Chapter 11: Free Seats && Good Will

Author's Note:: So as I said at the end of Chapter 10, this is more of a continuation of that chapter than an actual new chapter. I realized the break I put in it would be better served to make it two short chapters instead of one long one. I hope you enjoy it, and please review if you have time :)

What Happened Last

He started a victory lap, in which he threw the football towards the ground and ran around with pointer fingers high in the air, giving selective teammates high fives. Monica was right; these guys were good looking. He turned so that he was no longer facing away from her so that she could see his profile. He was familiar. It didn't take Junia long to place a name to the face, and as he turned fully around to confirm what she already knew, his name was ringing through her head. Reid.

October 29th, 2006

If there was one good thing about working at a small grocery store in a pretty small town, it was that when things were continually slow the managers let people go home early. So, before the official end of her shift, Junia was bicycling down the street, headed to Nicky's for dinner. If anyone had asked her (as Monica had after asking Junia what she was going to do with her night) just why she decided to go to Nicky's for dinner, she would say that she left because she really wanted a good burger. Her real reasons were kept to herself. The football game had broken up half an hour ago, and she hoped to see some of the team there. It wasn't too far down the road, especially if someone was driving as she assumed most of them were. As it were, it had only taken Junia about ten minutes to bike there, and that was with herself being pretty tired from standing all day. She locked her bike up to the old bicycle rack that she was pretty sure had remained unused until she arrived in town, and pushed open the doors to the buzzing nightlife scene. She didn't recognize anyone.

Junia quickly moved through the door so the people behind her could pass through, and immediately upon their entrance they were shouting hellos and making their way to people. Junia wandered over to the bar where there were people laughing and talking, most of the seats taken. She hovered by an empty section as a burly man walked over.

"What can I get for ya?" He called over the noise.

"I'll have the cheeseburger and a Sprite." He nodded and walked away as she stood awkwardly by the bar. There was no gross guy in a purple hoodie or hot Italian, and definitely no Reid. People moved around her, some giving dirty looks at the girl who stood in the way, most not even caring. Nicky's always seemed to be full of partiers and she sort of liked it that way. She would have to come back again with Kate and Sarah, maybe even Monica. The burger didn't take long to make, and Junia quickly paid and after a few minutes of hard searching found a table where she could sit and eat.

Junia was about halfway through her burger before someone came over to her table. "Anyone sitting here?" She looked up and was met by the familiar gaze of Reid Garwin.

"Um, no." Junia said, moving her plate and her soda closer to herself as he sank down into the chair across from her.

"You never gave me your name the other day." Reid stated. He was right to the point. Unlike most boys who would come over he wasn't smooth, and he didn't even seem to try. He was direct, which was nice.

"Neither did you." Junia, on the other hand, wasn't so direct. There was a small pause in the conversation. "My name is Junia."

"Junia." Reid repeated, leaning forward onto the table. "That's a pretty name."

"I think it's weird." Junia leaned onto her own elbows, pushing her plate to the side. "But my parents wanted us to all have unique names."

"I think it fits you." Reid said, as if he had put some hard thought into it. She wondered which part he meant. The pretty, or the weird, or the unique, or maybe all three? It was a bit of a misguided compliment.

"How would you know?" Junia asked. Her voice wasn't accusatory, if anything it she hoped it was more of a mysterious flirty banter. She was never really good at flirting.

"The lighting's pretty good, so it's easy to tell how pretty you are." Then again, he wasn't so great at flirting either. "Besides, I've heard about you, Junia." He said her name, accentuating each syllable, as if testing to see how he truly liked to say it.

"About me?" Junia was intrigued. "Nobody here even knows my name."

"Yeah, well, I've got my sources." He seemed pretty smug about it too. If Junia was in his shoes, she'd also feel smug.

"I know your sources." Oh, wait. She sort of was in his shoes.

"And I also knew that. See, I already know a lot about you. Or at least what people say about you."

Another pause. She almost felt like they were going in circles, and yet this was not an un-enjoyable conversation.

"What do they say about me?"

"Kate says that you're a saint because you have to put up with Kira Snider and Amanda Gates all of the time. Sarah says you're really easy-going, and don't know a lot about Spenser or the people in it. Pogue says that you don't talk much, and Caleb says you're almost too considerate, where you don't bother to stick up for yourself because you don't want to cause trouble, and Tyler told me that—" Reid stopped. "Actually, forget about baby-boy." Junia couldn't argue with the picture he had painted for him. She just wished it had been a prettier one.

"You've got good sources." She smiled and then looked down at the table.

"I hope so, there's nobody else who can give me anything on you." So he asked around about her? That didn't necessarily mean that he liked her.

"Wake up, Junia!" she scolded herself in her head. "Still, you've got a lot more on me, then I have on you." Junia said looking up at him. "And I've heard about the Sons of Ipswich everywhere."

"Yeah? What have you heard about me?"

"I'm going to keep that to myself." Junia smiled, and he smiled too, hanging his head in playful defeat before looking back up.

"So what brings you to Nicky's?"

"I'm finished work and wanted something to eat."

"You work at Peville's?"

"You know." Junia said. It was the first time they brought up one of their previous encounters. Well, besides the whole umbrella incident.

"How'd you like the game?"

"I don't really watch a lot of football, so I don't know. You did make a great catch though."

"You saw that?" He smiled, obviously very proud of himself. "Usually I'm much better than I was today."

If this was some subtle attempt at bragging, Junia really couldn't care less. "I'll believe that when I see it." She laughed and then finished off her sprite. The rest of her food remained neglected, pushed away to the side of the table; she wasn't really hungry anymore. Junia looked at her watch, although she could already see that it was pretty dark outside. The light on her bike could be finicky; she should probably go back. Junia got what she wanted, what she came for. Now it was time to leave. "It was nice talking to you, Reid." She said using his name for the first time as she got up from the table. It felt weird calling him by his name, especially since he had yet to introduce himself to her officially.

"Where are you going?" he asked, quickly getting up after her.

"Back to the dorms." She said. "I gotta ride my bike there before it gets too dark."

"I can give you a ride." He offered.

"Don't worry about it. I'm ok."

"Caleb's right, you are too considerate." Was that an accusation or a compliment? "Come on." He said nodding his head to the door, and he started in that direction with Junia quickly following him. "I'll pull around." He said before disappearing into the parking lot. Junia walked over to the bike rack and unchained it, rolling it to the front where she saw Reid was already waiting with the car. Junia walked her bike over to the car as Reid got out of the driver's seat to open the trunk and lift her bike into the car for her.

"Thank you." She said quietly, moving around to the passenger's seat. Reid closed and locked the trunk, walking over to his seat behind the wheel. Junia pulled the seatbelt across her, as Reid did and they were ready to go.

"Let's roll." Reid said, shifting into drive. He then proceeded to tear out of the parking lot, forcing Junia to fall back into her seat as he laughed and let out a loud "Woo!"

"I'm about to die." Junia thought as she watched the stores on the road fly by her. "I'm actually going to die today." Reid looked over at her from the road and laughed. She must have been a sight.

"You okay?" he asked.

"That's yet to be determined." The last part of the word was shortened and gasped out as Reid took a sharp turn.

"So, I take it your one of those people who actually follows the speed limit exactly?" he asked.

"Well, I certainly don't go 30 mph over it." At this, Reid laughed again as he made the last turn to where the dorms were, swinging into the parking lot in one fluid and terrifying motion.

"Look, we got here in record time." Reid pointed at the clock. It had taken them ten maybe fifteen minutes. It should have been about twenty.

"I'm never driving with you again." Junia said shakily stepping out of Reid's car. Reid laughed as he got out and closed his door, locking the car soon afterward.

"And here I was giving you another favor out of my good will."

"You can keep your good will." Junia said as the pair made their way up to the dorms. "Well the driving, good will."

"You say that now." Reid held the door for her as they entered the building. "You'll change your mind."

"Oh, I don't think I will." She said, heading up the stairs. She felt pretty confident in that statement.

"So, are you going to the Halloween party?" Reid asked suddenly changing the conversation.

"At Pogue's?" Junia responded as they began to walk down the hallway of the dorm together. He nodded. "I am."

"Do you know what you're going to be yet?"

"No, why?"

"Just wondering." He said. Reid was quiet again, like he was when he had walked her to the dorms for the first time.

"This is my room." Junia said stopping outside of her dorm, gesturing to the door. "I'll see you Friday, then, I guess."

"Yeah, see you Friday." Reid looked at her, and she looked back for a second, before turning the key in the lock and walking into her room.