"Well, it was good seeing them."
"They missed you. I figured it would be a good idea to bring you. And it was," She smiled at me. "And you got to meet Esther, the cutest baby on earth!"
"Yeah, she was pretty cute. I can't believe they're parents now."
"Right? It feels like just yesterday we all were at the Frosted Formal sophomore year."
I sighed.
"Is something on your mind?"
"I just...it's nothing."
"Are you sure? Noah, you know you can talk to me."
We sat in silence for a while.
"I feel like a failure," I blurted out. "I mean, you three have accomplished so much already. A teacher, an RN and a lawyer? And Zoe and Camden had a baby? I moved back here because I couldn't get into any school and it was also easier for me to be here when I found out Violet had been captured and I just...I haven't done anything with my life and I feel so..useless."
You idiot, what are you doing? Why are you saying all this to her? You can't just unload like that onto someone. But it is her...no! Get your act together. She's engaged..was engaged. Does she still care for him? Was Camden right? Does she still care for me at all? No, don't think like that. I mean, should I? I was very confused.
I buried my face in my hands. She probably thought I was a complete loser.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have..."
"Hey," she interrupted. "It's okay. We're all overachievers anyways. You're only 23, you still have so much time to figure things out. And believe me, Zoe and Camden were talking about wedding plans and baby names when we were 17. You've seen how crazy in love they are; it's not really a surprise that they have a family already. And we all kinda knew what we wanted to do after high school. Did you know?"
"Not really.."
"Exactly. And that's okay; almost nobody knows. You've taken this nice little break, and when the trial is over, you can start trying again. You'll get it eventually. You're pretty smart, Noah, you just have to start trusting yourself."
I sighed and slumped in my seat.
"Yeah,"
"Hey, do you wanna go grab lunch?"
"It's like 3 o'clock."
"And?"
"Okay."
"Or I can just take you back to the office."
"No, lunch is fine."
***
As we sat down to eat, I took a look at her. She had definitely grown up since I'd left. Her beautiful golden locks now sat just below her shoulders, her sapphire eyes still shone bright, and she held herself with confidence. I noticed the little things, like how she wore a little more makeup and how it made her eyes sparkle. I saw that she had gotten her double's pierced along with the upper part of her ear. She still wore that golden necklace with the W on it that she had gotten from her sister years ago.
I'd always thought she was pretty, but damn. Time has obviously been kind to her.
"So, tell me a little bit about your time in New York."
"Eh, it was..alright. It wasn't super exciting if that's what you're wondering."
"Well what exactly did you do then? Like day to day stuff?"
"Winnie, I literally sat in my room all day. It was just like when I lived with the Morgans. At first, my parents tried to reconcile with me, but I had no intentions of liking them. Not after they abandoned me and then took me away from you guys."
"So what happened?"
"Well they went back to pretending I didn't exist. But they gave me a room in their house, so at least they didn't kick me out. I spent time with Jack whenever I could; he's a pretty good guy actually. Nothing like our parents. He felt guilty for not looking for me sooner, so he'd take me around the city after work and stuff. And Jayden was fine; sure he was a punk at first, but I could stand him more when I saw him less."
"Jayden?"
"Oh yeah. Jayden's my younger brother."
"Ouch."
"You got that right. But y'know, life likes to throw crap at us, right?"
"Yeah," Winnie sighed. "Yeah, I definitely feel that."
We continued to eat in silence for a little while. It was kinda nice, just living in the moment. I missed this so much. No, we were not on a date, but I was enjoying spending time with Winnie, time spent that wasn't just us talking about the trial.
"What about you? What's been going on with you since I've been gone?" I asked.
"Well, you know about the lawyer stuff, and the stuff with Zoe and Camden. What else do you want to know?"
"What happened between you and your fiance? If you don't mind me asking."
"It's fine. A lot happened, actually. Once we got engaged, it was like our relationship changed. I mean, technically it had, but we stopped agreeing on things, we argued a lot. It just didn't work out so I ended it. Also..." She brushed her hair back from her right shoulder. A thin white scar lined her collarbone.
"He did that to you?"
She nodded.
"During one of our arguments, he threw one of my law school textbooks at me and that was when I decided I'd had enough."
"Well I'm glad you got out of there. It doesn't sound like it was a very healthy relationship."
"Yeah, I'm realizing that now..." She looked down at the floor, visibly upset.
"Hey, it's okay, Win. He's gone now. You don't have to worry about him." I scooted my chair over to her side so I could rest my hand on her shoulder.
"You're right. I don't need him. I've done pretty well without him these past couple months. I am an independent woman. I don't need no...man," She hesitated as we looked into each other's eyes. "I need..nobody.."
"Nobody?"
"Nobo..."
She stopped and I felt her lips brush against mine for a second. I gave her a tiny smile before she pulled me in for a deeper kiss. Before I could relish in the moment, she shoved me away.
"Winnie?"
"No, no, no! We can't do this,"
"What?"
"It-it-it'd be a conflict of interest," she stood up in a panic. "I-I can't do this. I can't do this to myself again." She was mumbling to herself.
"Hey, what's going on?" I stood up and reached for her but she turned away.
"We cannot be together, Noah. Not until after the trial. Then maybe we can, I don't know, try again. But right now, this is not happening. This is not.." She squeezed her eyes shut for a sec as a couple tears trickled out.
She dug through her wallet and handed me a $20 bill. "I will see you next Monday, and we will not discuss this. And call yourself an Uber."
With that, she bolted out the door without a second glance. I set the money on the table and sat down in defeat and disbelief.
Teehee lots of plot points here
Start from the beginning
