Noah nodded in acknowledgment when she said her ex was in the army. He was grateful that she didn't ask him more questions about it. He wanted to forget...if only for a few minutes.
"Hm, before? Well, before, I was in high school," Noah answered. "I joined right after 9/11. I graduated high school and took a year off to bum around with some friends. Then, I enlisted and that's that." So much for forgetting. It always pained Noah to realize how much of his life he had seemingly wasted in the army. How much life he had missed out on.
"Are you traveling alone?" he asked, hoping to get the subject off of his non-existent life.