Text Messages

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• J U L I E  A B E L •

"You have to tell him."

"no."

"c'mon Julie, you've been hiding it from Matthew for so many years now. He at least deserves to know" Penny was staring heavily at Julie, hoping that her gaze would persuade Julie enough to confess to Matthew, but to no avail, as Julie was indifferent, chewing on her sandwich with a blank expression as she watched Matthew talk to his lab partner from afar.

"And risk loosing my friendship with him? hell no." Julie shook her head, causing Penny to sigh and slump her back in defeat.

"Why are you so negative all the time? Matthew cares about you. And he's not the type to just drop someone off like you think he would. Im sure even if he might not like you back, your friendship wont change any bit." Once again Julie shook her head at Penny, which Penny had only expected.

"You don't understand, Penny." Julie's voice was calm, collected, as if she was the one giving advice instead of Penny. "He likes someone else. He told me." Julie grabbed Penny's water bottle and took a sip.

Julie's eyes never left Matthew as in silence, both she and Penny watched him from their usual lunch table, staring impassively as Matthew's toothy smile appeared, with his laugh being heard from a distance. The same laugh that would usually bring a smile to Julie's lips, but today, only made Julie want to tug the corners of her lips down.

She released a heavy breath before once again speaking "It's very clear that he only sees me as a friend, Penny. Why would I tell him I like him with that assurance?" Penny was in loss of words. Penny had always thought that Julie and Matthew were gonna end up together, especially considering how much they meant to each other.

"Who is it?" Penny asked, as Julie set Penny's water bottle down on the table. "Who's the girl?" Penny rephrased before reaching out to take her water bottle back before taking a sip herself.

"I don't know." Julie shrugged. "He won't tell me." Their conversation was immediately silenced by the sight of Matthew walking towards the two girls, taking a seat beside Julie with a large smile on his face.

"Why were you both staring at me?" Matthew asked, glancing between Julie and Penny before unwrapping the burrito he had bought from the cafeteria and taking a big bite.

"Oh nothing." Penny smiled as Julie tried her best not to blush. "Just wondering why we're still friends with you." She joked, causing Matthew to release a low chuckle, and Julie to give Penny a knowing glance before giggling along.

Matthew gave Penny a friendly shove. "I was also wondering why you haven't figured that out yet. Im clearly amazing and you two know it well." Matthew smirked.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Hensley." Julie spoke up, rolling her eyes, but in her head all she wanted to tell him was how much she agreed.