Love me // Judd Birch x Reader

1: new friends

I've never liked my birthday, in fact for a very long period of time I hated it. It was the one day I dreaded out of the whole year, and it was soon approaching. Julian, who was still living in my old town, had invited me to come back so that we could celebrate together- as he didn't have the money to come to New York.

Reluctantly, I agreed, so here I was now on the train going back to my old life. Jessi was staying at her dads at the moment but Julian told me I was more than welcome to stay at his house that he had recently bought with a couple of his friends.

He had rambled on the phone about how spacious it was and how I had to come and visit him, then he mentioned my birthday and told me he wanted to throw a massive party for me. At first I had completely refused but yet again he managed to convince me.

My birthday was a day away so I had a fair amount of time to mentally prepare myself for it, I was just glad he didn't go ahead with his original plan and throw a surprise birthday party. That would've killed me.

The train pulled up to the station and I saw Julian waving frantically in my direction, of course he had already spotted me. I chuckled to myself as I began to gather my things. When I stepped off the train he ran and enveloped me into a massive hug.
"Wow it's hard to see on FaceTime but girl how have you become even hotter than you already were?!" He exclaimed, slapping his hand on his mouth in an exaggerated manner. I laughed and lightly shoved his shoulder in an affectionate manner.

"So are you going to show me your new house?" I asked excitedly, he nodded and grabbed my hand, practically dragging me to his car.

It was so weird being back, and as we drove through the suburbs we passed by a familiar street. When we passed his house my mind suddenly reminded of a painful moment. 

"Come back inside (Y/n), we can talk it out!" He caught up with me and grabbed my hands. He had a look of desperation plastered on his face, but I had to ignore it.

"There's nothing to talk about Judd." I slipped my hands out of his and walked off, leaving him standing in the rain.

I felt like crying right there in Julians car, but instead I bit my lip and tried to distract myself with thoughts of what Julian was going to make me for dinner. He seemed to have noticed my distress and quickly turned off the street and onto another one. "You know he always asked me how you were doing in New York." Julian said all of a sudden, instantly grabbing my attention. I turned to face him and raised an eyebrow. 
"Really?" 
"Oh yeah, all the time actually it became rather annoying." 
"He's got a girlfriend now." I stated. After seeing Judd and that blonde girl together at my job those couple of months ago I had come to that conclusion. Actually in all honesty that night I had gone home and cried myself to sleep because of it. And I was 21 years old...
"No he doesn't actually Mrs assume-it-all. That's his new GAY roommate Sarah." 
"How do you know all of this?" I asked curiously, I hated to admit it but I felt pang of relief. 
"Judd changed after he left, he told me you had been the one who changed him. He became more social and more open to people." 
"Good for him." I smiled, happy that he had come out of his shell, but this conversation was becoming more and more painful for me. 
"He never got over you though." 
"It's been 4 years Julian, stop. I'm a different person now." He scoffed at my response but surprisingly stopped talking and focused on the road. 

We pulled into the driveway of a very nice looking suburban house, it was at the end of a long road but fit in quite nicely. "We're home!" Julian finally said after those moments of silence after our conversation about Judd. I marvelled at the size of his house,
"Congrats, it looks amazing!" I said, blinking a couple of times. 
"Just wait until we get inside!" He replied enthusiastically. I smiled and followed him after grabbing my suitcase from the boot. 

Once we got inside I could see what he was talking about, it was decorated beautifully and everything was very tidy, which was strange for a house for people our age, especially because it was shared as well. The sound of footsteps approaching turned my attention towards the staircase in the middle of the entrance hall, suddenly two girls ran towards me. One of them had very short brown hair that was styled into curtains and the other had a mass of strawberry blonde curly hair which was tied messily into a bun. 
"Hey I'm Brenna! You must be the famous (Y/n) that I've been hearing all about these past few days." The girl with curly hair spoke first and extended her hand for me to shake, which I did.
"I'm surprised you don't recognise me." The girl with short brown hair said, crossing her arms over her chest. I furrowed my eyebrows, indeed there was something familiar about her but I just couldn't pinpoint what it was. Then it clicked. 
"Iona?" I asked, at the sound of her own name she smile widely and nodded, pulling me into a tight hug. I chuckled and then began talking and getting to know the girls a bit more. 

I found out that Brenna was studying art in university, I was about to say she did look like an art student due to the clothes she was wearing and the fact they were completely covered with acrylic paint. Iona on the hand was studying interior design and was the reason why the house looked so nice and modern. 

Suddenly the sound of more footsteps approached us, I snapped my head in the direction of the noise just to see a boy with a hoodie walk out of the living room area. He walked towards us and then came up to me, extending his hand to shake. "Hey I'm Dean. I hope you're drinking with us tonight." He said sternly, his tone of voice was oddly familiar but I brushed it off. 

"Oh I'm always prepared to drink."