Three

    Running out of the house, Nora only had one thing on her mind. The image of her boyfriend, soon to be ex-boyfriend, in bed with another girl. They were already half-undressed so the story pretty much told itself. This was so stupid. She was an idiot to think a boy like Mason would ever only have his eyes on her and no one else. God, why did this have to happen the one night she decided to branch out of her comfort zone? That showed her. She was never doing stupid shit like this ever again.

    "Nora, please, it wasn't what it looked like!" Mason shouted from the porch while she stood in the yard. She stopped walking, but refused to turn around to face him. There was a small crowd gathering, watching the scene. This was the worst thing she could have gotten out of tonight. Things like this weren't meant to happen. Of course, just like she predicted, this party had only wreaked havoc. "I'm drunk, it doesn't mean anything."

    Dreading facing him, she turned around and walked up to him. Although he stood a few inches taller than her, her look was enough to kill even if she was looking up at him.

    With tears falling down her cheeks, she spoke with a biting voice, "So you're telling me you threw away everything we had on nothing. Being drunk is no excuse and you know damn well you can walk in a straight line, just like you walked straight upstairs with a girl who wasn't me."

    "Nora—" Mason attempted, but the girl had already slapped him. She was never a violent person, but she was fuming. She could understand a mutual breakup, she had known things were going to end for a while now. Just the fact that he could not wait to get his dick wet that he couldn't even do the right thing and break up with Nora first. She could handle the heartbreak, but not the betrayal. Not after everything they had been through together.

    Smiling sickly, Nora accepted that the dream she had been sleepwalking through with him was over. Shrugging, she simply said, "No big loss, I was gonna break up with you in two months anyway. Thanks for giving me a head start. Never talk to me again."

    Walking away from the crowd that had formed, she felt like she was about to puke. Maybe it was because of the drinking, but part of her knew it was more than that. As confident as she appeared to be, she was crushed. She jumped feeling a hand on her shoulder. Turning, she saw Edison who must have followed her out of the house. Great, it couldn't at least have been Kristen or Amarie that followed her?

    "Hey, I've had the least to drink out of your friends, I'll take you home."

    "I'll walk," she spat, although the girl wasn't the one she was pissed at. She was simply mad at her scumbag boyfriend and took it out on whoever was closest, which unfortunately, was Edison.

    "Yeah, you don't need to get murdered on top of everything else happening tonight. Come on, let me drive you home. Or at least take you somewhere other than here."

    Feeling defeated, she agreed. Nora hadn't been looking forward to walking home in heels anyway. Without a word, she followed Edison to her car and got inside; she crossed her arms and stayed silent as soon as her seatbelt was on.

    After a moment of silence, Edison broke it awkwardly, "Do you wanna talk about it?"

    "Not really, no."

    "Do you wanna talk about something else?"

    "Actually, yes. Why do you act like we're friends all of a sudden?"

    "I'm not really acting like anything," Edison shrugged. "I recommended a drink. Almost made out with you. Watched you discover your cheating boyfriend. I'd say more like acquaintances. I just don't want you walking home alone, you're buzzed and those shoes look painful."

    Nora scoffed, "Says the one wearing platform boots."

    "Not all of us can be 5'8, Nora."

    "You're not much shorter than me."

    "I'm 5'3" you just can't tell because almost every pair of shoes I own are platforms," Edison laughed casually, glancing over at the girl, "Count your blessings, Watson. Any more questions to get your mind off of things? I'm happy to discuss the meaning of life if we must."

    "Who was that girl in the diner? The redhead? Friend of yours?" Nora asked the question that had been eating away at her since she saw them earlier that day.

    Edison went quiet, her eyes staying trained on the road. Meanwhile, Nora's gaze bore into her side profile awaiting an answer. Maybe this question was off limits, but it was too late as now it hung heavily in the air. The silence followed along with them, suffocating the two with an unanswered tension.

    After a hesitation just a moment too long, Edison answered slowly, "She is — was — my girlfriend. Nothing serious, but that is also the reason I was aiming to get drunk at this dumbass party."

    "Sorry for ruining the plan."

    "Don't worry about it, this is probably better for me anyway."   

    "Can I ask why you broke up with her?"

    "She was just here for the summer last year and just came back for spring break, but we started things because I was so damn sure I was going to get into Northwestern. When I didn't, I knew we were done for. I can't do the distance, not ever," Edison rambled and Nora doesn't think she had ever heard the other girl talk so much. Not within the four years they walked through the same hallways every day, at least. This was brand new. A lot of things seemed to be brand new lately.

    "How do you know you didn't get in?"

    "Heard back this morning," Edison sighed, "I've wanted to go there since I knew what college was. Now..."

    "Everything's falling apart."

    The dark-haired girl nodded, "Exactly. Glad you get what I mean."

    "Maybe we're on the same wavelength or whatever. Turn here," Nora tried to crack a joke, but the dried tears on her cheeks were too painful to brush over. She sniffled as her brain flashed back to what she saw in that upstairs room. Her "loving" boyfriend was all over another girl. What a sight to see. Before she knew it she was crying again.

    Edison noticed this right away, taking just a moment to pull over just so she could reach over and gently place a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Hey, keep your head up, okay? You are too pretty and too cool to let a boy ruin everything for you. Boys are dumb, but trust me, girls aren't much better. That being said, being heartbroken is temporary and this sucky feeling won't last forever."

    "I'm really not that cool," Nora shrugged, doing her best to wipe her tears, "I mean, I'll accept the pretty because I'm allowed to like myself, but I'm really only cool by association. An association that just cheated on me. So, that's over."

    "Well, then maybe you can just stick with me, how's that?" the girl offered as she pulled back onto the road and retracted her hand. The question surprised Nora more than it probably should have.

    "You just drove past my house, are you kidnapping me?" Nora ignored Edison's question as she watched her house whiz by. Strangely enough, she didn't feel worried. Maybe she should be.

    Edison laughed, shaking her head. "No, no, if you want me to turn around I'll be happy to. I just thought of a good place that might help clear your head. Do you wanna just go home?"

    The thought of wallowing in her own sorrows at home alone in her room was not an appetizing one. Nora would never go out past curfew with someone she just barely met, but she was so sick of being pristine and playing by the rules. She was heartbroken and tired; she deserved a night with no rules. Maybe the charade she had been playing earlier didn't have to end just yet.

    "Keep driving. If you are going to kill me, I'll just thank you in advance," she joked softly, causing both girls in the car to giggle a little. Quietly, moments after a gentle silence fell, Nora asked, "Why are you being so nice to me? You've never talked to me before tonight. Hell, I was starting to think you didn't even talk."

    Edison looked over at her for just a moment before turning her eyes back to the road. "Hey, we're acquaintances now. You know, I've got my reasons. Who knows, maybe I've been trying to talk to you for years but you were always too busy with the cool kids to notice me. Could be anything. I'd much rather let you ponder. Adds to my mystery."

    Thinking over her words for a moment, letting them run through her mind over and over, she watched as Edison pulled into a dirt parking lot that was almost completely abandoned. There was, however, a sign.

    "A trailhead? You're gonna take me hiking in the middle of the night? So, how long have you been a serial killer?" Nora questioned as they got out of the car. She was hit with a gust of cold night air as she crossed her arms across herself and shivered. Edison noticed this and without a word reached back into her car to grab something. In a moment, she tossed something over at Nora: a hoodie. It was a faded red that likely used to be much brighter, it was one for their high school. She hesitated in putting it on which led to Edison prompting her.

    "I don't have cooties if that's what you're thinking. Put it on or you'll freeze to death," Edison instructed, pulling off her leather jacket and throwing on a black hoodie with a small design in the corner she couldn't read. "And I'm taking you off the trail, this is the only place to park without driving directly into the forest. Remember, we can turn around any time you want. I'm not going to murder you, they'd suspect me right away. I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid. Come on."

    "That makes no sense," the girl chuckled, but she nodded anyway as she followed Edison into the dark wood. Part of her was scared, but using their phones as flashlights helped ease her fear for just a moment. Although it seemed even without the light the dark-haired girl knew exactly where she was going. This led Nora to wonder how often Edison frequented wherever they were on their way to. After a few minutes, she began to question things.

    "How far away are we?"

    "Not far, giving up, princess?"

    "Don't call me that, everyone calls me that for some reason," Nora scoffed, "I was just curious! And I'm not exactly wearing good shoes for hiking. I feel like I'm two seconds away from eating shit every time I take a step."

    Edison just laughed, navigating the bumpy ground in her platforms with somewhat ease. "Hold my hand if you're that nervous then, but we're almost there."

    "Almost where?" Nora asked, glancing briefly at the other girl's hand wondering if she should take her up on the offer. However, it was too late when the two girls stepped through a break in the trees, emerging into a small meadow blooming with colorful flowers highlighted by the pale shine of the moon.

    The dark-haired girl gestured to the meadow, "Almost here! Welcome to my hideaway for when the world gets to be too much."

    "How did you find this place?"

    "My stepmom and I used to hike this trail together, one day we just stumbled upon it and I kept coming back because it's just," Edison hesitated for a moment as if her mind was searching for the perfect word, "Serene. It reminds me of better times."

    "What are your better times?" Nora dared to ask as the two sat cross-legged in the grass. The blonde rested against a tree while Edison sat across from her. Everything just felt comfortable in this brief moment in time; as if the real world around them had simply faded away. She understood the serenity now. Edison went quiet for a moment too long and Nora knew she had asked the wrong question. She seemed to be keen on doing that continuously tonight. Realizing her mistake, she was quick to add, "Nevermind, you don't have to answer that!"

    Laughing, the girl just shrugged and shook her head, "No, it's okay, I was just thinking about something. Uh, my better times were really just when my stepmom was around. It was halfway through my freshman year when she got sick..."

    Then, fast enough to give her whiplash, Nora remembered hearing about someone's mother in their grade. She never knew it was Edison. She also didn't know Edison had a stepmother. Come to think of it, she didn't know anything about her home life. It was hardly a hot topic among the hallway gossip of North Ridgepoint High.

     "... Just before sophomore year was when she passed. That's when I made the decision to stop talking, for the most part. Not like I had any good friends, anyway. We weren't blood-related, but she raised me," she picked at the grass beneath them, her eyes avoiding the other girl's as her hands fidgeted. "Sorry, kind of a dampener. You don't have to say sorry or anything, I don't need that pity anymore. Bad shit happens to good people and I've come to terms with that."

    Nora had absolutely no idea what to say to that. So, instead, she reached over and pulled the other girl into a hug. Whispering into her ear, she says, "I know we've never talked before tonight and this is probably weird, but I think us sticking together might not be that bad of an idea."

    Replying in a whisper, Edison agreed, "I think so, too."