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Century City sat southwest of Westwood, one of the major commercial centers of Los Angeles.
The land had once belonged to the 20th Century Fox backlot. In the 1950s, Fox executives began turning pieces of it toward commercial development, and after the studio’s expensive run of troubled productions in the early 1960s, more of the property ended up in developers’ hands.
By 1994, the area had become a dense pocket of offices, department stores, theaters, restaurants, agencies, and studio buildings. More importantly for Nolan and Katherine, it was close enough to BHHS that two determined teenagers could get there without needing a car.
On Saturday afternoon, two unusually tall young people walked into the Century City mall, standing out from the crowd before either of them said a word.
"It’s so hot," Katherine said, taking off the dark red sunglasses she had borrowed from Mia before leaving.
She wore denim shorts and a T-shirt knotted at the hem. Her hair had been curled before they left, her makeup was light, and the whole effect was pure West Coast confidence. She had grown up comfortable, and even after the Callahans’ collapse, that old sense of style had not disappeared.
Nolan did not say anything about it.
That seemed safer.
They went straight to the sporting-goods section.
There were only so many brands worth considering for football cleats. Out of old habit from another life, Nolan still found himself looking for the cheapest practical option first, the kind of discount store that could solve a problem without pretending to be glamorous.
Century City was not that kind of place.
After some comparing, they settled on a pair of Nike football cleats. They cost $159, which made Nolan’s stomach tighten even before he remembered Katherine had brought him here because he needed them.
"Size eleven and a half?" Katherine said, looking at the box. "Your feet got huge."
Her memory was still stuck a few years behind. Then she thought of how quickly he had grown, and for no useful reason at all, her mind flashed back to yesterday morning.
Her cheeks warmed.
Nolan stepped closer and lifted one hand over her head, measuring their height difference as if that had been his only purpose.
Katherine ducked away on instinct.
"I think I grew again," Nolan said. "We walk to school together every day, so I know exactly how much taller I am."
"Next time you measure yourself against me, warn me first." Katherine grabbed the shoe box and walked off faster than necessary.
They had spent nearly an hour getting there and only ten minutes buying the cleats. Since they were already out, Katherine insisted on looking around.
"What do you think?" she asked later.
She was trying on a pair of high heels with red soles, walking carefully between the mirrors because she had not gotten used to them yet.
They looked good.
Too good, honestly.
Nolan had no intention of saying that in a way that would get him hit.
Before he could answer, Katherine shook her head.
"They’re pretty, but my feet would sweat like crazy. The second I took them off, the smell would kill somebody. No, absolutely not."
That was the kind of excuse people made when a luxury car had one scratch too many in the review.
The real reason was simpler: she liked the shoes, and she could not afford them.
When they left the store, they found the mall’s central area packed with people. A promotional event had taken over the first floor. Couples were being invited onto a small stage for a strength challenge: the man had to carry the woman in his arms and do as many squats as possible in two minutes. First prize was a $500 mall voucher.
Nolan looked at Katherine.
Katherine took one deep breath and smiled.
"I’m heavy... wait. What are you doing?"
He pulled her onto the stage before she finished.
When Nolan opened his arms, she suddenly looked self-conscious.
"Maybe we shouldn’t."
She glanced at the audience, then at the host, and covered her forehead.
"I’m too heavy. We are not winning this."
Nolan picked her up without another word.
Katherine only thought she was heavy because she was comparing herself with shorter girls. For her height, she was not heavy at all.
Nolan checked the other contestants. Most were too thin to worry him. A few looked out of shape. The only real threat was a middle-aged couple: the man was nearly six-six, and the woman barely came up to his waist.
That kind of height difference felt like cheating.
The round began before he could complain.
Nolan drew a long breath and started squatting.
"Are you okay?" Katherine asked, automatically looping her arms around his neck when his face started turning red.
"No... problem."
He rose slowly. His legs had already begun to shake.
No matter how athletic she was, Katherine still had a tall frame. There was weight there.
From Katherine’s angle, she could see the middle-aged couple behind him. They had an advantage, but they also had age working against them. The man was not having an easy time either.
"Come on," she said. "We can win."
In the rush of the moment, she held tighter and tried to keep her weight close to him. It looked as if only Nolan was doing the work, but the way she balanced herself mattered too. It helped him save strength.
In the end, Nolan won on stubbornness more than anything else.
He came down from the stage drenched in sweat, but two minutes had earned them $500.
Worth it.
Katherine held both hands against her cheeks.
"We won!" she said, shining with joy.
"Now we don’t have to drink expired milk," Nolan said.
"Look at you." Katherine reached up and wiped sweat from his forehead.
With her face that close, Nolan noticed the long line of her lashes.
Katherine pulled her hand back at once and tapped the tip of his nose.
"Do not get ideas. That is not allowed."
Ideas?
He knew nothing about any ideas.
They headed downstairs to buy groceries, but Nolan ducked into the restroom first.
Katherine waited almost twenty minutes. Just as irritation began to set in, someone tapped her shoulder.
She turned.
Nolan stood behind her with a shopping bag from the shoe store.
"We may have to drink discount milk for the rest of the month after all," he said.
The expired carton had been an accident, but he had been drinking marked-down milk close to its date for half a month already.
Katherine’s mouth fell open.
"You bought them?"
She had listed every reason not to buy the heels. They made her look too tall. She would never wear them in daily life. They were a waste of money.
But once she took the box, she looked at the shoes again and again.
She loved them.
’He said he was going to the restroom just so he could buy them,’ Katherine realized, looking at Nolan beside her. ’And he knows how to make a girl happy now.’
She could not keep treating him like a little boy.
They ate a cheap lunch nearby, then spent part of the afternoon walking around the public-facing edges of the Fox lot. Nolan pointed out pieces of film history without turning it into a lecture, and Katherine listened more than she pretended to.
On the bus ride back, the low, repetitive Los Angeles streets rolled past the window. Exhaustion caught up to Katherine all at once, and she yawned.
"Why does this feel more tiring than practice?"
She let her head fall toward Nolan’s shoulder.
Nolan leaned forward just in time, making her miss.
"That is not allowed," he said, copying her earlier tone.
"I decide what is allowed." Katherine grabbed his arm and pulled it into place. "Give me your shoulder. I’m sleepy."
This time she did not just rest against him. She wrapped both arms around his, settled in with obvious satisfaction, and closed her eyes.
Nolan’s arm was solid under her cheek. It made her feel safe in a way she did not want to examine too closely.
"Don’t move," Katherine murmured, pinning his hand in place.
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