Ardent

Chapter Six

I get to Nova's house around two in the afternoon with the greasy bag from Arby's held tightly in my left hand. Luckily, Nova is the one to open the door when I knock.

"Did you miss me?" She says, her lips tugging at the corner. I grin, forcing the bag into her hands.

"Hardly. I'm actually here to fix your car." Nova motions me inside. I shake my head. "No, just give me your keys." The girl sighs heavily but, nonetheless, retracts into the house. "Can you get me some chapstick as well?" I hear a low grunt in response. I turn around when I start to feel a burning gaze on my back. I see that it's Miss Teeters, my old history teacher, and wave. She just stares.

"Isn't it a fine October evening?" I ask Nova when came back with the car keys and chapstick in hand. We walk over to her small red car.

"I don't want it to get cold."

"Why's that, little Supernova?" I pop the hood and toss Nova her chapstick. It drops to the ground, considering both of her hands are occupied with curly fries. She looks at it, then back up at me.

"I don't like the cold." I knew that. She complains every year and spends her free time looking up vacation brochures, drooling when she thinks no one is looking.

"What? You don't like the cold?" Nova shakes her head fast, eyes wide.

"Not a chance. I thought you knew that." I laugh, looking down at the engine.

It gets quiet after that, only with the sound of some cars passing by.

"Hey, can you get me some stuff?" Nova jumps at the sudden noise and stands up from her spot on the driveway.

"Yeah. What do you need?" When I list everything, she jogs back into the house. I watch her hair bounce and sway from the elastic that holds it together. I shake my head and stare at the engine. Good looking engine for a moderately okay looking vehicle. Nova is suddenly by my side again, handing me a wrench and wire brush. "What's this for?"

"Okay, well, everything seems to be a-okay. You don't need an oil change just yet and your battery is great. I just think your battery connections are a little dirty, so we'll clean them and see if it works out."

"You just need to clean them? Why do you need the wrench?"

"I need to take off the battery terminal."

"I could have done this myself." I nod and shrug.

"You could have. Do you want to do this?" I start on the terminal without an answer, but I see Nova shaking her head with a goofy smile on her face. I want to pinch her cheeks. Both set of cheeks. Is that bad?

###

Nova forces me into watching the Little Mermaid after I fixed her car. I wasn't going to go through with saying no, but I put up a show for it. She made popcorn and pizza rolls (truly a woman after my heart) and gave me the fluffiest blanket she owns. She told me so.

"Do you have a favorite princess?" I'm turned towards her slightly, knees almost touching her thighs and elbow close enough to shoulder.

"I was always keen on Sleeping Beauty. I thought she was the prettiest of them all," she says, eyes on the television. "Why aren't you watching it?" She grabs my forearm and twists me around. My skin burns.

"I'm sorry."

"Do you have a favorite princess?" I consider this, jutting out my bottom lip.

"I like... I think I like Merida. The girl with the crazy hair." Nova looks at me and tilts her head. "She's, like, the only princess to not have any romantic interests. I think it's good to show girls... Wow, nevermind." I'm around Sienna too much.

"What? What, no, continue."

"Watch the film," I say teasingly, poking her chin to face forwards. We watched the movie in silence until Nova refaced me.

"You think it's good to show girls what?" I throw my head back.

"I dunno. I'm watching a movie here."

"Please! I really liked where you were going." I look at her wide smile and find myself smiling back in adoration.

"I think... it's good... to show girls that they don't need to do anything for a man. Romance isn't everything. You are your first priority." Nova's eyes sparkle.

"I can't believe you just said that."

"It's Sienna. She goes on half hour rants on the patriarchy and I can't help that it just sticks in my head." I bury my face in a pillow when I start to feel my face go red.

"Shut up, it's nothing to be embarrassed about. Feminism is really important to me, and to Sienna, so I'm glad it's had an influence on you." I stick my tongue out and Nova crinkles her nose, giggling. "It's a good trick to get a good lay."

"Now you're vulnerablizing your own kind," I say.

"I don't think that's a word but my words are true words." I never really thought about using my pro-feminist attitude and opinions on getting girls. I realized on my own that I want to try to get girls solely with my personality and then having that part of me as a bonus gift. Also I feel like it makes me seem like a suck up to the girls whose opinion matter most (like the crazy smart ones who have life figured out).

"I'm honestly the complete package. I'm humble, good looking," I begin to tick my fingers off as I go through my stellar list of adjectives to describe myself, "I'm a crazy good athlete, I'm righteous with a guitar and, on occasion, I can write some groovy lyrics. Plus I'm a feminist. Why aren't you dating me?" Nova laughs but I'm actually pretty serious. I laugh with her.

"So humble. 'Humble' is your middle name." I nod enthusiastically, putting a hand on her knee.

"You totally get me, Nov." She giggles again, lulling her head back and forth until it lands on mu shoulder. We watch the movie more. Or really, I see the television but I'm too hyper-focused on Nova's head on my shoulder. I can feel her hair tickling my neck. I remove my hand from her knee.

On top of that, my phone begins to ring. Nova doesn't remove her head for a full 10 seconds into the ringtone, which is the Hedwig theme song from Harry Potter.

"Hey?"

"I figured it out. I figured myself out. Maybe." I narrow my eyes.

"What do you mean, Isaac?"

"She came to visit me at work and she was like, 'listen we need to talk...' and I was like, 'if you don't like the fact that I'm not into the physical part of our relationship, then there's no talking. We're just done'. That happened, and then she went really, really quiet. Like the thinking kind of quiet which scares me because, I dunno, but then she says something that puts everything into prospective. I'm so relieved I have to tell you in person. Or later, maybe, when I figure it out. Okay?"

"Dude, okay. I got your back." We hung up. Nova looks at me. "Isaac is getting to know himself." Nova nods.

"That's a good feeling."

"Hectic but yeah."

"Yeah."

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