private conversations via text. It was a lot more common nowadays to find Ashley checking her phone every five minutes when we weren't in class.
My phone screen lit up with a notification.
'Hi, Chelsea. Not to rush you or anything, but I thought I'd just let you know that Nolan and I are both already here,' Cheryl's text read.
She sent another one right after that. 'Just to make sure you don't get lost, we're at one of the tables in the dining hall.'
One more slid into the text log. 'No rush, of course.'
I grinned at her latest text. She really did not want to be alone with Nolan. I sent her a reply reassuring her that I was on my way and then shoved my things back into my messenger bag.
"Okay, I have to go now," I said. "See you tomorrow, Cody!"
"Already?" Ashley said, looking up.
"Yeah, my history project meeting is going to start soon. See you at dinner, Ash."
"All the best with your project, Chelsea." Cody flashed me a quick smile before dropping his gaze back down at her worksheet.
"Have fun studying, guys!"
When I said that, Cody's eyes darted up from the worksheet to Ashley's face for just a split second.
If Ashley had laser beams for eyes, I would be reduced to a pile of ash then for wiggling my eyebrows at her and throwing glances at an unsuspecting Cody.
This meeting was the perfect excuse for me to leave them alone together without me being obvious about it. Everything was already working out beautifully, and I didn't even have to try all that hard.
Humming to myself, I set off for the dining hall with a spring in my step. When I arrived, the cafeteria was mostly empty. Only Cheryl looked up when I approached the table they were sitting at. Nolan was using his book bag on the table as a pillow.
"Hey, sorry for making you wait," I said, placing my bag on one of the chairs. "You guys are early."
"Hi, Chelsea. It's no problem," Cheryl said, giving me a tight smile. "Let's get started."
Nolan didn't stir.
"Has he been asleep this whole time?" I made a face at him.
Cheryl barely spared him a glance. "Yeah, he was already sleeping when I got here."
Shaking my head, I took the seat beside him so I could nudge him. "Typical."
"We don't have to wake him."
The words were spoken so softly I couldn't be sure that she wanted me to hear them. In an attempt to avoid an awkward atmosphere, I chose to ignore her and increase my efforts in waking him.
"Nolan, get up," I said. "We're going to start the meeting now."
A few grunts came from him as his head turned away.
"Maybe I should be using a book to wake you," I said teasingly, shaking him even harder. "What's your favorite subject?"
"Why not use the biology textbook?" Cheryl suggested, not looking away from her laptop screen. "It's the heaviest."
I laughed. "Ouch. Nolan, hurry up and wake up!"
He made a disgruntled noise as he slowly sat up. "What."
"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty. Let's get to work on our project," I said, taking my own laptop out of my bag.
Nolan rubbed his eyes. "Right."
Finding my box of breath mints at the bottom of my bag, I took it out and offered it to him. "You want?"
To my surprise, he took one. "Thanks."
Cheryl politely turned me down when I asked her if she wanted one.
Since everyone had finished their assigned part, our meeting went without a hitch. Compiling our work didn't take long, and we were able to spend the rest of the time editing our report. After two hours, we were left with putting the finishing touches to it, which we decided to continue next week.
"Thanks, everyone. We were really productive today," Cheryl said, closing her laptop. "We might even finish this project early. Let's work on the presentation next time. I'll see you around, Chelsea."
"See you," I said, waving at her.
Within seconds, Cheryl packed up her things and was gone.
"Doesn't it bother you that she was ignoring you most of the time?" I asked him as he put away his things with the speed of a slug. "She didn't even say bye to you."
He paused to give me an odd look. "No."
"Not even a bit?"
"No. Why?"
I wondered why I was so curious. Nolan made it pretty clear he didn't particularly want friends, if his lack of interest in his fellow students in general was any indication. It still bothered me, however, wondering how he really felt about being snubbed so blatantly.
He kind of deserves it, though.
I couldn't ignore that thought, knowing that it was true. He brought this upon himself by not even bothering to learn his own classmates' names.
"I'm just asking," I said, shrugging.
Nolan yawned again. "Are you staying here?"
He made no move to stand up.
"Yup," I said, opening my math textbook. "I have to finish my homework. Want to help me?"
I thought my joking tone was clear in the last part, but he braced his forearms on the table and said, "Sure."
Midway through wrangling a pen out of my bag's side-pocket, I stared at him. "Really?"
"You obviously need help in math. You'd probably answer half the questions wrongly if you didn't have someone to ask," he said, cracking a grin at my murderous expression.
I had to ask him the question that frequently crossed my mind. "How are you so good at this when you're sleeping almost all the time?"
His lips twisted into a playful smile, although it didn't quite reach his eyes. "I'm not telling you."
True to his word, Nolan patiently walked me through the questions I had the most trouble with. He flicked through his own textbook as I worked through my homework. He only looked up when I asked him a question. With his help, I finished it half the time it would've taken me if I had been doing it alone.
"Thanks, Nolan. I can't believe I'm already done," I said, retracting my pen nib with a click. "You know, I thought you'd be back in your room sleeping right about now. You've been yawning this whole time."
He tensed up and returned his attention to his textbook. "I ..."
After several seconds of silence passed, I prompted, "You ...?"
"I'm going tonight," he said quietly.
It took me a moment to realize what he was talking about.
Oh, right.
It had been almost a week since we had that conversation at the staircase landing. I had been starting to wonder if I should ask him when he was planning on going to the forest again. It was probably about time.
"Okay," I said, tidying my papers on the table. "When?"
He looked around the cafeteria as if to make sure no one was in hearing vicinity, before leaning closer to me. "Probably a little after one."
His breath was minty. Along with it came another whiff of that delicious scent his comforter had given off, and I found myself leaning forward just a bit more to see if I was imagining it.
"If it's too late for you, you don't have to go," he said.
Not wanting him to mistake my distraction for hesitation, I drew back hastily and said, "Of course I'm going. You can't shake me off that easily."
The concern on his face faded into amusement. "I wasn't trying to. Are you afraid of heights?"
"Not particularly."
He nodded. "Good. I'll see you tonight, then."
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Why did you ask?"
"Well, you can't just step out of your room and expect not to get caught," he said, lowering his voice. "We'll have to climb out of our windows. If you're afraid, you have to tell me now. I don't want you screaming later when we're halfway down the building."
My stomach lurched. "We have to climb?"
"Did you think I just casually strolled out of the dorm?" He raised an eyebrow. "Last chance to back out."
"No. I'm not backing out," I snapped. "Besides, if I don't come, I won't be deleting those pictures, remember?"
He instantly glared daggers at me, and I snickered.
"Fine," he whispered. "Leave your window open at one. I'll meet you in your room."
"You're going to climb into my room?"
He met my horrified stare with a challenging one of his own. "I have to help you, right? Unless you're capable of getting down by yourself?"
Reluctantly shaking my head, I said, "Fine."
"Wear sweatpants and a long-sleeved shirt tonight."
"I'm not that impractical, you know. Even if you hadn't told me, I would have worn that anyway," I said, rolling my eyes. "It's not like I would need a dress and pumps where we're going."
"I'm just taking precautions. You have your careless moments." A slow grin spread across his face. "Like how you dropped your watch and didn't realize it."
"Hey! That's different!"
He ignored me and took one more mint before returning the box to me. "I've never tried this brand before, but this is really good."
I didn't expect him to like mints, but finding out we had another thing in common was a pleasant surprise. "Yeah! It's really strong, isn't it?"
Nolan's eyes were still glued to the box. "It's definitely stronger than I'm used to. I like it."
"You can have the rest of it if you want," I said, trying to give it to him.
"Thanks, but I'll just get myself a box next time."
"Really, you should take them. I have like ten boxes of these in my room," I insisted. "They're just breath mints."
"I ... okay." He eventually caved when I pressed it into his hand. "Thanks."
Beaming at him, I got to my feet. "Don't mention it. I'll see you later."
Nolan yawned again and stood up. "Are you going back to your room?"
"Yeah, why?"
"I'll walk back with you," he said, picking up his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. "I have to nap."
"Okay." It was weird how my heart leaped up when he started walking alongside me.
"Is there something on my face?"
When he looked quizzically at me, all I could do was to avert my gaze from his face and focus on the ground ahead of me.
"Not really, unless you count the drool from when you were napping earlier."
His hands shot up to wipe at his cheeks. "What—there's nothing on it!"
Laughter escaped my throat as I sped up, trying to ignore the strange lightness bubbling up in my chest. "I can't believe you believed me!"
"You ... I'm glad I didn't bother telling you that something's been stuck between your front teeth since the meeting!"
"What—?!"
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AN: That was also a lie. He had to get back at her. Sorry for the delay and thank you so much for reading! ♡ I'm thinking of changing the title of this book. TBH this whole book started out as a manga I was drawing back in high school and the plot diverged right after the first chapter ... :I so the old title probably doesn't fit this as well anymore. I was thinking of something like 'You Are the Shell to My Tortoise.' (any ideas anyone? i mean, i suppose i could slap a more generic type of title but i want something cute hahaha)