“How hungover are you?” he then asked me, seemingly enjoying watching me flinch at every loud noise the city had to offer.

“On a scale of one to ten? Seven. A very solid seven.”

Noah smirked. “How’s the new school?”

“It’s fine. How’s Magnolia treating you?”

“Can’t complain. I’m actually liking it.”

“Cool. Did you have sociology with Mrs. Pearson yet?”

“Shit, no,” he said, suddenly concerned. “Everyone keeps asking me that, but no one will ever explain why her class is so important.”

“It’ll be an experience; I can assure you,” I said cryptically, turning to him and smiling.

“In a good way, right?”

I simply raised both eyebrows, still smiling.

It was then I noticed he was freezing. When I turned to face Noah, I realized he wasn’t wearing a jacket.

“Are you insane?” I said, coming to a full stop and dropping my backpack on the pavement.

And yes, it wasn’t lost on me how odd it was having a former mental patient asking someone if they were in full possession of their mental faculties.

“What?” Noah asked, clueless.

“You’re gonna freeze to death.” I took off my jacket and handed it to him.

“I forgot to grab mine,” he said, taking the jacket from me.

He didn’t put it on; he merely stared at it for a few moments.

“This is your favorite jacket,” he said, without making eye contact.

“So? Put it on, dumbass.” I took his backpack from him so he could put on my jacket.

He did so without protesting. I was three inches taller, but it actually looked good on him.

“Your friends keep asking me about you,” Noah said, still refraining from looking me in the eye.

“Yeah, I haven’t been very good at keeping in touch. Sorry about that.” I handed him back his bag and resumed our walk. We were two blocks away from Magnolia.

“I just…I never know what to say.” He looked down at the pavement.

For a moment, I wasn’t sure if we were both talking about the same thing.

“Noah—”

“I gotta go,” he said, already walking faster, away from me.

I could never get Noah to talk about that night. To be fair, it wasn’t a conversation I was eager to have either. But as time passed and the longer I’d been back, it seemed to get more important to discuss it—though the longer we took ignoring it also made it harder for the subject to get casually inserted into normal conversation.

*