Page 2 of When We Were Young
Clara had been Emily’s younger sister. Just as beautiful, but born with cerebral palsy. She walked with braces and crutches and struggled to speak a clear sentence. But she was golden through and through. Everyone loved Clara, but Emily most of all. Their father left home when Emily was ten, and eight years later their mom died when her car got trapped in a flash flood.
After that, Emily raised her sister. Clara was always happy, always well loved because Emily took care of her with a fierce sort of protection. As if her own life depended on it.
It was why Noah had fallen in love with Emily in the first place, there in the cafeteria at Indiana University.
Those were big-time football days for Noah, back when he was a star quarterback for the Hoosiers. His world revolved around his teammates, his NFL dreams and his personal successes. He might never have noticed Emily if it weren’t for Clara.
Noah turned his attention back to the tombstone. “This isn’t how it was supposed to go, Clara, girl.” He sighed. Gravity pulled hard at him again. “You tried to warn me.”
She did. A year before the seizure that took her life, Clara had come to him with her iPad. In her own endearing way, she had struggled to ask her question. Just a couple words. “Too... much?”
Clara lived with them. She had from the time Noah and Emily married. And that day her words were not a complaint or a criticism. They were simply a question formed from the innocence of her soul.
On the iPad was Noah’s Instagram account. @When_We_Were_Young. The account that had blown up when the two of them got engaged. The one that allowed them to buy their house. The one that paid the bills.
Clara had held up the device and looked from the smattering of stunning photos to Noah. Then she’d said the clearest sentence Noah had ever heard her say. Standing a little taller, leaning on her crutches, she spoke straight to him. “Noah... Emily... needs you.”
The implication was clear. Clara believed that her sister didn’t need one more perfect social media post or another thousand people following them, obsessed with their life. Emily needed Noah. At the time he only smiled at Clara and nodded. “Of course she needs me.” He didn’t blink. “We all need each other!”
Noah felt then the way he still felt today. He had never set out to become Internet famous. None of them had. But from the day he asked Emily to marry him, the world had been drawn to them. A million people on Instagram alone looked forward to every update. What they were doing that day, what they might say to each other, the way they parented their kids, the flowers that lined the walkway to their front door.
Every single detail about their life and love.
From the beginning Noah had been in charge of posting. It was his Facebook page people followed, his Twitter account, his Instagram. He was responsible for keeping the posts inspirational. Engaging. Beautiful.
How many people had Noah and Emily’s story helped along the way? How many followers had found their way back to faith and family? Their social media presence was important. The world needed people like them.
Noah gritted his teeth. Emily used to feel the same, thankful for a platform to share Bible verses or encouragement. But sometime after Clara died, Emily changed. Posting about their lives no longer felt fun and meaningful. She didn’t care how many likes or retweets they got, or whether their numbers were growing.
As if their story was no longer worth sharing.
Noah took a heavy breath and stood, his eyes still on Clara’s grave. Never mind that their social media accounts netted them six figures a year. Or that Noah could work far fewer hours at the fire station on a good month of Internet income.
Theyweremaking a difference. Which was why Noah wouldn’t give it up. Their story was touching hearts and changing lives. Wasn’t that the point? Wasn’t it worth the effort? Noah still thought so.
Even now.
Not Emily, though. She thought their whole platform had become one big farce. Nothing but smoke and mirrors. That the faces they wore for the public were not the faces they wore around the dining room table.
Or in the bedroom.
Ever since Emily’s change of mind, tension grew like weeds where love had once flourished. And there was nothing either of them could do to change the fact. The more Noah tried to convince Emily to smile for the camera, the more closed off she became. She accused him of being more concerned with their mostly female followers than with the life the two of them were really living.
He could still hear her frustrated criticism as far back as two years ago. “We used to post about our happy life. Now we’re forcing life for the happy posts.”
The temperature was dropping. Noah exhaled. “I don’t know, Clara.” His words came in a broken whisper. “Maybe I should’ve listened to you.” He still wasn’t sure. What was wrong with sharing their love with the world? And how come Emily was jealous of the fans? Of course he needed to respond to their followers.
Noah could still think of a hundred reasons why their social media presence was a good thing. Emily couldn’t think of one.
“But that’s just a part of why we’re splitting.” He moved his toe along the edge of Clara’s gravestone. “It’s so much worse than that, Clara.”
For months now their differences about posting on social media had paled in comparison to something else. These days, Emily no longer thought Noah was real.
“You only need me for one reason,” she had told him a week ago. “So that you can stay in the public eye. @When_We_Were_Young.” She looked mean. Like she hated him. “Well, Noah, we aren’t so young anymore. And this isn’t love. It hasn’t been for a long time.”
He had tried to reason with her, tried to keep his cool. “That’s not true, Emily.” His voice betrayed his frustration. “Think about where we started. It’s still that way with us. At least it could be.”
But she wouldn’t let up. “It doesn’t matter where we started. It matters where we are now.” Her eyes were flat. “We’re a show. Nothing more.”
