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Jude
Standing outside the Student Union,watching kids my age scurrying to classes, I wondered what the hell I was doing here. It might’ve been my imagination, but I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb. Like these people could take one glance at me and know I didn’t belong.
But then my reason crested the hill and I remembered. I studied her before she noticed me. She was laughing with Ben, her arms gesturing wildly, and he leaned toward her, a goofy grin on his face.
It made me mad with jealousy. I was jealous of every single smile, laugh, word, expression that didn’t belong to me. It was irrational and over the top. I’d never admit it out loud, but there it was.
“Stripes!” I called.
She stopped in her tracks, searching and finding me. Then she took off in a sprint, and I threw my arms out, catching her when she crashed into me. Her legs went around my waist and her arms around my neck.
“Jude!”
My mouth found hers, kissing her like we hadn’t seen each other in weeks instead of a weekend. Her nose and lips were cold, but I quickly warmed them with my own.
Tali pulled back, grinning at me. “I didn’t think I’d see you until later.”
“Couldn’t stay away.”
Ben caught up, nodding. “Hey, man.”
Tali lowered her feet to the ground but remained pressed against me. There were too many winter layers between us, but I’d take what I could get.
“Did you know he was going to be here?” she asked Ben.
He smirked. “Quite possibly.”
She laughed, laying her head on my chest. “You sneaky little shit. You didn’t tell me.”
“Wouldn’t be a surprise if I had,” he said.
She smacked my chest with a mittened hand. “I’m really happy to see you, but can we go inside? My toes have frostbite.”
Never Again had been asked to play at two colleges in North Carolina over the past weekend, which was a huge deal for us since we’d been paid actual money, but driving away from Tali had felt like chopping off a limb. If one long weekend felt like torture, I didn’t know how I’d handle a summer on the road if we got the festival gig.
It had been a month since Tali got back from winter break. A month of dragging her to my place for stolen moments in between study sessions, meeting her for rushed dinners, and trapping her in bed with me on weekends. It was always me chasing her down, inserting myself into her precious free time, but I’d gone in with eyes open. I’d known that’s how our story would go.
The three of us grabbed sandwiches and found a table in the crowded food court. I pulled Tali’s chair next to mine, and she leaned into me, laying her hand on my leg under the table.
And that was how I knew she was as into this thing as I was. Or, at least close. I chased, I pulled her in, but once she was in, she always moved closer and burrowed in deep.
“How were the shows?” Ben asked before he took a bite of his sub.
I nodded. “Crazy good. We had fans, man. People knew our lyrics. We had no idea our music was getting so many downloads in the south, but apparently it is.”
He wiped his mouth. “Fuck yeah. That’s awesome. Were there a lot of people?”
“At UNC, there had to be a couple hundred. But at Duke, god, I don’t know, I think there were over five hundred. It was nuts, man. We’ve never played a show like that.”
Tali’s fingers tightened on my leg. I’d called her that night, woken her up, and told her every detail. We’d talked for two hours, and she’d asked question after question, wanting to know everything.
Ben paused, his face calm and serious. “This is it, isn’t it? You’re getting there.”
I shrugged, not because I didn’t care, but because I kind of felt like we might be getting there, but if I got my hopes too high and it didn’t happen, I wanted to lessen the crash.
“We’re going to be waiting in line for Jude’s autograph soon,” Tali said.
“I’d never make you wait.”
