Lance shrugged, “I haven’t seen her all morning, she must still be sleeping,” he replied. “Good,” JC said getting a glass out of the cupboard and pouring himself some juice, “I have a huge favor to ask you.” Lance looked up at him from behind his paper, “What’s that?” he asked cautiously. “Julia gets to go home from the hospital today, right?” JC asked. “Yeah,” Lance answered. “Well would it be okay if I picked her up and took her home from the hospital?” JC asked quietly, looking down into his orange juice.
“What about Rey?” Lance asked. “That’s where you come in. Can you keep her occupied for the day?” Lance’s eyes widened, “How am I supposed to do that?” “I’ll give you my credit card and you can take her to that spa downtown. You’d just have to drop her off and pick her up later. Please Lance?” JC asked desperately. Lance sighed loudly, “I guess so. But why do you want to take Julia home so badly?” he asked curiously.
JC looked everywhere around the room except at Lance, “I just wanted to spend a little time alone with her before we leave,” he replied quietly. Lance’s eyes widened, he was hoping he’d tell her that he still had feelings for her, “Yeah I’ll help you out with Rey. Just tell Julia that I’m behind on some paperwork so I need to catch up today.” “Thank you so much, Lance, I owe you so big for this one,” JC said gratefully, “I’m gonna go get ready,” he said heading upstairs.
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A little while later JC was on his way to the hospital to pick up Julia. Rey was still sleeping when he left so he was glad he didn’t have to deal with her yet. He had avoided her last night but knew he’d have to face her eventually, and he still wasn’t sure how he’d react. He pulled into the hospital parking lot and let out a nervous deep breath. He wasn’t sure why he had wanted to come pick Julia up from the hospital but he knew he needed to spend some more time with her before he left.
JC made his way up to Julia’s room and knocked lightly. He walked in to find Julia sitting on the bed looking at a magazine. She had on red Adidas pants and a gray sweatshirt and her hair was pulled up into a messy ponytail, and he couldn’t help but think how cute she looked. “Hey,” he said quietly, walking up to the bed. “Hello,” Julia said in confusion, “I thought Lance was coming to pick me up since my parents had to work?” “He was supposed to but he’s behind on alot of paperwork so he needed to catch up today. He asked me to come get you but he said he’ll come over and see you later today,” JC replied.
“Oh, okay,” Julia said putting her magazine down. “Here, let me help you with that,” JC offered, grabbing the magazine to put it in her backpack for her. His hand brushed against hers quickly and he looked up to smile at her softly. Julia could have sworn her heart skipped a few beats when he smiled at her. That soft, tender smile of his had always gotten to her and it still did to this day.
“So you ready to go?” JC asked grabbing her backpack. “Yeah,” Julia replied, “But I’ve got another question. Where’s Rey?” she asked cautiously. JC almost winced at the sound of her name and the way Julia said it. Julia noticed this and wondered what it was about. JC grabbed her left hand and helped her up, “Don’t worry about her, okay?” he said, dismissing the topic quickly. Julia gave him a funny look, “Are you okay JC? You seem upset or something,” she observed. JC shook his head, “Me? Upset? No, I’m fine,” he insisted. “Okay,” Julia said still looking at him warily as they walked into the hall.
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“Here, let me help you with that,” JC offered as Julia tried to unlock the front door of her parents’ house. “It’s okay, I’ve got it,” she replied turning the lock and pushing the door open. “Well here, I’ll help you inside,” he said grabbing her left arm. “JC I only have a broken arm, I think I can walk okay,” Julia said with a small laugh. “Oh yeah, sorry,” JC said looking down in embarrassment. Julia giggled at how cute he was, “It’s okay,” she said.
“You want to hang out in the den?” JC asked leading her to the den. “Yeah, sure,” Julia replied, surprised that he was going to stay with her for awhile. JC helped her onto the couch and handed her a pillow, “Here, you lay down, you’ve gotta be worn out from the past few days,” he offered. Julia smiled, “Thanks,” she replied.
JC sat down at the opposite end of the couch from her and she rested her legs across his lap. They were in the middle of watching some soap opera when JC looked down to Julia and noticed she was fast asleep. He grabbed a blanket hanging over the back of the couch and placed it over her carefully. She snuggled against it and JC couldn’t help but think how adorable she looked.
He scooted down the couch a little bit to sit closer to her. He looked down to one of her small hands and rubbed the back of it lightly with his thumb. His eyes wandered up to her face that looked so peaceful as she slept. He smiled a little as he thought back to their relationship again, it seemed like he had been doing that alot lately. He looked to Julia’s sweet face and couldn’t believe that she had told Rey all those lies. “I know that wasn’t really you, Jules, so why did you do it? That’s more like something that Rey would do,” he whispered quietly as he continued to stare at her.
Thoughts of Rey flooded JC’s head quickly and he couldn’t shake them no matter how hard he tried. Everything she had said to her friend on the phone kept playing over and over in his head and he couldn’t believe he’d been so stupid to trust her so much. Just then JC felt Julia stir so he snapped out of his daze and looked back to her.
Julia rubbed her face and yawned before opening her eyes. She smiled when she saw JC sitting next to her. “Hey there,” she said quietly, noticing JC holding her hand. JC coughed nervously and tried to push the thoughts of Rey out of his head and focus just on Julia but it was difficult. He let go of her hand quickly, “Um, hey. You must be getting hungry, do you want me to make you some soup or something?” he asked, kind of wanting to get out of the room and try to sort out all the thoughts running through his head right then.
Julia gave him a funny look, wondering why he was acting so weird, like he was scared to be around her, “Yeah, sure,” she replied. JC got up and headed to the kitchen to fix her lunch. He came back a few minutes later with a bowl of soup and a glass of water on a tray. He set the tray down on the coffee table and Julia sat up and looked over to JC. “What’s wrong? Don’t you like chicken noodle soup?” he asked in confusion. “No, I like it. But my right arm’s broken and I’m right-handed, and I don’t know how to eat with my left hand yet,” Julia replied, a little embarrassed.
JC smiled softly at her, “It’s okay. I can feed it to you if you want,” he suggested picking up the bowl of soup. “Okay,” Julia whispered, turning to him. JC slowly picked up a spoonful of soup and blew on it softly to cool it off. He looked up and his eyes instantly met Julia’s. She looked at him questioningly as he raised the spoon to her mouth carefully. She ate the bite of soup and swallowed, still looking into JC’s eyes. They both started to move their faces closer together without even realizing it. When their lips were almost touching JC pulled back quickly and coughed nervously.
“You know, this soup thing might take awhile, why don’t I go make you a sandwich. You could eat one of those with your left hand, right?” JC asked putting the soup back on the tray. Julia backed up from him and nodded slowly, “Yeah, that’s fine,” she replied. “Okay, I’ll be right back,” JC said getting up and taking the tray back to the kitchen.
Julia sat back on the couch and tears formed in her eyes quickly. “He hates me. He doesn’t even want to be near me and when he is he just acts all weird. I’m never gonna get him back, he hates me,” she whispered to herself sadly. A minute later JC returned, “I hope peanut butter and jelly is okay,” he said setting a plate down on her lap. “Yeah, it’s fine,” she replied looking up to him, trying to smile as he sat on the opposite side of the couch from her.
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“I still don’t know why JC had to go pick that little brat up from the hospital,” Rey complained as Lance drove her to the spa. “That brat you’re talking about is my little sister, you know,” Lance said angrily. Rey rolled her eyes dramatically, “Whatever, just get me to the spa,” she demanded. Lance sighed loudly and considered throwing her out of the car...while it was moving. “Don’t worry Rey, I’m going to have a little talk with JC, and you’ll be out of here in no time,” Lance thought to himself hopefully.
*Chapter 39*
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