Not Her | ONC 2022

| chapter five |

Two days had passed since Leigh had stormed off at Nora's house. They went by slowly, and Leigh felt frustrated with herself for letting her guard down. She inwardly shook her head as she placed the last dish into the dishwasher, turned off the running tap, and dried off her hands quickly on the handcloth hanging off the oven handle. In the background, tv speakers were blasting sports commentary and the sound of her mother chopping vegetables.

Leigh joined her mother at the table, and sighed, finally sitting down after a day of chores. Amara Johansson was beautiful, and although she was well into her forties, her smooth skin and lush hair were unmatched. Leigh had her eyes, the sharp almond-shaped ones. She was the most hardworking person Leigh knew, managing both of them as a single mom. And when Leigh had come out to her mother, Leigh hadn't felt a bigger relief when her mother had opened her arms for a hug.

Her mother set the knife down on the table and leaned forward. "I didn't know you and Nora made up."

Leigh looked up from her phone and pressed her lips together. "Yea, I didn't know either."

Leigh's mother narrowed her eyes. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Leigh shrugged. "I don't know, mom. She needed some help with a project," she explained, pausing to decide whether she should tell mother that she was actually helping Nora figure out a suicide case. 

Amara leaned back twirled her knife on the table absentmindedly. "Honey I,-" she started slowly, leaning back, "is there something going on between you two?" 

Leigh felt her face burn but before she could explain herself, her mother quickly cut her off.

"Not that I would mind, but I think that you two should, you know, maybe take some time?"

Leigh took a deep breath in. "Mom, it's been two years. We're working together on a project together, that's it. You know I would tell you if it was anything otherwise."

Her mother hummed in acknowledgment, before twisting in her chair to lower the volume of the TV. "I just want you to know that no person is worth chasing at the cost of your happiness. Men come and go baby, but only women are cold," she whistled, shaking her head.

Leigh shifted in her chair uncomfortably. If there was any true statement, it was that. She knew better than anyone. "Yea, yea, I get it."

"Good. I've set up a hoop in your room when you went to take a shower. Go shoot some hoops, baby," Amara smiled, winking before taking her plate full of chopped chilies and tomatoes into the kitchen.

Leigh muttered thanks before limping off to her room, still not being able to shake off the awkwardness post their conversation. Talking about your broken love life with your mother can only be so helpful.

Like her mother said, there was a small hoop fixed on the back of her door, and a tiny indoor basketball sitting on her unmade bed. Leigh jumped in bed, and shot a couple of hoops, leaning against the bed frame, as the small ball bounced off the door and came back to her every time, in sync with the clock ticking.

She was mildly aware that there were 5 unanswered messages from Nora sitting in her inbox, and they were all related to going to the police station, but Leigh had been putting it off as long as she could. There was just a week left until school started and Leigh inwardly hoped that Nora's excitement about the case would begin to die down before school started.

Her phone buzzed next to her, and she saw her mom's face appear next to a small message.

take a hot shower if you need to :)

Leigh didn't second guess her mother's advice and peeled off her clothes, jumping into a hot shower. The scalding water hit Leigh's skin like bullets, but she could feel the tension in her muscles begin to soothe and ease away. She shaved, moisturized, and applied some fancy serum her mother had left on her dirty bathroom counter Whatever it was, it smelled good, and Leigh was impressed with what a good shower did to you. She threw on a pair of sweatpants, her favorite sports bra, and a flannel, leaving the bathroom feeling like she was on top of the world. 

That was until she saw someone sitting on the bed, her eyes as wide as saucers.

Leigh deadpanned, every drop of excitement leaving her body. "Nora, what a pleasure seeing you here."

****

Leigh suddenly felt like she was naked. Her hair was still wet, and flannel clung to the not yet dried parts of her arm. She slowly closed the bathroom door without turning around and narrowed her eyes, backing up against the wall. "How did you get into my room?"

Nora chuckled nervously. "Your mom let me. She told me you would be coming out soon, so I just decided to wait in the room."

Leigh lifted an eyebrow. "Wait for me until I came out of the shower? What if  I was naked?" Leigh pushed, still not over the fact that Nora was in her bedroom.

Nora's cheeks colored. "Well, I-," she stammered, "that's a different story."

Leigh pursed her lips, about to make a snarky comment but Nora cut her off.

"You haven't responded to my texts, and I know you've seen them. What's that about? I thought we agreed on the police station."

Leigh turned to her closet and sifted through the hangers, sliding the flannel off her arms. She could feel Nora's eyes burning into her back, waiting for an answer, but Leigh didn't have one, so she silently pulled a hoodie over her head and sat on her computer chair. 

"I was busy," Leigh explained, after moments of awkward silence. Nora looked like she was either about to cry or burst into a rage but Leigh couldn't differentiate the two. 

"You don't realize how important to me this is. You can't back out of it now."

Leigh swayed. "I'm not backing out, I'm just, " she paused, trying to find the right words, "just being a little careful, taking my time."

Nora rolled her eyes and stood up. "Anyway, I just came to tell you that I'm picking you up tomorrow at nine in the morning. We are going to the police station,"  she said, crossing her arms.

Leigh shrugged. Her eyes slid to Nora's phone which was repeatedly lighting up with texts. She raised an eyebrow. 

"Someone's blowing up your phone," she stated, suddenly feeling her heartbeat quicken.

Nora looked over her shoulder and blew out a frustrated breath. "I totally forgot about Dave."

"Dave?" 

Nora typed away on her phone, her eyes glued to her screen. "My boyfriend. I was supposed to be at his house right now. I completely forgot," she said absentmindedly. 

Leigh felt her jaw clench and she turned away, pretending to flip a page of her calendar to hide her sudden unwanted emotion. "Your boyfriend," she repeated. "I didn't know you were seeing someone."

Leigh could hear Nora put her phone back onto her table, and she turned around, convincing herself that her emotions were under control. 

"Yea, I met him in September at the cafe," Nora smiled. "The first time we met, he had spilled chili sauce all over my shirt."

Leigh pursed her lips. "That's fun."

Nora gave Leigh a half-smile, a small dimple appearing. It made Leigh go feral.  She felt her heart rip into two pieces. 

"Trust me, it wasn't. But he made it up later," she winked, laughing. 

Leigh wasn't paying attention anymore. She should have never taken up Nora-Jane's offer. The world wasn't fair. Nora wasn't even into girls. She was childish for seeing a glimmer of hope when it wasn't even there.

"Earth to Leigh?" Nora's slender fingers slid in and out of Leigh's vision.  "What do you think about him?"

Leigh stared at Nora, the curve of her lips, her left dimple, the tousle of her hair, and the realization sunk in, that no matter how much she kept believing, Nora would and could never be hers. She now just had one job, help Nora with the case, then get as far away from her as possible.

Leigh plastered a smile on her face.

"He seems wonderful."

***