Bear Hug

Julia Vanelli stood on the dance floor of Dru’s Id, a silent island in a sea of movement and chaos.  She searched the faces bobbing around her, but she didn’t see Leo, her thieving ex-boyfriend.    

Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.  

She pushed and bumped her way off the neon-bathed dance floor, beaching herself in the fringes of the enthusiastic crowd.  Skirting the dance floor, Julia worked her way to the bar anchored along the back wall.  

Please let George still work here.  

It had been almost two years since she had talked to Leo’s twin brother.  She wasn’t sure if she was wasting her time coming to Dru’s, but she had no other choice.  Last she’d heard, George still tended the bar here, and if anyone knew where Leo was, he would.  

“Thank God.”  She saw him, behind the bar, handing drinks to a blond cocktail waitress who exposed significant cleavage as she leaned toward him. 

“Oh, please,” Julia said, rolling her eyes.  She strode over to the bar, and plopped onto the stool next to the waitress. 

“Hey, George,” she said. 

His brown eyes flickered over to see who spoke to him, and then lit up when he recognized her.  “Julia!  I can’t believe it!”  He came out from behind the bar and gave her a hug.  “Where have you been?  I haven’t seen you in here in forever.”  

The waitress gave Julia a dirty look as she walked away from the bar to deliver the drinks.

“It’s been awhile,” Julia nodded.

“So, you missed me?  That’s why you’re here, right?”

Without thinking how it would sound, she said, “Actually, I’m looking for Leo.” 

George’s good humor deflated in an instant, his mouth flattened into a straight line.

She rushed to explain, “It’s not like that.  I came here tonight because I need your help.”

“That’s right, I forgot.  I’m Leo’s keeper,” George said as he returned to his spot behind the bar.

Julia ignored his sarcasm.  “He took something of mine tonight, and I’ve got to get it back!”

George stopped wiping the counter.  “Have you called the cops?”

“I can’t.  The cops wouldn’t take this seriously.”  Julia frowned.  “He took my chinchilla.” 

“Chinchilla?  Yeah, I guess the cops would laugh.”  George thought for a moment.  “Why would Leo want your chinchilla?”

“Because he’s an jerk!”  Against her will, her lower lip trembled.  “Look, I’m sorry.  It’s just Sebastian, my chinchilla, is special.  He’s more than a pet.  I’ve got to get him back.”  

A flicker of something--maybe sorrow, maybe resignation--crossed George’s face.  “You don’t need to apologize.  Twin brother or not, I know what Leo has become.  Anyway, I haven’t seen him for almost a year.  Did you try some sort of tracking spell, or whatever you call it?”

“I scryed for them when I first realized what had happened, but I couldn’t see them.  I think Leo blocked me somehow.”

“So what do you want me to do?  I’m not a witch.”

“You know Leo, and how he thinks.  You’re the only person I can think of that can help me.”

Julia watched as George’s resolve gave way.  “I’ll get off in half an hour.  You want me to come to your place?”