Ripped and Stitched

20: Implications

Julia was staring. She couldn't help it. There he was, just sitting there in broad daylight letting his family dog, Milo, climb all over him so excitedly. He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt that let all his scars show. Julia felt terrible for looking.

She was sitting in her car staring at him out in his front yard. Julia hadn't meant to take this route. After he and Alison went missing, she could barely get herself to come near this road let alone drive on it. Now here she was parked on the side of the road watching her ex-boyfriend like a creep.

After almost five minutes of staring, Julia got ahold of herself. She pulled away and went to dance class.

She put the thoughts of Brady aside and moved on. Although she didn't want to.

After ballet class, she was hanging out with some girls on the cheer team at the diner when she noticed Max walk in with Liam. Julia sighed. She hadn't realized the two were friends when she made her grand revenge plan at the mall. Knowing that she had inadvertently mixed her old life with her new life made her angry. She shouldn't have done it.

Max spotted her and they stared at each other. She noticed his busted lip. He noticed her staring at it. He tilted his head at the door and she nodded curtly. Max went outside and after a few seconds, she stood up and followed him out.

They stared at each other for a moment. They had never really talked since Alison and Brady went missing. Other than the occasional nod or awkward small talk at parties. They had changed a lot.

Max looked...bitter, and angry. He had grown out his dark hair into a mess that sat in whatever direction it pleased on the top of his head. His demeanor too, Max had always been a bit troublesome but now he looked dangerous as well. Like at any moment he could lose his temper and explode.

Julia too. She knew she had done a lot to change herself. Long gone was her innocent expression and doe eyes. Now she wore makeup and not a single strand of her blonde hair was out of place. No one could see how hard Julia was pretending to be happy these days. Her face suggested that she was fine, but on the inside she had been feeling sick to her stomach for days.

"I saw you at school," Max finally began. "Why are you in summer classes?"

"I have to take the elective and gym class that I used to skip for dance last year," she said, rolling her eyes. "Why are you there?" she asked.

"I have to retake math," he mumbled.

"Oh right, I guess without-" Julia paused. Her eyes widened, she faked a cough trying to play it off. "Umm, yeah that sucks."

Max knew what Julia had been about to say.

"You're right," he said bitterly. "Without Ali I pretty much fell apart in all my classes, the rest of them I scraped by. Math was impossible without her."

Julia touched his arm comfortingly.

"They're in my math class now," he said quietly.

"They were in my Home Ec class," she said. "But they switched out, I wondered if it was because of me."

Max looked over at her. "I heard they moved to ASL, apparently she and Brady are learning it."

Julia frowned. "Why would they learn ASL?"

Max shrugged. "I don't know, I mean I have never heard Brady speak and you know what the reports say," his voice trailed off awkwardly.

They both knew what had happened to their old partners. Still it was weird to bring up.

Max sighed. "I've tried to talk to Ali and I've tried to be there for her, but she's just in so much pain. She seems to be falling apart, but she's Ali. It's not like she would ever ask for help. She'll just self-destruct with Kate until it's too late."