Halfway There | COMPLETE ✔ + Sequel

Chapter 16 - Members

To my relief the car had not followed us when we started walking away. We all walked together holding hands down the street and the longer Nova had his fingers intertwined with mine the more comfortable I grew with his touch. Nova and Stella mainly led the way and it wasn't until the neighborhood slowly grew more... destitute that I started to worry. The sun was still out but slowly setting behind the mountains.

"Are you gonna come over?" Stella asked from my side.

"Um. I'm not sure?" I answered, turning to look at Nova from my other side. He smiled as he let go of my hand and shrugged.

"Well, you've come this far." He smiled. Stella let go of my other hand and clapped, happily.

"Yay! We haven't had anyone come over ever!" I was surprised to find that I had found some sort of gratification in the idea that I will be the first person to see where Nova and Stella actually lived.

It wasn't until this very moment that whenever I pictured Nova going home at night to sleep, that I never actually pictured a home. To be quite honest, I'm not sure what I pictured but when we turned at a cross road I'm certain that it wasn't this.

I could see a bright, red sign above us in big letters spelling Montclair Motel. I had seen it once before, when on one of my many adventures with Will, and remember thinking how awful it looked. The shrubs on the outside were partly dead, partly overgrown. The front office area was littered with trash and the parking lot was scattered with cracks and potholes. The stairs in the back corner were broken with a poorly handwritten sign that stated "broken stairs"; as if it weren't obvious enough. The ice machine was beside an empty vending machine that had it's glass broken and to top it all off the paint was chipping and the shingles on the roof were slowly rotting. I remember wondering why anyone would want to stay here and now that I looked at it from this angle I could feel my cheeks turn scarlet at how ignorant the thought had been.

To not just Nova but I'm sure many other people, this place was a safe haven. No one wants to live like this. No one wants to live in a place where the stairs were falling apart and the ceiling looked as if it would collapse at any moment. This place was not ideal by any means but the image of what I pictured Nova looking like as he slept beside a gas station dumpster, this place might seem like a palace in comparison. I felt so ashamed of the thoughts I once had running through my mind. I frowned at the ground below me as we walked into the parking lot towards a different set of stairs. Nova looked in my direction, concerned with my frown.

"Yeah, it's not much but we don't need a lot." He said quietly as Stella ran ahead and he ran his hand through his hair. A habit I noticed he did when he was nervous.

"Oh! No!" I said shaking my head and hands at him, realizing that he assumed my frown had been dislike to where he lived. He was embarrassed. "I wasn't making a face at the motel. I- I was just thinking how much better this must be than sleeping behind the gas station."

I didn't want to tell him the whole truth, purely for the fact that I didn't want him to know my shameful thoughts. He chuckled at my response as he led me up the stairs. They groaned beneath my weight and I began to wonder if they would crumple before me.

"Yeah." He chuckled nervously, "If I had to choose between a pillow of a bag full of trash or an actual pillow, I think I would choose the latter." I grimaced at the thought as he walked ahead. We passed about three doors before he stood in front of one with the numbers 235 faded in black paint. Stella quickly unlocked the door and before I could see the inside as she opened the door Nova stepped in front of me.

"I'll bring you inside another time. I don't think I'm entirely... comfortable yet." He bit down on his bottom lip; and even though I understood I still felt a slight sting. Stella gave me a small wave from the crack of the door and I waved back with a smile.