Nine

    By Monday morning, Nora was utterly in shambles. Kristen and Amarie ended up staying the night because God, Nora just needed some love these days. The things no one tells you about breakups is how much one misses the feeling of being in love and being loved. She wondered if it was normal not to miss the person, but to miss every time they kissed you or held you or called you beautiful. Mason had been there for Nora so many times and now there was just this hole in her heart where he was supposed to be. She knew she was better off, she was just waiting for it to start feeling like it. Not to mention the sudden, unexpected void Edison left in her was tearing her apart slowly but surely. It was remarkable how quickly Edison had dug her place in Nora's life and settled there before she was just... gone.

    "Honey, why aren't you at school?" her mother, who was surprisingly home for once, leaned in her daughter's doorway as the clock reached ten in the morning. "Day off?"

    "Mental health day, please," Nora groaned as she wrapped herself up in the covers with Kristen and Amarie still cuddled up next to her. They all collectively decided at two in the morning that they needed this, but really they all just wanted to sleep in. "I'm having a crisis."

    "At eighteen, who isn't?" her mother laughed, "I'll call the school and have them excuse you. Do you need me to text their parents?"

Nora shook her head, "Nah, they can handle that when they wake up."

"All right," the woman went to leave, but she stopped and turned back for just a moment, "How's Mason?"

The question shook her. She hadn't even realized how out of touch her mom was with things since the party. She had disappeared for the week and flew in last night, but she had no idea of her daughter's recent relationship status change. She didn't even bother to ask how she was since she got back. It wasn't that her mother was absent or didn't care, she simply had other things to worry about.

"Uh," Nora had no idea what to say, so she settled on the most blunt possible answer, "We broke up. He's a douchebag."

"He was so nice?" she questioned, looking upset now.

Sighing, all Nora could muster was, "Until he wasn't."

She looked unsure, but her mother refrained from saying anything. "I'm heading into the office, will you girls be okay?"

She nodded, "Yes, thanks for checking in."

With that, her mother left and she was alone again with the two sleeping girls. Of course, being the only conscious one in the room, it was hard not to overthink. Her mind began to wander to dark places about how detached she actually was from her family. She can't remember the last time she talked to her older sister, Eloise. It had to have been months at this point, but she would be home for spring break soon enough. Well, she hoped. That was her fear; that she would get a taste of independence once she reached college and never want to return home again. She liked her sleepy town, but it wasn't meant for her and she knew that. That didn't mean she wished to completely abandon it like Eloise did.

"Stop thinking and go back to sleep dumbass," she heard Kristen mutter as her friend, with her eyes still closed, wrapped her arm around Nora and pulled her back into a lying position. Nora giggled softly as she now lay in front of a three-way spoon. Just as she was about to close her eyes and let herself fall back asleep, she heard her phone vibrate on the nightstand.

Reaching for it, she saw that for the first time in three days she had a text from Edison.

Where are you today?

Sighing, Nora struggled. Should she be mad at the girl for not talking to her? Or should she be happy the girl was concerned about her? Ugh, she was sick of this.

Why are you suddenly interested? You haven't been for the past few days as to my whereabouts.

Of course, this was likely not the route she should have taken, but she was exhausted and a mess so she deserved to have at least a little bit of attitude. Almost immediately she had a response.

I'm sorry, I just didn't know what to do.

Are you okay? Are you sick?

Mad or not, Nora did appreciate the concern. However, she knew the other conversation needed to happen before anything else could. Sighing, she allowed herself to cool down for just a moment before texting back. Keeping a cool head was more important than anything else.

I'm okay. Not sick. Just didn't feel like going today. We need to have a talk about what happened that night before anything else.

There was a larger gap between her text and the response than there had been before, but a response did come. It was simple, but it made Nora's heart beat a mile a minute.

I'll be at yours after school.

"Stop texting her," Kristen sighed, "I can tell how stressed you are don't think I don't know. Go back to sleep, dummy, I can't remember the last time we got this chance since we all got jobs."

Nora chuckled softly before adhering to her friends commands. She might as well, it wasn't like she got a chance to sleep in these days considering she always had to be up bright and early for her opening shifts on weekends. Seriously, why did the mall need to open at eight in the morning?

    However, it was hard for her brain to even kind of slow down. Too many thoughts ran rampant as she lay with her two best friends yet her eyes wide open. Of course, the one thing on her mind was a girl. Well, she had never said (well, thought) that before. For the past year it had been all about Mason. No one else. Now, in the midst of her heartbreak, she couldn't get her mind off of Edison. She also couldn't fathom the idea of having a talk about what happened between them. No words even came to mind when Nora thought about what she would say. That's the only time her mind would simply come up blank. Empty. All she knew for sure was that she felt some sort of stupid crush or confusion for Edison, but she was nowhere near equipped to deal with that right now.

    All of a sudden, there was a whack to her stomach with one of her pillows. The culprit? Amarie. Her brown curls were a mess as she squinted up at Nora, "Lay down and stop thinking so hard, you're giving me a headache."

    "She's coming over after school," Nora sighed, "To have a talk."

    With that word, Kristen bolted upright and exclaimed, "About what? What are you gonna say? Are you gonna tell us who it was?"

    "No, you guys are getting out of here before she gets here," Nora instructed with a gentle laugh, "but I am going to need your help as to what I'm going to say to her. I mean, I don't even know if I like girls for Christ's sake. I mean, I really did love Mason, there's no way that would ever have been just some sort of... I don't know... fluke."

    Kristen just shrugged, completely glossing over the fact that her best friend was so incredibly stressed by this. "Maybe you're just bi, like me. Or, maybe kissing a girl was the fluke."

    "I know everything, why do I not know this?"

    "Listen, Nora, just because you harbor about ninety percent of the brain cells in this group," Amarie interjected, sounding tired from having just woken up, "doesn't mean you have to have your love life figured out. You can have some shit together and not have other shit together, that's just high school. Really, it's just life."

    Nora scoffed, "Why do you sound like some old broad giving advice of love and loss in some old cafe? What's next? You're gonna quote a John Mulaney bit?"

    "Don't make me sound so weird, jeez," the curly-haired girl laughed openly and boldly as always, "We're just trying to help you out. But seriously, maybe you're bi? Maybe you're a lesbian experiencing extreme compulsary heterosexuality? Maybe you're just straight and having fun, you don't have to know. Not now, maybe not ever. Well, maybe know enough that you don't fuck others up emotionally, but you get what I'm saying."

    "Not to sound cheesy, but I really am thankful for you guys. You two are probably the best people to turn to right now so thank you for being there for me through all of it," the blonde pulled both of her best friends into a hug. Moments like this were rare as Nora had a feeling she often took her friends for granted. Moments like this were soon to be even rarer as they all went to their separate universities. Granted, they were all going to be a maximum four hour drive away from each other (they planned this since freshman year, of course) everything was going to change. Things were already changing and it was throwing Nora much more off her rhythm than she was ever prepared for.

    Despite all this, for just a moment, everything was okay.