Body Guard

Julie:
I frowned again at his answer and I knew he was more upset about it than I thought. Not that he didn't have good reason to be.

I stepped forward and wound my arms through his to wrap them around his waist. His hands were still in his pockets and I hugged him tight for a second before looking up at him. "I'm sorry." I said softly, apologizing for my father.

"Do you wanna know what I think about you?" I didn't let him answer before I kept going. "I think you're great. You're funny and sweet and brave and anyone who doesn't see that is clearly suffering from some kind of brain issues." I said, hoping to lighten the mood a little bit.

I stiffened for a moment, her hug coming in as a surprise. Slowly I pulled my hands out of my pockets and hugged her close in return. "Yeah?" When she pulled back a small smile came to my lips. "What else do you think about me?"

We weren't far from her father's office, and I wanted to get away but it was hard not to just enjoy the little moment.

Julie:
I smiled wider when he loosened up and hugged me back. "What else? Well, I think you look very nice in a suit." I told him, which is something he already knew. "I think...you have horrible taste in movies," I joked. It wasn't really true, but he never picked the romantic comedies that I wanted to watch.

"And you're an okay kisser," I fought another smile and shrugged like it was nothing special. I knew he would see right through it, especially after the little stunt he pulled last night, but I hoped it made him laugh.

Snorting I removed a hand from around her to brush my thumb over her cheek. "Mmm, are you just trying to trick me into giving you another kiss just to prove it?" I murmured the words softly, glancing at her lips for a brief moment.

With a wink I pulled back. "I don't know about you but I have a need to work out. Blow off some steam. Just something active."

Julie:
I groaned and shook my head as I let go of his waist. "Work out? I got like an hour of sleep last night. So I can safely say that I do not have a need for that," I said. Although, if I was being honest with myself, even if I was fully rested, I wouldn't want to work out.


"If you wanna go to the gym, I'll probably go take a nap before lunch," I said. "And then...we can finally talk?" I asked, wondering if he still wanted to.

MY smile faltered a little bit after she pulled away but I nodded, "Yeah. After lunch." With a small wave I began to make my way towards the gym.

I needed to be careful, I could undo all the work and progress with my legs I had done so far. But there was also a part of me that just wanted to work out my frustrations. And that wasn't likely to be a gentle affair.

Julie:
I watched him head in the direction of the gym and sighed. I wanted to go back to my fathers office and knock some sense into him, but I thought it was probably a better idea to let the conversation sit and hope he realized what an ass he was being all on his own.

I went back to my wing and flopped on the couch, leaning my head back and throwing one of the pillows over my face. I hadn't needed caffeine after seeing the story in the paper woke me right up, but now my lack of sleep was catching up to me.

I fell asleep easily.

I spent some time doing some walking on the treadmill then spent some time doing the strength exercises my therapists recommended I do. I got a good workout in, and finished it off with a tiny bit in the sauna before showering and dressing in some of my spare clothes from my locker.

Feeling the burn of what I'd done it took me some time to get back. On the way I thought over what had happened, what I wanted now, organizing my thoughts for when I got back.

Julie:
I jerked away when I heard the door open and I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and looked at the clock. It was around lunch time and I groaned. I still felt like I could use a few more hours of sleep. I forced myself to get off the couch.

"How was your workout?" I asked, sleepily, stretching.

"It went well. I also need to replace my clothes in my locker. Running low on things." I took a moment to toss my dirty gym clothes into the hamper in my room before leaning against the wall to smirk at her.

"So did you sleep well? Or do you want more?"

Julie:
I playfully glared at him. "I slept fine, thanks for asking," I told him. I crossed my arms over my chest. "But I definitely want more," I told myself I was talking about sleep, but it could have meant something else too.

"Are you hungry?" I asked. I was getting anxious about the talk we were supposed to be having. What if we wanted totally different things? "I can ask Lucy for some sandwiches," I said.

"Not a bad idea. Some drinks as well, maybe if she has any of that really good bottled rootbeer." I took a look over her and laughed softly, "You also might want to take a look in the mirror. A small case of bed head going on. But you must have slept hard to get it, so any good dreams while you were out?" I took up position at the table, taking one of the chairs and relaxing on it with a contended sigh.

Julie:
I took out my phone to text Lucy to please make us something to eat and I added in Cody's request for root beer. At his words, I frowned and pulled up the camera on my phone to look at myself. He was right. I looked like I had a birds nest growing on my head. I smiled sheepishly and tried my best to smooth it down.

"Dreams?" I asked, when I was done. I sat down at the table opposite him and shrugged. "Not just now," I said. "But last night, in the hour or two of sleep I got, there were some interesting dreams." I said, looking at him pointedly again. "And while we're on the subject of last night, I hope you understand that it's game on." I smirked.

A grin crossed my lips, brighter than what had popped up after the meeting with her dad. "Oh yeah? I'll share my dreams if you share yours first." Setting an elbow on the table I set my head atop my fist. The grin remained as I tried to remember just what I'd dreamed about.

Julie:
I smirked and shook my head. "Oh, I'm sure you'd like to know," I said.

I looked up when there was a knock at the door. The food was here. I stood up to go get it and passed behind the back of his chair, leaning down as I passed to whisper in his ear. "Considering they feature you a good amount."

I walked over to the door and opened it with a friendly smile to grab the tray of wrapped sandwiches and bottles of root beer. I thanked the boy who brought it up and and closed the door with my hip. I then brought the food back to the table.

“I damn sure would especially if you are going to be evasive!” I protested at her first words the. Leaned back as the food arrived with a knock.

Her little whisper sent a shiver down my spine, involuntary though the thoughts that followed her admission had my brain whirring.

Crossing my arms I settled in with a smirk. She was good at this, and after last night it was probably warranted. I thought I could still press for an answer, get her to admit her dreams whatever they were. But with the talk looming I didn’t know if that was going to be the best course. If she told me it would be on her alone.

Instead I waited for her to sit down again. Waited either for her to make the first move or for the words that danced on my tongue and filled my mouth to spill out.

Julie:
I laughed at his exclamation and set some plates and napkins on the table. I handed him one of the sandwiches and slid a bottle of root beer along he table and then took my seat.

The plan was to wait until after lunch to start talking, but as I picked up my food and took a bite, I couldn't hold it in anymore. "So about all this," i said, gesturing towards him and then me and back again.

"How...how uh how do you feel about it?" I asked, opening my drink and taking a quick sip.

Hungry as I hadn’t touched the sandwich. I went for the drink first and was kid drink when she asked. Licking my lips after setting down the bottle I took a moment to prep myself. “Worried.” It was the first answer that came to mind.

Leaving the bottle alone I picked up the discarded bottle cap and played with it idly on the table. I sighed and then just decided to go with it, “I find you attractive. I’m sure that was obvious. But you are attractive in the physical sense but also in a romantic way. You are beautiful, funny, kind...”. I trailed off and waved a hand helplessly.

Taking a breath I considered a moment. “Growing up you were probably my first crush. Granted I also wanted to smother you with a pillow for being frustrating but still. Rules being what they were you were nothing I could ever hope for and I only got to see and watch why everyone else fell for you. You care so much, you aren’t afraid to get a bit dirty just to have fun, add on that you are not only easy on the eyes but you bring about a more...hell...sexual idea at times. I understood why people would fall for you.” I gave a pointed slow look up and down her before focusing on the bottle cap once more. “I felt the same. And I had the added bonus of eventually having you as my best friend. Really it was almost too perfect.”

I gave the bottle cap a spin watching it twirl until eventually spinning to a halt. “But you are also my best friend. And I wonder sometimes if we weren’t best friends would I even be sitting across the table from you right now? Or would I be in some small apartment trying to make my way in the world while still in a wheelchair.” I let the silence go then. Unsure how to continue.

I listened while he talked, keeping my eyes on his face while he watched the bottle cap spin. I frowned a little when he said he was worried and then he just unloaded what he was thinking.

Some of it made me smile and some of it made me sad, but mostly, I just wanted him to not be worried.

I knew it was my turn when he finished, and the silence dragged on for a few seconds before I found my voice.

"When we were little, I remember my friends telling me how cute they thought you were and when we got a little older, it turned into them wanting to ask you out. I would get so mad at them. I told myself it was because you were my friend and I didn't want them to take you away from me, but I knew it was more than that. When I was told that I needed full time body guards, I was assured that I wouldn't even notice them. They would blend into the background and I could live my life like normal," I snorted at the idea and picked the crust off my sandwich.

"The first time I went to event where I needed security, I remember thinking that my dad had lied to me. I was so aware of you, all night. We we're pretty young still, but you were wearing a suit with a plain black tie and you looked really serious and scary. And every time after that, I couldn't forget you were in the room." I told him.

I sighed at myself and shook my head. I was rambling. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that you've always been my best friend. And somewhere along the way...I felt more than that. When I kissed you that first night, and you left? I thought I had ruined everything and totally misread you." I confessed.

"And then that stuff with Ben happened and you got hurt-" I stopped short and looked down at the little pile of crust I had created. I couldn't talk about that part. I looked up at him and tried to smile. "I've made it this far without crying, I'll try to keep it up," I joked.

"So, I don't know what would have happened if we weren't best friends... Because we've always been best friends. I just don't know if you wanna keep being best friends...or if you wanna..." I trailed off with another shrug.

I looked up at her in surprise. I'd never heard her side of it, even a little bit. Usually all I got was that I was annoying when we were younger and not much after I officially became her bodyguard. To know that she felt something even before that was...pleasant in a way.

I managed to crack a smile at her joke and I leaned back after she trailed off. As seemed to be our trend I didn't break the silence right away, instead I got up and went to the coffee table, snagging the box of tissues and bringing them back to the table. Setting them down before her I retook my seat and took a bite of my sandwich with a slight cheeky smile.

The smile faded away and setting my food down I folded my arms on top of the table. "That's the big question isn't it." Rubbing the back of my neck I dropped my gaze for a moment then looked back at her. "I'd like to try...but what about your father?"

Julie:
I rolled my eyes with a smile at the tissue box. I wasn't crying! At this point, I wasn't eating the sandwich, I was simply ripping little pieces of the bread off and scattering them around my plate.

I was so caught up with him saying he'd like to try, that I almost didn't hear the "but."

I shook my head. "I don't care what my father says. It's not breaking any rules. I'm an adult." I told him. "It sucks what he said, but it doesn't change anything for me," I shrugged and looked from my plate to him. "I still want this," I mumbled, feeling my face heat up at the admission.

A smile crossed my lips and I settled an elbow on the table, setting my chin in my hand as I leaned forward. "That so?" I chuckled softly, "I would still like to take this slow. Try things out and see how we feel."

Slowly a smirk crossed my lips as I searched her red face, "But that being said...I barely heard you. What was that? What do you want?"

Julie:
I narrowed my eyes at him, my face getting a little redder at the teasing. But I couldn't stop my smile no matter how hard I tried. I picked up a piece of ripped up bread and threw it at him. I wasn't sure what it was with me and throwing food at him, but I was realizing I had the impulse more often than not.

"I said that I want this," I told him smirking back, knowing that I meant it. "I thought I made that pretty clear in the kitchen last night," I shrugged innocently. "Maybe I'm wrong?"

Snickering softly I waved a hand. "Oh so that's what you said. And you did make a pretty good point I admit . . though I wonder. If you had a chance to either recreate it or do it differently would you?" My gaze flickered towards the kitchen behind her. It wasn't quite the same but in a pinch...

Julie:
I smirked at him. "It kinda sounds like you want me to recreate it..." I trailed off with a smirk. The only thing I would have done differently is that I could have kissed him sooner and stopped a lot later. I pretended to ponder for a moment. "I remember we were standing." I said, pointedly looking at him in the chair.