Earth Blend (16 page)

One gentleman who was with a group of men
enjoying happy hour grabbed Julie's arm after she served him his
drink. “So when do you get off, sweetheart?”

Julie cringed. Luke always called her
sweetheart and it brought back bad memories. Not to mention, Julie
did not like his hand on her. She did not want to be rude, but she
was not happy with the situation she found herself in. She placed
her hand on top of the man's, “Let go, sir.”

“
Ouch!” The man exclaimed
pulling his hand from Julie.

Julie looked at him, confused.

“
Everything okay, here?” Aidan,
the bartender, asked, coming over to the table.

“
You must have shocked me.” The
customer said, rubbing his hand.

Julie looked at Aidan and shrugged.
She was not sure what
transpired
.

“
That happens.” Aidan said.
“Carpets will do that. Keeping your hands off the waitress helps.
Keep that in mind.” He said, patting the customer's back
firmly.

Aidan gestured that Julie follow him back
to the bar.

“
I'm Aidan, by the way, Calli's
brother. Any time you get some of these jokesters hassling you,
come tell me.” He walked back behind the bar. “Also, any time you
need a pick-me-up, come on over. I got stuff behind the bar that
will help.”

“
Pick-me-up?”

Aidan began laughing and slapped his hand
on the bar counter. “It's all good, see?” He brought out a box
filled with drinks and snacks. “All healthy stuff. My sister calls
me a gym rat. I eat only all natural stuff. Energy bars, fruits,
Gatorade. I need to keep healthy in between my workouts. You
servers get a work out all night long. So anytime you need a boost,
come raid my box.”

Julie looked at the wonderful treats and
smiled. “I get it now. It's a great idea. I need to keep one of
those boxes in my locker.”

“
Nah, that's my job. Come eat,
free of charge. It's my way of looking after everyone here. It's
what I do.”

“
You may regret those words, I
have a huge appetite.”

“
Couldn't tell by looking at
you.”

Julie thanked him. His manner was one of a
gentleman paying a woman a compliment, not coming on to them.
“You'll definitely be seeing me.” She laughed and went back to
work.

A few of Austin's friends came in. Julie
remembered most of them from when they all went to the carnival a
few months ago. She was happy they were still there when Austin
came. She was surprised to see Neal by his side. “I'm glad to see
you.” She gave him a quick kiss. “I see you two found each
other.”

“
Yeah, sorry about earlier. I
was being a jerk.” Neal mumbled.

“
You were just missing your
friend.” She said and rubbed his arm. “Speaking of friends....”
Julie showed them where their other friends were. The cafe's volume
raised a few notches as the friends all greeted one another. Julie
went back to work and enjoyed hearing the laughter coming from
their table. Her heart warmed when she saw Austin laughing along
with his friends.

Soon it was almost closing time. “Last call
for sodas.” Julie announced at the table. Most of the friends were
under twenty-one. Neal was the only one who was old enough to
drink, but did not want to be the only one drinking an alcoholic
beverage. She got everyone a refill and looked up to see her Uncle
G walk in.

“
Hey, you missed food time. The
kitchen closed a half hour ago. I can get you something to
drink.”

“
No, thank you, Julie. I did eat
before I came. I wanted to see if you needed a ride home. I
actually have something I want to talk to you about.”

Before Julie could respond, Austin came
over to them. “Hey, Uncle Gordi. Hey Jules, me and the guys are
heading over to Leif's house to play some video games. Come with
me.”

“
You go ahead, I'm kind of beat.
Not to mention I never played a video game in my life.”

“
Aw come on, Jules, it'll be
fun.”

“
Go enjoy some time with your
friends, it has been a while. I'm going to go home and crash. I'm
off tomorrow night, we can do something then.”

“
I'll make sure she gets home
safely.” Gregg assured Austin.

“
You sure?” Austin asked
her.

“
Yes.” She laughed and pushed
him toward his friends. To her Uncle she said, “I'll just be a few
minutes. I have to clean up and make sure my tabs
balance.”

Gregg sat down at a nearby table. “That's
fine.”

Shouts of goodbye were sent Julie's way as
Austin and his friends headed out the door. She waved and replied
as they all filed out. Austin turned at the last minute and came
back to Julie and kissed her firmly, making her knees grow weak.
“See you tomorrow.” He said as he went to follow his friends. She
had to grab a nearby chair to steady herself.

“
Cute boyfriend. Does he have an
older brother with a steady job and who doesn't mind raising a
child?” Karen asked her.

Julie laughed, “No, sorry. He's a one and
only.”

“
Damn.” Karen laughed. “So how
was today?”

“
It was great. I felt relaxed,
thanks to everything you taught me.”

“
Oh yeah, I'm glad. You're off
tomorrow, right?”

“
Yes.”

“
If I need you, would you want
to work for me?”

“
Of course.” She said, hoping
Austin would not be mad that her plans changed.

“
Well I don't know yet. I have a
doctor's appointment tomorrow and I know he wants to run some
tests. I'm just not sure how I will feel tomorrow
night.”

“
Sure, just call me at home
tomorrow or have me paged at the hospital tomorrow
afternoon.”

“
You need to get a cell phone.”
She laughed.

“
I know, someday.” She laughed
too. “Good luck tomorrow.” Julie waved as she went to finish
up.

“
Great job tonight.” Dave said,
catching her before she went into the locker room.

“
Thanks. I felt pretty
comfortable.”

“
Have a good night.”

“
You, too.”

She logged in all her receipts and slips,
and everything balanced. She was surprised at the amount of money
she made in gratuity. She almost felt embarrassed for accepting
money when she enjoyed the job so much. She pocketed her cash and
walked back out into the dining room, saying goodnight to people
along the way. When she saw her Uncle sitting at the one of the
tables, she was surprised to see he wasn't alone. Karen was sitting
down talking with him. She saw his hand on hers and he appeared to
be consoling her. Alarm bells when off in her head. She quickly
walked over to them. “What are you doing?” She asked, looking
pointedly at her Uncle.

“
Julie, I didn't know this was
your Uncle. I think I just bored him with my life story.” Karen
said, dabbing a tissue to her eye.

“
Oh now, stop. I enjoyed
listening to you. I think people talk way too much and do not
listen enough.” Gregg replied.

“
Your Uncle is so knowledgeable
about pregnancies.” She turned back to Gregg. “Thank you. I feel
much better after talking to you.”

“
I'm glad I could help. You have
my card, give me a call after your appointment tomorrow, I'd be
glad to decipher the doctor speak. I only wish my clinic was down
here.”

“
I'm so glad I stopped to talk
to you. It was like fate I was drawn to you.” Karen laughed and
stood.

“
We'll walk you to your car,
it's late.” Gregg suggested.

Julie held her tongue.

Karen hugged Gregg before she got into her
car. “Thank you.” She mumbled into his shoulder.

“
Everything will be fine.” He
said, hugging her back.

Julie felt like an outsider. Her blood was
boiling. After Karen drove off, she laid into him. “Are you still
making Blends?”

Gregg looked at her pointedly, “Yes, it is
the reason I was created.” He said, and turned toward his car.

“
You are not going to Blend
Karen's child. Do you hear me? She is my friend.”

“
Julie, there is so much going
on here that you do not understand.”

“
Right now, I don't care. All I
want from you is a promise you will not touch her baby.”

Gregg stood with his back to Julie. “I
can't make that promise.”

“
She'll die!” Julie exclaimed.
She could not believe how cold her Uncle sounded.

He turned towards her. “It's a consequence
I have to take.”

Julie grabbed his arms. “No! I won't let
you.”

Gregg screamed out in pain and collapsed to
the ground in front of the car.

Julie released her grip when she heard him
yell out in pain. “Oh my God, what happened?” She knelt down next
to him.

He moaned in pain and opened his eyes.
“It's starting.” He passed out.

Somehow, she knew that whatever
happened, she was responsible, but she was scared to touch him
again. Julie
looked around and saw no one was outside. She gently
touched his arm and dove inside of him. Noticing a lot of damage
near his heart, tears ran down her face as she went about fixing
him. “How did this happen?” She sobbed as he woke up.

“
It's okay. I'll explain
everything.” He said and caught her as she collapsed into his
arms.

He picked her up and placed her in the car
and drove back to his apartment.

Carrying her inside, a man who was waiting
asked, “What happened?”

“
It's started. She was upset
with me when she grabbed me and...” he began laughing. “... I felt
like a million jolts of electricity were shooting through me. I
fell to the ground.”

“
And this is funny
why?”

“
Don't you see? This is going to
save us. She is going to save us.”

“
Gregg this is insane, she's
just one person, one little girl.”

“
She is powerful. Why are you so
shocked? You knew this was coming. I suppressed this ability in her
when she was a baby. I only unlocked it yesterday and already she
is so powerful.”

“
What if she had killed someone?
What if she killed you? What about Austin? Are not thinking about
the consequences here?”

“
Consequences happen. That's
what I have you here for. You will be her rock and support system.
I need to prepare Austin for what is coming, it's only a matter of
time. Every Blend will be called in to do their part.”

The man knelt down next to Julie and
brushed the hair from her face. “She looks the same, only grown
up.”

Julie stirred under his touch but did not
open her eyes. “What happened?” She moaned.

“
Shh, it's okay. You will be
fine.” The man whispered.

Julie's eyes fluttered opened. She smiled.
“I'm dreaming.” She said, closing them again.

“
My little pumpkin.”

Julie's eyes flew wide open and she looked
at the man who was caressing her face. “Dad?”

13. The Importance of Family

“
Dad? That... It can't be you.
You're dead. I heard the gunshot.” The man she was looking at still
had the same features, only slightly older. He still looked
young.

“
I did die, honey. The gunshot
entered the part of my brain that controls the Blend abilities. I
was unable to heal myself. Your Uncle got to me in time and was
able to heal the Blend part before the human parts died
out.”

“
You're a Blend.” She said. The
thought had never occurred to her. “I never even thought about it
before.”

“
I tried to find you, baby, I
really did. They just took you. I agonized every day about what
could be happening to you.” Trevor was openly crying now. “I'm so
sorry I couldn't protect you.”

Julie was crying, too. She sat up and they
hugged each other tightly.

“
I'm so sorry, baby. I'm so
sorry.”

Julie was too overcome with emotion to say
anything. All she did was cry.

The crying lasted for a good ten minutes
before either was able to calm themselves down.

“
Let me look at you.” Trevor
said and he pulled back from Julie. “You're so
beautiful.”

“
You look the same, too.” She
half laughed, using the back of her hand to wipe her wet,
tear-stained face. “I am still in shock.”

Gregg finally interrupted the reunion. He
set down a tray full of hotdogs and hamburgers he made earlier. “I
know these are not the healthiest things, but I want you both to
get some food in you.”

Julie was starving but it was then she
remembered the events of earlier. “Wait, what happened? I... hurt
you. I don't understand.”

“
I have much to fill you in on,
but please, eat first. You need your strength.”

Trevor stood up.

“
Where are you going?' Julie
asked, visibly worried.

“
I'm just going to get some
napkins.” He smiled.

“
I'll get them,” Gregg said and
Trevor sat back down.

“
I'm never going to leave you
again.” He said, gripping his daughter's hand tightly.