Nora immediately tried to forget how Josh’s hand curled around hers, like they could hold hands and be happy here, right now, at the table that looked so much like one of the booths at the diner. They weren’t in the past anymore, and Nora had to keep herself aware of that, never mind how she felt now that Josh was here and that they had some sort of weird connection from the past. She wanted to scoff when Josh told her that the temporary lapse in what was deemed appropriate was nice – mostly because she thought he was trying to be nice. But it was… nice.
Her lips quirked upwards in a smile when Josh told her that she was brave, and she shrugged. “I don’t feel so brave,” Nora admitted quietly, shoving another chip with salsa into her mouth to keep herself from talking more about it. She didn’t want to, now that Josh had told his story. Somehow, she felt like it was more important that he get his story out. Nora was more interested in learning about him than talking about her stupid decisions.
“Agreed,” Nora said with a sigh, wanting to stop even thinking about throwing herself into self-pity again. She needed to stop, or else she was going to get herself into trouble.
“Well,” she started slyly, waggling her eyebrows up and down to be ridiculous, “I was a waitress at a diner.” She grinned. “But you know that already. And I’m just finishing – er, was going to finish – my master’s thesis in film theory.” It felt strange that she wouldn’t ever be finishing that. She had spent so much time on it, obsessing over it, and one day, it just didn’t matter anymore.
“And I have an older brother, Abe, and a younger sister, Grace.” She felt her heart drop to the floor. “Not really sure if they’re alive or not, actually, but Abe was my best friend.”