Beside Non, who was sipping from his mug of hot chocote, I looked across the booth we were sitting in at Ashley and Cody, who were—from what I could tell—arguing about the plot of a book. It was good to know that some things never changed.

  At Ashley’s insistence, all four of us met up together for dinner or supper once a week to catch up on each other’s lives. Although she and I saw each other pretty often, I was still all for this since I felt it was a good way to maintain our friendship as a group.

  While Ashley had her own flourishing social circle here, I could tell that she missed the way it used to be when we were at Fairwood Academy. Back then, we saw each other all the time.

  I nudged Non. When he gnced over, I blinked rapidly at him and jerked my chin in their direction.

  Before we came here, Non and I had already talked about this in private—we were going to let them know that they no longer had to accommodate to Non’s photosensitivity when we were all making pns together.

  “So, guys,” he said, instantly drawing their attention to him. “You know how I can only go out in the evening? Just wanted to let you all know that I’m fine now. If you guys want to eat breakfast or lunch or anything like that, we can do that.”

  A huge grin surfaced on Cody’s face. “Whoa, that’s great, man!”

  “What?” Ashley blurted out with wide, excited eyes. “That’s amazing! How come?”

  “Um …” both Non and I said in unison.

  I genuinely hadn’t predicted this question. I had kind of thought that they would just accept this and be happy about it.

  They looked mildly confused when his eyes darted to my face before returning to theirs.

  “Well … it’s kind of personal,” Non said slowly.

  Perfect. There wasn’t much anyone could say to refute that.

  “Oh, of course!” Ashley said hastily. “I’m not pressuring you to share. It’s just great to hear. I’m so happy for you. And now we can even go on road trips and stuff!”

  Upon hearing that, I did a double take. “You wanted to go on a roadtrip?”

  She gave a half-shrug. “It was actually more of Melissa’s idea, but yeah. Wouldn’t it be nice?”

  “I like the sound of that,” Non said.

  I beamed.

  “Let’s tell Melissa and Derek,” Ashley said, pulling out her phone, “since we’re still pnning our next outing anyway.”

  “Oh, yeah! We should.” I leaned over a little to nudge Non’s side. “Do you want to be the one to tell them?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t mind either way, but sure.”

  He typed up a message informing Melissa and Derek and sent it in our group chat. Their respective responses arrived retively quickly, exciming their delight in the news.

  True to form, Melissa wasted no time in suggesting going on a road trip or a day hike as a group. Non agreed and everyone began discussing it in the group chat.

  The huge weight sitting on my chest for the st few months had mostly disappeared on the day that Non regained consciousness after the sunrise, but now that we had broken the news to our friends, a sense of lightness floated through me.

  All of our previous struggles were finally, and truly, over. We no longer had to worry about hiding this from our friends, or family, or any other people we would possibly meet in the future.

  We could just be together.

  “Wow,” Ashley said, looking down at Non’s already half-empty pte. “Your appetite is really good today.”

  Once it was pointed out, Cody also seemed a little surprised. “Yeah, this is a lot more than you usually eat.”

  He grinned and had another sip of hot chocote. “It is, isn’t it?”

  I beamed back at him when his gaze nded on my face. “It’s great.”

  It didn’t take Non long to make some new friends. Within two weeks, he invited me to lunch with them.

  I took a liking to them at first sight.

  Not only were Andrew, Chris, Natalie, and Leah extremely affable, but they also made sure to include me in their conversations so that I would never feel left out.

  When I met them for the first time, Natalie was especially warm and welcoming, citing Non’s frequent mentioning of me as the reason for her excitement and interest in me.

  “You should see the look on his face every time he says your name,” she said, winking at me. “I just had to meet you!”

  Frankly, I had never thought that Non would wind up being the kind of guy who brought up his girlfriend at every avaible opportunity, but evidently he was.

  According to them, he would constantly mention me in passing, particurly when something in their conversation made him think of me.

  If someone asked him about something, he would apparently say, “Yeah, I’ve heard of it from Chelsea before.”

  If someone spoke about something that reminded him of me, he would apparently say, “Chelsea loves that,” before sharing his own opinion or thoughts on it.

  If someone asked him why he was spacing out or staring at something while they were at a café or restaurant or dining hall, he would apparently say, “Oh. I was just thinking that Chelsea might like that.”

  While the others were preoccupied with debating about the merits of exercising outside of the gym, I discreetly asked him about it.

  He winced slightly.

  “It just slips out,” he said. “I’m not that used to talking to others yet.”

  “Don’t get me wrong—I think it’s sweet, although it might be a bit too much to them if you keep doing it,” I said, conflicted between being amused and embarrassed. “I don’t think you mention me that much to Ashley and the others though, right?”

  “I don’t think it’s about me deliberately wanting to bring you up.” He paused. “I feel so free now that I don’t have … that hanging over my head anymore. Even with Ashley and the others, I used to keep most of my thoughts to myself. Since I don’t have to worry about slipping up or keeping things to myself anymore, I just end up blurting out whatever I’m thinking about.”

  “Which often happens to be me?” My face grew warm as I said it. “Really? I never knew you thought about me that much.”

  To my great shame, Non gave me the most deadpan look I’d ever seen on his face.

  “Not much point telling you that you love something that you’re talking about, is there? Especially while you’re raving about how much you love it, like that French toast you keep saying you want to eat again.”

  “Hmm, that is a good point.”

  “Fair warning, I might end up doing that around our friends. I’ll work on not being that guy, though.”

  Suppressing an upcoming giggle, I gave him a wobbly smile. I loved him so much.

  “Okay. Thanks for the heads up.”

  As he turned back to Andrew, who was asking him something, I found myself thinking about what this actually meant.

  It indicated the great transformation he was undergoing—Non was no longer bound by the shackles that his fears and worries had previously trapped him in.

  He was finally able to move out of all that and open up to others to live his life.

  The Non I’d met in Fairwood Academy appeared, at first gnce, to be someone who despised social interaction and rebuffed all extended offers of friendship. He didn’t seem to want, or even need, companionship of any kind. He seemed perfectly self-sufficient, content to simply exist in his own bubble.

  It wasn’t until he got his future back, the future of a normal life, that I was able to see how much of his past behaviour and attitude was purely in response to the circumstances he was trapped in.

  I squeezed him in a tight side hug before turning to Leah and Natalie and joining in on their conversation.