Skip to content 
I listened silently.
“What did you tell him?”
“I told him you were going through a difficult time.”
Mom paused.
“Then he said something I’ll never forget.”
“What?”
She smiled through her tears.
“He said, ‘I don’t know what to say, but I can stay.’”
My eyes filled with tears.
Suddenly, those quiet lunches from years earlier felt different.
Noah hadn’t tried to solve everything.
He hadn’t needed to.
He had simply been there.
Mom continued.
“I asked him to keep being your friend.”
“What did he say?”
“He said, ‘Of course.’”
I smiled.
That sounded exactly like Noah.
Then Mom admitted something else.
“For years, I worried that you were giving too much of yourself to the friendship.”
I looked at her.
“I thought I was protecting you,” she explained. “I worried that you might feel responsible for always being there for him.”
I didn’t know what to say.
She took my hand.
“But I finally realized I had been looking at your friendship the wrong way.”
“How?”
“I was only thinking about what you might give Noah.”
She smiled.
“I wasn’t thinking about everything he gives you.”
That sentence stayed with me.
Because she was right.
I thought about all the moments we had shared.
The ice cream after my driving test.
The terrible dinosaur drawing.
The quiet lunches.
The conversations.
The laughter.
The ordinary afternoons that had somehow become the most important memories of my childhood.
Noah wasn’t a responsibility.
He was my friend.
The Choice Was Mine
Mom looked at me.
“Don’t go to prom because of a promise two children made years ago.”
I smiled.
“Then why should I go?”
“Go because you choose to.”
I didn’t hesitate.
“I already did.”
Mom smiled.
“I know.”
She unlocked the door.
Downstairs, Noah was waiting.
When we walked into the room, he looked at us.
“You took a long time.”
Mom laughed.
“We had something important to discuss.”
Noah looked at me.
“Everything okay?”
I nodded.
“Everything’s perfect.”
Mom walked over to him.
“Noah, thank you.”
He looked confused.
“For what?”
“For being such a good friend to Christina.”
He smiled.
“She’s a good friend too.”
Mom nodded.
“I know.”
And with that, the moment passed.
Noah checked his watch.
“We’re going to be late.”
I laughed.
“You’ve been waiting for this night for twelve years.”