Halfway There | COMPLETE ✔ + Sequel

Chapter 26 - Intoxicating Love

"I mean it Dani! Better be back by 11 o'clock sharp!" Liam pretended to reprimand me and wag his finger. I rolled my eyes as I walked to the mini fridge in the corner of the room to pull out a ginger ale. He and Kendall were seated on her bed together.

It was nearly 7 o'clock, which is when Nova said he would be picking me up only hours ago.

"Where are we going?" I had asked, when I was sitting in the passenger seat of his car.

"Why can't I surprise you?" He asked chuckling.

"I hate surprises." I grumbled.

"Oh come on. Isn't that what every girl says?"

"I do! I hate surprises. Well... I guess I don't really hate them I just hate the anticipation of waiting to find out what it is." He promised that he would see me at 7 o'clock sharp, leaving me without an answer.

"So where is Nova taking you tonight?" Kendall asks. I bit down on my lip at my friends question. I couldn't tell her the whole truth because once again, that would put her in danger. Keeping all these secrets from her, and everyone else in general, was exhausting. They all deserved my full honesty.

"He won't tell me. He says it is a surprise." I finally said.

Kendall was seated cross legged on the bed and Liam had his head on them. Kendall was gently playing with his hair but suddenly smacked his shoulder.

"Ow!" He flinched.

"Why don't you take me out on surprise dates?" Kendall ignored his cry of pain but anyone could tell that she was just being playful with him.

In the last few months that I've seen them together I've hardly seen them argue. They didn't go out on dates very often since Kendall was always so busy with school. It was just that they both really enjoyed being around one another. They were content with doing nothing so long as it was together.

I wished them a goodnight when I walked out of the door and sighed when I closed it behind me. I shivered the entire way to the parking lot where Nova said he was waiting for me and wondered whether it was from the cold or my own nerves.

I sighed a breath of relief when my eyes finally caught sight of him standing by the passenger side door, holding it open and smiling at me. His glistening smile and beautiful shining eyes made my heart feel as if it were going to jump out of my chest.

"Ready?" He asked when he noticed that I was staring. I cleared my throat, embarrassed at my ogling eyes.

After getting into the car and Nova drove out of the student parking lot I asked again, "Will you tell me where you are taking me now?" He only shook his head, smiling.

I rolled my eyes, slightly annoyed, but also shamefully excited. Nova and I had come a long way since the time I had first met him and it was almost as if he was a completely different person. I even felt as if I was a different person.

He used to be angry, defensive and cold. He could barely look at another person without getting tense at the shoulders and appear as if he would attack someone at any moment. Everyone at school knew him as Nova Ryder or just Ryder even. They didn't know him as just Nova, which is who I think he really was all along. It was an odd satisfaction knowing that I was one of the few people that new that side to him. It was an incredible side to know.

We drove past the center of town and even past the old book store that I had gone to with Will before either of us said a word. When he made an immediate right onto an unpaved road I instantly recognized it as the road we had taken back when I had first discovered that he was a part of The Hit. It felt different as the sun was slowly setting around us and behind the snow covered trees. I found myself hoping that Kyle had put on snow tires before handing the car over to Nova. I knew how iced roads, unpaved or not, could be dangerous.