Halfway There | COMPLETE ✔ + Sequel

Chapter 25 - Potential New Deal

Weeks came and went following the argument with Bella and I. Snow was sticking to the ground in heaps as we got near the end of November and I was grateful to Will, once again, that he was kind enough to drive me any place I needed to get to, since I wasn't fortunate enough to have a car.

He even, surprisingly, offered to give Nova rides whenever he needed them but because of Nova's pride, and the fact that he had to take Stella to school every morning, he always refused.

Every weekday morning, before Will and I walked to our first class, I would look out of my bedroom window and try not to imagine Stella and Nova kicking through the snow, fighting to keep warm. I had to walk through the snow too but I was lucky enough that all of my classes were no more than a five to ten minute walk. The thought was heartbreaking but by the time I got to see Nova during lunch time, where we had all agreed to staying in The Lounge for, he always acted as if everything was fine. Even with his bright red nose and chattering teeth.

"Why don't you try and save up for a car?" I had asked one day when he came down into The Lounge with snowflakes sticking to the ends of his hair.

He spoke as I slowly shook the snow off his head with my hand, "I'm trying. It's a lot harder than it looks." I remember frowning because even though he didn't mean to relieve his angry feelings out on me, he did.

Nova's best friend Kyle would also spend time with us in The Lounge. It was getting too cold to do anything outside and it was slowly getting more and more crowded as the temperature dropped every day. Kyle had heard our conversation as he walked up to take a seat with all of us on the couch.

"If you could have any car in the world right now which one would you have?" He sounded as if he was just asking a hypothetical question at the time and neither Nova nor I thought anything of it.

Nova pretended to think, "Probably your truck. Only I would have a coffee maker installed to warm up my damn hands." We all laughed at how far fetched the idea of Nova owning a car like Kyle's seemed but Nova and I would have never guessed what Kyle had in mind at the time.

One weekend, on a surprisingly slow Sunday, Stella and I were sitting in her usual booth in the far back corner of Penny's Diner. Stella was doing homework and I was looking out the window, watching the snowfall harder from the sky and dreading the end of Nova's shift when we would have to walk in it.

"Hey, sweeties!" Penny stood at the end of our table with her beautiful wrinkled smile.

"Hiya Penny!" Stella said so loud that Nova looked over with a small smile from the table he was tending to.

"What are you girls up to?"

"We're waiting for Nova's shift to end. He promised that him and I would watch The Lion King tonight!" Penny laughed at Stella's excitement. Right at that moment you could hear the bell for the front door open and Penny turned on her heel to greet her new guest.

Familiar shaggy hair made me keep my gaze at the new customer. I smiled when I realized that it was Kyle who had walked in. Penny must have met him before because she simply smiled and pointed at Stella and I. Kyle gave her a quick nod before walking over to us.

As soon as Nova was done attending to the family of 5 and giving their order to the kitchen, Nova walked over smiling, "Hey man! What're you doing here?"

Kyle shrugged, "Just wanted to see you, love pumpkin." I rolled my eyes and I looked over at Nova just in time to see him do the same.

"Hey, Dani." He said pushing me over as I scooted in to make more room for him.

"Hey." I greeted back as he rested his arm on the booth behind my back.

"If this booth gets any more people Penny is going to kick me out unless you guys order something." Nova said as Kyle ignored him. He was looking down at Stella