Justice For Juniper novel Chapter 61

Good Morning – Part II

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“Good morning,” she whispered back, keeping her eyes shut. “What time is it?”

“Nearly seven,” he answered. “We’re usually up and at the gym by now but this morning we’re being lazy and enjoying the cuddles.”

She felt warm lips against her forehead, and she opened her eyes to find Beni’s hazel ones looking straight at her.

“Good morning sunshine. How is your head?”

“I think I’ll know more when I get up. My mouth feels gross though.”

“Yeah. The bit of mouthwash you rinsed with when I pulled off to the side of the road is probably not doing much for you. The three of us realized as soon as you fell asleep we all completely forgot our bedtime routines in our excitement to get in with you.”

“Yup,” Adil adjusted his leg and inched closer, “I didn’t even wear my retainer to bed.”

Her head turned to look at him, “you wear a retainer?”

“I had braces twice, Juniper. It took two damn tries to get these teeth to not be all pointing in different directions. I own two

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Good Morning – Part II

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retainers, and I keep one in my go bag and one at my condo. This smile cost nearly thirty grand according to my parents.”

“Did you have braces?” she asked Phineas.

“Nah. I came out of the womb perfect.”

Beni groaned, “he’s a lying sack of shit with his perfect. He didn’t need braces, but his glasses were magnifying lenses stuck in frames and his back–acne was so bad in middle school he refused to take off his t–shirt. He was also fat in elementary school.”

She lifted her head up to look at Phineas. “You were fat?”

“No. I was chunky. My grandma liked to show her love with cookies.”

“He would eat the whole damn tin on his own in one sitting,” Beni laughed.

“But you said you were skinny nerds!” she glared at him.

“Once puberty hit, I gained six full inches in height one summer. We rode bikes every day and we hiked and camped the entire summer. I grew the little peach fuzz moustache and thought I was very sexy.”

“You did get skinny that summer. You were still blind, and it was when the back–ne hit.”

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Good Morning – Part II

“I kind of want to see photos of you as kids.”

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“We can do that,” Beni laughed. “My mother loves to scrapbook. She made us each a scrapbook when we graduated high school. Mine is in my condo. Maybe tonight the four of us could have dinner together and I’ll bring the book over.”

“I’d like that.” She smiled suddenly, “this feels nice.”

“I agree, it does feel nice,” Phineas nodded. “You didn’t ask if Beni had braces.”

“Did you?”

“Yes but only once, unlike Adil. I had braces, glasses which I still wear and for all of high school,” he grinned at her.“! Had a goatee.”

“You did not.” She cupped her hand over her mouth to stifle the giggle. “Really?”

“Yeah. Phineas can grow a full beard in a week. Adil can barely get a moustache started. I’m right in the middle.”

“I like how the three of you have known each other forever but I’m worried I’m going to be the odd one out.”

“We will never let that happen, Juniper,” Phineas said seriously. “We might have tons of old stories to tell but you are going to be

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Good Morning–Part II

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what helps us break out of our habits and develop wonderful new and exotic memories.”

“I’ve never even been on a date with one guy other than Kyst and tonight the three of you want to have dinner?”

“Yes. We will share more about who we are and what we are

like.”

“You don’t have to do this,” she blurted out. “I know it was Suki who put this idea in all of our heads, and I don’t want anyone to feel pressured.”

“Actually,” Beni gave a laugh, “if any of us stepped back from our feelings for more than thirty seconds, we all would have seen right away this is exactly what we should have come up with on our own the minute you fell apart in Phineas‘ office. He is the one who scooped you up off the floor but all three of us wanted to be wrapped around you, Juniper. From the hop, it’s been all of us working together to find a way to make you smile again. It started as a let the best man win but we should have known, we do our best work, when we work together. We are going to spend a lifetime making you forget everything you’ve been through. All of this shit with Kyst and Denise will someday be nothing more than a footnote in our origin story. Us, we’ll still be going strong while they are nothing but fleeting memories.”

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