Finding Nolan

fourteen.

FOURTEEN: NOLAN

Kianna looks up at me with a smile. Her legs are spread out across the swing, but she sits up when she sees me. "Hey, what's up?" I ask.

"Not much. Is everything okay?" She motions for me to sit down.

I listen and take a seat on the swing. "Yeah, everything's fine. Heidi told me I'd find you out here." She just smiles at me and closes her book. "Hey, don't. Don't do that." I say to her. "Not on my account." She gives me a half-smile. "Put your feet back up if you want, I don't mind."

Did I really just suggest that she put her feet on my lap? Where else is she going to put them, dummy?

She nods her head, declining my offer. "No, that's okay."

"And if you're reading, keep reading," I chuckle awkwardly. "Just pretend I'm not even here." I pull out my phone to show her that I'd be okay with her reading. I begin to regret my decision of coming out here because she probably hates me now, but for some reason, I was just drawn to go out and find her.

"That's okay," she says again. "I just finished a chapter."

"So..." I pause. "I hope you don't mind that I'm out here."

"No, not at all," she replies shyly. "I just hope I can keep you company."

"Of course you can," I tell her. "You've been great company since I met you. Or re-met you." I chuckle.

She lets out a small laugh, "I hope you're not bored. They'll be more things to do tomorrow, I promise," she says with a genuine look of concern on her face. "I didn't know you were looking for me. I hope it doesn't seem like I'm ignoring you. Because I'm not. And people tend to tell me I'm really good at that."

I laugh, "No, don't worry. And no, I'm not bored, I was just..." She looks at me to finish my thought. "Actually, I don't know why I'm here. I guess I just wanted to talk to you," I admit.

"Sure. Did you wanna talk about some of the things we can do while we're here? There's mini golf, an aquarium, and of course, the beach and the boardwalk. I can drive us so it won't be a problem if there's somewhere specifically you want to go," she rambles.

I really start to question why I came down here. But I guess deep down, I knew the real reason though. I knew it was because I just wanted to talk to her and be around her as much as possible.

"That's sounds great," I just say. "I'm down for whatever you want to do."

"Me...? What I want to do...?" She questions. "Don't put the pressure on me. You guys are my guests. Of course you get to choose!"

"But you're only here for a few months, so technically you're the guest."

"Let's put it this way," she smiles big. "I pass all my choices over to you, so you get to pick. It's too bad Adam and Nick aren't here," she chuckles. Her laugh is so cute - it makes me nervous.

"I accept the position appointed to me by the princess," I announce.

"From guest to princess in about five seconds. Your hierarchy is quite flawed," she points out.

"No. Princesses can be guests too," I defend with a chortle. "Plus, you have always been the princess."

"In whose eyes?" She asks with a laugh.

"In mine," I blurt out.

Uh oh. Smooth, Nolan!

I try to change the subject subtly or at least drift from the topic slowly. "So, did you ever want to be a princess growing up?"

"Oh yes," she answers quickly. "It's pretty embarrassing how bad. I'm glad someone besides my grandfather thinks I'd be fit for the position." She acknowledges my comment.

"How bad?" I laugh, shaking it off.

"Baaaaadly," she drones. "I'd dress up as a new princess every time. I was Belle, Cinderella, Arielle, Sleeping Beauty, Elsa, Anna, you name it."

"Wait... hold on. Frozen just came out," I notice.

"I'm surprised you caught that," she snickers. "I'm just kidding. But imagine? Imagine me in a blonde wig with a blue dress with snowflakes on it. You'd probably be packing your bags and running out of here if you found out I had an Elsa costume in my suitcase."

"No, trust me. I've been to New York City, I think I've seen worse," I reply.

"It wasn't just Halloween when I would dress up," she laughs. "Pretty much anytime my mom let me."

"Which was often, I'm assuming?"

"Actually not really," she says. "My parents were away often. They run law firms all over the country. My nannies never wanted to play dress up," she pouts.

"Oh, what boring nannies," I joke, excited that I'm getting to know more about her. "So tell me about life on the west coast."

"It's... something else. I really enjoy the simplicity of New Jersey. I mean you guys seem to love it here."

"You either love it or hate it," I shrug.

"And there's never an in between."

I nod in agreement, "So what else?"

"I don't know, it's pretty good, I can't complain. What about you? What did I miss in the past nine years?"

"Uh...Adam wore a white tux to prom," I laugh and she grins. "Not much. It's pretty much the same old."

"That's what Heidi tells me every year. This year seems to be a little different though," she says the last part almost inaudible, never making eye contact with me.

"Yeah..." I mutter back, clenching my teeth together trying to hide the smile that's forming. "So...tell me about yourself," I finally spit out.

"What do I say?"

"Anything."

"Well...uh..." she thinks, but before she says anything, her iPhone plays a familiar ringtone. She looks down at the screen. "Oh, sorry. It's my grandpa again. Excuse me," she says getting up from the swing.

After a few minutes of chatting, she turns back to me, "He just wanted to make sure we were settled and if we needed anything, to call. There's more food inside, let's eat?"

I agree with a nod, trying my best not to sigh loudly. I guess there's always tomorrow.

*Author's Note:
I'm back again with that double update!

If you've gotten this far, thanks for reading and I hope you're enjoying the story! [Let me know by hitting that vote button. :) ]

And also, I wrote a Jonah one-shot called The Butterfly Effect if you wanna check that out!