The New Normal

Chapter Three

"Juliet?" A voice said, sounding very far away. "Hey, J, you good?"

A hand shook my shoulder and I jolted awake, hitting my knee on my desk as I did so.

"What the shit?" I mumbled, turning my head in the direction that the voice had sounded from.

When my eyes landed on a confused looking Chad, I straightened myself out.

"Are you okay?" He asked, clearly worried.

I nodded my head vigorously. "Yeah, just didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

"Fair enough," Chad smiled. "Binge watching Supernatural with my sister until nearly midnight probably didn't help."

I laughed. "Yeah, but it was worth it."

Chad opened his mouth to say something but Ariel interrupted. "Guys, guess what!"

Both Chad and I scrunched our eyebrows while simultaneously saying, "What?"

Her vibrant eyes lit up as she answered. "There's tater tots in the cafeteria today."

Chad rolled his eyes and went back to paying attention to the board, while I gave my friend a high five.

I really loved tater tots.

•••

When the lunch bell rang, I was like a bat out of hell, running out of my biology class. Not only because of the tots, but because I really hate bio.

"Wait, is that Juliet?" I heard from behind me. I whipped my head around to find the owner of the voice but the hallway was so packed I couldn't find them. But even though I couldn't see them, they could see me.

"Holy shit, it is!" And then the next thing I know, I'm being embraced and my feet are no longer touching the ground. "What the fu-" But I stopped mid sentence when I saw who it was.

"Blake!" I wrapped my legs around his waist and gave him a tight hug. "I didn't see you yesterday, I didn't think you were still here!"

Blake chuckled and his warm hazel eyes looked up at me. "Nah, I'm here to stay."

I unwrapped myself and stood up straight, giving him a small smile. "Good."

He chuckled again and threw his arm over my shoulders, leading me in the direction I was originally going in. He raised a brow and grinned. "I'm assuming you're heading for the tots."

"Obviously," I answered in a tone that said, duh. Blake shook his head again, causing his messy brown hair to sway back and forth. I nearly reached out to move a stray strand that fell in front of his eyes but I stopped myself. Instead, I smiled and said, "So, how have you been?"

"I've been..." he let out a sigh and I felt him shrug. "I've been decent. But now that you're here, I've got a feeling things will be better."

Blake gave me a charming smile that never failed to make my stomach flutter but now, I felt nothing. I looked down, studying the tiles as we walked in silence.

"Hey," Blake said softly, grazing my cheek so lightly it felt like nothing more than a mere feather had stroked it.

I snapped out of my thoughts and Blake was now standing in front of me at the entryway of the cafeteria. His brows were scrunched slightly and his hazel eyes were laced with concern. "I lost you there for a second, are you okay?"

I debated in my head as to whether I should give him an honest answer. It would probably sound a little like this; no, I'm not okay. My brother is gone, Tyler hates me for whatever archaic reason, Chad and him are besties, my dad has been acting like Dr. Phil since the accident, and my extremely supportive ex boyfriend probably has moved on with some other girl and that's probably why things feel so messed up.

"Oh, I'm fine," I gave him a reassuring smile and wrapped my arm through his as I led him into the cafeteria.

We got in line for the tater tots and Blake informed me about everything that had happened while I was away. He got a job at the local movie theatre, the Theatrum, and raved about all the free popcorn he gets after his shifts. I laughed at that. The money he gets isn't what makes him happy. No, it's the popcorn.

"Anyways, enough about me," he grinned. "What about you, how was California?"

I sighed thinking about my time with my aunt. "It was interesting. The people there were weird, it's like they have their own freaking language. If I hear the words gnarly, stoked, hella, epic, or dank one more time I will cut off my own ears."

Blake let out a hearty chuckle and I remembered how I would always blush at the sound. I turned myself away from him so he wouldn't see my awkwardness and starting grabbing food for my tray. "I played a lot of beach volleyball and the trails there were amazing."

I heard Blake open his mouth to speak but he was abruptly cut off.

"The precious Juliet playing beach volleyball? Now that's unheard of. I remember the days we'd share a gym class and you mauled the teacher with a volleyball."

"Really, Tyler?" I gritted my teeth as I spoke. "You have nothing better to do but to eavesdrop on my conversations?"

I turned to face him and his mischievous green eyes revealed nothing but pure enjoyment of annoying me. His typically messy hair was semi spiked up and he smells heavily of body wash. He probably had gym before lunch and just gotten out of the shower. Tyler crossed his arms, making me notice the many tattoos that were on his chest, peeking through his v-neck. He smirked as he caught me staring. "Hate to break it to you, but it's rude to stare."

Blake snorted and wrapped his arm around my waist, tugging me to move forward in the line and get my incredibly desired tots. "Just ignore him, J."

"Awe," Tyler mused. "Reunited with Prince Charming, I see. How adorable."

His eyes darted back and forth between Blake and I. "Should I tell her or should I leave that surprise for you?"

Panic raised and I looked at Blake, who was heavily glaring at Tyler. "Tell me what?"

Instead of sticking around to hear his response, Tyler chuckled as he sauntered away to the exit.

Blake shook his head and gave me a grim smile. "Well, when you were away I uh- saw someone. But it was nothing, one date and that's it."

Finally, we got to the tots and scooped a plate full for myself. I nodded my head in understanding and touched Blake's arm gently with my free hand. "I don't blame you. I was gone and you wanted company. If I was in a different circumstance, I would have done the same thing but quite frankly dating was the last thing on my mind last year."

Blake smiled at my understanding and as we set our trays down at our usual table we sat at before I left, he placed a soft kiss on my temple. "You have no idea how much I've missed you."

I wish I could have said the same to him, but I knew I wouldn't mean it.