Under His Roof

chapter twenty-four

"What does this mean?" Melitta asked.

Kimberly blinked. "Um...that Freddy is no longer among the living...?"

Melitta rolled her eyes and scoffed. "I mean for you, Kimberly. If Freddy is dead then what does it mean for you?"

That was exactly Kimberly's question though. What did this mean? Of course there was the obvious; now she could finally change her name back from Valerie to Kimberly, but what about for her and Julian? Could they be together? Was it now safe for them?

There was always the chance that there would be other threats she didn't know about, so Kimberly didn't want to be so quick to jump to conclusions.

"I don't know," she finally said. "I think I should call him though."

Melitta nodded and they both went to her bed, jumping on and watching intently as Kimberly's phone rang with Julian's name on the screen.

"Fuck, I'm so nervous," Kimberly whispered.

"Don't be, just imagine him naked," Melitta said.

Kimberly raised her eyebrows, "Is that supposed to help me? I haven't talked to him in weeks, and thinking about him naked is your best piece of advice?"

Melitta shrugged, a cheeky grin on her face. "Well whenever I imagine him naked, I always end up feeling better."

"I'm flattered."

They both looked down to the phone which was now connected and of course, on speaker. Kimberly watched with an expression of horror on her face, and Melitta with one of amusement.

"Melitta!" she hissed.

With a laugh, Melitta dismissed Kimberly and brought the phone closer to her mouth. "Julian, don't worry, that wasn't Kimberly," she said.

He laughed, "I figured as much."

'There, happy?' Melitta mouthed to Kimberly.

Kimberly rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she muttered. "What should I say to him though? My mind is blank."

"Just say hi," Melitta whispered.

"Hi? No! That's so lame!"

"What the hell?" Melitta gave Kimberly a what-the-actual-fuck face, more confused than anything else really. "How are you supposed to even..." she rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"Come on, give me something else," Kimberly pleaded. She wasn't enjoying asking for Melitta's help on this, but as soon as she had heard Julian's voice she had blanked out. This never happened to her and she was worried at how surprisingly hard it was for her to think of something to say.

Melitta rolled her eyes, "Oh my God, just say hi! Who are you, Paris Hilton?"

They were both whisper shouting in hopes that Julian wouldn't hear them, and Melitta finally smacked Kimberly's leg. 'Say it,' she mouthed, pointing at the phone and eyeing Kimberly.

Kimberly groaned, "Hi, Julian."

Another laugh, "Hi, Kimberly," he said. "You sound well."

"Yeah, I am," she grinned, even though he couldn't see her. "I - uh, I get to stop wearing bandages next week."

"That's really good," he said. "I just got off my crutch this week actually. I just have a brace now."

Kimberly nodded, "Cool," she said, making another desperate face at Melitta. She didn't know what to say and was feeling an unprecedented amount of nerves flooding her every time she opened her mouth to speak. This wasn't normal with Julian. Maybe it was just being on the phone, or not having talked in so long, but it felt different, and Kimberly didn't like it.