Before the Morning [BEING EDITED]

22 | Unicorn Float

The service came and went. Riley, of course, had roped Nolan into participating. He hadn't even been surprised when she'd grabbed him a plate and a yellow marker, fully expecting him to make his own mask.

After the service was over, he'd tried to recycle it. What did he need it for? But Riley had shot out a hand before he could drop it into the recycling bin. "If you throw it out, we can't be lion buddies!" she'd cried.

So, basically, now he had a lion mask.

He turned it in his hands now as he rode in the backseat of Mr. Sison's—Nathan's—car, Nora at his side. It was, to say the least, a piece of crap. Sporadic scribbles of yellow, because he was too lazy to color the whole thing. Some orange to create a mane. Different sized googly eyes because that's what Riley had handed him. Some whiskers. And a frowny face, this added by Riley, because she wanted it to look more like him.

"You know," Nora joked, "I think the mask looks just like you."

He held the mask to his face. She laughed.

"I can't even tell the difference."

He dropped the mask onto his lap, smiling.

"Though, a smiley face would have worked just as well," she said. His smile grew.

"You have your camera, right, No-No?" Willow asked from her place in the front seat.

He nodded and held up his camera bag.

"You're not going to fall asleep in the pool, are you?" Nathan said to Willow. "I kind of like you alive."

"You know she's a mermaid," Nora said.

"Crap. I forgot."

"And that fact was supposed to be a secret," Willow said, side-glancing Nolan dramatically. "Gosh. I can't tell you guys anything."

Soon enough, they pulled into Willow's driveway and hopped out of the car. A white, two-story home with an attached garage waited for them as they ambled up the pathway, toward the front porch. It was nice. The red front door reminded Nolan of Chris's house.

His stomach twisted.

"You okay?" Nora asked.

"Yeah," he said. "I'm fine."

He followed Nathan inside. In the foyer, Nathan and Willow kicked off their shoes and then set them neatly in a line on the wall. "Food!" Willow called, and disappeared into the dining room.

"Water!" Nathan said, throwing his fist in the air and following his daughter out of the room.

Nolan took off his shoes and set them next to Willow's. He was just about to follow them when Nora caught his hand.

"You sure you're okay?" she asked.

He glanced down at their hands. He was surprised and slightly terrified by the want to pull her closer. "Yeah," he said. "You?"

She smiled, and any trace of her troubled expression from earlier was gone. "Yeah."

The door burst open, and they dropped their hands.

"The party's here!" Andy shouted, entering with Erin and Max in tow. He spotted Nora and Nolan still standing by the shoes. "Oh. I yelled for no damn reason."

"Swear jar," Nora said.

Andy stuck out his tongue, then kicked off his shoes. "Last filming day!" he shouted. "Let's do this!"

✝

Setup was quick: Nolan placed the camera a safe distance from the pool and connected it to his tripod. All he had to do now was wait for Willow, Andy, Max, and Erin to gear up and get into the pool.