Page 13 of Sugarplum

“I experienced life without you,” Chace said back, his eyes back on the road. “I never want to go through it again. You’re everything to me, Jules. We went through some really tough times but that’s all behind us now. I don’t want to sleep alone ever again.”

Julie smiled and she locked her arm with his as he continued on to drive them through the suburbs and into the city. It took a good fifteen minutes or so to finally arrive at the Flaming Margarita. It wasn’t as fancy as it sounded and Julie let out a groan of disappointment when she saw it didn’t even have leather seats.

“Wow, this place is a dump,” she noted as they looked around inside. “Do you see them anywhere?”

Chace pointed over to the corner. Julie then saw two tables joined together and there were about eight or nine people already seated, discussing amongst themselves while eating pizza. Chace and Julie joined them as quickly as they could and sat by the edge.

“This is so weird, Chace and Julie together,” a skinny girl with brown eyes and blonde hair noted. This was Sofia, the designated Mean Girl that somehow got elected as president of the student body and the editor-in-chief of the school paper. She worked directly with Jessica and Talbert, the head organizers.

Others whispered comments but neither Julie nor Chace gave in to explain the situation of their relationship. Julie just shrugged it off and gave Chace a succulent kiss on the lips, pressing her lips against his and meeting his tongue for a quick tour-de-force display of passion.

That was enough to silence the others.

“I thought we were going to concoct some kind of story?” Chace whispered into her ear. “That was not exactly the kind of narrative I pictured in my head when you told me we were going to have to go through the whole story.”

Julie smiled and whispered back. “Would you rather spark a conversation with Mean Girl or just kiss me on the lips? Either way is going to get the job done, you know.”

He chuckled and agreed. “Okay, I get it. W-wait, am I limited to just a kiss?”

“Wait until we’re done here, fly boy, and I’ll make you forget your name the moment we get back in that car.”

“Julie!” a voice then cut in and interrupted their conversation. Julie and Chace looked across the table to see the guy beside Sofia, Victor, waving at them.

“Huh?” both Chace and Julie chimed out in confusion.

Victor shot back a look of disgust and repeated what he’d been trying to tell them for the past minute. As he did he reached forward with his fist. There were strips of paper and he intended for Chace and Julie to draw one.

He then explained. “We’re drawing straws instead of assigning roles. If you two are together-together then just pull one straw and work on it as a team.”

“Want me to do it?” Julie asked.

Chace answered by drawing a straw. At the very bottom was a scribbled note.

“Well, what does it say?” Julie followed up as she strained her neck trying to peek at what was written on the paper.

“A dance,” Chace answered and he handed her the paper. He then looked up at Victor and Sofia and then to the others around the table. Julie could see he was formulating the words to say but when he couldn’t figure it out he just grabbed a slice of pizza and stuffed it into his mouth.

“What kind of dance?” Julie asked the others. She checked the slip of paper but there was no indication. Nothing. Zip. Nada.

Sofia rolled her eyes and answered. “Any freaking dance, Jules. Just make it entertaining. I don’t want to gouge my eyeballs out from boredom. Urgh, if only we could trade. I drew the ever-exciting task of picking a venue.”

Julie bit down hard on her lip to stop herself from snapping back. Only her friends had the right to call her Jules and she knew Sofia was bullshitting her – Sofia loved picking venues. It made her feel like she was the one in charge.

Chace leaned in and whispered into Julie’s ear. “Don’t worry. We got this. We can show them how a Christmas 1-2 special is done.”

She rolled her eyes but even then a smile crept on her face. Julie squirmed and scooted over to get closer to Chace. He smelled so damn good she was tempted to bury her face in his chest and just stay there. “Well,” she replied. “If you’re as good on your feet as you are in the bedroom then I think I’m in good hands… maybe.”

Chace wrapped an arm around her. “Trust me on this one. I didn’t join the high school basketball team so I could tango.”

“Chace, you weren’t in any team that I know of, including the dance squad,” Julie pointed out. She didn’t bother paying attention to the actual meeting anymore. They had their role and it wasn’t exactly one she was looking forward to.

He cocked his head and tried – but failed – to hear what the others were talking about. When he couldn’t piece it all together in his head he just smiled at Julie with a snarky look on his face. “Come on, I’ve got the moves. Just bring on the groove. We’re the Groovinators.”

“Never, ever do a pun like that again or I’m calling Michael J. Fox on you,” Julie shot back with a big grin. “Come on, pay attention to what’s going on and hand me a slice of pizza.”

“I thought you’re trying to lose weight?”

Julie shrugged and grabbed the peppershaker. “Yeah, but I got Prince Charming back while weighing a few extra pounds. What’s a few extra more when there’s pepperoni pizza in front of me?”

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