“Are you going to keep going out with him?” she asks, moving on to rearrange some burger patties on the second shelf, still not looking at me. I open up the cash drawer, fixing each stack of bills so they all face the same direction.
“I guess so. I was wondering what you think actually. Sometimes it just takes time, right? I mean, my two friends told me I really liked him before the accident, so—”
“What?”She hops up onto her feet, completely forgoing the display and finally looking at me.
“What?” I repeat back, squinting at her in confusion.
“Which friends?” She takes a step toward me, tossing the empty metal tray onto the counter with a clatter.
“My best friends, Savannah and Rory. They’ve known me for like… ever,” I reply, even though my stomach still turns atthe thought of them just standing there last night while everything happened.
“I thought… you told me you weren’t hanging out with them as much, during that gap in your memory…”
“Yeah, but… I guess it was still obvious enough for them to pick up on. So I think it’s got to be on me and my stupid brain, that things aren’t clicking with Ryan. I’ve just never dated anyone before so I don’t really know how to. My mom says it wasn’t instant for her and my dad either. Have you ever dealt with anything like this? How’d it feel for you?
“Stevie.” Nora shakes her head. “You can’t blame yourself for not feeling something. That’s not really something you can force. You know? It kinda has to come naturally.” She picks up the tray and walks it to the back counter next to the old metal scale. “I mean, when you find the right person, you just… youknow.” She grabs onto the butcher-block countertop, her knuckles turning white as they clench around it. “When you find the right person, it feels so right that it’s impossible to even question if it could be wrong.”
“You sound like you might be speaking from experience,” I say, leaning my back up against the front counter. This feeling of jealousy tugs at me becausethat,what she just described, is exactly what I want.
“Yeah,” she says, her voice so quiet and small that it makes me feel sad. I stand there, watching her from behind for a long moment. It feels like she wants to say more, but I don’t want to press her if she doesn’t want to tell me about him.
Finally, after letting out a heavy breath, she continues, “I felt like that with my um… ex. We met in line for the porta-pottiesat a Friday-night football game when our high schools were facing off.”
I try to imagine what type of guy she would date, tall or short, muscular or lanky, what color hair, but I can’t see it.
“We both had to pee really bad and the line was like twenty people long, so…” Nora hesitates, then turns around to face me, but doesn’t quite meet my eyes. “She snuck me into her school through this window that she said never really locked.”
She.
My insides turn cold as I hold my breath in.
I can feel her eyes shift to mine, but now it’smethat can’t look ather.Instead, I focus on her hands, still wrenched around the counter behind her.
Nora’s… gay?I can’t believe she just toldmethat. I mean… I never thought… Not in Wyatt. I never even considered… Not that I couldeverbe…
I force myself to look back at her face again as my thoughts keep colliding, but she looks down at her shoes, her eyes shining with tears.
“After we left the bathroom, we didn’t go back to the game. We just started walking around the empty hallways talking about…everything. It was so weird, I’d never clicked so easily with someone before and we hadjustmet. When we ended up in the gym, standing at half-court, it was pitch-black and… I held her hand. I know that sounds so innocent, but… it didn’t feel like it.” Another pang of jealousy strikes me as I think of the hand meltdown last night. “It happenedsoorganically. We didn’t talk about it. I didn’t ask her. It just happened and it was… I mean, I just…” She smiles as she stutters around herwords, a tear rolling down her cheek as her voice grows shakier. “We spent so much time after that talking about getting out of this town, but honestly… I could’ve spent the rest of my life stuck in that school with her.” She shakes her head, her eyes locked on the floor, and it doesn’t even feel like she’s talking to me anymore. “Now I wish we had.”
And with that she stops fighting it and finally cries. She buries her face in her hands and slides down the back counter all at once. I reach out, trying to catch her by the arms, but instead, I end up on the floor right in front of her. On pure instinct, I pull her into me and she wraps both of her arms around me, burying her face in my neck.
“I just want to go back,” she says, digging her nails practically through my T-shirt as she pulls me even closer. Listening to her cry makes my whole body ache. How could anyone do this to her? How did they even end up breaking up if Nora still feels so strongly about her?
“Nora,” I whisper. “Maybe you shouldn’t give up if she means so much to you.” I’m trying to be helpful, but that only seems to make her cry harder.
“Ihaven’tgiven up,” she says over a shuddering breath. She pulls back slightly and I release my grip, but her hands slide up my back, over my shoulders, and down my arms until we’re both looking at her hands enclosing mine. “That would be impossible,” she says as we finally lock eyes.
“Stevie?” she says, her mouth trying to form words. I’ve never been looked at the way she’s looking at me, and I’m so confused again.
“Yeah?” I whisper, my heartbeat pulsing in my ears.
“I have to tell—” She jumps, her attention jerking to the door as the bells jingle at the top, pulling both of us out of our trance. “Shit.”
“I got it,” I say quickly, pulling my hands out of Nora’s grip before she shuffles across the small space to clean herself up.
“Can I help you?” I ask, standing up to greet a man and woman who are waiting expectantly.
“Jensen. Here to pick up an order. You must be new,” the man says, approaching the counter.
