Page 32 of Barefoot Dreams
Why? Why did I try so hard to fit in with the rest of the world? It still chewed me up and spit me out the other way. It still stole so much from me. So why did I willingly give up parts of my soul for its sacrifice?
For Kimmy to like me.
For Cal and Luke to not to think of me as another local weirdo. To prove to the world that I’m not one.
Who the hell have I been fighting this whole time? And what does it say about the internal war I’ve fought for many years that when the time came, all I wanted was to come back here. To be surrounded by these streets, these buildings, these people…her.
I stopped dead in my tracks and look down at my feet. Ham or eggs…
Without hesitation, I take off my sneakers and socks, planting my bare feet on paved concrete. The cold bite of it sinking right into my soles, but with the chill also comes a wave of fresh breath and I gulp it up eagerly.
Damn, this feels good.
I just stand there, with no one around me, wiggling my toes across the dirty sidewalk and feel better than I have in days. But it isn’t until I see exactly where I’ve stopped that my heart starts beating faster.
Sip of Love is right across the street, its shimmery windows dark—but not lifeless as one would assume. No, even in the dead of night, Julie’s shop gives off that radiating warmth and a promise of a smile come morning light.
It’s only after I stand and watch the closed shop for what must been like half an hour that I lift my eyes up and suck in a sharp, hasty breath.
Julie…
There she is, sitting in the huge, propped open window, surrounded by an array of different pots filled with funky plants inside them. Her knees drawn up to her chest and her fiery curls tamed into a top knot, looking like a ray of sunshine in the darkest of nights, lost in her own world.
A world I’m beginning to feel desperate to be a part of.
As if sensing my eyes on her, she looks down and straightens her back from the slouching position. “Griffin?”
Crap. She caught me being a total creep. Her voice is barely audible, yet I hear it nonetheless and lift my hand up in an awkward wave.
“Hey.”
“See, people always underestimate lavender. They think it’s a perfume herb and nothing more.”
I blink. I almost forgot her tendency to throw out the most random thoughts out of nowhere, but it used to be one of my favorite things about her. I used to always wonder what was going on in that beautiful brain of hers.
“But it’s all powerful?” I ask.
“Well, it pushed you out of hiding in all of half a day since I brought it out.” There’s a small, satisfied smirk on her face. Something I’ve never seen before from her, and it’s hot.
Damn it, as if I needed any more reasons to be infatuated with the girl.
“That it did.” I smile back, stuffing my free hand into my pocket.
“Are you on a walk?” she asks, and I wish I could see her face—those green eyes and her smile.
“Something like that. I was at LPs with Alec and Jacob.” I throw my thumb backward toward the bar.
“That’s it.” She releases a surprised sound.
“What?” I frown.
“I’m going to Love Hive tomorrow to officially get a badge of honor.”
“For wh—” I don’t finish my own sentence when even in the darkness I see the mischievous sparkle in those green eyes. “Let me guess…for lavender?” I raise an eyebrow she can’t see but I sure as heck can hear her laugh that follows my deadpanned question.
A beautiful, bright sound just like a bird’s song after a long rainy day.
“Did you have fun?” Julie asks through the remainders of that laugh.
