"Have you talked to him?"

Nora tore at the tape that bound one of the many cardboard boxes strewn about what was previously Rachel's guest room. It only traveled halfway down the box before breaking apart. She grumbled under her breath and tossed the piece of tape onto the floor.

"Nora."

She sighed and looked away from the box. Willow was perched on the twin-sized bed, which now donned Nora's bedding from home. Home. It was unnerving, seeing her bedding in a room that wasn't hers. But, this was her room now.

Over the years, Nora had stayed in the guest room numerous times. It was comfortable, just like the rest of the house, and filled with the essentials—bed, dresser, and a nightstand with a lamp on top. Photographs decorated the walls—pictures Rachel had taken while out on her adventures. Would she still go exploring? Or was she stuck here now?

Nora only had good memories of this room. But now, as she scanned the walls, the photographs, the furniture, the walls, she wanted to throw up. "No," she said finally. "And I'm not going to."

She dug at the tape. It barely budged. She sighed and took to searching for the pair of scissors she and Willow had been sharing since they started unpacking thirty minutes ago. Where did they...?

"He was looking out for you," Willow said. "You know that, right?"

Nora shoved boxes around. No scissors to be found.

"Nora."

"Yes." She glared. "I know. But that doesn't change the fact that he lied to me."

"Would you have stayed if he told you the truth?"

Her jaw locked. Of course I would have. But the words—the lie—refused to leave her throat. "That's not the point," she managed.

"What is the point, then?"

She lifted another box. No scissors. Where were they?

"Nora."

She let out an exasperated sigh. "I can't trust him anymore," she snapped. She'd ruined it all—and for someone she couldn't even trust. "Now, can we not spend your last day talking about this? Please?"

The melancholic sympathy on Willow's face simultaneously made her want to throw something and burst into tears. "Okay," Willow said softly. She smiled and held out the scissors.

Nora's gaze flattened, and she took them from Willow's outstretched hand. "Thanks," she said.

"Yup."

"How's it going in here?"

They turned. Rachel leaned against the open doorway, her arms looped over her chest. Nora smiled wanly and looked away.

"It's looking good in here," Rachel said. "You sure you don't want any more help?"

"I'm okay," Nora said. "Thanks, though."

"Okay, hon." There was a little hurt in her smile, and Nora's insides twisted. "Maybe a few more days, and you'll be all set up."

She nodded. All set up. Just another reminder that she wasn't home.

Yes, living with Rachel for the past week had been the most comfortable she'd been in a long time. She didn't have to tiptoe around the house. Didn't have to clean bottles and throw up from the counters and floors. She had someone to laugh with, chat with. This house was warm, light, loving. Everything her home wasn't.

But...

She imagined her dad—sitting on a bench, if in a jail cell, or on his new bed, if in a prison cell. His head bowed. Afraid. Trapped with murderers and who knew who else. Because of what Nolan said to the police after Nathan called them. Because of her.

How could she be happy here when her dad was suffering, again, because of what she'd done?

"It wasn't your fault." Nolan.

Don't think about him.

"He needs someone to blame, and he chose you." She imagined Nolan's arms around her, his hand in hers...

Him deceiving her. All night.

"Let me know when you girls are finished in here," Rachel said, tearing her from her reverie. "We still need to buy some food for your shindig at Nate's tonight."

"I'm good to head out now," Nora said, standing. "These will still be here later, right?"

"That's my girl." Rachel grinned and wrapped an arm around Nora's shoulders. "You coming or what, Will?"

Willow hopped from the bed, and Rachel led them from the room. "Now, try not to take centuries like you did picking ice cream, alright?" she teased.

"That was totally Andy's fault," Willow said.

Nora forced a smile. Picking ice cream. Laughing with her friends. With Nolan. "Totally," she said.

✝

"Yo, Nora! You gonna swim or what?"

Nora plopped into one of the lounge chairs set up a yard away from the pool, a cup of pink lemonade in hand. Across from her, holding himself over the pool's edge, was Andy. He rose his eyebrows expectantly. "Nah!" she said.

The bruise had faded, but not enough. It was still a puke-ish yellow-brown. And she hadn't covered it with makeup just to have it ruined because she wanted to swim.

It sucked, though, because she did want to swim. Andy, Willow, Erin, Max, and Faith hadn't stopped laughing since jumping in twenty minutes before. She could still laugh with them, too, but it was like sitting behind a piece of two-way glass. She was there, but not.

Andy gave up his attempt and swam back to their friends. She sighed and pushed her head back against the chair, her hair slipping beneath the blue and white slits. Just a few more days, and the bruise would be gone. Then, things would go back to normal.

Normal.

"How are you doing?"

She looked up and smiled as Rosamie settled into an adjacent chair. "I'm good," she said.

Rosamie cocked an eyebrow. So, Nathan had told her everything. Not surprising, given that the two told each other everything. Nora was just relieved Willow had kept her word and hadn't said anything to the rest of their friends. For now, anyway. Who knew if she would suddenly go back on her word, too?

"I promise."

"I'm okay," she tried again.

"Okay," Rosamie said. "But if you're not okay, that's okay, too."

"I know."

"Now, who do you want to bet will lose this round of Marco Polo?" Rosamie waved toward the pool. There, her friends and Faith were deep into a round of the game named after the dead explorer. Faith was Marco.

"Erin," Nora said.

"Erin?"

"Definitely."

"Okay th—" Faith grasped Erin's shoulder. "—en."

Nora laughed.

"You know," Rosamie said. "Sticking your feet in the pool could kind of constitute swimming."

Nora perked. "But what if...?"

"I think you'll be okay." Rosamie stood. "Go have fun with your friends."

Nora hopped from her seat. Cup in hand, she strode to the pool, where Erin was now floundering as the new Marco. She grinned.

"I'll be there for you!"

Nora froze as the Friends theme song burst from her back pocket. Her grin fell.

Nolan.

She ripped her phone from her pocket. Her hand shook.

"Marco!"

"Polo!"

She looked up just as Erin flung herself at...well, no one. She sucked in a small breath. Then another. Struggled to unclench her chest.

She tapped Reject and shut off her phone. She shoved it back into her pocket.

"Look who it is!" Andy waved, then bolted to the side when Erin lunged, nearly clipping his arm. "You swimming?"

"No," Nora said. She sat at the edge of the pool and dunked her feet into the water. It wasn't much, but it was enough—now, at least, she was more than an onlooker.

Willow swam over to her. "You joining in?"

"Sure."

"If you get Marco, we'll give you something to throw."

Almost before Willow had finished her sentence, Erin bumped into the wall. "Dang it!" she hollered. "For a second, I thought I got someone."

"Then again, I think you're safe," Willow finished.

Nora laughed.

✝

The next morning, it was time to send Willow to school.

Sullenness always draped over the final trip to the airport. No one spoke of it, not really, but it was there, hidden beneath the jokes, laughter, and idle chit-chat. If one looked carefully, they'd find it in the flickering sad smiles, frowns, averting gazes, twitches of the fingers.

Nora took a swig of her milkshake, grinning as Andy scrunched his face against his own vanilla shake. This was the last milkshake she'd be drinking with Willow for the next nine months. She shoved back a frown—a task made easier when Andy started pounding his knee as though that would warm his freezing brain.

"So pathetic," Willow drawled. She lounged between Nora and Andy in the backseat, toying with the straw of her nearly-empty shake. "Come on, Candy Cane. It's like you've never had a shake before."

"Shut...up." One last grimace, and his face cleared. He sighed. "Damn, that hurt."

The soft clearing of a throat brought their gazes forward. Rosamie, in the passenger seat, tossed a warning frown over her shoulder. Faith, next to Daniel in the middle seats, turned around and wriggled her eyebrows. You're in troooouble.

"Sorry," Andy said.

"Swear jar," Willow whispered when Rosamie faced forward.

"Put it on my tab."

Nora snickered into her straw.

She hadn't even slept over Willow's house since before that morning at Nolan's apartment. Willow stayed the night at Rachel's, and it was fun, but it wasn't the same. The bruise and its significance hung between them, layering every silence with discomfort.

"Hey." Willow leaned her head on Nora's shoulder. "Can you explain to Andy how to drink a milkshake, because, for some reason, he can't figure out how."

She turned away from where her eyes had strayed to the window. "Oh, Candy Cane," she mused, clucking her tongue. There he was again: face scrunched, pounding his knee.

"Why am I friends with either of you?"

"Because you like to feel pain?" Nathan asked from the driver's seat.

Andy looked to the ceiling, as if asking God why he'd been roped with this group of people. Nora smiled. Thank You, she said, glancing upward. For these people. For this moment.

All too soon, they were huddled in the airport's vast waiting area, saying their goodbyes.

Rachel, Max, and Erin were there, too, having driven in a separate car. They, like everyone else, crowded around Willow, clinging to the remaining seconds before she would board the plane.

Willow's arms reached out for everyone. Nora waited, tears threatening. She wasn't ready.

Rosamie wrapped Willow in a bear hug and teetered her from side to side. "I'll miss you so much!" she cried.

"I'm gonna miss you, too." Willow squeezed her mom and pressed her face into her mom's shoulder.

"See you next summer, my man," Willow said, accepting a hug from Max.

"See you next summer, my man."

"Interrupt my nap again, and next summer will be your last," she said.

He chuckled.

"Make sure to keep track of the swear jar," Willow said as she hugged Erin.

"I will," Erin promised.

"You're the worst, Sison," Andy grumbled, wrapping his arms around her.

"Love you too, Candy Cane." She pulled away and punched him lightly on the shoulder.

Andy grinned and punched her back.

Nora reached a trembling hand to her face, her dad's blow ringing in her ears.

She sucked in a tight breath of air.

"Hey."

Nora blinked, and she was back in the airport. Willow smiled and enfolded her in her arms. Nora squeezed Willow as tightly as she could, pressing her face into Willow's shoulder.

"You okay?" Willow whispered.

She nodded.

"You call me whenever you need me, okay? I don't care what time it is."

"I miss you already," Nora whispered.

"Right back at you," Willow said. "Do me a favor?"

Nora pulled away. "Anything."

"Talk to him." Willow held up a hand before Nora could argue. "I'm not saying right now. When you're ready. But try to forgive him, okay?"

Nora pursed her lips.

Nolan, his forehead against hers.

Her dad screaming, "You'll just kill him, too!"

Nolan, his voice soft as he said, "I promise."

Her dad, sitting in a cell.

"Okay," she said.

"Now boarding the 7:30 flight for London, England," an attendant called over the intercom.

"Well, I guess it's time," Willow said. She smiled at everyone, said one last goodbye, and then she was gone, racing to where a line was forming at the gate.

Rachel hugged Nora to her side as Willow disappeared through the door leading to her plane. Nora leaned into her, tears at the edges of her eyes.

Andy, Erin, and Max shifted over to the wall of windows, and Nora followed, the rest of her and Willow's families in tow. Outside sat the runway, all innocent, like it wasn't aiding in the plane's devious plot to steal her friend and send her across the ocean.

"Oh, oh, it's moving!" Erin said.

The plane started down the runway. Even Daniel turned away from his video game long enough to watch it lift off and slowly, surely, turn into a mere dot in the sky.

Nora squinted. The dot...it was gone.

"Okay." Rosamie sighed. "I guess it's time to go home."

"Let's go home," Rachel asked, draping an arm over Nora's shoulders.

Nora smiled. "Okay."