Circles - Vic Fuentes

Chapter 5

Vic's POV

Me and the guys all stay up thinking of lyrics for new songs and don't get pretty far. It's been two hours and we thought of at least two sentences.
"Okay," Jaime says, dropping his drumsticks, "I'm tired. Let's do this another day".
I see them start to move around.
"Are you kidding me?" I say, "Fine. Another day".
I get off the edge of the bed and move to my spot on the bed, starting to lay my head down.
I see Tony sitting on the opposite side of my bed and looking down at me, "How about... we talk about your little date today? A drive-in theater...".
"Woah, really?" Jaime says.
"Oh my god, shut up, Jaime," I say, with my head still on the pillow.
"No, I wanna hear. I'm intrigued".
"It was fun..." I say.
"How fun?" Jaime chuckles.
"That's all you need to know".
"Please tell me you used protection, Vic," Tony says.
"We didn't fuck!" I say sitting up.
I pick up my phone to see a notification.
"Is that her?" Tony says.
"No, it's not. Calm down".
"Actually, I think I know what happened,"  Jaime says.
"Did she blow you?"
I hear Tony start snickering and I roll my eyes, "Why do you guys care so much?".
"So she DID..." Jaime says, looking down at his bass strings.
"Oh my god, this is a girl that I seriously want to be with, and discussing us fucking with you guys like it's a random fan is not how I wanna do this. Not here, not now".
The guys are silent for a couple of seconds, making the room stay quiet. Well, except for Jaime fixing and playing with his bass.
"What makes her so special?" Tony asks, "Genuine question".
I stare at the wall for a couple of seconds, thinking of what words to say.
"I know her, from a while ago".
"What does that mean, exactly?" Tony asks.
"She's just... I have memories with her, ones that I wish I could miss".
Tony looks at me slightly confused but tries to play it off.
"The story is for another day when it's better to explain more seriously," I say.
"It's just, we know nothing about her," Tony says.
"You will, I promise".

The next morning

I wake up to cartoons blasting on the TV with Jaime staring at it. I can hear the sink running. I'm surprised I slept through most of this noise.
I get up and stretch, taking a tang top out of my mostly unorganized suitcase and putting it on. I then reach for my hat and put it on.
I pick up my phone and go straight to Julie's contact.
"Hey. U up?" I send.
"Hey, Vic," Tony says from the bathroom, "can you go out and get some more food? Jaime ate all my chips last night. The ones I rightfully bought," he says pointing to Jaime.
"You didn't put your name on it, don't get so mad!" Jaime says.
"Fine, fine. Shut up a bit," I say chuckling, "I'll get your chips".
"Thank you," he says, going back to looking in the mirror.
I make my way out of the hotel and start to walk down to a small market that I saw on the corner of the block. I see a girl and boy both recording me and one even squealing. It's nice to know I have some fans in this small town.
I wave to them and the girl grabs his jacket in excitement, making me chuckle.

I get the chips and bring them back to the hotel, throwing them onto the bed and I can see Tony snatch them in a heartbeat.
I decided I should go get some air. I texted Julie but she hasn't answered. I don't want to annoy her, but, after last night, how could I?
I think I'll just wait a little while. Maybe she slept in.

I get in my car and drive a few minutes down to where the small beach shows and park. I get out and start to walk down.
I start to walk down this deck and see someone sitting down on the edge looking down at the water. The closer I get, the more I realize who it is.
"Julie?" I say. She then turns around and looks up at me with a confused look, then a neutral look.
"Oh, hi!" she says. Her voice is so soft.
"What are you doing here?" I say.
"Sometimes I come here to just, think and to get some time alone," she says.
"Oh, do you want me to leave?".
"No, it's fine," she says. After a few seconds, she pats an open spot next to her and I sit down beside her.
"How long have you been here?" I ask.
"Since 6 this morning".
"Oh, because I texted you and I thought you were sleeping".
"Oh my god, I'm sorry, my phone has been in my pocket this whole time," she says, reaching for her phone, "yeah, sorry, I didn't hear it at all".
"That's okay..." I say.
We sit in silence for a while before I decide to break it, "So, about last night..."
She looks at me with such a numb face, that I can't tell what she's feeling, "was it okay for you?".
"Yeah, of course. I would've stopped if I didn't like it," she says, mostly smiling halfway through the sentence.
"Yeah, okay," I say chuckling. I look to see her staring in the distance of the reflected water and I swear I can see her eyes sparkle, but her face looks like absolutely, nothing.
"What's wrong?" I say.
I watch her look at me, "What do you mean?" she says softly.
"You just look..." I say. I pause to look into her eyes. Her undereyes look worn and dark, "tired."
She slowly moves her eyes down to somewhere in the distance, but I never take mine off of hers.
I watch her gently place her right hand over the long feather tattoo that's on her left wrist. Deep down, I can tell what's happening, at least, I have a few ideas.
"Julie..." I say slightly leaning my head forward so I can try and get her to look at me.
She eventually looks into my eyes and I can see some sort of pain in her eyes. A pain I didn't think I wouldn't be able to handle. Out of instinct, I put my hand on top of hers and don't break eye contact.
I can see her try and keep eye contact but her lip starts to quiver and she looks down.
I wrap my arm around her, pull her head to my chest, and feel her back jerk as she starts to cry. It's silent but I can feel it. I hear her breathe in sharply and exhale choking on tears. Her arms wrap around my back and her face is hidden in the corner of my arm and chest.
After a minute, I let her get some of it out and started to ask her questions, "What happened?".
She refuses to make herself sit up and let go of me. I can hear her trying to talk but it's muffled and not in complete sentences.
"Justin. He... I don't..."
I feel my body start to tense up. He could've done anything.
"What did that stupid bitch do.."
"After all these years, he tried to get in touch with me again... I really can't be anywhere near him. I can't."
"I will fucking kill him. I swear."
"I'm sorry. I'm not good at this at all," she says, slowly sitting back up and covering her face.
"Don't be sorry, Julie. That man deserves nothing in life, nor does he deserve trying to talk to you."
"This scar is because of people like him. I ruined myself because of him."
"Julie..." I say, taking her hand into mine, "You're okay. I will never understand how you feel, but you're okay".
She looks up at me, her cheeks red and her eyes circled with bright red stains, "I can't be here anymore".
"Like, you mean to go home?".
"...Yeah."
I help her get up and we walk to my car.