Where There's Light | ✔

47. Amazing (1)

After a restless night I needed coffee. And doughnuts. I ordered my usual from the local coffee shop and Nolan's too because I doubted he was getting much sleep either. Holding on to the hope that Nolan went to see his mom last night I drove to his house.

Alison was on the porch smiling up at the sky as the afternoon sun beamed down on her, wisps of her blonde that escaped her ponytail hair blowing across her face. She was in her own little world. I interrupted it when I shut my car door after I climbed out.

"Jade!" she gasped, her smile growing. "It's been too long."

"I know." I gave her a long hug before lowering myself into the chair beside her. "I've been so caught up with school and painting our campaign poster."

"I still can't wrap my mind around that," she admitted, with a laugh. "Nolan, running for prom king? That's something I never thought I'd live to see."

A pang stabbed through my chest. Her words, as playfully as she said them, hurt to hear. She might not be here to see him win or to even see him dressed up and ready to go. She might not be able to be that annoying mom that demands we pose for a hundred pictures before she lets us go.

I wished there was away she didn't have to miss any of it.

Maybe she didn't?

"Nolan isn't here, is he?"

She shook her head, her ever present smile fading just a bit. "He's someone else I haven't seen in a while."

My shoulders sagged with a defeated sigh. "I tried to talk him into coming."

"Oh, don't worry about that," she assured me. "He's never been able to handle death. He's been trying to avoid it ever since my father passed when Nolan was six. He avoided me then, too. Thought I'd die of a broken heart." She chuckled at the memory.

I know she had come to terms with her son not waiting to spend time with her. That didn't sit right with me. He should've been there soaking up every moment he had left with her.

The screen door opened and Billy came out carrying a tray with sandwiches and some cut up fruit on it.

"Radiator," he teased, setting the tray on an a small table next to Alison.

"Hey, Billy," I greeted as I stood, preparing to leaving. I was clearly interrupting their lunch date.

"When are you going to bring the beetle in for a checkup?" Alison was right. His brain was all cars, all the time.

"Depends, will you start calling me oil change after?" I asked, half serious. The man really loved his nicknames.

"Or coolant," Alison laughs as she pops a cube of cantaloupe into her mouth.

The both of them were so silly. It amazed me how they could even muster up the strength to smile with everything go on. When I got into my car Billy appeared at the window, probably to insist I bring the car in.

"Hey, look, I caught some your conversation," he said, glancing at his wife who was picking around the fruit looking for something specific. Maybe this wasn't about the car. "She acts like Nolan not being here is okay, but it's eating her up inside. You seem to be able to get through to him, so if there's anything you can do to get him here..."

"I'll try," I told him, a sliver of an idea already passing through my mind. Hopefully I could pull it off.

As I left the Chamber's house I tried to think of places Nolan would be. One place came to mind and when I pulled into the lot of abandoned park with its dried up creek and dusty playground equipment, I wasn't all that surprised to see his motorcycle parked haphazardly taking up two spots.

Nolan sat on top of a dusty metal picnic table, so into some game on his phone he didn't notice me walk up. When I nudged his knee with my elbow he jumped, ripping his headphones from his ears.

"I thought I'd find you here." I sat next to him on top of the table. "I just left your house."

He focused on wrapping the headphones around his phone before stashing it in his pocket. "For the record I did go home last night. Just after I knew they were asleep." The guilt he felt was evident in his eyes.

"What if we had our own private prom?" The idea had been brewing in my mind since I left his house. It might not have been the real thing, but I'm sure Alison would love it.

His brows scrunched together. "A private prom?"

"Yeah. Just you, me, your parents. Maybe even Bee and Gia. It'll relieve some of the pressure of you talking to your mom," I told him, growing more excited about the idea. "We can set up in your backyard. We'll all get dressed up, play some that eighties music your dad's always making us listen to. It'll be fun and that way your mom won't have to miss you all dressed up."

He was silent for a moment, staring as if he didn't know what to make of me. He thought I was crazy or a complete genius. My cheeks heated under his gaze.

"What?" I asked finally.

"Nothing," he said, a smile spreading across his face. "You're really amazing, you know that?"

I smiled back, a warm swirling feeling filled my chest. "So you're okay with it?"

"Yeah." Then his grin faltered a bit. "What am I even supposed to say to her?"

Even I didn't have the answer to that. "I think the most important thing is to let her know that you'll be okay," I said honestly. "When I saw her today it was obvious she worries about you. Your dad, too."

He let out a slow breath, letting my words sink in. "So, when's prom?"

"Tomorrow."

His eyes nearly popped out of his skull. "Tomorrow? Can you even pull that off?"

"Haven't you heard, I'm amazing," I said teasingly. I gave his cheek a quick kiss before hopping off the picnic table, starting towards my car. There was a lot to do on such short notice.

Nolan's arm wrapped around me, pulling me back to him and spinning me around to face him in the process. I didn't even hear him get off the table. He kissed me and I had to fight to keep my legs firm and not turn into a puddle beneath me.

After he pulled away he rested his forehead against mine. "I don't know what I did to deserve you."

I angled away to look up at him. "You mean aside from being amazingly supportive and agreeing that Flushed Away is a severely underrated movie?"

He chuckled, kissing me again. "Alright, so how are we going to pull off this prom thing?"