Page 73 of Exchange of Heart

‘We’re basically twins, minus the upbringing,’ he said proudly. ‘My parents worked their asses off, but even still, we scraped by. Corey brought one of his unwrapped presents to school for me the day after learning I’d only gotten a stuffed toy compared to his haul, and then he insisted I celebrate every year with him. Even to this day, he cancels all his plans to hang out with me – including class.’

I raised my chin. ‘Wow, you’re a real stand-up guy, Corey,’ I praised myself.

Nora didn’t speak. The revelation stunned her into a statue with parted lips.

‘Stop with the bashful face. You’re a good guy, that’s all.’ Paddy punched Nora’s broad shoulder. ‘Let me go grab some wine glasses.’

‘That’s why you didn’t come to class on your birthday?’ she whispered.

I shrugged and grabbed a chip from the coffee table. ‘Yeah, like he said, we spend it together every year. Even my parents know to invite him if they’re taking me out somewhere.’

‘I thought you were an entitled dickhead.’ She laughed, but it didn’t come from her heart.

We seemed to learn something new about each other every day, and I used a Nora-inspired move and crossed my fingers, hoping she’d continue to realise I wasn’t a total asshole. I raked my gaze over her straightened back and hands clasped together on her lap.

‘You look like you’re visiting the queen. Chill out, would you? Slouch against the cushions or something.’

‘Oh, right,’ she mumbled, leaning back.

Paddy returned and placed three stemmed glasses on the coffee table. ‘Hey, we should play Pictionary. Did you know every year at Christmas, Corey sketches us doing something ridiculous like sky diving or swimming with sharks? He’s such a good drawer.’

Nora let out a deep nervous laugh. ‘We don’t need to do that. Don’t want to show off or anything.’

‘It’s fun. It’ll be a good icebreaker; Nora can tell me all about herself,’ Paddy insisted.

He grabbed the Pictionary box from the bookshelf before I could think of any excuse for ‘Nora’ not wanting to play. Perhaps I could pretend she can’t grip a pencil or has a lead allergy. Wait…

‘Teams,’ I blurted. ‘We don’t have an even number of people.’

‘Nah, doesn’t matter. We can take turns drawing while the other two guess, and for every correct guess, you get a point.’

I’d seen Nora doodling on the back of a receipt the other day and assumed she’d drawn an elephant/giraffe mash-up until she told me not to throw out the receipt with the picture of a dog on the back. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that wasn’t a dog.

During Nora’s second turn, Paddy turned his head to me.

‘I swear he can draw better than this,’ he whispered. ‘I don’t know what he’s doing.’

Nora stepped back from her scribbles for us to decipher. A horizontal line went from one side of the paper to the other, with a huge circle in the middle. Lines jutted from the circle and random squiggles were spaced on the top half.

‘Sunset?’ Paddy guessed.

‘What the fuck is that?’ I muttered.

Nora took the hat off her head and threw it at me. ‘It’s a rainforest. Trees, birds, a rock?’

‘Did you have your hand amputated or something? I know you can draw better than that.’ Paddy shook his head. ‘Or are you trying to make us feel better about our own skills?’

I’d pretended I was left-handed and drawn some shit pictures this game, but even my jumbled drawings were better than hers. Paddy’s face twisted as he stared at her drawing again.

‘I just…’ his voice trailed off and he shook his head. ‘Bloody hell.’

‘You got me,’ Nora laughed and glanced at me. ‘Don’t want anyone feeling bad. All right, game over.’

Paddy went over and started packing the game away, still muttering in confusion. I lifted the green hat from my lap, tugged the snug comfort down, and closed my eyes. When I opened them again, he stared at me across the room. He took a few steps forward, then paused.

‘Corey does that when he pulls his hat on. Like he’s relieved or something, as though he’s sucked in a breath after swimming underwater.’

My mouth opened, then closed when no words came out. I tugged on the sleeve of my shirt and made a noise that sounded like a cross between a donkey and the buzz of a bee.