look up at me again and, this time, he graced me with one of his big smiles. The full, little-gap smile that seemed to have the ability to lighten everything around it. Like a lighthouse on a dark night.
“Thanks. You’re a good listener.” He paused for a while and looked at me. “And now we know another thing about you.”
“What?” I reached for my Kit Kat again as the mood in the room lifted.
“Well, you’re obviously a really good friend, and listener.”
“You think?” I asked, perking up. I liked the sound of that.
“I’m pretty sure you’re a good friend to a lot of people.”
And then a thought hit me. An uncomfortable one. “But if I am, then why hasn’t anyone come looking for me yet?”
“I’m sure it won’t be long now,” he said, ignoring my actual question. On purpose, no doubt.
I sat back in my chair and took another bite of my chocolate. But as much as I was enjoying it, it wasn’t enough to drown out a voice in the back of my head that kept asking, why had I not been found yet? Who was looking for me?
“I bet that by this time tomorrow, you’ll be home.” Noah picked up the remote and pointed it back at the TV. The last frame of the chocolate commercial was still frozen there.
I wanted to believe him, I really did, but something inside was finding it hard to do so.
“Right, Game of Thrones, season one, episode one!” Noah announced, pressing play and getting comfortable in the seat. The anthemic theme music blasted into the room and we both jumped in fright as Noah scrambled to turn the volume down.
“The sound is huge on here!” Noah shouted.
“Well, it is the world’s biggest TV,” I replied.
“Are you mocking my TV?”
“Yes!” I replied playfully.
Noah gave me a teasing eye roll followed by a disapproving head shake, and a bolt of something shot through me. I’d never experienced such a bolt before. This was new. This strange feeling that zapped through me, from the center of my chest, all the way to my toes and fingers. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it was wildly uncomfortable. On one hand, I didn’t want it to stop, but on the other hand, I did. Like when something is ticklish for too long and it becomes painful. The music continued to blare, despite it being turned down.
“Did you know that a man named Ramin Djawadi wrote the music, and that sound you’re hearing is a cello?” I gushed, pointing at the screen. It was the only thing I could think of doing to dissipate the way the bolt seemed to be churning in my stomach now. It was no longer a bolt, more of a wave.
“Ha! Another thing we know about you,” Noah pointed back at me.
“What?”
“Facts! You know millions of random facts!”
“Yes, I do! Like I know that the language Dothraki in the show is a real language. It was created by a linguist called David Peterson. You can actually learn it!”
Noah laughed at this. “Take out your list, write it down.”
“Cool. I will.” I took my list out and wrote down the other things I knew about myself:
Hate mosquitos.
Good listener and good friend.
I know facts!
LOVE chocolate. Especially Kit Kat.
I picked my chocolate up, took another bite and then placed it back down on the table.
“And another one,” Noah said sounding excited. “Definitely not OCD!”
“Why?
“Look how you’re eating your Kit Kat, you’ve bitten through the fingers. That would completely trigger someone with OCD!”
I looked down at my Kit Kat for confirmation. I had indeed bitten into it, leaving what looked like a large shark bite through the four fingers.
I took another bite, quite pleased with Noah’s assessment of me so far and with the things I was finding out about myself. Maybe Maxine had been right, that figuring out who I was could be fun and exciting. Because, so far, I was a coffee- and plant-loving, spicy-food-devouring, chocolate-obsessed, fact-knowing, non-OCD good friend.
CHAPTER 20
“Wakey, wakey, rise and shine!” I felt my body lift off the seat as the loud voice ripped me back to reality. I opened my eyes and blinked several times as the voice seemed to ring out around me, coming from all directions at once.
“Wh-What . . . uh . . . WHAT?”
I looked to my right when I heard the series of “what”s ringing out. It was in a familiar-sounding voice, although I had no idea who the voice belonged to just yet. But when the