Page 82 of Places We've Never Been

“My ex-boyfriend used to pick on my ex–best friend and I didn’t remember it until tonight.”

“Youforgotthat?”

“I remembered that kids used to pick on Skyler. He was a loner and used to just sit and draw a lot and give certain people dirty looks when they’d try to talk to him.”

“You’re saying he deserved it?”

“No! Not at all. I really thought it was a few kids who said a few mean things. Skyler never mentioned anyone by name and always acted so tough about it. I didn’t think it bothered him that much. I didn’t know one of those kids was Dylan! I didn’t even know Dylan then.”

“You dated your best friend’s enemy. No wonder Skyler hates you. And you thought it was because he suspected you were in love with him. How cute.”

“Not funny!”

“Did Skyler stop talking to you around the time you started dating Dylan?”

“I don’t know. We’d been drifting apart for a while, but maybe…”

“Who sent the last message?” she asked.

“I don’t remember. Hold on.” I took my phone away from my ear and pulled up my DMs, the main way we had communicated. I scrolled and scrolled until I found Skyler, then clicked on his name. My eyes scanned the last message, which was from two years ago. From him.

“Oh no…,” I said.

“What?” Willow’s voice rang out from the speaker.

“He said, ‘Hey, Norah, I miss you. You think your mom would ever let you come visit?’ ”

“Okay,” Willow said. “And your response was?”

“Nothing. My response was nothing, Willow. I read it and didn’t respond. I remember thinking that I’d ask my mom first and see what she thought. I remember being super disappointed when she said no. But I didn’t tell him that! Instead I forgot to respond at all!”

“Wow.”

I groaned and put my hand to my forehead. “And I had just started dating Dylan at that time. That has to be why Skyler thought I didn’t answer. I’m an awful person. Of course he has trust issues.”

“Well good, that mystery is solved. You’re the demon. Do you have one horn or two?”

I groaned again and took the phone off speaker, pressing it to my ear.

“Listen, babe,” she said in a sincere voice. “This is all just a big misunderstanding. Talk to him about it. Clear it up. It will be fine.”

“I would but I just got through calling him a judgmental jerk, so there’s that.”

“Why did you do that?”

“Because he was acting like one, but I didn’t realize the history of his opinion. It makes sense now. Of course he hates my friends. Of course he thinks I’ve turned into a mean girl. I dated one of his tormenters and then started ignoring him!”

“He hates me?”

“He would love you if he knew you.”

“Good answer. But seriously, just explain it to him. And it sounds like you were already drifting apart before the whole Dylan thing.”

“We were.”

“So hopefully he’ll understand.”

“I hope.”