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She covered her flushed cheeks. “I obviously should never speak again. It’s just…seeing you with a guy was kind of…I don’t know…”
A word popped into my head. “Discombobulating?”
She nodded. “Yes, discombobulating. Good word.”
Because Dalia was sodiscombobulated, and I was feeling kind of light and floaty from talking to Jude, I served her just a little tea.
“Well, this might really blow your mind: Jude was my boyfriend in college. We had a terrible breakup, and now he’s on tour with us, working as a sound engineer. Oh, and he was the lead singer of Never Again.”
Her mouth opened in a perfect O. “Holy shit, Tali.”
“Indeed,” I agreed.
“Have you not seen him since…?”
“It’s been a long while since I last saw him.”
“And?”
I picked at the label on my beer with my thumbnail. “And...I think I’m also somewhat discombobulated.”
She leaned closer, her hand on my knee. “Your Jude is looking at you right now with all kinds of longing.”
I snorted. “No he’s not. I know you’re in the newly wedded bliss stage right now, but not every love story has a happy ending. Sometimes people break up and stay that way forever because there were so many good reasons they parted in the first place. And more often than not, people get over their first loves and move onto their second and third and fourth loves...so if he’s looking at me, it’s with curiosity.”
Her eyes were focused over my shoulder. “Girl, I don’t know. I can pretty much recognize a love-struck Romeo from a mile away.”
“I can’t even begin to tell you how inaccurate that is. However, I’m impressed with the Dire Straits reference.”
She scrunched her face. “Is that where that’s from? I never knew.”
Considering Dalia hadn’t known Blue is the Color’s music before she started dating Nick, that wasn’t surprising. I was also very aware my musical repertoire was far larger than the average person’s.
Fortunately, the topic moved from me to music Dalia deemed obscure, but in actuality, was just older than she was. Nick and I had fun quizzing her throughout dinner. She had me tossing my head back and laughing when she said she used to think Lady Gaga was Madonna’s daughter.
As I wiped tears, my eyes caught Jude’s across the room. He was turned in his chair, watching me unabashedly. I trapped my bottom lip between my teeth. My stomach twisted and turned, and it wasn’t entirely a bad feeling.
The corners of his mouth twitched, and he shook his head.
No, it wasn’t a bad feeling at all.
