Page 91 of Meet Me at the Metro

Nora laces her hand in mine and gives a comforting squeeze. As her thumb circles around my skin, I’m beginning to realize that I’ve never known a comfort like this before—one that comes from just existing in a moment like this with her.

“W-would you come with me?”

“To dinner? Y-you want me to come?”

“Yeah, I do,” I nod adamantly. “I really want you there. That isif youwantto come.”

“Of course I do, but is Kim okay with me being there?”

“Yes.” I didn’t ask her, but it’ll be fine.

I pull Nora into my arms, feeling calm for the first time since I read Kim’s first text. After a long moment passes, I ask, “Can you answer me a question?”

She pulls back from our embrace, nodding. “Yeah.”

“Who did you think I was texting?”

“No one…”

Nora pushes off the wall and continues down the busy sidewalk. I hurry after her and join her side. “You’re a terrible fucking liar.”

“Am not,” she giggles.

The lights are off when we make it to Harvey, Evie, and Nora’s flat, so we remain as quiet as possible and make our way back into Nora’s bedroom. She shuts her door as soon as we slip inside.

I scan the small space that used to be mine, quietly admiring it. A warm glow illuminates the room from a string of lights messily hung along her ceiling. They’re a new addition since I was last here, along with the three new posters she tacked against one of the walls.

She’s brought a lot more life to this space than I ever could.

Nora is tending to her record player when I glance back at her, setting it up against her bedside dresser. She opens its case so the turntable is on display and puts on a vinyl. The first song ofFunny Girlbegins playing with a warm crackle.

She watches it spin, looking so proud and grateful. “It’s so perfect,Teddy.”

I smirk. “I thought you’d think so.”

I plop down against her small, springy mattress and stretch out my limbs until my entire length takes up the bed. I chuckle at the way my lower legs and feet dangle off of the edge.

“What’s got you so tickled back there?”

“Oh, nothing. It’s just your bed...”

“What about my bed?”

“It’s made for a fucking hobbit,” I laugh.

Nora turns, and her eyes sparkle with amusement when she sees how terribly disproportionate the bed and I are. “I think it’s plenty big enough.”

I can’t take my eyes off her as she shimmies her skirt off of her legs and crawls onto the bed. She slips beneath the covers underneath me, stretching out dramatically and smooshing me until my head thumps against the wall.

“Ahhh. See? Plenty big enough.”

“You’re an arsehole, you know that?”

She giggles. “Have you ever realized that you say‘ass’with an‘r’in it?”

“It’s the correct pronunciation, thank you very much.”

“It’s not!”

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