I’d been staring for some time when I was unpleasantly jolted out of my captivated enthrallment by my annoying—couldn’t it wait?—bladder.

“I need to go to the toilet,” I said, reluctantly getting up. “I’ll be back soon.”

Immediately, I regretted doing it; Natalie’s giant fleece blanket had insulated me from the icy air, and now I only had my hoodie and jeans to protect me.

With their attention still focused on the stars, the others murmured their assent before I turned to leave.

Eager to return to the field, I found the nearest toilet and hurriedly went about my business. When I stepped out of the school building into the open air again, I shivered and shoved my freezing hands into my hoodie pocket again.

As I scurried across the field, looking for the other girls, I came across someone who was alone on one of the giant tarps. He stood out even more because he was sitting cross-legged, holding a pair of binoculars to his eyes, while everyone else—who was at least fifteen feet away from him—was lying on their backs.

Being the nosy parker that I was, I craned my neck to get a better look at this guy who was sitting all by himself. Unfortunately, in the instant that I did that, he lowered his binoculars and snapped his head in my direction.

Was I being that obvious?

To my absolute amazement, Nolan was staring back at me.

What was he even doing here? I had to know—I found my feet walking towards him even before I realized I was doing it.

“Hey!” I called out as I reached him.

“Hey.” His eyebrows furrowed just the slightest bit as I stood before him.

His lap was covered by a giant comforter.

“You’re here for the open event, too?” My mouth itched to say the next sentence that pestered my mind, so I blurted it out, “I’m kind of surprised to see you here.”

“I’m a regular member,” he said, dropping his binoculars to hang on his neck.

I gaped at him. “Seriously?”

I had a hard time imagining him as a serious member of any club we had in school. I mean, obviously he had his own interests, but I just…never even imagined that he had any.

I couldn’t envision him getting along with his club members and all of them going out for lunch, either.

“Yeah,” he said, slightly dragging the word out.

“When did you become a member?”

“About a year ago,” he said. “You can sit if you aren’t leaving. Don’t block my view.”

Oops.

“Sorry,” I said, moving aside and sitting down. “Is that better?”

He looked like he was ready for me to leave, but I’d just learned the shocking news that he was in a club—an actual club that he seemed like he was committed to.

There was no better opportunity for me to ask him more questions until he snapped at me to leave him alone. He looked more awake than I’d ever seen him. I would never use the word lively to describe him, of course, but tonight he looked … alert.

“Yeah.” He looked back up at the sky.

“Why are you sitting alone?” I was aware that he was probably irritated by this point, but I had to ask. “Or, you know, why aren’t you helping out?”

“Normal members don’t have to run around helping out. Those you see volunteered for it.”

“But I saw on the event flyer that your friendly members would be happy to teach us more about constellations.”

The look he shot me for my persistence was definitely annoyance. Forcing down a laugh that I was certain was trying to crawl up my throat, I smiled back at him.

Slowly, Nolan pointed to a bright-blue sticker I hadn’t noticed was on the front of his hoodie.

It said: Want to learn more about astronomy? I’m here to help!

“You can ask anyone with this sticker on their shirt,” he said. “We aren’t supposed to actively bother people.”

Not that you would, anyway, I wanted to say, but I managed to keep my mouth shut.

“Oh, so you mean I can ask you about constellations?” I said, flashing him a cheeky smile.

He stared flatly at me.

No wonder no one approached him with questions if he looked at them like that. Then again, I supposed people rarely approached him to begin with. He probably glared away everyone who even dared to skim over his blue sticker with their eyes.

“You want to ask me?”

This guy was full of surprises!

“Why not?” I said. “Since I’m already here. You guys are trying to attract more members with this event, aren’t you?”

“They are. I’m not.”

I snickered. “Why am I not surprised?”

Nolan took a deep breath, and then heaved an enormous sigh. “Okay. What do you want to know?”

Immediately, I could tell one thing from this action alone—he would not make a good tutor.

I hummed. Just how much of this stuff did he know? Maybe I should start easy.

“Well, I’ve heard of Big Dipper before. What does it look like?”

“It’s easy to find,” he said, raising his arm up to point at the sky, “once you know what it looks like.”

“Where should I be looking?”

“Over there. Do you see that faint outline of those bright stars forming something that looks like a saucepan? There’s the handle.”

“Oh … yeah, now that you mention it,” I said. “It does look like a pan.”

“That’s the Big Dipper.”

“That looks so cool. Did you learn this in the club? Maybe I should join, too,” I said the last part half-jokingly.

The people here seemed nice, but I loved lazing around too much to juggle my participation in two clubs.

After a brief moment of silence, he answered, “No. I liked stargazing before I joined.”

Wow. I actually learned something new about him. So he does have interest in things like a normal person.

“Are there any other constellations you can teach me about?”

“The Big Dipper isn’t a constellation, it’s an asterism,” he said. “It’s part of the constellation—”

“—Ursa Major, yeah, I know,” I admitted. “For what it’s worth, I think the Ursa Major is the cutest constellation. I’m just superficial like that.”

“You seem familiar with all this,” he said, narrowing his eyes at me. “What was the point of asking me?”

His green eyes looked even brighter in the darkness of the night.

I shrugged. “I wanted to know if you were familiar with it, too.”

The ice in his eyes thawed a little. “Is it your hobby?”

“It’s my older brother’s,” I confessed, looking down at the front of my hoodie. “He taught me everything I know about astronomy. He’s in love with it, honestly. He would sooner marry the sky than find a girlfriend.”

“Your brother has good taste in marriage candidates.”

A chuckle spilled out of my lips. “You two would make good friends.”

“Did you come here alone?” he asked, but for once he didn’t sound like he was hinting that I should leave.

“I’m here with my book club friends, actually. We didn’t even know our school astronomy club existed until they announced and advertised this event.”

“It’s a student-led club,” he said. “It was formed five years ago. It’s considered new for a club.”

“Whoa, five years ago? It seems like a pretty large club, though. There are so many volunteers walking around,” I said, looking around the field.

“Yeah. We took in a large influx of female students last year. Apparently, it’s romantic,” he said, looking unmoved.

I decided not to say anything about Natalie or Maddie, who were considering joining for that very same reason.

Another cold wave of air hit me, and I shivered again. Why hadn’t I worn a coat?

Nolan paused and then grabbed his comforter and held it out to me. “You can use this if you like.”

“But—aren’t you cold?”

“I’m fine.”

“Uh, yeah, right.” I stared at him cynically. “There’s a reason you brought your comforter.”

He shrugged. “I’m not cold.”

“We should at least share,” I insisted, spreading out the comforter onto his lap, too.

Instantly, he removed it and snapped, “No. You can either use it or give it back to me.”

“You don’t want to share?”

If he could see the bewilderment in my eyes, he showed no indication of it.

Or maybe he just didn’t care, because he simply said, “No.”

“Okay, then …” I pulled his comforter around my neck to wrap around my body like a makeshift bathrobe. “Thanks.”

He nodded.

It felt just as warm and cozy as Natalie’s blanket, and I almost sighed in contentment at the fluffiness of the material I was ensconced in. A light scent of fabric softener and another pleasant odor I couldn’t quite place my finger on wafted up to my nose.

Not wanting to seem like a creep in front of him, I forced the temptation to bend my head down and take a proper sniff at it out of my head.

“The meteor showers are really pretty tonight, aren’t they?” I raised my head to gaze at the stars.

Another star shot across the sky.

“Yeah. Visibility is great tonight,” he said quietly.

“So many people are making wishes.” Just one glance around showed me many of the people—especially the girls—who were lying down had their hands clasped together over their chests. “Do you think that’s part of why they came?”

“Are you going to make a wish?” There was something challenging in the way he said that.

I laughed and shot him an amused glance. “They’re just meteors that get snuffed out. Sorry, I’m not romantic enough to even want to believe they can grant me anything.”

Nolan smiled, looking back at the sky. “You’re right. The only thing they can give us is something pretty to look at.”

“Alright,” I said, shifting to get up, “I should go back to my friends now. They’re probably wondering why I’ve been in the toilet for this long.”

“Take it with you,” he said, gripping onto the comforter when I began removing it from my shoulders. “You’re cold, right?”

Nonplussed by this offer, I frowned at him. “But then you’ll be cold.”

“I already told you; I’m not cold,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Unlike you, I haven’t shivered once.”

“Also, won’t you kind of need it when you get back to your room later?” I added; just in case he’d lost his common sense and needed me to prod it back into him.

“It’s fine.” He shrugged. “This is one of my spares.”

“But … but how am I going to return this to you?”

“You can return it to me on Monday.”

“In class?” I stared at him.

People were going to talk if I just casually handed him his comforter.

Irritation colored his voice, making it sound even lower than it already was. “Look, if you don’t want to use it, you can give it back.”

Nolan reached forward and tugged at it. The idea of being exposed to the cold air so suddenly made my body move faster than my mind could think.

“No! I’m sorry!” I clutched onto it and stumbled backward. “I want it! Please!”

A large, almost incredulous grin spread across his face at my action. He burst out into deep laughter, breaking off every few seconds to gasp in another breath before continuing again.

“It’s not that funny,” I protested, but I couldn’t fight off the smile that started to curve my own lips.

In that instant, I knew that this sight of him laughing so freely and with so much mirth would be permanently burned into my memory.

Under the moonlight, this Nolan looked like a completely different person from the one I was used to interacting with on a daily basis.

“Okay,” I said, once he’d regained some control over his laughing fit, “how about we meet tomorrow so I can pass it to you? I think Mr. Jameson would not be impressed if I hauled a comforter into class.”

Not to mention that people would talk.

“Fine,” he said, coughing a little. “You can pass it to me after dinner. I can come to the dining hall to find you.”

And let everyone see me give it back to him? No way.

“You can meet me outside the dining hall,” I suggested. “Text me when you’re reaching, and I’ll come out to find you.”

“…Well, okay,” he said, reaching down to his jeans pocket. “Type in your number.”

I stared down at his phone that he was holding out to me. Did I really just indirectly ask Nolan for his number?

When I didn’t move to take it, he raised an eyebrow at me. “What?”

“Sorry,” I muttered, lifting it off his hand. “I spaced out a little there. I’ll give myself a call, okay?”

As soon as I hit the dial button, I returned Nolan his phone and pulled my own out. After a couple of seconds, my phone started vibrating and an unknown number appeared on the screen.

“Thanks,” I said, properly standing up this time. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Nolan.”

“Bye.” He lifted a hand.

Before I even stepped off his tarp, he had already lifted his binoculars to his eyes.

Realizing that he was no longer paying attention to me, I finally allowed myself to bury my face in the comforter as I started walking. It smelled so good. I still had no idea what the scent was—his shampoo, maybe?—but every sniff I took to figure out the answer only drove me to take another sniff just for the sake of it. Like owner, like comforter. This object was just as mysterious as Nolan.

Despite having learned at least three new things about him tonight, Nolan remained an enigma to me.