Until There Was You

seven

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NOTE:
Remember the latest chapters are on Radish all the way up to chapter thirteen and I'm working on chapter fourteen so it'll be up Friday hopefully. If you enjoyed this chapter don't forget to vote, comment, and share.

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0 7 | Until There Was You

Jude's expression was sunken and distant as he took one step after another.

Waverly was somewhere in the store searching for her own materials and necessities. Jude lingered around the space and walked through aisles. He busied himself by admiring the brands plastered on containers and other entities. Somehow, as he roamed the store he ended up near the employees room where the large letters read no unauthorized persons. Jude strolled past the door, but swore he heard a familiar voice. He stopped dead in his tracks and his gunmetal eyes locked on the door where he heard the voice. It sounded like an eerie echo.

That was his first mistake.

He stayed glued in that spot when the door swung open revealing Bridget. She spotted Jude and her originally, dull eyes widened then softened as she struggled to carry two boxes stacked on top of each other.

"Jude," she said and that's all she said. It was all she could really say to him.

"I didn't know you worked here," Jude responded, looking around the store in a swift glimpse. Bridget blinked, gripping the boxes tighter. That was Jude's second mistake—speaking with Bridget.

"Uh, yeah. I figured why not get a job," she brushed off, but Jude noticed she was obviously lying or hiding something bigger. If word got out at school that she worked at a local store she wouldn't be taken as seriously and her reputation was sure to be affected—not as bad as Jude's but affected nevertheless.

"How are things holding up with you?" she asked.

Jude just shrugged. "Normal."

It was one word, but it was contradicting. The word meant less than what he was saying because he wasn't sure what normal was for him anymore. There was a pause of quietness, cooing softly around them. Some indie song played throughout the store and Jude leveled his eyes so they could meet Bridget's.

"I'm sorry about you and Beverly," she tried to apologize. He would have flinched if it hurt him as much as it did when he found out, but instead he stood his ground. He thought it was safe to miss someone without wanting them back.

"Yeah, me too," he muttered. Then sourly, "I'm sorry about you and Seth. I knew you had a crush on him."

Something in Bridget's eyes shifted, grazing something close to hurt, shame, and resentment. Her jaw clenched and her grip on the boxes tightened even more. Jude knew he hit a nerve. That's what he wanted. He wanted her to feel what he felt when Seth and Beverly's name were put in the same sentence.

"That's so fucking childish of you, Jude. Why won't you grow the hell up?" she snapped. Jude could sense the strain in her voice—the way her emotions seethed through the cracks of her body. The nakedness was inevitable and Jude could see right through her. She was reacting and he knew she wasn't done. Not yet. There was definitely more she wanted to say. That was Bridget in a nutshell.