After I announced to them that Nolan was joining us for lunch today, Melissa and Derek gawked openly at him. It was the exact reaction both Ashley and I had displayed when we first heard him, too.
"Nolan, this is Melissa, and this is Derek," I said, waving a hand at my friends. "Guys, this is Nolan."
"We know," Derek said, his mouth slightly agape.
Melissa just stared.
Cody and Ashley took this opportunity to set their trays down and sit opposite each other.
"Hi," Nolan said, nodding at them.
It seemed to snap them out of their daze. While Derek nodded back, Melissa waved at him.
"Hi," Derek said.
"Hey," Melissa said, flashing me a thumbs up.
I frowned in confusion as I stared at it. "Why?"
"Why what?" she said, spearing her salad with the fork she was holding.
When I sat down beside her, Nolan took the seat adjacent to mine.
"Why are you giving me a thumbs up?" I said.
"Oh, that." Leaning towards me with a gleeful smile, she whispered, "Good job, Chelsea. You brought him to our table!"
"He's not for entertainment!" I gave her a stern look, which seemed to have absolutely no effect on her at all.
As Melissa chewed, she continued staring at him like he was some kind of new scientific breakthrough she'd just discovered.
Sighing, I glanced over at Nolan to make sure that he wasn't feeling uncomfortable. He was slowly cutting up his grilled chicken into small pieces, looking completely unruffled by the holes Melissa was burning into him. If I had to be honest, I hadn't expected anything less from him. Nolan had never seemed bothered about what people said about him, and there was no reason for him to start now.
Relieved that my best friends weren't putting him off, I started on my own food.
"You're eating dessert first?" Nolan said, causing me to look up from my cake slice—strawberry shortcake only showed up once a month on the school menu—at him.
"Yes...?" I said. "What's wrong with that?"
"Interesting," he said, leaning his cheek on the back of his hand. "I didn't expect that."
"She switches it up depending on her mood," Derek said, swallowing the sushi roll he'd been chewing. "It's not like it makes a difference, though. She always finishes eating before any of us do."
"Sometimes I just feel like eating something sweet first, you know," I said. "It whets my appetite."
"I don't think it needs any whetting," Derek said. "It does just fine on its own."
"Hey!" I glared half-heartedly at him.
Nolan snickered. "Yeah, I think I can tell. You're almost halfway through that cake slice, and we've just sat down."
Derek stopped raising his eyebrows at me to goggle at him again.
"It's called having a healthy appetite," I said, pointing at Nolan with my fork. "I could never nap in the library every day during lunch like you. I'd be ravenous by the end of fifth period."
"Bears don't need to eat when they hibernate," he said, shrugging.
I drew my eyebrows together at his questionable statement. "Are you calling yourself a bear?"
"I'm pretty sure humans don't hibernate, actually," Derek said.
Nolan smiled faintly. "Humans don't eat while sleeping, though, do they?"
"Someone, somewhere, has definitely sleep-eaten before," Melissa said. "Truth is stranger than fiction."
Looking at Nolan, Derek said, "Is that where you normally go during lunch? The library?"
"Usually," he said. "It's a good place to sleep."
"Wow," Melissa said. "But don't you ever get hungry?"
At her mention of hunger, I glanced down briefly at his plate. Apart from cutting his grilled chicken into little cubes, he had barely touched it or the side salad.
"I don't usually eat lunch," he said, shrugging. "I'm too busy sleeping."
"You really sleep all day, huh?" Derek said, looking slightly impressed. "That's dedication."
"Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm kind of surprised to see you awake right now," Melissa said.
Nolan's gaze shifted to my face for a few seconds before it returned to Melissa's. "Yeah, I'd probably have gone to the library if Chelsea hadn't invited me to sit with you guys."
"It's not healthy to skip lunch all the time," I said defensively. "I don't know how you got so str—I mean, I don't know how you're not thinner."
I didn't miss the way a ghost of a smirk appeared on his lips for the shortest of moments when I fumbled, but I couldn't call him out on it in front of all my friends. It wasn't exactly like I could tell them how I knew that he was really strong.
"Dinner's usually enough for me," he said, shrugging.
"Are you not hungry?" I asked him.
"What?" he said, following my gaze to his tray. "Oh. Yeah, I told you I'm not that hungry."
"I thought you'd at least eat a little since you're already sitting here," I admitted.
Now I felt bad for not just letting him go to the library in peace.
"I'm a slow eater," he said before bringing a small cube of chicken to his mouth. "Don't worry about it."
"You know," Derek said, "you're easier to talk to than I thought you would be."
Nolan speared two cherry tomatoes with his fork. "No, I didn't know."
I almost choked on my mushroom soup.
Clearly bemused by his response, Derek blinked at him. "I didn't mean—"
"I was just kidding," Nolan said.
Ashley, who was sitting diagonally from me, paused from her rather animated conversation with Cody to stare at Nolan. Her brown eyes were so wide I wouldn't have been surprised if they fell out from their sockets right at that moment.
I swiftly finished my mouthful of soup and said to Derek, "Don't mind him. He does stuff like this from time to time."
"I don't remember saying that to you." Nolan ate another piece of romaine lettuce.
"Yeah, but you made fun of me in similar ways!" I pinned him with a death stare. "How about when you imitated the way I spoke because you thought I used the word 'gorgeous' too much?"
"But you were using it too much."
"Not as much as you did in a single sentence!"
"Are you sure?"
He snickered when I huffed indignantly.
"I am going to finish my soup now," I said, assuming a dignified air as I turned back to my bowl.
"This is the first time you've taken this long to eat your food," Melissa said, grinning at me as she twirled her fork in her cheese-baked spaghetti. "Normally, you'd be done by now."
She wasn't wrong. I usually just let them talk while I scarfed down everything on my tray. In my defense, my appetite was extremely healthy for a teenage girl.
On the other hand, none of my other friends aggravated me as much as Nolan did on a regular basis, so there was no reason to pause my eating to respond to them.
"What a big appetite," Nolan said, lifting the large chocolate chip cookie from his tray and placing it on mine. "You can have my cookie."
I could feel the stars in my eyes as I looked up at him. "Free dessert? And I don't even have to trade it for anything?"
"I don't need it," he said.
"And you didn't even have to ask for it," Derek said dryly. "Nolan, you should sit with us more often. That way, she won't be eyeing my dessert all the time."
"Hey, I thought you always gave it to me willingly," I said.
"I did, but it was out of pity for my always-starving friend. Now that you have someone who'd happily donate theirs to you, I can enjoy mine in peace."
I rolled my eyes. "You're so dramatic. I'm not always starving."
"Just usually," Melissa said.
"Anyway, thanks, Nolan," I said, beaming at him. "I'll never forget this!"
Derek snorted. "Now who's being dramatic?"
"Hey, speaking of drama," Melissa said, leaning forward in her seat and peering at Nolan, "I wanted to ask you something, Nolan."
"What?" he said.
"Is it true that you threw Bradley into a wall last year? I mean, I wasn't there, and I didn't see it, but it sounded a little far-fetched even for the rumor mill."
Raising my head from the soup I was almost done inhaling, I gaped at Melissa.
What kind of question was that?!
Actually ... now that she brought it up, I kind of wanted to know the answer, too. I wouldn't have believed it was possible a month ago, but knowing what I now knew about Nolan's strength, it wouldn't be surprising if his answer was an affirmative one.
"Who's Bradley?" came Nolan's calm response, as he placed another piece of chicken into his mouth.
Right. I'd completely forgotten about Nolan's selective memory.
By the time lunch was over, he would probably have forgotten all my friends' names.
"No!" Ashley's voice cut into my thoughts, and I looked at her to see a horrified expression on her face. "Michael and Riley end up together?!"
"Sorry!" Cody was wincing. "I forgot you hadn't read the sequel yet. It just slipped out!"
Beside me, Melissa was explaining the whole Bradley situation to Nolan in an attempt to jog his memory, but I decided to focus on the two friends I was trying to push together. I could draw the whole Bradley story out of Melissa later.
It sounded like Ashley and Cody were talking about the first book of a duology that my book club was reading this week. Natalie and Maddie were so excited to get started on it, mostly because of the love triangle subplot. I'd already read the entire duology, tearing up in bed one night upon the death of Kenneth, who I had been rooting for the whole time. As if he hadn't been suffering enough as the underdog in the love triangle, the author had to kill him off in the most tragic way by self-sacrifice for the heroine. It was the worst, and I had to spend literal minutes fighting down the urge to throw the book at the wall.
"Chelsea," Ashley said, staring at me with pleading eyes, "is it true? Does Riley really end up falling for Michael in the end?"
Even her clear despair at receiving the worst spoiler ever didn't bring down my elation at learning that I had a fellow Kenneth and Riley shipper sitting right here at my table.
"Sorry," I said, nodding gravely. "She does."
"But why?" she said, her eyes darting from my face to Cody's, and then back to mine again.
It would be kind of hard for her to end up with Kenneth after he dies, don't you think? It wasn't like I could tell her that and spoil it even more for her, so I just shrugged and shook my head.
"Fate?" I offered. "Reader cruelty?"
With a deep frown, she said, "I can't accept this. Kenneth obviously loves her and deserves her more!"
"That's why fan content exists," Cody said, grinning knowingly at me. "You get to reimagine the events so that they happen the way you want them."
"I can't believe I'm starting to understand why people write that stuff," she said, putting a hand to her face. "Is that why you and Chelsea spend so much time—"
Almost on reflex, I shushed her, feeling very aware of Nolan's presence beside me. She looked at me like I'd just declared that I was going to go on a crash diet. Cody glanced at Nolan, and I knew that he would get it since we were both fanfiction writers.
It wasn't like I was terrified that Nolan would judge me for it, but we just never happened to go there in our conversations. Although I wouldn't mind sharing that information with him, I didn't want him to find out about it in a casual mention.
I turned my head slightly to check if he'd heard anything.
To my horror, Nolan's gaze was trained on me.
"...also true that you tore the nameplate off Mr. Peterson's classroom door because he gave you detention?" Derek was saying, but Nolan ignored him.
"What do you two spend so much time doing?" he said to me, his green eyes not leaving mine.
Oh no. He totally heard everything.
------------------------------------
AN: jelly Nolan is my favorite, the end. i love ALL OF YOU :D happy Monday everybody, tysssssm for reading and all your lovely support!! ヾ(・◇・)ﾉθ～♪
i'm dedicating this part to LexiSilversack!! thank you with all my heart for keeping up with my story, it makes me so happy to know that you're enjoying it (ﾉ'▽｀)ﾉ♪
announcement time!!
♪L('▽｀L )♪ Instagram! i'm doing little sketches/drawings of my book characters (anime style). follow me if you like; my username is lottestarburst! (it's very new lol i'm trying to get back into drawing) if you're using a bookstagram to follow me i'll follow back!
(ﾉ> ◇ <)ﾉ♪ Patreon! there's a link to my patreon on my profile bio if anyone is interested in supporting me! (it's also lottestarburst lol) i'm working on a patreon-exclusive novel (first chapter is a free sample, and there's a summary of the novel under the 'masterlist' post there). sometimes i post early releases for yastmt! i'll be adding early sneak peeks for my future books before uploading them on wattpad, too!