Page 7 of Places We've Never Been

“So shady.” His eyes got big and then he laughed. “Here, look. She gave this to me.” He pointed at the beads and to the letters on each of them. “I guess it’s from when she was a kid.” He picked up my hand and slid it on my wrist.

I played with the beads. “Vintage.” Then my eyes popped up to his. “Where’s yours?”

“Mine?”

“It’s a best friend’s bracelet. I wear one and you wear the other.”

He shrugged. “I guess whoever her best friend was at the time has the other half.”

“Should we try to steal it?” I asked.

“Of course we should,” he said, that playful glint shining in his eyes because we always found each other’s jokes funny, never odd.

“What are you going to do?” Willow’s voice brought me out of my memory.

Skyler had shut the door to the RV and was walking to where my brother and Austin stood, still catching up.

“Skyler!” I heard Ezra say, and then they hugged.

“Is he really not going to come over here?” Willow asked. “I take back my implication that he is hot. He is no longer hot.”

Hearing her say he was hot was strange to me. I mean, I wasn’t blind. He was attractive. But I couldn’t think of him as anything other than the kid I’d spent so much time with.

“His brother, on the other hand,” Willow said, assessing Austin. “Can I call dibs?”

“He’s nineteen,” I said.

“And?”

“And gay.”

“You should’ve led with that one,” she said.

“Probably true. Come on, I’ll introduce you to everyone before you leave.” Because like I’d told Ezra, this was only going to be weird if we made it weird.

“Okay.”

Austin turned toward us first as we walked across the grass to join the group. “Hey, Norah.” He switched into a high-pitched voice, obviously imitating his mom, and added, “You’re all grown up.”

I pointed at the hair on his chin. “Is thisyourattempt at being grown up?”

Skyler laughed and my first bit of hope returned. I wanted to give him a hug, like my brother had, like we always used to, but I hesitated and the window of time where it wouldn’t have been awkward passed.

“This is my friend Willow, guys. Willow, this is Austin and Skyler.”

“Hello,” she said.

“Nice to meet you,” Ezra said, and Willow punched him in the arm. My brother grabbed her fist in his hand to keep her from doing it again. Willow was one of my only friends who had never been starstruck by Ezra and his high school fame status. She had never been giggly or silly around him and I loved her for that.

“How did Norah talk you into three weeks in an RV?” Austin asked.

Willow shook her head. “Oh, no, that’s not happening. I just came here to help Norah pack and check out my competition.” She gave Skyler a hard stare. “Now that I’m sure I have none, I’m taking off.”

I elbowed her and she laughed.

“Call me,” she said. After a hug for me and a wave to everyone else, she climbed into her car and drove away.

Ezra and Austin were rehashing memories from freshman year like they talked all the time—laughing and finishing each other’s sentences. Skyler and I stood silent, listening, as if we’d never met before this moment.