"I don't know what to say." She says.
I stare back at her. How can she not know what to say? Surely she has something to say. "Maybe that you don't hate me."
She smiles at me. "Riley how could I ever hate you? You're the best person I've ever met."
Wow. I didn't expect that. Now I don't know what to say. "So you're not mad?"
"I wouldn't say I'm not mad." She says carefully.
It couldn't be totally easy could it? "I'm sorry Nora. I meant to tell you earlier it just-"
"I'm not mad at you Riley." She says laughing.
"Umm I'm confused." I say.
"I'm mad that you've got cancer and I'm mad that you're not going to be around for as long as I would have thought." She says.
"Oh," I breath.
She's not mad. She's not dissappointed in me. She's okay.
She takes a rather unsteady breath for Nora. "I'm just a bit shocked."
"But you're not upset that I didn't tell you straight away?" I ask hesitantly.
"No. God no. I know why you didn't. I mean how weird would it be had you burst out and said the first time we met, 'By the way I'm dying.' I mean I'd have run a mile."
"So you really are okay with this?" I ask. My heartbeat in slowly returning to normal and the sweat on my palms has begun to dry.
"Okay with it? Riley how could I be okay with the fact that my friend is dying? That I will not get to spend another summer with him?" Her voice catches on the last word.
I should be focusing on the fact that she isn't upset but instead all my stupid little brain zooms in on is the fact that she just very clearly friendzoned me. "Technically I wouldn't have met you otherwise. I never would have come to Australia had I not got cancer and I never would have been so bold in running after you that first day."
Nora jolts upright. "You ran after me?"
Oh no. Oh no no no. I did not just let that slip. Oh no. "I-"
"You followed me?" She says cleary outraged. What have I done? Someone please invent an undo button, like right now.
"I didn't follow you. I just umm walked in the same direction that you ran one morning."
"You stalked me? That's how you knew I was in the bookstore. What the hell is wrong with you? What else have you been hiding you sicko!" She's begun to stand up. No please Nora. Listen. Listen to me. Why is this upsetting to her but not me keeping my illness from her?
"No I didn't. I went back home because you were too fast. It was a coincidence finding you in that bookstore. I swear." I stand up as well.
I can see the fury and betrayel in her eyes. What have I done? I am such an idiot.
"It all makes sense. It all makes so much sense." She laughs bitterly. "Of course no decent guy could be interested in me. Of course I couldn't make a nice and normal friend my own age."
"Nora please, just calm down. I am not a stalker." I take her hand but she tears it away.
"Don't touch me. Do not touch me." She yells.
"Please Nora, don't do this."
"No you don't do this. Tell me you were lying. Tell me you showing up at the markets that day and then at the beach were not you following me. Tell me you did not run after me." Something changes on her face. "It was Dylan wasn't it? He put you up to this. I knew seeing him in town meant nothing but good."
YOU ARE READING
Nora
Fiksi Remaja"It was an infatuation with an unattainable girl. You were in love with the idea of her. Not her."-Riley Lawrence, expert in love and how to survive high school. Riley Lawrence is a survivor. His friend Nora (and the love of his short life) is a fi...
