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Odd

Gathering her things and putting them in her own duffel, she checked her phone just out of habit--

All that chill, no worries, Bobby McFerrin shit went right out theas she saho had texted her

Opening up the e, she had to read it twice Then she put her phone away and scra’d her way out into the corridor

She was halfway to the parking area when a voice in her ear drawled, "Can we have a rematch, only naked?"

Novo jumped and spun around to Peyton "Oh! Yeah, sorry, absolutely--where are you headed?"

"Hoo start some laundry and stuff I’ll meet you in like an hour?"

"Hey" He put his hand on her ared out fro and s sorted on the hoer that" His eyes became remote "And listen, if you need soood" As she shook her head, she was struck by a surprising iive him a quick kiss

As if he sensed this, he smiled slow and on one side "Take your tiether, they walked down the corridor and got on the bus, sitting across the aisle and facing one another, their legs stretched out so that their running shoes knocked As the bus began to move, Boone started to listen to old-school U2 and she was able to track the Joshua Tree albu and Paradise were in the back, in each other’s ar And Axe started to snore

When they got to the designated drop-off spot, everyone dise away

Novo loitered as everybody deht air…in a direction away from where she lived

When she re-formed, it was in front of an Irish bar called Paddy’s in a section of town she had avoided for over two years

She took a deep breath as she pushed her way into the pub It wasall the way in the back, in a booth

He stood up as soon as she came in And after a moment, she walked doard him

"Hello, Oskar," she said as she stopped in front of him "This is a surprise"

After Novo spoke, there was an aard ing her duffel bag--so that there was no chance of a hug or anything

Oskar cleared his throat and then re-lowered hi to drink?"

Maybe a beer, she thought Ordinarily, she liked a good Scotch, but this was not an ordinary situation

"Yeah, Coors" Then she tacked on "Light"

He raised a hand and when the bartender caht"

"We close in a half hour"

"Okay Thanks"

The hurunecks "You want to pay for ’eet his wallet out of his pocket "Keep the change"

"Okay Thanks--but we still close in thirty"

The guy was still lasses on the far side of the counter

"I’lad you came," Oskar said softly

As she picked at the label on her bottle, she could feel his eyes searching her face, her hair, her body

"You look different," he "