Juliet Immortal

over my head. I don’t want to stand and watch and try to smile as Gemma flings herself at Ben, surprising him with a kiss on the cheek.
    She presses against him, his arm goes around her waist, and something inside me screams like it’s been set on fire. The embrace lasts less than a second before Ben pulls away, but the damage is done. He belongs to someone, to a girl I have to make sure he stays with forever.
    It is unbearable. Intolerable. It’s … my job.
    These two are my job, and if I don’t do it, one of them will die. In over thirty shifts, I’ve never seen two soul mates partpeaceably. Either they commit to each other or one of them commits murder and becomes a Mercenary. That’s the way it goes. Every. Single. Time.
    There is no hope for me and Ben. But then, there never was.
    “Hey, what’s up?” Ben looks from me to Gemma and back again, shifts on his feet, shoves his hands into his pockets, as if he feels uncomfortable. Maybe he does. Maybe he’s worried I’ll tell Gemma that he nearly kissed me last night. Maybe he’s afraid I’m about to ruin his relationship with the girl he loves.
    Loves. He
loves
her. Whatever happened in the car last night was a fluke, a misstep. Or maybe only my imagination. Maybe Ben never intended to kiss me, maybe I took everything the wrong way.
    “Things go okay with your mom last night?” he asks, as if he couldn’t care less if Gemma knows we were alone together. Did I really imagine it? That connection so strong I dreamt about waking up in his arms?
    “Yeah. Thanks.” I nod, try to smile, show him I’m happy he’s with my best friend.
    “What?” Gemma spins, and her hair flies out to flick Ben in the face, making him flinch. “How do you two—”
    “We met last night,” Ben says. “Ariel carjacked me, and I gave her a ride home.”
    Gemma’s eyebrows arch. “Really? So you’re the one … Cool …” She trails off with a knowing nod. “So I guess I don’t have to do the ‘Ben, my special friend, Ariel, my best friend,’ thing.”
    “Special friend.” Ben is Gemma’s special friend, her
soul mate
. Even seeing them standing there glowing like twin sunsets, I find it hard to wrap my mind around that all-importanttruth. Gemma is a pain with about as much empathy as a snake. And Ben is … Ben.
    “Order up!” Nancy chirps from behind us.
    “Thank god.” Gemma moves past me to the counter. “I need coffee.”
    Ben and I face each other, and it’s there again, that feeling that we both
know
this isn’t how things are supposed to be. He takes a step toward me that I mirror with a step back. He stops, pins me with those fathomless brown eyes that see so much more than they should.
    “I thought you didn’t have many friends,” he says.
    “I don’t. Just Gemma. We’ve been friends since we were little.” I force a smile. “It’s so great about you. And her. It’s time she found a nice guy.”
    He cocks his head to the side and opens his mouth to speak, but Gemma beats him to it, sliding in between us, holding a cup out to Ben. “Here. You can have Ariel’s coffee.”
    He shakes his head. “No. I don’t want to take her drink.”
    “Take it, she doesn’t care. Do you, Ariel?”
    “No,” Ben says. “I can just—”
    “Take it,” Gemma insists. “Ariel doesn’t even like coffee, and I paid for it.”
    Ben’s look grows dark. He crosses his arms, refuses to touch the coffee Gemma still clutches in her hand. “I don’t want it, Gemma. And I’d like it if you’d listen when I talk.
Every
time I talk.” He turns back to me before I can hide the shock on my face. “See you later, Ariel.” And then he walks out of the bakery, leaving us staring after him in stunned silence.
    “What was
that
about?” Gemma finally asks.
    I don’t know, but this isn’t the way I like to see soul mates talking to each other. Not only is this job going to be miserable,it’s going to be hard work getting Ben and Gemma back on the right track. “Do you think he’s still mad about last night?” I ask. “About your fight?”
    “I think something crawled up his butt and died is what I think.”
    “But what did you fight about?” I need to know what’s gone wrong before I can help make it better. “Maybe he—”
    “Screw him. Here, take this.” She holds the coffee out to me. I take it, and she pulls the bag containing our breakfast out from under her arm. “Let’s eat in the car. I need to go to my locker before