The Leaving Season by Cat Jordan

said to me. “It was short and sweet and really . . . just really perfect .” She tossed her salad with a plastic spoon and fork. A slippery tomato flew off her plate and skittered away, landing in the center of the table. All of our eyes followed it as it rolled to a stop, leaving a snail trail of Italian dressing. Haley plucked it off the table and tossed it back at Katrina.
    â€œI’m kind of glad you didn’t tell a story about Nate,” Katrina said as she wiped the tomato off with her napkin and returned it to her salad. “TMI, you know?”
    â€œWhat do you mean?” Debra asked her. “I like stories.”
    â€œYeah, but it’s better to be mysterious,” Katrina said. “Nate and Middie were, like, the best couple—”
    â€œOh yeah, you would have been voted Best Couple if you and Nate were in the same class,” Debra interrupted.
    â€œAnd you don’t want to spoil the image, you know.” Katrina spun a limp leaf of romaine around her fork as she talked. “I want to remember them at the prom and at homecoming and holding hands in the hall . . .”
    I could feel my heart sink as Katrina went on. Each timeshe mentioned a party or dance or event Nate and I had attended, I had a flash of an image in my mind. A snapshot of us together, smiling, happy, perfect.
    â€œWhat inspired you, Middie?” Katrina wanted to know.
    â€œExcuse me?” I looked up to find my friends smiling sweetly at me.
    â€œThe service. What you said. What inspired you?”
    â€œOh, um, they weren’t really my words,” I demurred. “I, um, someone else suggested them.”
    Haley smiled. “Was it Allison? She’s so cool.”
    â€œUh-uh.” I shook my head. “Lee? Ryan?”
    â€œLee Ryan . . . you mean . . .”
    â€œNate’s friend. His best friend,” I clarified. Katrina and Debra had blank looks on their faces. Since Nate was in the class ahead of us, they didn’t really know his friends very well. But Haley did. Her eyebrows lifted in surprise.
    â€œWhen were you talking to Lee?”
    â€œOh, um, remember when I ran out of gas? And I called you?”
    Haley nodded. “Lee helped you?”
    â€œYeah. He gave me a lift to get some gas.” I could feel Haley’s cluck of disapproval, even if she didn’t actually make the sound, and I hastened to add, “He was the only person who had a car.”
    Vespa. Whatever.
    â€œHe’s really . . . nice.” Well, “nice” might not have been the best word to describe Lee, but it was the simplest.
    â€œI think I remember him,” Debra said. “Tall, kind of gawky.”
    â€œStoner,” Katrina said, as if she suddenly remembered Lee. “Oh my god, he was so wasted at his own graduation!”
    Napping, I thought. He was only napping, he’d said.
    â€œDid he play basketball or something?” Debra wanted to know.
    â€œNo . . . ,” I heard myself say. “But he and Nate were best friends.”
    â€œI don’t get that at all,” Haley said. “They were so different.”
    â€œWell, he came and helped me. When no one else could.”
    â€œI get it.” Haley sounded chastened, as if I were blaming her.
    â€œAnd he’s got a girlfriend,” I added. “She’s pretty.”
    â€œSo he’s not a total loser,” Katrina said with a light laugh.
    â€œListen, I’m glad he was nice,” Haley said. “But we can help you too, you know?”
    â€œShe’s right,” Katrina said. “You need anything at all, you just call us, okay? Any time of day or night. We’re here for you.” She and Debra both reached for me, but because of the size of the table, their arms couldn’t really reach mine. All that touched were the slightest tips of our fingers.
    â€œAnd next time you want to play hooky, call me,” Haley said, grinning. “You