Connor's Tale - A Jonnor story

Chapter 7 - Blue for Jude

Being honest with himself, he REALLY enjoyed the look on Taylor's face as he watched her smiling at her discomfort.

Taylor all too often wore that smug "I am better" expression around the school and with her friends. And while he admitted that more than often than not, she actually was, he did enjoy knocking her off her pedestal this time. He watched as she opened and closed her mouth several times trying to find something to say but kept failing, and he was finding it funnier each time and he couldn't help how his smile continued to grow. Looking over at Daria however, put the brakes on that.

Daria was neither stunned nor amused, but the look she was giving Connor was...calculating? He could see her trying to fit the pieces of the past together to come up with an answer and the answer she was getting was not one that she liked.

"So..." Daria said looking Connor in the eye "when did this kiss happen, ...exactly?" Her tone of voice appeared calm and reasonable, but both Connor and Taylor recognized that it was anything but. Connor looked at Taylor who had recovered enough to be looking back and forth between her two friends and trying to decide whether to stay silent or not. Apparently she had actually learned something as this time, she said nothing.

Connor sighed, he really had hoped that Taylor would have said something to deflect this but "Before we started dating" he said looking at Daria. Her eyes widened and some of the anger faded to be replaced by confusion for a brief moment before Connor finished "and once while we were dating." Connor had broken eye contact between those two statements and had looked down, but now he looked up and saw the emotions on Daria's face, primarily confusion, but also hurt and anger. "I know I said it before, but I do mean it" Connor continued "I am sorry for everything D."

Daria looked away towards the beach trying to figure out her own emotions. She was really confused now. Why did Connor date her at all if he had kissed Jude first? Then he kissed him again while they were dating! She looked back at Connor and the last of her anger drained away. He looked so sad and genuinely sorry and...scared? Why was he scared of? Her?  She looked over at Taylor who seemed almost as confused as she was but when Taylor looked back at Connor it was with sadness and sympathy for him.

"Okay" Daria said taking a deep breath "we are getting out of order. I need to think about this later, let's continue with the story. Jude just finished his first day..." she gave Connor the chance to change the subject and to be honest, she wanted to think about anything else for the moment.

"Well, nothing else really happened that day" Connor said smiling at Daria and grateful for the chance to change the conversation "and for the next couple of days. We talked to each other a couple of times, nothing major, just typical stuff. We even ate lunch together after that first day. I had thought for a second about asking Jude to join me and some of the soccer guys at our table, but I didn't and I am still not exactly sure why. I mean I thought Jude was really cool, he was smart and funny and nice, but I don't know if I didn't want him to meet the guys I was friends with because they were so different or if because I didn't want to share any time I had with him with them." Connor paused and thought back to those days. "I think I just liked hanging out with Jude and it didn't even occur to invite others to join us."

"It wasn't long after he arrived that something happened that I regret to this day" Connor said sighing, he wasn't proud of this, but there were going to be some worse moments coming up later, but this one he felt was his biggest failure if he was honest with himself "the day that Jeremy and Blake bullied Jude."

"Wait, what?" Taylor said "I don't know about this one – what happened?"

Connor closed his eyes and thought back to that day.