Juliana

20. Mr. Confusing

*Special thanks to Aurora Sanders for Allie's song at the end of the chapter!*

"And this," I handed Juliana the stuffed giraffe that I had just won. "is for you, my lady."

She grinned and took it from my hands. "Thanks, Robbie."

"You are quite welcome." I grabbed her free hand, and we started walking in a comfortable silence towards the stage that Allie was going to be playing any time now.

"I'm confused..." Juliana said, breaking the silence.

"What about?" I scrunched my eyebrows looking down at her.

"Well," She sighed. "I can't decide what kind of giraffe this is."

"Um. Jules. It's stuffed."

"I know that silly. I just can't decide on whether it is a Masai or Reticulated one." She stuck her tongue out at me and then looked back down at the stuffed giraffe in her hand.

"What's the difference?"

"Simple. The main difference is their spots. Masai giraffes have ragged, dark brown, unpredictable spots. Reticulated ones have very rigid, light, predictable ones. I think of the spots of a Reticulated giraffe like a polygon or something. So I'm leaning more towards this being a Masai giraffe... just because the spots aren't as clean cut as a Reticulated giraffe. The edges are more fuzzy."

"Interesting. Where'd you learn about that?"

"Ah," She shrugged her shoulders. "I picked it up somewhere. I don't recall where though."

I shook my head. The girl could grasp onto information so quickly that she didn't always remember where she learned it all.

"Are you sure you aren't just bullshitting me?"

"Yes, Robbie. I've googled this and researched it. There's more Masai giraffes than Reticulated ones. There's like forty thousand Masai giraffes roaming in the wild, while there aren't more the five thousand Reticulated."

"How can you remember all this?"

"Giraffes are my favorite animal. I know a lot about them. Am I turning you off with all my nerd talk?"

"Nah." I smiled at her, swinging our hands back and forth. "I think it's cute."

She blushed. "Are we still going to get funnel cake?"

"Yeah. You want your own, or do you want to split one?"

"My own. They're sort of kind of addictive."

***

Juliana and I were standing near the front of the stage waiting to listen to Allie play. Knowing Aaron, Allie, and their family as well as we did had its perks; we always got to go into an area that had been reserved for select people. Getting to the venue early to get a good seat was overrated.

"So do you guys watch her perform a lot?"

Sam answered Jules' question. "Yeah. We try to make it to all her shows. Sometimes my work schedule and distance make it hard. I'd say we make it to about ninety-five percent of her shows though. She's really good at what she does."

"I'd agree."

Juliana took a bite of her funnel cake. "I would be so ridiculously nervous. How long has she been doing this?"