The noise of the visitor center fades. The conversations around us blur into white noise. My family. The tourists. Everything.
It’s just him looking at me like that, and my sudden realization that this is what I was missing before.
This feeling of the entire world narrowing to one person and being okay with it. Of wanting to exist in the same space just because they’re in it.
I never once felt this with Garrett. Never felt my breath catch just from someone smiling at me. Never felt like I’d rather be exactly where I am than anywhere else in the world.
“Why are you staring at me, JuJu?” He says it like he knows exactly what I’m thinking. As if all my thoughts are painted on my face for him to see.
“Jules!” Olivia’s voice cuts through the moment we were having. She appears next to us, phone in hand, completely oblivious. “We’re doing lunch down the street. Everyone’s ready to go. You guys coming?”
“Yeah.” Rodriguez answers before I can even process the question. “We’re coming.”
He offers me his hand, while my brain is still trying to catch up to what just happened.
Because I just realized I’m falling for him.
And from the look on his face as he threads his fingers through mine, thumb tracing over my knuckles, he knows it too.
16
RODRIGUEZ
I sawthe exact moment it happened.
We were standing by the windows, hot chocolate in hand, and I smiled at her. Just smiled, nothing special. And her entire face changed. Like she’d just solved a problem she’d been working on for days.
Then she stared at me with this look I’ve never seen before. Wide-eyed. Almost panicked. But underneath the panic—something else. Something that looked a lot like realization.
Why are you staring at me, JuJu?
She didn’t answer. Couldn’t.
And I knew.
She’d just figured it out. That this isn’t fake anymore. That whatever’s happening between us is real and she’s feeling it too.
And from the absolute terror on her face, she has no idea what to do about it.
I’m trying very hard not to feel smug.
Lunch isat a place down the street from the visitor center I can tell she’s spiraling by how weird she’s acting. Not obvious weird, she’s way too good at performing for that. But I can tell. She keeps glancing at me when she thinks I’m not looking, quick sideways looks she cuts off immediately. Her shoulders are drawn up slightly.
And I’m sitting here trying not to laugh because she’s spiraling about me. About us. About the fact that she’s falling for me and doesn’t know what to do about it while sitting across from her ex-boyfriend.
“Rodriguez,” Owen’s dad calls from down the table and launches into a discussion about the most famous fights in hockey history.
I pull my attention away from Juliette and engage. Standard stuff I can do in my sleep.
My phone buzzes in my pocket. Then again. Then twice more in rapid succession.
The team group chat I’ve been ignoring for three days.
“Sorry,” I say to Owen’s dad. “I should check this. Might be team stuff.”
I pull out my phone and immediately wish I hadn’t.
PUCKANEERS CHAOS
