Borrowed Time

Chapter Ninety Seven

It was cooler out than Juliette had expected, even if it was sunny, and she'd had to take the sweater that Micheal had brought with him pretty much the second they were out of the car and on the campus... And it didn't help that they'd been waiting for Xavier for a fucking hour at this point, he was late as shit.

"So, how old is your cousin?" She asked, and Micheal glanced over at her for a split second, seeming frustrated... Fair, they'd been waiting for a while. Shelby curled into her side, shivering slightly as she did. Steal Micheal's sweater first next time.

"He's 22, he's in his final year of a finance degree." Micheal said, tapping through his phone, probably doing his best to get ahold of Xavier, who wasn't responding if the expression on Micheal's face was anything to go off of.

Shelby looked just as unimpressed, but probably for a completely different reason, and Juliette was very excited to learn what that reason was.

"Hm." That tone gave Shelby away, she was not impressed. Fun... Tell me more, gorgeous.

"What?" He asked, clearly knowing that Shelby didn't seem like she was really as excited as he was. She shrugged, giving him a reassuring smile.

"Nothing, I've just never met a finance major that I've wanted to spend longer than five minutes around." Shelby said, making Juliette snort... Yeah, she had to agree with that, she didn't exactly want to hear about the stock market for three fucking hours.

"He's different, I promise." Micheal said, but Juliette wasn't holding her breath, and it didn't seem like Shelby was either.

"Well, he'd better be." Shelby leaned over and kissed his cheek with a smile, prompting Micheal to look up with a lovesick sort of smile. "I have no problems telling him that he sucks." She said, and he chuckled and nodded, his phone vibrating in his hand.

"Oh, I know." He grinned down at his phone before glancing over at both of them. "Okay, he's almost here." Oh, fucking finally, thank god. She was worried that they would be stuck sitting here forever.

"What does he look like?" Juliette asked, and Micheal smiled, tucking his phone into his pocket as he did. He looked excited, and Juliette didn't blame him... It was nice to see family that you actually like.

"Me. He and I were mistaken for brothers as children." Micheal said, and Juliette nodded slowly... Well, that made it easy then, didn't it? She just had to look for another unnervingly beautiful man.

"Huh." She leaned her head on Shelby and took a deep breath... God, she was tired, why was she so tired?

"Micheal!" Juliette lifted her head and frowned... Well, that was a man... But he wasn't beautiful, that was for sure. But the expression on Micheal's face told her that that was their guy. Huh... Okay, maybe he just didn't want to be mean to his cousin, but Juliette could be... This man looked like Micheal if Micheal was ten years older and had never taken care of himself not one day in his life.

"Xavier, hey!" He said, pulling him into a tight hug as both Juliette and Shelby stared at them, confused... This guy was supposed to be the one who looked like Micheal? He looked... Way worse than Micheal.

"Micheal's cuter." Shelby whispered, and Juliette nodded. Yeah, Micheal was a handsome guy... This guy looked like Micheal if Micheal joined a frat... Which was not a compliment.

"Obviously." She muttered back, and she watched as they released each other and Xavier grinned at him. Well, at least he seemed nice so far, right? That was a good thing.

"Damn... You look way stronger than the last time I saw you." He said, looking up into Micheal's face. He stepped back, looking sheepish as he rubbed at the back of his neck, mumbling something nonsensical.