Nina had been sitting at her desk, looking through the twelve-page study outline for the AP history midterm, which was in two days. It had just occurred to her that she was in serious trouble since she’d had no time at all to even think about studying for it. She’d been busy with the council, as well as four other midterms and the fifteen-page paper that she’d just handed to Frost that afternoon. She almost told Mel she couldn’t pick her up, but when she heard the panic in Mel’s voice, she accepted her fate and headed for her car.
She was doomed anyway. Might as well go down helping a friend.
Mel was waiting for her on a bench outside of Mortimer’s, huddled in her blue coat. She got up when she saw Nina pull into the lot and quietly let herself in.
“What’s going on?” Nina said. “Are you sick?”
With that, Mel dissolved completely into tears. Nina quickly pulled into a parking space and wrapped Mel in a hug.
“What happened? Are you okay?”
“Shewu call mee,” Mel gasped.
“Shheeeeewuughghhcalllghmeee.”
It took ten minutes of sobbing and hiccuping before Mel was able to relate the story clearly enough for Nina to understand.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Nina said when Mel was through. She reached into the well between the seats and pulled out a tiny pack of Kleenex. Mel worked her way through half the pack.
“Can I ask you something?” Nina said tentatively. sure.
“How did you know?” Nina asked. “About being gay. What was it?”
Mel rubbed the tip of her nose and looked over in surprise. Nina realized that this was the first time she’d ever really asked. Some friend she’d been.
“I didn’t really get it at first,” Mel said. “I thought I just really liked certain people. And then I realized that I really liked certain people. And then I noticed they were all girls.”
“You don’t like guys at all?”
“I like them,” Mel said. “I think they’re nice. But I never felt anything. Not like what other girls seemed to feel.”
“How long have you known?” Nina asked.
“A long time,” she replied softly. “Years, probably.”
Mel sniffed for a minute and made a little pyramid of the tissues.
“I don’t want you to feel like I thought Avery was better than you or something,” she continued. “I think you’re beautiful and great. No offense. I swear.”
“I never …”
“It’s okay,” Mel said. “But just so you know. You’re wonderful—but it’s not like that. In my mind, you’re Nina.”
“But Avery is Avery,” Nina said. “How is it different?”
“You know how you can sometimes tell when a person might like you?” Mel explained. “There’s just something about the way they look at you or the way they keep trying to talk to you? Probably like you and Steve.”
“Yeah,” Nina said, stiffening at the sound of his name. “It was like that.”
“I just want to give her another day or two,” Mel said, sniffing. “I think it’s just hard for her to get used to the idea of people knowing.”
The words wanted to jump free of Nina’s mouth—I saw Avery with Gaz.
“Mel …” she said.
She clamped down her back teeth again. Mel slumped against Nina’s side, and Nina stroked her hair.
As they sat there, Nina realized that this was the first time in a long while that she hadn’t been on the sidelines watching. She knew something that Mel didn’t. She was needed. She was involved. And she could, potentially, use what she knew to get Avery to talk to her. Avery owed her, after all.
She felt a sudden surge of enthusiasm. She sat Mel upright.
“I’ll talk to her,” Nina said.
“I don’t think she wants to talk.”
“She needs to talk, Mel. It might be easier for her to talk to me because I’m kind of uninvolved. I know how to facilitate. I spent all summer learning about facilitation.”
“This is us. This is the three of us. We can fix this.”
This was the first time in months that the “we” actually included Nina. Mel seemed to realize this too because her eyes lit up.
“We can?”
“Totally.”
Over Mel’s shoulder Nina saw a familiar red car come into the lot. It was The Roach.
“Parker’s here,” she said.
Mel opened up the window and waved to him, and he pulled up alongside and got out of his car. His hair was all over the place, and he was wearing a pair of rumpled jeans and a long wool coat. Also he had on glasses, which Nina had never seen him in before. She guessed that he’d gotten out of bed to come and get Mel. Nina unlocked the doors and he climbed into the back.
“Hey,” he said curiously, looking between the two of them. “Party in the parking lot?”
“I had a moment,” Mel said quietly. “I kind of ran away from work.”
“Shit. You okay?”
“Now I am.” Mel looked over at Nina shyly. “Park knows all about it. All about it.”
Parker nodded and stifled a yawn.
“Things okay now?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Mel said while wiping away a rogue tear and mustering a smile for Nina. “They’re going to be fine.”