Not Her | ONC 2022

| chapter three |

   The cafe they were meeting at was Summerset's boasting asset. It was meant to be a lowkey diner and coffee bar down the block, but it had gained popularity over the past couple of years. The booths were upholstered with wooden frames and soft, red seats, the wood-covered walls scattered with abstract art and long vines of leaves swirling around the corners and onto the swinging, fluorescent lights. Sunlight spilled in from the glass windows situated on the slanting roofs, yet the cafe itself was a comfy kind of dark, accented with throw pillows and fairy lights.

  Leigh navigated through the cherry wood tables and found Nora sitting in a booth tucked in the corner of the room, typing away on her phone. Her hair was clipped back, a few loose strands framing her face. No matter how much of herself she hid from Nora, Leigh knew that she could only hold back for so long before she could be herself around Nora again. Even as she slid into the booth, and Nora pocketed her phone, Leigh tried to calm the raging emotions and tried to smooth the features on her face.

"Sup' Nora," Leigh said, although it was said more in acknowledgment more than a question, because Leigh, in fact, did not want to know how Nora was. However much the past crept up on Leigh, she had to push it away, keep it hidden away.

Nora smiled a sarcastic smile and tilted her head. Whatever emotion they shared yesterday in her room was gone. "I was okay until you came."

Leigh fought back a scowl. "You texted me to meet you here. I'm doing you the favor; I can leave anytime I want to," she said, raising an eyebrow in challenge.

Nora did not hold back her scowl. "Whatever."

Before they fell into a strained silence, a waiter brought mini donuts, two iced coffees, and fries and received a dollar tip from Nora-Jane.

"Thank you so much," she said, flashing her trademark pretty girl smile leaving the waiter flustered as he scampered back to the kitchen and Nora turned back to her fries, clearly satisfied with herself. Leigh watched this interaction gritting her teeth, wanting to throw up on Nora's food.

"Thank you so much," Leigh mocked in a shrilly voice.  She shook her head. "You still haven't changed." Leigh took a sip of her iced coffee, noting that Nora had ordered her favorite coffee. "Cute of you to order for me, though," Leigh said, with a ghost of a smile.

Nora frowned. "Ordering beforehand saves time. The less amount of time I have to see your face, the better."

Leigh hid her disappointment of being bested by reaching into her bag and pulling her laptop out, opening up a document she had put together last night of important information. 

"Since you're so eager for this meeting to be over, let's get to it. What we know right now is that Aubrey stabbed herself at Point Pleasant Beach at around 10 pm. She had some sort of flash drive on her which was obviously something important because the content of the drive hasn't been released and Aubrey had taken drugs the day she killed herself. And now, I know that you were with her when she committed suicide, and this isn't public information." Leigh glanced behind her laptop to see Nora nodding along with what Leigh read off of her document.

"So, let's try to get more detail. Tell me about March 13th," Leigh said, pulling out her phone to make a voice recording. 

Nora shakily exhaled her breath, risking a glance at Leigh's phone before starting to speak. 

"Okay. I just want to start off by saying that Aubrey and I had met through a peer tutoring program just this year. March 16th was a Saturday. We had gotten together for a study date in this cafe at around 7 pm. We mostly studied of course and we had dinner here, too. We-"

"Wait. You ate here?"

Nora nodded, bobbing her head up and down. "I had ordered some pasta. But I think Aubrey didn't have much. Her mother had packed some homemade sandwiches, which she said she needed to eat for a diet her nutritionist had written up for her."