1. Cherry Tree by the National (1/1)

can we show a little discipline?

she's stiff in his doorway, her oxygen tank still beside her, her doe eyes staring through him. his heart doesn't know if it wants to lodge itself in his throat or drop to his stomach. mother is behind him, looking over his shoulder. calm down her command shakes down his spine.

emma smiles at him. "hey, norman."

they've both aged rapidly since senior year. norman knows there are steep bags under his eyes, knows even better that his melancholy is far too visible. emma's twenty-two now and equally disheveled and heartsick. norman could almost feel bad for her; he would've felt bad for her once upon a time.

"hi, emma. what are you -" mother presses closer and

eathes down his neck. don't let her in. don't you dare let her in. he exhales. "what are you doing here?"

"i uh, heard about the bypass." she swallows and he can make out the tears in her eyes shining in the fading sunlight. "and about your mom."

she'd left white pine bay right after graduation, went to some elite college in new york. he hadn't written her or called her; hadn't even really thought about her. even when his life took that turn for the worse, emma stayed far from his thoughts. "yeah. i'm okay, really." good boy. he can hear the smirk in mother's voice. it fills him with something unidentifiable.

"are you?" she can read his face, how terrified he is to have found her standing outside his door. "are you really all right, norman?"

"yeah, yeah. i'm fine. honest. i'm just in the middle of something right now. maybe we can get together later? in town?"

she looks at him and her eyes are hard and soft all at once. a smile lights her features. "sure. i'd like that."

"okay. i'll meet you at that diner you love. does eight sound good?"

now, she laughs. it's a sound he'd long forgotten. "yeah, yeah. that sounds great, norman. i'll see you then."

he stares after her as she walks back to her car. when she starts it and the radio kicks on, he can just barely make out the song blaring from the speakers.

don't look at me i'm indiscreet. don't look at me i'm only

eathing.

he smirks to himself as she drives off and wordlessly allows mother to pull him back inside.