Right Where You Left Me

that polaroid

I watch, tote bag full of books slung over my shoulder, as a shirtless Nate chats amicably with Linda, the wonderful old lady who lives a few blocks away from us. His hands grasp a table, unintentionally flexing his arm muscles and veins.

I swallow hard.

That morning I had woken up to an empty house, and I'd decided to take a trip down to the library. It was within walking distance, so I had just put on my shoes and grabbed a bag and left.

I had not, however, prepared to see Nate helping families bring furniture in and out of their houses.

Linda sees me before he does. She waves at me and motions for me to come talk to her. I wrench my eyes away from Nate and smile at Linda, making my way down the path towards her. Nate brushes past me to enter the house again, but I don't look at him.

"Good morning, my love," Linda says. "Did you make a trip to the library?"

I nod politely. "Yes, I picked up a few new books."

Her eyes light up. Linda and I have always shared a love for reading. "What books did you get?"

I take out the books and describe to her in vivid detail what they're about. I read to her the synopsis of each book and let her admire the covers and flip through the pages. I even explain to her the plot of a murder mystery book I had begun to read. She listens, fascinated, her eyes fixated on mine.

"That's why I think Max is the killer," I continue. "Because he would've been taken care of by Sarah, who was the heir to the money, because of their secret affair."

Linda nods. "I agree. All the clues point to him so far. Update me on who the killer actually is, yes?"

I nod and smile, putting my books back in my bag. As I'm packing up, I catch a glimpse of Nate out of the corner of my eye.

He's watching me.

He quickly looks away. I wonder how much he heard. I can get pretty heated when I talk about something I like, but sometimes it's embarrassing because I'm talking really fast or jumping up and down in excitement.

I shove the rest of the books in my bag angrily. I will not let a boy make me ashamed of my hobbies.

Linda interrupts my thoughts, and I turn away quickly from Nate. "My dear, do you want to join us inside for a cup of tea? Nate is almost finished taking all our furniture outside. We're having a garage sale tomorrow."

"Of course," I say, pleased with the invitation. I didn't have any plans for today, and I'd love to have afternoon tea with my favourite old lady. "I'll just head inside, okay?"

Linda nods and I walk up the stone steps towards her door. I reach out to open it, but Nate opens it before I can. I avoid eye contact with him as we shuffle past each other. We haven't talked since yesterday's argument.

Ten minutes later, we're all seated. Nate is having iced lemonade; Linda and I are having steaming mugs of tea. The silence at the table is heavy and awkward, and I almost feel bad for putting Linda right at the center of the tension between Nate and I.

"Starting grade twelve soon, huh?" she asks, sipping from her mug.

I nod. "Yup. Still have no idea where I'm going to apply for university, though."

She nudges me with a shoulder, grinning. "Wanna get out of here as soon as you can, eh?"

"Yup," I shrug with a guilty grin. "Ideally a school farther away. I want to travel, you know?"

Nate leans back in his seat. "How have you been, Linda? I missed a lot at boarding school." I shoot him a questioning look, but he doesn't meet my eyes.