Highly Unlikely [BxB]

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

A Fool, Through and Through

I thought my nerves would swallow me whole before I could finish talking to Juju. But somehow, I got through that. And I managed to get him to agree to come out and see me. I was so selfish.

               The next thing I know, I was seated across from Ju, at The Mad Egg. The diner was never really busy in the daytime, the way it was in the night. Julian's freckles looked lighter under the soft light. His hair didn't seem to have grown even an inch from the last time I'd seen him...eons ago.

               His green eyes softened when they found mine, and then he quickly looked down. Meanwhile, I wasn't finding any such luck. Everything about his face seemed to draw me in, everything about him. He was so magnetic I couldn't help but keep studying him.

               Don't make it awkward! "Julian–" I started.

               "What," he said a little too quickly, his eyes fleeting to mine, then quickly going back to watching his own hands. His cheeks seemed to turn rosy after his abrupt answer, I could tell it was taking everything in him to not look back up out of what could possibly be curiosity or nervousness. When I didn't answer, he looked back to my face again and this time his resolve hardened enough to talk through it.

               "Why do you keep–" he seemed to think about it, then seemed to change his mind, and all the while I act like I am patient about the rest of his question. After a moment of reconsideration, Ju spits it out, and his question catches me off-guard. "Why are you staring?"

               "At what?" God, I sounded so defensive.

                "You're staring."

                "I haven't seen you in forever," I heard myself say. This wasn't me, never. Not even to girls did I sound like this. And I love girls, but when it came to Julian, I couldn't seem to control my mouth, and the words that came out of it. I always blurted something out, then wondered why I said it. Just like now. "I've really missed you," to my horror, I heard myself say again. And I heard myself not take it back, or claim I didn't mean it in a cheesy way. Although I really didn't.

               "Okay," he dragged the word in his reply.

              "Okay?" I asked.

              "I missed you too Kay...I just really thought...it doesn't really matter now," he said and shook his head like he thought better of it.

               "About what happened," I started and immediately had Julian's undivided attention. I didn't want to lie about how I felt, but he made it seem like the only logical path. "Not sure I knew what I was doing but I'm sorry," I gathered my nerves. "I'm sorry for putting you in a spot like that."