There was nothing quite like being enveloped in Nolan’s warm arms. I felt so safe and protected, as though nothing could get to me in this cocoon that was his arms.

His soft lips were cold, but it didn’t matter—tingles danced giddily through my chest, pressing the sensations deep into my heart. At this moment, I was sure I was the happiest girl in the world. My whole body felt so light, it was like I was a helium balloon floating up into the sky.

After only a couple of seconds, he pulled back. I tried not to be too disappointed.

He kissed my forehead before giving me a soft smile.

I returned it, albeit shyly.

“That was nice,” I said. “I wouldn’t mind another one.”

He laughed and kissed me again.

Whoa, his lips really were cold. I caught a hint of his minty breath, and I loved that I could detect a faint taste of apples from it. It made this kiss even sweeter than it already was. My body went from feeling light to weightless.

I wasn’t sure what I expected my first kiss to be like, considering that I hadn’t even given any real thought to having a boyfriend before I started falling for Nolan, but this experience was a lot more pleasant and less awkward than I thought it would be.

“Thanks for making the first move,” he said, when we finally pulled away from each other. “I’m glad you did that.”

“You are?” I said, trying to shove down the residual feelings of embarrassment. “Why didn’t you kiss me sooner?”

“I just never found the right time,” he said. “Seemed weird to do it when we had an audience around most of the time.”

“I get what you mean,” I said. “I sort of felt that way too.”

At least it wasn’t that he didn’t want to kiss me. I couldn’t seem to stop smiling. Despite knowing that the air around us was still cold, I somehow no longer felt it in the lingering warmth spreading through my body.

“Your face is kind of cold, though. Are you okay?” He always felt warm when we hugged or held hands, and I was feeling super cozy right now in the warmth of his body as his arms were wrapped around me, so I didn’t know why his lips were so cold today.

He looked down. “Yeah. I haven’t mentioned it yet, but I don’t generate body heat on my own. I wasn’t sure you’d like how cold I can get.”

“Wait, you don’t? But you always feel so warm.”

“I think it’s another consequence of … you know.” He unzipped his hoodie and took it off. “Here.”

I watched in confusion as he turned one of the sleeves inside out. There was a white patch slightly larger than the size of my palm attached to it.

“What’s that?”

“I use these,” he said. “They’re body warmers you can stick to your clothes. The cold doesn’t affect me much in terms of mobility or physical capabilities, but I miss the feeling of being warm.”

“Oh,” I said. “What about your hands?”

They were so warm each time we held hands. That didn’t make sense.

“I have hand warmers in my pockets, too. I usually heat my hands up a bit before holding your hand.”

“Does that mean your face will always be cold?”

“Not during warm summer weather. My body temperature tends to fluctuate depending on my surroundings.”

It was difficult for me to imagine what it was like to be cold all the time during winter, no matter how much clothes I had piled on.

“Sorry,” he said. “I hope you didn’t mind too much. That’s one of the reasons why I held off on kissing you.”

Wait, so he could have kissed me sooner? Why did that worry him so much? I didn’t particularly care that his lips were cold. It startled me for a bit because I wasn’t expecting it, but that was all.

Nolan tilted his head and peered at me. “What? Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?”

I hadn’t realized that I was staring at him.

“No, nothing. I was just thinking that you’re worrying too much,” I said, resting my head on his shoulder. “I don’t mind at all. Don’t even worry about it, okay?”

“Okay.” He leaned his head on mine.

An easy smile curved my lips as I closed my eyes.

I loved how comforting it felt to finally be back here in the forest, this time with Nolan’s arm around me and without me stressing out about how much I liked him.

---

“You can do it, Chelsea! Don’t give up!”

When the timer buzzed and the hoop-shooting arcade game ended, Ashley’s cheers of support turned out to be in vain. Melissa had beaten me with a score of forty to nineteen.

As the intense background music faded into a more playful one, I sighed in relief.

“Hey, that’s unfair,” Melissa complained, turning around to eye Ashley. “You only cheered for Chelsea!”

“Come on, look at the score,” she said with a snort. “Can you really tell me that you need any cheering?”

“Right?” I grabbed my water bottle from my bag and chugged from it. “You’re the arcade regular. This is like asking me to run a race against a track team member. That’s unfair!”

“Fine,” Melissa said. “Where did Derek go, by the way?”

“He went to check out the prizes at the counter,” Ashley said. “Do you want to go find him?”

“Nah, I want to play another round,” she said. “You up for it, Chelsea?”

“I can’t,” I moaned. “We’ve already played this four times! I’m totally worn out.”

At least when I climbed up or down a rope, it was over when I was done with it. This was like repeatedly running up and down a flight of stairs for fun.

“You can build up your stamina by playing a few more times!” she tried to say in a coaxing tone.

I grimaced. “No, thanks. Ashley, how about you?”

“Maybe we should play something else,” Ashley suggested.

“Great idea,” I said, glancing around the arcade for a laidback-looking game.

Was there even something like that here?

“Hey, why couldn’t Nolan come today?” Melissa asked. “Is he busy every weekend?”

“I was wondering that,” Ashley said. “I don’t think you’ve even gone out together on a weekend. Have you?”

“Not yet,” I admitted.

Melissa turned her longing stare away from the arcade machine to focus her gaze on me instead. “Why not?”

“Like you said, he’s busy.” I shrugged, hoping against hope that they couldn’t see me start to sweat. “It’s not a big deal.”

Ashley’s curious expression turned skeptical. “Too busy to spend time with you?”

“Yeah, wouldn’t he at least want to go on a date or something?” Melissa said. “Even Derek and I go out alone sometimes during the weekend without you guys.”

I didn’t know how to answer their questions. Sure, I did want to go on a ‘real’ date with Nolan off-campus someday, but currently figuring out the logistics of only going out in the evenings without rousing suspicion was just too much of a hassle.

“Well, it can’t be helped,” I said.

“But are you okay with this?” Ashley asked.

Reluctantly stepping away from the arcade machine for a guy who wanted to play, Melissa said, “She’s right. That’s the important question here. I mean, he can play basketball with us after school but can’t come on mall trips on Saturdays? That’s kind of weird.”

Well, it did sound a little weird when she put it that way, but that was because she didn’t know the reason behind it.

“It’s not that he doesn’t want to go out with me,” I started saying, and then I stopped.

It wasn’t like I could tell them outright that he couldn’t handle being out in the sun or staying awake for more than a few hours in the day. I had no idea how to explain them that there was nothing to worry about without giving them more cause for worry.

“Then what’s the problem?” Ashley said.

“He just can’t make it,” I said lamely. “Maybe next time.”

“You’ve already been together for a few months, though. Have you talked to him about this?”

We made our way to a claw machine filled with medium-sized plush toys.

“I’m okay with it, really,” I insisted. “I totally understand where he’s coming from. Anyway, shouldn’t my opinion matter the most, since I’m the one who’s dating him?”

Their onslaught of questions made me feel like they were ganging up on me. I hadn’t realized they’d been giving this much thought to Nolan’s unavailability on the weekends.

“If that’s how you really feel about it, okay, sure,” Melissa said, inserting three arcade tokens into the token slot. “Just saying, I have nothing against him. He seems like a nice guy, and I actually think of him as a friend now, but you are my best friend first. I just want to make sure he’s not taking you for granted.”

“We’re just looking out for you,” Ashley added.

“We hang out on Sundays, remember?” I said. “It’s not like I never spend any alone time with him.”

Scowling as she failed to catch a pink bunny plush, Melissa fed more tokens into the machine. “Yeah, but it’s not the same. He never comes with us.”

Ashley had a pensive look on her face. “Is it a crowd thing? I get it if he doesn’t want to tag along, but he can at least go out with just you.”

“Maybe. I’ll see how it goes. Hey, Mel, can you catch that purple bunny? It looks so cute,” I said, desperate for a change of topic.

“You got it!” she said, changing targets instantly.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Ashley studying me, but she said nothing else.

All of a sudden, Derek appeared beside me.

“Hey, Mel,” he said. “Oh, what are you catching?”

He was holding something in a clear plastic bag.

She hit the release button on the machine before whirling around. “Some purple bunny Chelsea thinks is cute. What’s that?”

“I exchanged my tokens for a prize,” he said, handing over the item in his hands. “I thought you might like it.”

Curious, Ashley and I huddled around her to take a closer look. It was a pair of adorable bear-shaped fuzzy slippers. The head of the light brown slipper had two little ears and the little bear face on it had the cutest tiny smile ever.

“That’s so cute,” I squealed. “If I were you, Mel, I’d wear those every day in my room!"

“Aww, you’re so sweet,” Ashley said to Derek.

Shrugging, he raised his hand to the back of his neck. “I don’t have a use for most of the prizes here, anyway.”

“Thanks, Derek,” Melissa said, beaming at him. “I love it. I’ll definitely wear them every day.”

He returned her grin with a large one of his own. “You’re welcome. Glad to hear it.”

Ashley and I exchanged looks and then made cooing noises. We couldn’t resist—they were so cute together. Melissa rolled her eyes at us and glanced over at the claw machine.

“Hey!” she said, practically leaping back to it. “I got your bunny!”

She stooped down and retrieved the plushy from the prize opening.

“Thanks, Mel!” I said, accepting it from her. “It’s so cute! You’re way too good at these.”

It was soft in my hands. I squished its adorable long, fluffy ears.

“See? This could have been something Nolan caught for you,” she said, raising her eyebrows. “If only he bothered coming here with us.”

Although I gave her a half-glare, unease settled in the pit of my stomach. If she kept refusing to drop it, maybe it was really affecting her perception of Nolan.

Struggling to push aside the troubled feelings churning inside of me, I hugged the plushy with all my might.

LotteStarburst

sorry for my late update! tysm for reading, hope you enjoyed it! comments are appreciated!