Page 51 of Places We've Never Been

“I’m kidding, Norah,” Paisley said. “I suck. Let me see your pics.”

I handed her my phone and while she was looking, a text buzzed through.Did you take the quiz yet?

“What quiz?” Paisley asked.

“Oh, it’s a best friends’ quiz Willow sent me.”

“Ooh, I’ll give it to you. Can I?” Her finger hovered over thelink.

“Go ahead.”

“You’re really not going to do your project?” Skyler said.

“Shhh, be still, Dad. I’ll get to it.”

Skyler’s jaw clenched with those words, which let me know his relationship with his dad still wasn’t his favorite. He didn’t say anything, though, just continued to clean up her drawing. He wasn’t making it in his own style, the one I remembered; he was just taking what she had and making it a better version ofitself.

“Okay, question one.” She paused before reading it. “You two used to be best friends, right?”

“That’s the question?” I asked.

“No.” She looked up. “You and Skyler. I’m giving you two this quiz.”

“What?” Skyler said, sliding the finished lizard back to her. “Pass.”

“No, come on, it will be fun.” She turned her attention back to my phone. “First question: Do you know their phone number by heart?”

Of course I knew Willow’s phone number by heart. But was I taking this quiz about Willow or Skyler?

“We didn’t have phones at the time,” Skyler said, obviously deciding to participate after all.

“And you didn’t give each other your numbers when you got them?” she asked.

“She’s in my phone,” he said.

“Same,” I returned. We had mostly communicated through DMs on social media, though.

“But not memorized?” Paisley said, clucking her tongue. “First question failed.” She scrolled on. “Question number two: Do you know the name of the first person they had a crushon?”

“Cynthia Fields,” I answered quickly. “You had a thing for her, right?”

“In like the third grade,” Skyler said, giving me a sideways glance.

“It said the first.”

“True.” He studied me for a moment before he said, “Leo Morales.”

I gasped. “I did not!” I scrunched my nose. “Fine, I did.”

“I knew it!” he said.

“Good job. That’s a star for both of you,” Paisley said. “What about first pets?”

“Too easy,” I said. “Goldie Goldfish.”

“Aw, poor Goldie,” Skyler said; then he tapped his fingers on the table. “Your dad’s allergic, but I do remember you had an outdoor cat once. You named it Velma because you were such a nerd.”

“It was a good name,” I said. We rounded a curve on the road and an empty water bottle someone had left on the counter fell to the floor, rolling until it hit the wall. I stood and swiped it up, depositing it into our recycle container.