“ It seemed to be an endless cycle of blow-ups”
She sounded more irritated than contrite. Aron didn’ t like being ignored.
You’ re stupid. You’ re a bitch. You’ re a traitor. You’ re weak. You’ re pathetic. You’ re a loser.
“ Do you even remember all the things you said to me?” Nora asked.
“ I want to sweep it under the rug and start over.”
Nora thought about her encounters with Aron, how she had blown up over thinking Nora was flirting with her boyfriend. Before that, when Nora sought comfort in Aron after fighting with her parents, Aron was disgusted by her weakness. It seemed to be an endless cycle of blow-ups, and then the sweeping away of the aftermath. Now it was too much to clear away.
Sean brought the coffee, glancing at Nora before he went away.
“ So, do you still think I was trying to come onto your boyfriend?” Nora said.
Aron carefully took a sip of her coffee, looking away from Nora.“ No, the girl who told me about it was lying.”
“ But you still believed her. And you said all those horrible things to me.”
“ I can own up to anything I said that bothered you,” Aron offered. It wasn’ t really an apology, but more than Nora expected from her. Nora pulled the package out of her bag and put it on top of the table.
“ So what’ s the point of this?”
Aron reached into the box and pulled out the hand mirror.
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“ You left it at my house. I thought you’ d want it back,” she said, placing it onto the table next to the empty box.
“ I asked you to give it back to me months ago,” Nora stated.“ You said you didn’ t have it.”
“ You never asked me to look for it. I would have remembered,” Aron said dismissively as she took another sip of her coffee.
Nora took the mirror and put it in her bag. They sat silently, watching each other with scrutiny, with tight lips. Sean walked by their table, looking at Nora.
Aron caught the exchange between them.“ Are you going out with him?”
“ No. We’ re just friends.”
Aron observed Sean as he served the other customers. Nora noted that she didn’ t seem to like what she saw.
“ It seemed to be an endless cycle of blow-ups”
“ It was nice of him to deliver the package for you,” Nora said.
“ It was very considerate,” Aron allowed.“ What now?” Nora asked after a moment.“ Now we go back to how it was.”“ I can’ t.”
Aron considered this for a moment, then set her coffee down.
“ Why?”
Nora scratched her elbow, fidgeting in her seat and looking everywhere except Aron’ s face.