Crescendo

Chapter 10

Soundtrack for this chapter:
About a Girl—Nirvana
Times Like These—Foo Fighters
Drops of Jupiter—Train

10

Theo

Jules was someone I quickly realized I wanted to stay in my life for as long as possible, even though I had no idea exactly what was happening between us. Were we on the path to something exclusive? Were we just hooking up? If she asked me to define what we were, I wouldn't know how to answer. Besides, she kept making me question my own sanity because she could be so fucking difficult at times. When she wasn't making me want to kiss the life out of her, she was making me want to throw her ass in the car and drive her back to Parnassus.

We had one such moment at the Italian sandwich shop I took her to after picking up some clothes from her apartment. The second we walked in, she picked up a menu and started reading through the options. I snatched it from her hands.

"No reading, remember? It'll slow your recovery time."

She completely ignored me and picked up another menu. "I've never been here. I don't know what to get."

I grabbed the new menu from her. "Tell me what you like, and I'll give you your options."

With an extraordinarily prominent eye roll, she said, "I don't know. I like chicken...what are my chicken options?" Cute and feisty.

"There's a pesto chicken panini that's really good. Do you want to try that?"

"What else is in it?"

"Tomatoes and—"

"Gross. Nope. I hate tomatoes."

"How can you hate tomatoes?"

"I don't like the seeds. They get stuck in your teeth and they're disgusting."

"That's ridiculous, but I'll just order it without them."

"But they made it with them on purpose. It's probably best with tomatoes so maybe I should just order something without them."

At that point, I handed her the menu; a minute or so of reading wouldn't kill her. "Are you always this difficult, or is this just because you hit your head?"

She shrugged her shoulders, but took the menu from me anyways. After a few minutes of her looking it over, I had the thought of taking it from her again.

"Okay, really now, you have to make a decision."

"Just order the thing you suggested. I'll pick off the tomatoes."

"Are you doing this to fuck with me?" I didn't realize how harsh it sounded until she recoiled a bit.

"No, I, sorry, I take forever. Why don't you—"

Nice one, asshole. "I didn't mean it like that. Just go take a seat, and I'll order everything."

"Wait—" she pulled her purse around, unzipped it, and took out her wallet.

"I got it, Jules." I gently pushed her hand back down.

She blinked at me a few times, then turned and took a seat at one of the tables. I walked up to the older gentleman at the register and placed an order for two chicken pesto paninis—one without tomatoes—and two Italian subs for my brothers.

As I stood there waiting for the order, I stole a few glances at Jules. She sat there, watching the people walk by on the street through the window. When my order number was called, I turned at just the wrong angle to feel a pull on my left side. Flashes of the origins of my scars spliced together with remembrance of Jules' touch on them just a few hours earlier. I'd never really talked to anyone about them outside my family, but when Jules set her fingers on my skin and it didn't crawl under her touch, I started thinking she might be the first one I'd let in. When she wasn't making me want to bang my head against the wall, she was making me feel things I'd never felt for a woman before, and I wanted her to know everything about me.