You Are the Valentine To My Nor'easter

Gifts

Dedicated to LotteStarburst

Nolan's likes didn't lend themselves to easy gifts. I knew he liked mints, the color blue, and star-gazing. Unfortunately, a nor'easter was in the beginning stage of dropping an estimated three feet of snow, so nobody was going out, and delivery services would be significantly delayed. With Valentine's Day only a couple days away, I needed to get creative in order to give him a worthy we-like-each-other gift.

I reflected upon my options. My mint cache was pretty low, but in a week when the weather improved, I'd be able to restock my supply at the mall. In the meantime, I have only a box each of apple, fruit punch, and peach-I'll be dead before I handed over the peach, even to Nolan-and I know he goes through almost a box a day. I could give him a couple, but it didn't feel like enough of a gift.

What if I cut out blue paper stars and snuck into his room and taped them to his ceiling? It was a silly idea, but the thought of being in his room was admittedly a little exciting. Plus he'd at least have a starry sky to look at when it's cloudy or if he's snowed in a while. This thought made me realize something else, and I sat up from my bed with a gasp.

If it's so snowy that it's unsafe to go outside, would Nolan be able to go out and properly feed? My heart constricted as I realized that he could quite possibly starve, snowed-in in his room. With that desolate thought weighing on my chest, I turned my gaze to my closet, imagining those three, small boxes of mints; I just know that he's going to need those more than I do-he was going to need my help to keep from starving or losing control of his senses.

Well, at least I assumed he would need my help. I honestly didn't know how much of a food source mints were for him, but he liked them and that's the important thing. I also trusted Nolan not to lose control and feed off me or any of our classmates-I know he'd lock himself in his room and shrivel to death before it came to that-but that doesn't mean he had to be alone during his possible self-imposed lockdown.

I stood at my window and imagined climbing down to his room just below. Snowflakes were falling thick and heavy, and I pictured them sticking to the rope I kept hidden. An image of my gloved hands trying and failing to grasp the icy rope flashed into my mind, and I knew it would be no good to sneak down to him in this weather. I needed another way to get to him-or get supplies to him-if and when he needed to lock himself away in his room.

I turned to examine my floor, knowing Nolan's room was directly below. It must be a pretty solid floor because he'd never said anything about the excited jumping fits I've had when I can no longer contain my exhilaration over him liking me. I grabbed my phone to verify this.

'You awake?'

His reply was immediate. 'Yes'

'Let me know if you can hear me jumping.' I quickly slipped my shoes on and started hopping around my room, performing my little excited dance, except stomping gracelessly to make it louder.

'What? Why?'

'I'm jumping right now. Can you tell I'm jumping?'

'Chelsea, you know I have good hearing, right?'

'Is that a yes?'

'Yes, I can tell that you're jumping, but just barely.'

'Okay, can you use your super senses to tell what kind of floor/ceiling we have between us?'

'What?!'

'Maybe you need to be Bat-Nol in order to tell? Can you tell?'

'WHAT?!'
'YOU'VE NICKNAMED ME BAT-NOL?'