Page 37 of Between the Blue

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She walks past me. “Wait,” I say. “Now?”

“What are you waiting for?” she asks.

I shake my head. I don’t have an answer.

“Let’s go to Bar None.” She motions towards our main little bar in town. It’s right across the street.

“At 11 a.m.?” I ask.

“It’s open, isn’t it?”

It is.

“Any other excuses?” she questions me.

I clear my throat. Glance down. “I’m not eighteen.”

“Neither am I,” Jules says. “Don’t worry about it. Put your sticks in your car and let’s go.” She tilts her head. “Or I’ll change my mind.”

“Well, we can’t have that.”

So I put my hockey sticks in my car. Walk across the street with her. Slide onto a stool next to her at the bar.

The bartender knows her by name.

Of course he does.

I’m staring at her after she orders for both of us. She didn’t even ask what I wanted.

Doesn’t matter. I’m just here for her.

When the bartender walks away, she looks back at me. Finds me staring.

“What?” she asks.

“Nothing,” I say.

“Well,” she gives me a sly smile. “You got me out, Ben James. Now, what do you want from me?”

I turn my body to face hers. She stays forward. “I don’t know,” I tell her. “Everything.”

The bartender comes back. Sets two whiskeys on the rocks down in front of us.

“Thanks, Will,” she tells him, then turns back to me. “Everything is a lot.”

“I want it anyways,” I say. “Just… What’s your story, Jules?”

“Hmm…” she hums. Stirs her finger in her drink. “How could I tell you that? It’s not finished yet.”

“Does that mean there’s a chance I’m a part of it?”

She scoffs out a chuckle. Shakes her head. Takes a sip of her drink.

Then she turns on her stool to face me. Her legs are between mine now. Our knees are so close to touching.

“Let me ask you something,” she says.

She didn’t answer my question, but I’ll bite. “Okay.”

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