Darlings of the South.

s e v e n t e e n

Before I had a chance to accept everything that had just happened, Julien pulls me away from the others and back to his room. 

"I need to talk to you." He lets go of my hand as he opens the door and I step into the familiar room. I nod and sit on the edge of his bed. 

"Talk." 

"First of all, I'm sorry for hurting you." He sits next to me, taking my hand in his. "I just feel so helpless."

I didn't know how to reply, and he seemed to sense that. "How, how are you?" I look out the massive window, wondering whether this was all worth the hassle. 

"I'm good, really good actually." I look at him, he's watching me closely. I wonder if he thinks I'm lying. Surely he knows about what happened with David. "Not long until I've finished school. I've caught up because of the lack of distraction." I look down at my hand, fiddling with the ring. Hopefully he knows I'm talking about him. I wanted to make him work for any type of attention, to prove to me it's worth it. That he won't hurt me. 

"I'm glad you're doing well in school." He gets up and walks over to his dresser. He pulls out a small jewelry box, and I become curious. "I'm sorry for not being there when he wa coming after you. I should've been there. I'm sorry for distracting you. But Maia, you make me feel something. I'm not a romantic, I'm in a gang for crying out loud. I hurt people, but you, there's something about you." He ushers for me to stand up, and he spins me around, pushing my hair to the side. I hear the box open, and then a cold chain is looped around my neck. "Happy Birthday." I face him, and he's unable to keep eye contact. 

"You did hurt me. You weren't there when I needed you. But here we are now." The necklace was silver, it matched the one from Mum, or, Empira. But the pendant was different, it wasn't ruby. It was a tree design, with pieces of my birthstone, aquamarine. I hold the pendant in my fingers, and lean up to kiss him. 

It was perfect, I hadn't realised how much i missed him. He wraps his arms around me, pulling me in tight. "I will never leave you, I promise to always be there." I say nothing, hoping it wasn't an empty promise. "But now, you have some decisions to make." He breaks from the embrace and pulls out some albums. "It's not all bad. But I wouldn't wish you to chose this life." I sit next to him on the bed and flick through some of the pages. It was photos of the gang, they were all laughing, drinking, dancing, partying. They were living. The next page was a collection of portraits of the members. My eyes fall on my mothers face. My breathing catches and Julien grabs my hand. 

"She looks so peaceful, was this when she first joined?" He nods. 

"Our photos are taken the day of getting our tattoo." 

Mum had a tattoo on her ankle, but it was dark and had been a tree. Had she covered the snake? "I think Mum covered hers." 

"Yes, she was told too. If you leave the gang, you're either dead, voted out or worse. She was voted out. And my father told her to cover it.."

"It seems you know more about her than I do." I sigh. There was still so much I didn't know. A knock on the door pulls Julien's attention away from the album. he quickly shuts it and opens the door.

"Beau, do you mind?" Beau pops his head around the door, looking at me over Julien's arm. 

"Come to steal birthday girl." He pushes through and walks over to me, and I greet him with a smile. "My dear," he takes my hand and leads me out of Juliens room. I look over to him for reassurance but he just shrugs, his scowl burning holes into the back of Beaus head. 

"Um Beau, where are we going?" He squeezes my hand.

"Wait and see." Julien follows us as we enter the kitchen, the smell of sweet cake invading my senses. 

"One, two, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, BON ANNIVERSAIRE!" Noelle comes and kisses my cheek and I spot Gabriel watching over, waiting for his moment. He gets up as Beau lets go of my hand and the 3 seem to part way for the big man. 

"Je vous souhaite plein de bonheur en cette journée spéciale." He also kisses my cheek, but I have no idea what he says. I laugh and say thank you anyway, and walk over to Julien who is extending his hand for me to hold. "I won't distract you anymore today about your future with us, Maia. Your friends have planned some special things. Enjoy, Au revoir." 

"Thank you, see you." He leaves the kitchen and goes back into his office. 

"Right!" Noelle claps her hands together, "Have some cake, then we are getting you dressed and taking you out." She flashes me a pretty smile and starts to cut the cake which was iced perfectly. Beau gives me a grin, but frowns when he sees where Juliens hand is placed. He was holding my waist, and I wasn't made aware until that reaction from him. Odd.

-

Once we all had a piece of cake, Beau with his two, Noelle told me to walk to her room. Only problem was I didn't know where that was. Julien was in his shower and Noelle was cleaning up but wouldn't let me help, so Beau offered to show me the way. He walks in front of me, both of us in a comfortable silence. Noelle's room was on another floor so we had to take the elevator. Elevators diminish the thought of comfortable silence and somehow manages to turn it into something so awkward. 

"What do you see in Julien. Like, I get it, il est très beau. But c'mon, you could do so much better. Such a pretty face."

"I don't think it's any of your business Beau." 

"Donne moi une chance." I scoff, he knows full well I don't speak french.

"Beau, cut it out. I don't understand you."

"I want you to give me a chance." He steps closer to me, god how long was this elevator going to take. He's almost in front of me but I'm freed by the doors opening. I quickly step out and watch the doors close on him. I could find the room from here. I didn't want to be near him.

I jiggle some of the door handles, but only one opened. It was a baby pink room so it was definitely Noelles. I walk over to her bed, jealous of her room. 

I wondered, would I get something like this?

"Maia?" The door opens and in she walks, "ah, you found it. Right, you're about my size." Really? I questioned it but stayed silent. "Do you know what your colour is?" 

I look at her ridiculously. "I'm supposed to have a colour?" 

"Oh dear, okay. Well you're relatively tan, dark hair, dark eyes. Hmm, let's try this yellow dress." She pulls out a lemon bodycon dress and I screw my nose. She sees my reaction and holds it up to me, making the same reaction. We go through almost the whole rainbow, and I'm surprised at the amount of colorful dresses she has. Her last option was a deep plum dress, off the shoulder, tight around the waist, flowy to the knee. I liked it.

"This. This is the one." She hands it to me to try on and it fits like a glove. "Yes!" She squeaks. She hands me a pair of black pumps and I fix my makeup. 

"So, where are we going?" I ask.

"A surprise."