I'm lookin' at you, and you're lookin' at me

 

Jude had nowhere to go. There was no turning back. She was not going back to Omaha. It would start all over again. Her thoughts of Connor. How could she have let him go?

It was her mother's fault. She had to do it before she got in trouble with her Dad. No way would he approve of Connor, who was a dropout living a thug life.

She'd promised her mother that Connor wasn't in a gang. At least, she didnt think so. Didn't they know he was a loner who never had the good life like she did?

But she was suspicious too. Was he really in love with her, like he said he was?  They'd never had intercourse. Even so, they were intimate, and it had been one giddy moment after another with him. Taking her to parties. Not exactly meeting people, but she felt now he was just showing her off. 

All the same, he'd made her feel special. Maybe too special. And she was getting the vibe he was a natural-born liar. She couldn't say where it began. It was just a bit disturbing. He had friends, but no real home.

She'd asked about it and laughed it off as if it were no big deal. In his eyes, he expressed that life was good and he might as well be living a fairytale with her. But soon her mother got into it with her to break it off. She was an A student. She was to go to a proper University. She'd have an A-list job someday. No way could she have those things if she kept running around with Connor.

Now, as she sat back in the corner of the library by the glistening fish tank, she could hear Darry talking to Junie's cousin by the computers, where no one was. 

"I don't know if they actually called the police or not, but I know her mother's upset. They never thought she'd run away. She didn't leave a note or anything," her cousin said to Darry. "For a while, they just thought she was with you. Her mom's been so busy lately at the hospital. A new Flu, you know. And, she's had to put in extra hours." Her cousin winced. "You know how her parents are, they think she can take care of herself."

Jude set up and pressed her lips. Her hands covered her lips as if she should pray. What was Connor up to with Junie?

Finally, Darry came around to Jude. "I'm off work now." He looked down at her as if he could feel her grief too. "Do you want to get something to eat?"

She nodded. She couldn't remember the last time she actually had a meal. She'd been living on energy drinks these last few weeks. Of course, she didn't want to tell Darry that she loved Connor, because deep down she wanted to hate him.