Chapter 11

Julie

Nina finished changing and hopped on Julie’s bed.

It had been a long drive to the estate to pick her up, then going back home.

“I owe you Nina, I’m so sorry I forgot.”

“No worries, girl, you were busy, I get it.”

“The hospital and dropping them off—”

“Yeah, the hospital…”

There was a slight edge in her voice. Almost like making fun of her, in a good way.

“We were there for over an hour.”

Nina nodded, massaging her feet.

“That’s it?”

Something was up.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, nothing, nothing at all…”

“Nina…”

“I heard Tommy went to the hospital too, broken arm.”

“You what?”

“Don’t worry, no one else knows. I had to do some detective work after you left me there standing like a dumbass. And you know Trey’s friends, they can’t keep their mouths shut.”

Julie sighed with relief.

“They thought they were invincible.”

“Five of them and they still couldn’t really get them.”

“Well… I kind of had to step in front of a revolver to protect them.”

Nina gulped, her eyes incredulous.

“Don’t worry,” Julie said quickly, “you know Trey, all talk, he wasn’t going to—”

“He pointed a gun at them?”

Julie twisted her lip, “He’s crazy.”

“Do you think he—”

“No. I don’t think he would have done it, of course, he knows my father doesn’t condone idiocy.”

“Yeah, but still…”

Julie shrugged.

“Nothing happened, that’s what matters.”

“If you say so…”

“What do you mean?”

Nina eyed him, not saying a word. She didn’t hide her grin, though.

“Nina?”

“Well… the way you’ve been talking about that guy, Remy…”

“I just told you what happened, it doesn’t mean—”

“Remy did this, Remy did that, oh, Remy kiss me, kiss me!”

Nina said, faking Julie’s voice.

Julie slapped her on the shoulder, “shut up! I didn’t say that!”

“My gosh, I thought you weren’t going to stop talking about him all the way up here.”

“Shut the hell up!”

“Good thing I got the cute one.”

“Mark is not cuter than—”

“Gotcha!”

Yikes, she got her defending Remy’s handsomeness without even noticing.

“I mean, yeah, he’s a cool guy and all, but—”

“What? He’s not a good kisser?”

Julie frowned.

“We did not—”

“You know you can’t hide anything from me, right?”

Julie bit her lip. They knew each other since grade school. Nina could read her like an open book.

“Did he kiss you goodbye, at least?”

Julie rolled her eyes so hard she could have won an I-hate-you award.

“Because he sure as hell forgot to give you back your bra.”

She stared at Nina. Trying hard to process that information.

She tried to speak but the words came out garbled.

“I—”

Her throat felt so raspy, she needed water.

Nina kept staring at her, her mouth hanging open in gleeful surprise. She couldn’t escape her. She took her time to say that.

“I—”

“Calm down Julie, no one’s here but me.”

Blood rushed in her veins faster than ever, “Well… we might have—”

Nina yelled, clapping her hands.

“Oh my God, you slut!”

She laughed and laughed; Julie wanted the ground to swallow her up.

She wanted to run and hide.

Was she that obvious?

“Also, your lipstick’s gone, and your dress’ fabric is thin. I can see you’re kind of cold.”

She moved her finger towards her nipples. Julie gasped and jumped back, covering her breasts.

“Stop it!”

Nina laughed harder now, “finally! I was worried your pussy had dried up by now!”

“Nina!”

“It’s a risk, darling…”

Julie widened her eyes.

“Oh, poor girl, she doesn’t like to hear her pussy dried up.”

“Stop it!”

“Dry pussy, dry pussy, dry pussy,” she repeated, threatening to poke her with her finger. Julie stood up and grabbed an umbrella next to the vanity set and raised it over her head.

“Say it again and I’ll break your face, girl!”

“I’m kidding! I’m kidding!”

They laughed until their belly hurt.

“So, tell me all about it.”

“No.”

“Oh, come on Julie! I always tell you everything!”

“Yeah, thank you for that.”

She was being sarcastic, of course. Nina was a free spirit. She wasn’t bogged down by what people thought of her.

She didn’t bed everyone, though. She just didn’t mind having fun with a guy that wasn’t his boyfriend.

Julie, on the other hand, could not be with someone she wasn’t in a relationship with.

Except today, I guess.

“Was he good?”

She eyed her friend, wondering whether to tell her or not.

“It was amazing.”

“Oh my God, yes! I’m so happy for you!”

“Why? Do I look that desperate?”

“No but you’ve been super-stressed lately. You finally got a break.”

“I could have had sex with anyone I wanted—”

“Yeah, yeah— wait. So, did you know him from before? He’s not your boyfriend, I know that. But—”

“No, I didn’t know him, and he’s not my fuck buddy either. Don’t get your hopes high.”

“You’re telling me you met this guy and made love to him, and that’s that?” she said the words “made love” with a deeper voice, like a host from a romance radio show. She was still trying to figure everything out.

Julie shrugged.

“So it was just a one night stand?”

Yikes. Was it? It had been amazing but they were so different from each other.

He worked with numbers, she worked with art. Polar opposites.

Opposites attract.

She was already trying to override her decision to not see him again.

“I don’t know,” she finally replied, “we’ll see what happens.”

Nina opened her mouth in surprise, then closed it, looking away.

“I don’t get it. Are you going out with him or not?”

“I don’t know. I really enjoy being single, I—”

“But this guy was special. You helped him, then took him to a hospital, then had sex with him—”

“We didn’t have sex.”

“What? Then why—”

“Just foreplay.”

“Just—” Everything Julie said seemed to shock her, “did he finish too soon? Oh crap, that—”

“No, in fact, I did.”

“Oh my God!” Her friend said laughing out loud, “that’s great news!”

Julie shrugged.

“I say go for it, what’s there to lose?”

“Nothing,” Julie replied, but she was sure she was threading dangerous territory. She didn’t want a relationship, “I’m just too busy right now.”

“Yeah, that’s exactly why I’m telling you so.”

She lay back on the big bed, pulling the sheets over her.

Julie was suddenly cold. She walked over to the big window and closed it. Her friend was typing something on her phone, smiling as she did.

Nina was always the crazy one, the pretty one, she made friends easily. She, on the other hand, was more down to Earth.

“What about Mark? You disappeared with him.”

“Oh, I hate him,” she replied, putting down the phone.

“Why?”

“Well, he tried to kiss me, but I didn’t let him.”

Julie stared at her.

“I’m not as easy as you think, Jules.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You thought about it.”

Julie rolled her eyes, holding back her smile.

“Well, he did leave me there like a fool, you know that.”

Julie shook her head in disapproval and was about to reply but Nina turned to her, fully interested.

“Why? Did he mention me at all?”

“He was pretty tired, Trey and his asshole friends really beat them bad.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Nina deflated. It was barely noticeable, but she did.

“He did say you were cool.”

Her face lit up, she couldn’t hide how she liked him.

Julie lay on the bed.

“Maybe we should stay away from them altogether.”

She switched the bedside lamp off.

“Yeah, maybe.”

And that was that. It was decided. Remy wasn’t for her. She was focusing on her career right now.

The last thing in her mind before sleeping was his kiss. She tried to think of something else, but there was no way to avoid it.

Maybe in another life they would have been great for each other.