When she had first arrived in Lanford almost eight years ago, literally after running away with the circus, the concept of schools and having friends from school who you could spent time with without having to sit and study the bible together first— that had been entirely new to Nora. At first she had struggled, having only her sister Rory to help her out and assure her that if she could assimilate, so could Nora. She had been right of course, but it wouldn’t have happened without AJ. He meant everything to her, and it went beyond him ‘just’ being her first real friend, and her best friend. It was chemical almost; as if they had always meant to be in each other’s lives. Two peas in a pod. Him the last remaining piece to the puzzle. All that good cliche stuff.
She chuckled with his laughter, infectious it was and always had been— at least Nora stood no chance against it. “Never,” she said, putting on her best villain-esque voice and underlining it with a diabolic laugh that didn’t sound very diabolic at all, but hopefully earned her points for effort. AJ was horrible with compliments, but she would never relent, and he probably knew that. She leaned into him comfortably, her arm around him and her head tucked in against him as she chuckled. This was the safest place in the world, no matter where they were. Truly, it was where she felt the most at home. “What?!” Her head whipped back up, her eyes wide with feigned horror, “Are you saying that Queen Bey is wrong?!” But then he threw Obama in the mix, and she had to metaphorically step down, her features softening into something amused. “Well played, Sir, weeeeeell played— I tip my imaginary hat to you,” she said and did, head nodding and hand lifting the hat that weren’t there. When she looked back up at him a moment later, it was with her signature smile pressed to her lips, both her arms moving around him in a side hug. “I know. Which is technically why you’re the best, and why Obama must have lost his edge,” she quipped with a chuckle and let go of him to grab the tickets. “Yup, I’m aiming for that big-ass Minion so I always have someone to cuddle, even when you’re too busy.”
Often times AJ would have to do no more than look at Nora for a few seconds to realize how much he loved her. It was the same feeling he got when Astrid would prop her feet on his lap when they were sitting on their sofa. It was how he felt when his mother would run her fingers through his strawberry blonde hair, and when he asked what she was doing, she would say she was picking strawberries. It was how he felt lying next to Nora late at night, talking for hours about everything and nothing. It was warmth and comfort, it was milk and honey, it was a sweetness not even buttercream frosting could compare to. There were few people who could make AJ feel less broken, a little more stable. Nora was at the top of that list.
The laugh that left him started as a scoff, but turned into something genuine along the way. Then he smiled something small but something real, and that was a secret he kept well. A stretch of lips and teeth, that was easy. Plastic smiles were never hard to force. But Nora always got a real smile out of him, something soft and quiet that might seem unlike him to anyone who didn’t know better.
Then he paused, looking at her fully and stopping in place, giving her a horrified expression. “Did you seriously just say that about Barrack Obama, the only dignified president this country has ever seen? Did you really just go there with me? Nora, I’m about to throw hands.” Then he brought one hand up as if he was about to karate chop her shoulder, but raised it to ruffle her hair back and forth instead.
“Now I gotta compete with Gizmo and a big-ass minion? I gotta say, Nora-bo-bora fee-fi-fo-fora, I don’t know if I can keep delivering. I’ve already stepped up my game to Tom Ford cologne, I don’t know how much more I can do for ya.”
