I toss my Xbox controller aside, yawning deeply. Between the ghost hunt, regular work, my sessions with Ellen, and now helping out with the exhibition, I’ve been slammed. It feels good to take a night off.

Aiden and I spent most of the week trying to turn things. He can move the ceiling fan with precision, now, and he’s graduating to smaller and smaller items. Most recently, we tried to have him turn a jam jar. The ensuing explosion reduced it to a heap of shattered glass and expired strawberry on the Ghost Office floor.

But progress is progress. I’m proud of how far Aiden has come. He’s getting it down, and I know he’ll be able to do the locket soon enough.

He’s taking a night to rest and recharge, too. For him, that means being alone, probably going for a long run. For me, it means time to relax with somebody, veg out a little. Kasey is with Will, so I’ve turned to another person I’m increasingly fond of.

“Calling it quits, bro?” Noah sets his controller down, too, then gives me a sympathetic nod. “Understandable. This is embarrassing for you. I’m absolutely destroying you.”

“Once again, Noah, we’re on the same team. And seriously-” I push his socked feet off of my coffee table. “Who raised you? Genghis Khan would be a better houseguest.”

I expect an immediate comeback to this, but Noah falls quiet. Not for the first time, tonight.

I don’t think he’s too stoned to comprehend our conversation. We haven’t even smoked that much. This is thoughtful silence, the kind I’ve grown very accustomed to since Aiden came back into my life. But unlike Aiden, Noah is not normally prone to this kind of silence. This is unusual, for him.

I’m starting to wonder what he’s thinking about.

“Is everything okay, man?”

Noah glances over, too quickly for me to get a look at his expression. “Yeah, why?”

“I don’t know. You seem like you have a lot on your mind. Everything still going okay, staying with Melanie and Raj? I half expected you to turn up here with one or both of them.”

Noah stretches his legs out again, but this time leaves his feet on the floor.

“Figured I should give them some space. I don’t want to always be in their faces, you know? I assume they want some time for just the two of them.”

“They don’t take time for just the two of them when you’re around?” I ask.

“I - try to give it, but they both - I don’t know.” A faint, puzzled frown crosses Noah’s face. “I’ll say I’m going to leave them alone, I go to my room, then one of them comes and gets me after like, twenty minutes.”

“Oh. Sounds like maybe they don’t need as much alone time as you’re offering them?”

Noah shakes his head. “They’re just being nice.”

Something tells me that this isn’t the case. I know that Raj would always rather have Noah around, and I also know that Melanie is not the type to stay quiet if she was annoyed about it.

Besides, didn’t he say they both keep coming to get him? Not just Raj.

Noah’s lips are twisted to the side, his eyebrows furrowed.

“Oh, I get it,” I joke, trying to lighten the mood. “You don’t really wanna hang out with me, you just want to force Raj and Melanie to take some alone time? I’m just a means to an end for you, am I?”

I’m totally kidding, pretending to sound wounded, but Noah twists on the couch, fixing me with a very serious expression.

“No, man,” he says. “Not at all. Do you think that?”

“No.” I look back at him, surprised by his reaction. “I was just dicking around. I know that we’re friends.”

Noah’s pewter eyes narrow, searching my face for something. A moment passes, and he gives a satisfied nod. “Good."

“Noah,” I say haltingly, concerned about overstepping, “If the problem is that you want more space from Melanie and Raj, you could always talk to them about-”

He cuts me off with a snort of laughter. “That is not the problem.”

I get the distinct impression that the subject is, at least temporarily, closed.

“Alright…” I say. “Well, you want to get some food? I’m kind of hungry.”

Noah perks up right away.

“Oh, man, have you been to Uncle Steve’s Chicken Shack, off the freeway? Twenty-five wings for three dollars, dude. And you get to keep your sauce bucket.”

“Dear God in heaven.” I shudder. “Where do I even start with - sauce bucket? Listen, if they’re charging three dollars for twenty-five wings, that’s not chicken. I mean, I don’t know what it is, but it can’t be chicken.”

“Trust me, dude,” Noah assures me, “It’s fun, 'cause it’s a different experience every time. Like - last time I got some onion rings? Ate them and felt like I was having an allergic reaction, but I’m not allergic to anything. My throat was scratchy for three days afterwards. It was pretty cool.”

“Okay, no. Eating at this place sounds like a potentially fatal experience, and I refuse to go out like that. Death by onion ring? Fuck no, not for me.”

Noah laughs, but then grows quiet again. I open my phone and start scrolling through delivery options, giving him time. It's a minute or two before he speaks again.

“Can I ask you something?"

“Um - yeah?” I set my phone down on the coffee table. “As long as you’re not about to ask me to go to the Chicken Pit.”

“Chicken Shack, dude.”

“Whatever, so long as it’s not that.”

“It’s-” He fidgets with the piercing in his lip. “Mel said that when she was debating whether or not to let me stay in the house, you promised her that I’d be cool about it.”

I wait, but he doesn’t follow this up with anything.

“Sorry - what’s the question?”

Noah stares at me. “So you did?”

I’m so lost, right now. “Didn’t you just say that Melanie told you?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t believe her.” Noah frowns. “I think she assumed I did, though. She and Raj have this weird thing where - like, if she says something, he just believes her, and if he says something, she’ll believe it, too. Without any proof.”

“Is that weird?” I ask, trying to figure out if I’m missing something. “Aren’t you just… describing two people who trust each other?”

“Well - I-” Noah breaks off, his forehead wrinkling in confusion. “I guess, yeah. Maybe it’s not weird. I don’t know. But I mean - about everything. They always just believe each other. They believe everything I say to them, too. Not that I’m lying to them about anything!” he hastily pins on, seeing the change in my expression. “I’m just saying, they do.”

Another silence follows. I get the sense that Noah is working his way through a thought, so I wait.

“Ralph never-” he begins, then stops. He shakes his head like he’s trying to physically knock something out of his brain. “Forget it. That’s not even what I wanted to talk about. I just wanted to say, that was really cool of you, man. To vouch for me.”

“Oh.” I blink at him, surprised again. “No problem. Thank you for not making me regret doing that.”

“No, Jamie, seriously.”

Noah stares at me, and he does look serious.

“Okay…” I say, more slowly.

“Cause - like-” Noah struggles for a second, then turns and grabs the bowl and lighter from the coffee table. He sparks up, then sets everything down again, exhaling a long stream of smoke from his nose. “Fuck. Why is this shit so hard to talk about?”

“What shit?”

“Real shit," he clarifies.

"Oh." I sit back against the couch cushions. “Yeah. Feel you on that one, Noah.”

He pauses, grey eyes flicking back to me. “Hmm? What do you mean?”

My instinct is to avoid answering that question, but - maybe it’ll be helpful for me to tell someone else, someone that’s not Aiden. Besides, if I share something first, it might help Noah spit out whatever he’s trying to say.

Even telling Noah makes my cheeks flare an instant scarlet. I ball up my fingers in my lap, so he doesn’t notice that they’re suddenly shaking.

“I’ve - been trying to tell Aiden that I love him.”

Noah is halfway through a sip of Gatorade; he promptly chokes on it.

“Really?” He swipes the back of his hand over his mouth, then turns to sit facing me. “Are you serious? That - Jesus Christ, Jamie, are you okay?”

“I’m fine!” I stammer, pulling my knees closer to my chest. “It’s like you said, it’s hard to talk about the real shit, that’s all!”

“Oh, man.” Noah grins widely, the clouds vanishing from his eyes. “Damn, that’s so - wait, did you say you’re trying to tell him? The fuck does that mean?” His eyes widen. “Dude - did you just tell me that you love Aiden before you told him?”

“I’ve never said it to anyone before, Noah, not like that, anyways!” I can feel the tempo of my words picking up, despite my best efforts to control it. “Cut me some slack!”

He holds up his tattooed hands. “Breathe, bro, holy shit, I wasn’t-”

“I just thought it would help to tell someone else first, and it had to be someone I trust!”

“Okay, so who’d you pick?” Noah asks.

I stare at him, waiting for him to get it, amazed that he hasn’t already.

Noah blinks, his head jerking back.

“Me?” he asks, incredulous.

“Who else would I be talking about, man? You’re the only one I’ve told.”

“I’m the only one you’ve told?”

“Jesus, Noah, are we speaking different languages?”

“No, I just - you caught me by surprise, man. You’re all talking about trusting me, or some shit-”

“What do you mean, or some shit? I do trust you. You think I'd have made that promise to Melanie if I didn't?”

“Oh.” Noah pauses, looking at me with a weird expression on his face. He says it again, more softly, more to himself. “Oh.” He goes silent for a moment, and then that grin returns in full force. “Oh my fucking god, though. Aiden’s gonna - why haven’t you told him, yet?”

“I don’t know.” I pluck at the fabric of my socks, staring down at my feet. “I have no idea how he’ll react. It’s complicated, and I’d be nervous as fuck even if it wasn’t.”

“Yeah, can’t take that one back, can you?”

“Noah!” I look up to glare at him. “You’re not helping!”

“Well, why would you want to take it back? You mean it, don’t you?” Noah’s eyes narrow, and he stabs a threatening finger at my chest. “Don’t you fucking say it to him if you don’t mean it. You better not do that to my boy.”

“Dude, look.” I point to my own face. “Can you really not fucking tell?”

Noah does look. He presses his lips together, the corners of his mouth turning up in a smile.

“Aw,” he says, and I groan.

“Okay, we’re so done talking about this.” I reach for the bowl and the lighter, my cheeks still burning. “You tell me your whole thing, now.”

“It’s not a whole thing,” Noah says, his smile dropping. He kneads his palm, then starts finger-combing his dark hair back. “I don’t even remember what I was going to say.”

“Liar,” I answer, and he scowls at me, fixing his bun in place. “Come on, you know. You were explaining why it’s evidently some kind of big deal that I vouched for you with Melanie.”

“It is a big deal,” Noah insists. “If you hadn’t done that, she probably wouldn’t have let me stay at the house. If she’d kicked me out of the house, I’d probably never see Raj, which would be, just…” He cringes. “The worst fucking thing, because he’s like - the best friend I’ve ever had, and he’s - important. Um. To me.”

Noah doesn’t meet my eyes, not for one word of what he says. It’s a battle not to grin at him, right now.

“Aw,” I say, turning it back around on him, and now he’s the one who groans.

“Bro!”

“Okay, okay. You’re welcome, I was happy to vouch for you.” I nibble my lip, then add, “That being said, even if Melanie didn’t want you living in the house, I really doubt she would have stopped Raj from spending time with you.”

“No, I know she wouldn’t do that! I just mean - I wouldn’t be so closeby anymore, and Raj is a busy dude, especially with the due date getting closer and closer, so…”

Noah shrugs, and fades off.

“Um… Noah.” I poke his knee. “You do realize that you’re not a friend of convenience to Raj, right? I don’t think your proximity has anything to do with it. I can picture him driving miles and miles to hang out with you, honestly. You said he’s your best friend, but you’re his, too. Living in the house or not living in the house, I don’t think it has any bearing on that.”

Noah absorbs this for a second, then glances away. I catch the quickest flash of a smile on his face.

“Whatever, man,” he says, flapping a hand at me. “All I’m saying is, thank you for telling Mel to let me stay. Even with - what you said, I’d still rather live at the house. Fucking rules, living there.”

“Yeah, it seems like you and Melanie are really getting along, now.”

Noah smiles brightly, sharpening the dimples by the corners of his mouth.

“We are. She’s a dope girl. I can totally see why Raj is so-” He stops, then clears his throat. “It’s nice to get to know her better. I guess I never really took the time in high school, even though she was dating Aiden.”

“See, didn’t I say you two would get along?” I smack his arm with the back of my hand, grinning at him. “That’s great, that you two are clicking so well.”

“Yeah, it - it’s great.” But his smile dims, and he says it in an off, strained kind of way. I tip my head to the side, confused. There’s a pause, and then Noah grabs the bowl from my hand. “Should we repack this? It’s cached.”

I can tell he doesn’t want to talk about this anymore, so I let it go.

We pass the bowl back and forth a few times, then track down our Xbox controllers and start the game back up.

“So,” Noah says, nudging my ribs with his elbow. “Are you gonna tell Aiden you love him, now that you’ve said it to me? Did it help, like you thought?”

My stomach does an anxious flip.

“I’m just so fucking nervous. There’s a whole thing, you don’t even know. His mom-” I cut off sharply, realizing too late what I’m saying. “Oh - nevermind. Forget it.”

“It’s alright, dude.” Noah flicks his hand dismissively, his eyes still on the TV. “I know that Leigh was never around. I’ve been Aiden’s friend since way before you ever were.”

The problem is actually what she did when she was around, but Noah doesn’t need to know that. And - did he just say-?

“Leigh?” My eyebrows shoot up. “What, you’re on a first-name basis with Aiden’s mom?”

“No, that’s what Aiden called her in high school. Not that he talked about her much. Barely ever.”

“He called her Leigh?” I ask, staggered. “Not mom, or-?”

“Nope, never. Why, does he call her that now?”

“He - yeah, he says my mom.”

“Oh.” Noah shrugs. “Well, maybe he’s working on forgiving her, or putting it behind him, or whatever.”

I sink back against the cushions, my head spinning a little.

“Huh,” is all I manage. Noah glances over at me, and I try to steer us back on track. “Look, I want to tell Aiden that I love him.”

“So do it.”

“The only thing is, I’m going to actually die if he doesn’t say it back.”

“I really don’t think that’s gonna be a problem, man.”

I pause the game, then twist to look at Noah. “What makes you say that?”

“Well - I didn’t realize that Aiden liked you in high school, obviously,” he explains. “But looking back… now that I know what to look for, the signs are everywhere. To the point I sort of can’t believe I didn’t see it before.”

I find myself at a total loss for words.

“Tell him,” Noah says firmly.

And I nod, very slowly.

“Okay,” I hear myself say. “I will.”