Page 35 of Only With You

I grin, watching her run off to find the girls. Once she disappears into the crowd, I turn and my smile deepens when I spot an empty stool. I take it just as the bartender sets my drink down, but before I can take a drink, I feel someone hovering next to me.

“Why don’t eggs tell jokes?”

For a moment, I think I heard wrong and assume it wasn’t meant for me, but I hear the question again. Looking to my right, I’m met with a bright pair of green eyes.

“Why don’t eggs tell jokes?” he repeats again, sheepishly smiling.

“I don’t know, why?”

“They crack up too easily.”

The joke is extremely corny, but it’s hard not to laugh. “That was a really bad joke. Does it work often?”

A tinge of red coats his cheek. He brings his hand to the nape of his neck and awkwardly rubs it. “Never, but I figured it’d be a good way to break the ice.”

Grabbing my drink and covering it with my palm, I turn to look for the girls. When I spot them, they’re giving me the thumbs-up, beaming like proud mothers. I shake my head, but I get this look from Polly that I understand loud and clear.

“He’s cute, stay,”I’m sure is what she’s communicating to me.

“I’m Julianna.” I extend my hand toward him, deciding to go with the flow.

He takes my hand in his, softly shaking it. “River. I know it’s an odd name, but my parents are big hippies and they thought I was going to be a girl. So, River stuck.”

I chuckle, crossing my leg over the other. “It’s not odd at all. I like it. It’s better than my name. It sounds so bland. At least yours has character.”

River lets go of my hand and leans against the bar top. “Julianna,” he says like he’s trying to get a feel for it. “I don’t think it’s bland at all. Do you shorten it or do you prefer just Julianna?” He stares at me with genuine curiosity.

My mind instantly goes to Landon and the stupid nickname he calls me. Hollywood and now Angel. I don’t understand his fascination with the first one, and I’ve no idea where the second came from.

“My friends call me Juls.”

“Am I a friend?” A small, timid smile stretches across his face.

I playfully shrug. “I don’t know. I don’t know you.”

“Yet,” he adds, his smile becoming more confident. “That is…if you want, but no pressure. I’m a senior at NCU. You can search me up. My last name is Hale.” He winces, embarrassment covering his face. “You know what, forget it. I’m going to walk away now.”

I laugh, stopping him as he pivots. “No, no, stay. It’s okay. I’m also a senior at NCU, and my last name is Sparks.”

“Julianna Sparks. I like that. It’s really fitting.”

“Is it because of my sparkling personality?” I mock, full of sarcasm, and take a drink.

Now he chuckles. “Do you get that a lot?”

“You have no idea.” I wrinkle my nose, remembering how many guys have used my last name as some sort of pick-up line. “The egg joke is now my favorite and I don’t think anything will ever compare to it.”

“That’s nothing.” He rolls his shoulders back and cracks his fingers. “Are you ready?”

I eagerly nod.

“Somebody better call God, because he’s missing an angel.”

My body weirdly tingles as the new nickname Landon gave me comes to mind.

Of course he would when I’m having a good time. Somehow he always seems to make his disturbing self known even when he’s not around.

“How was that? Amazing, huh?” River wiggles his brows, his smile infectious and sweet, making it hard not to mirror it.

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