Chapter 7 Noelle
7 Noelle
I can’t believe it. After thinking I was the only one for so long, it turns out that I have company in the time loop. I nearly cry in relief.
“Yes!” I say. “I am.”
“Oh, thank god,” she says. “I thought it was just me. I’m Avery, by the way.”
“Noelle.”
“Did you eat dumplings at the booth next to the noodle place? There’s nothing there today, but I swear, on the first June twentieth—”
“Yes, I did.”
“It’s not on the night market website—”
“That’s right!” I say. “I checked. Couldn’t find anything.”
I shouldn’t interrupt Avery, but it’s so exciting to find someone who’s experiencing the same thing as I am.
Deciding we should discuss this further, we walk a couple of blocks to a coffee shop, where it’s a littler quieter. We sit on the patio with our drinks.
Avery is dressed casually, in shorts and a tank top with horizontal stripes, a black bag slung across her body; she didn’t remove it when we sat down. Square frames are perched on her nose. I figure she’s a few years younger than me.
“I stopped going to work after the first repeat,” she says.
“Me too. What’s the point? Although I did some work one evening because I wasn’t sure what else to do with myself.”
“I’ve dyed my hair three different colors. Pink is my favorite. Blue looked ghastly, but at least it was gone the next day.”
“I’ve never wanted to dye my hair, but I did like trying a new haircut consequence-free. If I ever get out of this, I’ll get that haircut for real.”
“I assume you’ve attempted to get out of the loop,” she says. “What have you tried?”
“One night, I stayed up as long as I could. It appears the reset time is three in the morning, because all of a sudden, I found myself back in bed, waking up to my alarm. On the twentieth.”
“Oh! I never thought to try that. The dumpling lady… did she tell you that the dumplings would give you what you needed most?”
“She did,” I say. “And I was hungry. I needed food.”
Avery laughs. She has a booming laugh.
“Is it your birthday too?” she asks.
“What? No. It’s yours?”
She nods. “When I was a kid, I’d have thought reliving my birthday would be great fun, but it’s not so fun when your boyfriend forgets about it.”
“And now you have to relive him forgetting over and over.”
“Exactly. It’s awful.”
“I can imagine. I wonder if anyone else is stuck in this loop with us?”
“I don’t know,” she says, “but I’m very glad to have you found you. I couldn’t talk to anyone else about it. Even if I got someone to believe me—”
“You’d have to explain it again tomorrow.”
“Yeah. Tomorrow. Whatever that even means now.”
I can’t remember the last time I clicked with someone I just met, but these are unusual circumstances—though aren’t friendships often about circumstance? You know, the people who happen to be in your class when you’re a kid. As you get older…
Well, I’ve struggled to make friends as an adult. I’m not close with any of my coworkers.
“I still don’t understand how we got into this mess,” I say. “This woman made magical dumplings that can make you repeat the day you ate them?”
“Or maybe they do different things for different people, and they caused the time loop for us because that’s what we need most.”
“But why? Why would someone need to live the same day over and over?”
“Maybe,” she says, “there’s something we each have to do that will get us out of the loop, and what each of us needed was another chance at the day.”
“It was a pretty ordinary day for me. Stayed at the office late, ate dumplings, went home.”
“Well, as I said, it’s my birthday. When I reminded Joe—my boyfriend—about it, he sent me an e-card. An e-card! I complained about his lack of effort, and I got a speech about how celebrating your birthday when you’re over twenty-five is childish and embarrassing.”
“How long have you been together?” I ask.
“Three years.”
“Do you live together?”
“Yeah.”
This is one thing that Avery and I don’t have in common. But as we continue to talk, it becomes clear that there are lots of similarities. We both have steady jobs but don’t have much going on in our lives other than our work. We’re both the oldest of all our siblings. We both grew up in the Toronto area. We both enjoy reading—at least, I’ve rediscovered the joy of reading now that I have more free time. It sounds like she’s a voracious bookworm.
“I admit I’m a bit of a workaholic,” I say. “I don’t like doing anything but my best, and sometimes it feels like, because I’m so competent, they just keep piling more stuff on me, knowing I’ll get it done. But I’ve stopped working, and clearly that didn’t get me out of this situation.”
Avery taps her finger against her chin. “We have to figure out what the dumpling lady would want us to change about our lives.”
“Except we don’t know her at all, and she doesn’t know us.”
“Maybe, by some magic, she does?”
“If so,” I say, “she might not approve of the fact that I’m single in my thirties. She might think I ought to settle down and get married and have kids. Not that I can do all those things if I’m stuck reliving a single day. But…”
“What is it?” Avery leans forward.
“I’ve been hoping to kiss someone. It ended the sleeping spell for Sleeping Beauty, so maybe it’ll end the time loop for me.” I can’t believe I just said that out loud, but here we are. “Unfortunately, my flirting skills leave a little—a lot—to be desired.”
“You have someone particular in mind?”
My cheeks heat as I think of his face. Embarrassed by my physical reaction, I duck my head before saying, “Yes.”
Avery grins. “Tell me about this person.”
“His name’s Cam. That’s about all I know. He, uh… He’s nice.” It seems like an empty word, but what more can I say? “He’s convenient. I know where to find him. I don’t expect anything more to happen, but I figure a kiss is worth a try.”
He won’t remember my failures, so if I make a fool of myself, it won’t matter. Much.
I’ll still remember. I remember silly things I did in elementary school, and that was twenty years ago. But to get out of this time loop, I’m going to have to take risks beyond getting a new haircut.
“Kissing Joe hasn’t gotten me out of this loop,” Avery says.
To be honest, I don’t like the sound of Joe very much. I think he—
That’s it!
It makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? Perhaps we both have to do something about our so-called love lives, but Avery, who seems rather unhappy with the boyfriend who forgot her birthday, has to dump hers, and I have to kiss someone new.
“What about… never mind,” I mumble.
“Do you have an idea to get me out of this?” she asks. “You have to tell me. There are no silly ideas right now.”
I hesitate. Not because I think it’s a silly idea, but because I’m unsure how she’ll react. “I think you should break up with Joe. Maybe breaking up with him… is what you need most,” I say, echoing the dumpling lady’s words. “My ex—for all his faults—never would have acted like Joe did if he forgot my birthday. I’m sure you can do better. Besides, being alone isn’t so bad.”
As soon as I say that, there’s a painful clench in my chest, but it’s not like I need someone else. My life was satisfactory before I started repeating the same day.
I suddenly remember that on the original June 20, I ruminated about being a bad engineering project held together by duct tape. I might be looking at the days when time moved forward with rose-tinted glasses, but at least I wasn’t sobbing on my kitchen floor because of a relationship.
“Joe’s a decent boyfriend,” Avery says.
“Aside from the birthday thing.”
“And the fact that he never cleans the washroom or the kitchen. It’s like he just doesn’t notice when anything’s dirty.” She sighs. “But you’re right. It’s worth a try.”
“If we ever get out of this, I’ll do something nice for your birthday. I promise. What would you want?”
“I don’t even know anymore, but not an e-card.”
“Two e-cards, then.”
She laughs. “I’ll text you after I do it. Let me know how your flirting goes.”
“I can’t see it going well. I asked if he wanted to go on a date tonight. When he inquired why it had to be tonight, I panicked and ran away. I’m no good at this.”
“Maybe you need to do some research.”
“Like, Google how to pick up a guy?”
“I was thinking more along the lines of watching movies to get ideas.”
I believe this suggestion has merit, and it has the added benefit of giving me a reason not to talk to Cam tomorrow.
“I’ll do that,” I say.
She takes out her phone. “What’s your number?”
“You’ll have to memorize it. Your phone won’t remember it tomorrow, and even if you write it in pen on your hand, it’ll be gone.”
“Good call.”
We tell each other our numbers and practice reciting them. It reminds me of when I was little and my mom taught me our home number. I’m not used to memorizing phone numbers anymore.
Then we leave the patio and head to the TTC. We’re going in different directions, and I wave to her as my train arrives.
I can’t help smiling as I step inside. I made a new friend! I can’t remember the last time I made one… and it only took getting stuck in a time loop for that to happen.
But what if I actually get out of the loop thanks to the dumplings I ate earlier?
Well, I can still text Avery. I know her number, and hopefully she’ll be able to receive my texts from the future, and I can tell her how to get out of the loop.
For once, I’m actually looking forward to tomorrow, whatever that happens to be.