Watercolor Road ✔

Chapter 28: Finals

\The sun beat down on Julia and Will as they strolled along the path, hand in hand. Prom had come and gone, and while they still had several weeks of school left, graduation was all anyone could think about. Julia herself had final projects on the horizon, but once she left the school building, she was incapable of worrying or even thinking about them. Will and graduation were the only things that occupied her mind.

Now, on a random Wednesday, she and Will were spending their afternoon walking through the park. It wasn't a park Julia had ever been to before, but it didn't matter. They could have been walking through a parking lot for all she cared.

"Can I ask you—"

"What do you have—"

They both broke the lazy silence at the same time. Will grinned. "You first."

Julia shook her head. "No, you."

They had a staring contest for a moment before Will broke and shrugged. "You're the boss. I was just going to ask what final stuff you still have to do for school?"

Julia groaned. "Honestly, it's not that bad," she amended at Will's alarmed look. Senior finals at Redwater were generally pretty relaxed, at least according to him. "Just for my art class. She's giving us our final assignment this week. I just don't know what to expect, is all."

Will gave her hand a squeeze. "I'm sure you'll be fine," he reassured.

"Thanks."

"What were you going to say?"

"Oh right." Julia glanced down briefly as her phone buzzed. "It's just Rory," she explained at Will's questioning glance. "Wondering when I'll be home." She shot her uncle a quick text back before putting her phone back in her pocket. "And, actually, that's what I wanted to talk about."
At the mention of Rory's name, Will's face had adopted the same brief tightened expression that Julia had noticed on prom night. She still couldn't figure out exactly what it meant, but she knew it was weird.

"You want to talk about your uncle?"

"Not exactly." Julia clasped her hands and fidgeted them together. "Well, sort of. You don't have a problem with him, do you?" Her words came out rushed.

Now Julia had no problem reading Will's expression: confusion. "What?" he said, half laughing. "No, why would you think that?"

"I mean, well, just now." Julia couldn't really meet his eyes. "And after we left the dance on prom night when he texted me checking in after the tornado. You just seemed, I don't know, off."

Silence fell, but when Julia looked up Will didn't seem angry. If anything, he looked a little sad. "It's not because I'm harboring some grudge against your uncle," he finally said. "In fact, it has nothing to do with him at all."

"Then what is it?"

"It's because he cares, Julia." Will just sounded tired. "And I didn't want to say anything because I didn't want it to sound like I'm jealous or anything like that. But, I guess, I kind of am. Is that what you want to hear?"

Julia pressed her lips together. "I don't really want to argue over this."

"Neither do I."

They had been walking slowly but now Will stopped and turned toward her. "I just don't want you to think that I'm idealizing your life or anything like that, since..."