Page 63 of Saving the Halfback

“Sometimes. Some of them survive. They land on Earth and become meteorites. Priceless, really,” he said. “There’s one.” He pointed, but my eyes were on him. He glanced over and chuckled lightly when he caught me staring. “What?”

“I like you.” I squeezed his hand. “I like Nolan, just the way you are now. How your eyes light up at the falling stars. How much knowledge you have about the constellations and planets. I’m kinda glad I ran into you on the first day of school.”

It was dark enough now that I couldn’t see the color of his cheeks, but the way he fought the smile threatening to spread on his lips had me thinking he was blushing. “Yeah, I’m glad you ran into me too. I could’ve done without the broken nose, though.”

“Ugh, oh my god.” I let go of his hand and shoved his shoulder playfully. He laughed. “I totally didn’t break it. It’s as perfect as ever, chiseled god,” I teased. “There was barely any blood.”

“Well, the evidence left on my shirt begs to differ. It was a massacre.”

I rolled my eyes. “Overreacting much?”

“Me? Never.” He settled back on his blanket, arms back up and under his head. “What do you mean by chiseled god?”

I laughed. “Lachlan put that as your contact in my phone.”

Nolan burst out laughing.

We lay on the blankets a while longer, watching a few more falling stars burn as they hit Earth's atmosphere. Nolan poured some hot chocolate for us before resetting his telescope. The stories behind the constellations were my favorite part. Nolan got so passionate when talking about Greek mythology that it was hard not to pay attention.

When it had been some time since we last saw a meteor pass, we decided it was time to pack everything up. My arms were full with the cases, so when I yawned, I tried to hide it in my shoulder.

Nolan chuckled. “Yeah, maybe doing this on a school night wasn’t the smartest.”

“With how strict your dad is, I’m surprised he let you come out,” I said, sliding the cases into the car when he opened the back.

Nolan shrugged. “He’s not too bad once you get to know him. He does care a lot. He’s happy when I put in extra work, so I usually do that first before I ask him for things.”

I paused, leaning against the trunk of his car. “What extra did you do for tonight?”

Nolan smirked. “Thirty-kilometer run. That's not that bad, but it’s going to suck tomorrow because of the morning workout and then football practice.” He reached out, almost without even thinking, and took my hand in his. “It was worth it, though.”

I looked back over my shoulder at the house. The lights were on, and I could see Mom and Dad in the kitchen window.

“Will they care? That you were out so late? I know they have rules about dating…are they as strict about other things too?”

My gaze swayed back over to Nolan. “No.” I had to tell him. I had to let him know. “Actually, I lied. There’s no rule against dating. I don’t even think my parents would know how to make up rules, never mind enforce them.”

Nolan appeared hurt by this but was quick to recover, clearing his throat. He still held my hand in his, but with the other hand, he reached up, rubbing the back of his neck. “Ah. That’s okay.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to date.” I don’t even think I would know how. “It’s just… I have an ex, and things are complicated. I don’t think I can date right now.” Ed was getting better, wouldhe fully recover? Would he come back for me? Or would he press charges? All of these things were weighing on my mind.

“Bailey, you don’t owe me an explanation. This”—he held up our hands—“is platonic friendship. I’m completely fine with it. If this is all you’re able to give, I’m happy with that.”

His words filled me with gratitude, a smile lifting me, but then I could feel my brows knit together. What confused me the most was that I knew what I was supposed to do, but I wasn’t sure how to do it without giving him the wrong impression. I really cared about Nolan. I wanted to have more evenings like this…so, I had to thank him properly, right?

Taking a deep breath, as if I were trying to gather as much courage as I could muster, I moved toward him in a mechanical way. The movements were automatic, as I had been taught.

Nolan’s hand squeezed mine, and my heart began to race, unsure if this was right or not. And then, he dropped my hand and stopped my forward momentum by cupping both sides of my cheeks with his palms.

“You okay, Bailey?” I found it hard to breathe. Was I okay? Was I doing this wrong? I hadn’t realized I had bit my lip until Nolan pressed his thumb to my chin, freeing my lip and running the pad of his thumb over it, as if smoothing out the harm I had caused it. “You owe me nothing,” he whispered. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, just to make me happy. I don’t want you to.”

Wait…what? I looked into his blue eyes, completely lost. Was this not how people showed their gratitude to people they cared about? I could feel something inside of me, something that had been twisting for some time, snap. The snap caused a release, and this tightness and pressure within my chest completely disappeared.

Nolan dropped his hands and pulled me into his chest. This time, my body didn’t move mechanically. This time, my bodydid what felt right, and I wrapped my arms around his waist, burying my face into his chest.

Nolan chuckled, a deep, throaty sound that I felt in his chest. “That’s better,” he cooed. “Come on. I’ll walk you home.”

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