Forget Me Not

SO HOW WAS ‘WORK’?” RORY asks, taking a long slurp of coffee from a classic chunky mug stamped with the Dinor’s red-and-yellow logo. I can hear the air quotes, like she’s still not sure she believes that’s where I was, but I decide to ignore them.

“It was so bad that I literally am not ready to talk about it yet,” I reply. I consider telling them about Nora, but they probably wouldn’t appreciate me making plans to hang out with her when I’ve apparently been a crappy friend to them recently. “What have you guys been—”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up!” Savannah tries to whisper, while somehow managing to shout. I watch her blue eyes track something coming up behind me, and I turn around to find a boy our age, with a red apron tied around his waist.

“Hey.” He looks right at me, recognition filling his brown eyes, but none fills me. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever seen another Asian kid in this town, or even in the county. I can’t help but be surprised. “I heard what happened. Holy shit, I’m so glad you’re okay,” he continues.