He had tried to stand still, confident this was the place Coll told him about, but it was hard to relax. Coll had been very detailed in her description, and the map seemed to confirm it. He realized suddenly that he didn't know Becka well enough to know if she operated on or simply close to schedule, but he assumed she was pretty punctual. He had checked his watch, adjusted his hat, and swayed on his feet so many times he was starting to feel nauseous.

Every person who exited the building startled him. None of them were Becka.

He checked his watch again. 1:01. His nerves flared up. Any minute now…

He had asked Coll how long might it take for her to actually leave the building after class ended, how likely she was to stay to chat with the professor or someone else, might she be with someone else when she did exit the building? I can't imagine it would be more than ten minutes if so. Since it's summer, not many people will be on campus, she hasn't mentioned any friends or anything from this class…

Six grueling minutes passed before Becka shoved the heavy door open. The gesture caught Howie's attention once again. This time, it kept his attention.

"Becka." He shouted as he walked towards her instinctively.

Her face was puzzled for a moment, looking in his general direction. Upon realizing it was him, and her expression changed, her face brightened, and she smiled. "Wh- what on earth!? How are you here?!" She laughed happily as she dropped everything she was holding carelessly onto a bench between them and ran into his arms. She was surprised by her own reaction, but she couldn't help herself. She was actually thrilled to see him.

"I missed you." He said as he held her close, relief evident in his voice.

"I missed you, too." She admitted. "I thought you were supposed to have time off!" She pulled back from him to speak again. "You should have time off."

"I do! This is it!"

He could tell she felt silly for not immediately understanding that by the way her face changed. "You came here to see me? On you time off?" Her voice was happy, and it made him smile so wide he felt like a fool.

"I have a few days off."

"Didn't you just get home? Did you even go home? How did you know where to find me?"

He laughed at her questions, "I went home for two nights. I couldn't stop thinking about you, and it seemed stupid to stay home alone when I could come here and see you."

In her chest, her heart was beating rapidly, her temperature was rising, and her anxiety was creeping up. "Are you by yourself?"

He nodded, "And of course I had no clue… Coll helped. The map helped."

As the information settled in and the story came into focus, she smirked, "you came all the way here for me? Instead of sleeping and relaxing and enjoying silence at home? You got on another plane, went through airport security, drove…? Or something? To get here to the middle of nowhere Connecticut."

"Is that so crazy?" His laugh made her weak as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Also, this isn't the middle of nowhere. It was like, two hours in the car from New York."

"No, I know. I mean…" His face was serious-looking, and she told herself to stop talking. "Right. Of course, yeah…"

A warm breeze blew through the narrow space between them, and he swallowed back some anxiety.

"I told you you were the kind of risk I want to take."

"You did, yeah."

"Yeah. But sitting at home isn't a risk. You left, and that was fine. You had to. I didn't have to let it be like that - that the next time I'd see you is in Boston. That wasn't very risky… to just wait. So I'm here."

Her cheeks blushed bright red. "I see." The weight of her body fell easily against him, confident it was okay to do so, hanging from his neck. He felt sturdy, and she liked that. "what about work?"

"I have to be in Orlando on Tuesday." He answered quickly, wanting to focus on the present and immediate future without obligations in it. "Do you have plans tonight?"

Her eyes rolled, "I almost exclusively never have plans."

"Okay, well, now you do. I made reservations." Before she could ask, he continued. "It's a surprise."

"Well," She began, "I hope you like apartment shopping." She laughed. "I have four appointments tomorrow. Those are the only plans I actually have."

"What time?"

"The first one is at noon."

"We'll be back by then."

"Back from where?"
"It's still a surprise." He said quickly, "So this is Yale?"

She pouted at him, realizing she wasn't going to get any more info on his plans. "This is it."

"It's pretty."

"Yeah. It's pretty." She looked at him and turned back to pick her things up off the bench, and he followed closely. "I usually go home now."

"Take me with you."

"… are you sure?"

"... are you?"

A thousand considerations clamored around in her head briefly before she nodded simply.

"Let me hold this." He said.

She looked at him suspiciously.

"I know you've got it, but let me."

Silently, she slipped the books from her arm to his and adjusted her bag on her shoulder. "You're sweet."

"It should have mentioned that in the book." She giggled as he took her hand in his, "I'm fine with books, but I prefer the first-hand experience."

"I'm only a little terrified of your research tendencies."

Her smile became devilish, and she raised her eyebrows at him.

---

"Can I ask you something sort of personal?" Coll asked as she watched Nick moving around his room.

His eyes got wide as he turned to look at her. "Sure." He chuckled.

She was sitting on the edge of his bed with one leg dangling across the other, her elbow perched on top, cradling her chin. She bit her nail as her eyes darted from one corner of the room to the other before landing on him. "Where is all your stuff?"

"My stuff?"

She smiled, "Yeah, besides your technology cave… you don't have stuff. Like… pictures on the walls, or silly stuff from when you were a kid. Action figures… a box in the corner that says 'misc'... Like, where's your stuff?"

"I guess I don't have stuff."

"But, how? Or like, why?"

He shrugged. "There is not a lot of stuff from … home, I guess, that I wanted to keep."

She searched his face and found it looked sad. "I'm sorry."

"I only want things here that I like." He began, "I find my own stuff along the way… or not."

She tilted her head, smiling at him, "yeah, but… you've been around the world and done so many things, and there should be like, a picture, or something. You don't even have your awards on some fancy display case." She motioned to his dresser, where the Moonman sat unceremoniously next to a comb and some loose dollar bills.

His eyes landed on the statue, and he rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah, that - maybe… I'm barely ever here, honestly. I don't need much."

"No, I know, I-" She began as he made his way over to her and plopped down on the edge of the bed next to her.

"I just haven't found a lot of things that seem worth the space."

She pursed her lips as he took her free hand in his. It was strangely profound for him. She had sensed him going deeper in recent days, in multiple different ways. This felt like a confirmation.

"Everything I need is in this room." He said as his eyes poured into her.

Instantly, her heart rate increased, her fire ignited. "Nick."

"That's how I feel right now." He said sweetly, "I like having you here."

She sat up straighter and brought her other hand on top of his. Her heart throbbed as she leaned in his direction, "Okay, well, maybe a picture of us then."

"That would be good." He flashed a smile before he pulled her into him entirely, wrapping his arms around her. "That would be nice."

--

The long, scenic way home was unnecessary, but Becka took it anyway. She said it was so she could show him around, but really it was just some time to settle her nerves. Along the route, she pointed out her favorite place for coffee on campus, just outside the Yale gates and the place she would stop for coffee closer to home if she had a morning class. The elementary school she didn't go to but thought had a cooler playground, a restaurant where she spilled wine and ruined a favorite pair of jeans and a professor's house also got mentions.
"I only know he lives there because it's so close to home, and one time my car wouldn't start. He drove me home."

"Nice guy." Howie nodded in approval.

"Nice, obligated, same thing, I guess." She laughed lightly as she navigated the car to the side of the road.

"Is this your place?" Howie asked as Becka pulled up along the curb in front of a sprawling ranch.

"No, it's up there." She said carefully as she shifted the car into park. She sighed heavily and turned her body in his direction, and he watched her curiously.

"You okay?"

She nodded with a smile and leaned in closer to him. "I know you're nervous about this."

Instinctively he moved in closer to her as well, reaching out to take her face in his.

"Remember what we agreed on?"

She was quiet.

"Figure it out together."

She closed her eyes briefly, "Right." Her head dropped, ashamed she had forgotten for a moment. "Right." Her eyes met his again.

Everything was warm and blurry and he kissed her. Snaking her arms around his body, she felt it. The weight of a thousand thoughts suddenly felt lighter, as if she wasn't carrying it along anymore. Relief.