Page 43 of Forget Me Not

She eyes me back, though I can see her resolve slowly crumbling.

“It might be important,” she winces, picking it up and reading the text on the screen. “Besides, don’t you know? Everyone’s always glued to their cellphones nowadays.”

I wait for her to put it back down before she turns to me, waiting for me to respond.

“Let me guess,” she hums. “The infamous Reid Morrison doesn’t have a cellphone?”

“Kind of defeats the whole purpose of doing whatever I want in life, doesn’t it?”

“What about family? Surely, they want to make sure you’re okay.”

When I don’t respond, the smile slowly fades from her face.

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“Stop.”

For once, she actually fucking listens.

“Did they at least have good pizza in North Carolina?” she asks after a long pause filled with nothing but awkward silence.

“Been so long, I don’t remember.”

I neglect to tell her I didn’t get much pizza growing up. If there was food in the house after Mom died, it was because my grandmother brought it. After she died, it was whatever I could manage to get out of Dad before he bought his beer for the week.

Something tells me Nova’s never gone to bed hungry.

As I said, sweet and innocent.

“Well, what part of North Carolina did you grow up in?”

The shit part.

“Let’s just say, we didn’t grow up the same class.”

She narrows her eyes on me.

“Do you think I grew up differently than you?”

Agitation grows inside me. Maybe it’s because I know she’s way too fucking good for me. Maybe it’s because I’ve shoved that distant part of myself so far down, I rarely think about it anymore, or maybe it’s seeing how much people love her, but something is digging up a past that I would rather stay buried.

“I know you did.”

“Okay, Reid, since you seem to know everything about me. What was my childhood like?”

“Probably had anything you could want. Mom and Dad loved each other. Probably still do. You got to spend summers on the island with your Gran and Pap. Probably grew up the sweet, popular girl. Bet Mom and Dad still call you every night, just to make sure their little princess doesn’t need anything, too.” I pause, waiting for her to say something. “Did I miss anything?”

“Just that you’re an asshole,” she snaps, rising from the booth.

Well, fuck.

“Nova,” I grit, but she ignores me and something in me snaps. I reach out for her hand and she freezes, staring down at me with a mixture of hurt and anger on her face. “Please.”

Something flashes across her eyes before it’s masked. Something that looked a whole lot like I’m already in over my head.

“Listen, Reid. You don’t know the first thing about my childhood. Don’t presume to think I won’t understand you just because I grew up with my parents around. Sometimes, it’s not all rainbows and butterflies.”

“I’m sorry,” I grit, dropping her hand and scrubbing my fingers through my hair. Nova watches me, eyes softening before finally taking her seat again.

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