Getting Closer

Chapter Thirty Seven - Juliet

After weeks of the boys cramming for their finals and getting in college applications, they're all finally on winter break and I get to have them all to myself.

As Charlie and Seth bicker about some stupid topic, I play with Max's ear as I find that way more interesting than what those two are talking about. Max's hand goes up my sweater which makes me sit up a little straighter. Proud at my reaction, he slightly tugs on my bra which makes me flick his ear in retaliation. Smirking to himself, he lazily draws circles around the clasp of my bra as he quietly listens to his best friends.

As we sit here, it dawns on me that even though we've been fucking the past couple of months and only started officially dating roughly a month ago, I still haven't done a lot of firsts with him yet. "When are you taking me on a date?" I ask him, quietly enough that Charlie and Seth can't hear.

Max turns to me quickly. Scoffing, "A date?"

Pouting slightly, "Yeah. That's what boyfriends and girlfriends tend to do."

He turns away and eventually shrugs. "I'm not into that sort of thing."

"Well that's just dumb," I honestly say as I turn to the other boys. As they wrap up, I say to them, "Would either of you like to go on a date with me? This one won't."

Both Charlie and Seth glance at one another and then back to me. Seth speaks up first, "Why the hell not? I'll go with you Jules." I stand up quickly, Max's hand slipping out from underneath my sweater.

I give Charlie a look and those eyebrows emote. "Are you paying?" he asks.

As Seth joins my side, I loop my arm through his. "Of course."

Charlie almost leaps up. "Then I'm in."

Looping my other arm into Charlie's, we turn back to Max who stares at us in disbelief. "You guys suck," he mutters more to himself. I ignore him as I lead the other two to the door so we can dress for the cold weather. "You guys can't be serious," Max says as we're all almost ready.

"I for one am very serious," I say as I shove my hat on.

"I'm serious about free food," Charlie says as he shoves his boots on.

"You have a fucking girlfriend," Max says with venom behind his words.

While I don't like his tone, Charlie seems to be used to Max's strange behavior. "You never turn down free food. Besides, I'm the designated driver of the group."

"He's got you there," Seth chimes in as he opens the door to outside.

As Max pouts on the couch, Charlie shouts, "We're going on a group date with Jules!"

From the other room, Mr. Evans shouts back, "Drive safe! A storm is rolling in soon!"

"Okay! I will!"

Before Max can complain further, I shove Charlie out the door and before heading out myself, I stick my tongue out my pouting boyfriend and promptly shut the door behind me. I almost slip down the stairs by how fast I'm running down them but thankfully Charlie was in front of me. If it were Seth, we both would have tumbled down the steps. When I hit solid ground again, Seth and I loop arms again and skip all the way to Charlie's truck while the latter laughs at how foolish we're acting. Seth lets me climb in first while the boys climb in on either side of me. Just as Charlie turns on the truck, a figure comes racing out from the house above and nearly falls on the step I slipped on.

Max jumps in the back and slides open the small window behind my head. "I swear to fucking God Charlie, if you fucking crash I'll bash your face in."

Charlie only laughs. "For that, I'll go the long route." As Charlie starts driving, I turn to Max to see him hold on for dear life while in the back. I let myself smile at his pain because if he'd only give me a real answer, he wouldn't be in this mess. We drive downtown where people are still getting last minute supplies for Christmas in a few days. Once we park, everyone climbs out and just to punish Max further, I go to the other two and make them loop our arms together again.