Anywhere With You • {J.C.}

||Three|When It Started||

"Won't decide, but he won't debate
Said, "Thanks my friend, thought it was too late."
-When It Started

In the months that followed, Harlow found herself at a lot of bars and house parties. Julian was no longer just an occasional classmate; no longer a fellow student she passed in the halls and shared a few classes with—Julian and Harlow were now friends.

It was effortless, really. He was laid back, witty and surprisingly intelligent—despite what his GPA entailed. It took a little convincing, but Harlow managed to persuade Julian to let her tutor him. He needed all the help he could get, but it was also a valid excuse for Alex when he tried to argue her spending too much time with the boy from school.

Every Monday and Friday, Harlow went to Julian's house after school. During that time, he had also managed to get his drivers license, meaning they would take turns on who would drive to Julian's house during the "tutoring" sessions.

But when Julian failed to show up to school on Friday, Harlow decided to ask around. She thought maybe he was ill—gotten a stomach bug or just ditched. Casablancas was pretty notorious for never showing up on time on Friday's—or any other day, really.

She spotted Fab in the hall, knowing that he would know where Julian was. He seemed shocked Julian hadn't told her yet.

"What?"

"Yeah, I- I thought you knew. I mean, he talked about it the other night right in front of you." Fab insisted with a small laugh.

Julian had signed himself out of school—no longer a student at Dwight High. If she wasn't so disappointed, she would've been furious.

So after school, she drove—straight to Julian's house with hopes that his mother (preferably, his stepfather) had told him what a fool he was for doing such a thing. He took his stepfather's words to heart—his mother's, not so much. She supposed it was a "man" thing. Julian looked up to Sam—a genuine role model he took morals and values from.

Harlow was persistent, knowing that Julian was probably upstairs blaring his music. It only made her insistent on pressing the doorbell frantically until he answered. She was a little surprised to see a sketchbook under his arm and a pencil in his mouth when he answered the door. If she didn't know any better, she would've thought he was actually studying for once.

"What are you doin' here?" Julian mumbled; the sound of his voice muffling into the wooden pencil.

"Wha- what the fuck? I'm supposed to tutor you today and you don't show up for school and then..." Harlow barged into Julian's house, stepping inside like she lived there. Julian closed the door behind her, taking the pencil out of his mouth before sliding it into the spirals of his sketch pad. "Fab told me you signed yourself out. That you're... a dropout. You dropped out!"

"Relax. Why do you care so much, anyway? My only regret is that I didn't do it sooner. I was never there anyway."

"Bullshit. I care because it was me that wasted time trying get your credits up. All the tutoring and-"

"Whoa, whoa... hang on." Julian interrupted, walking over to the glass coffee table to drop his papers. "You didn't waste your time, alright. The shit you taught me... you know, it's gonna come in handy. I'm going for my GED next week, so it wasn't a waste." He folded his arms, looking to Harlow. "Besides, you can't look me in the eye and tell me you didn't get anything out of it."

"Fuck you."

"Really? You mean to tell me that all those parties... you weren't having a good time?"

Harlow thought of a comeback—some type of contradictory statement to Julian's accusation. There was none; Harlow had fun with the guys—bar hopping every weekend and finishing up Julian's homework just to watch a movie with him before she went home. She liked his stepdad and adored his mother—often wondering why Julian deliberately went against their rules most of the time.

Julian had taken up a lot of Harlow's time, but it was worth it. She did get quite a bit out of it—a friend. Which was something she hadn't had in a long time, since before Alex.

She sighed, pinching her bottom lip between her teeth. "You only had a few credits to pass. That's it. Why didn't you just... stick it out?"

"Realistically, I would've been there another year. There wasn't a chance in hell I was gonna get my credits up before next semester. And I'll be damned if I have to spend another year in that place. It's cool, you know. I've... I've gotta plan."

"To be homeless and uneducated?" Harlow quipped.

Julian scoffed, trying to hide his laugh. "No. I'm... I'm gonna go back to school. But not that school. I'm... I'm gonna study music. There's this college up in Dix Hill, you know- in Long Island?"

"Five towns?" Her eyes narrowed skeptically—surely to god Julian was joking.

"Yeah. It's what I wanna do. I don't see the point in doing all the other shit first, you know? When is calculus ever gonna be something I have to do to make music? Doesn't make sense."

"You're serious?"

Julian nodded with pursed lips. "I appreciate everything you tried to do, but... I don't wanna do that. I don't know what I'm gonna do past five towns, but... I can't keep going to that place."

She supposed finishing high school to get into a decent college was what the system had brainwashed society into doing—Julian had a point. It was clear the moment she laid eyes on him that he wasn't really "frat-boy" material.

He was the epitome of cool without trying to be. Even though Harlow didn't buy into the rumors, it didn't stop her from hearing them. Some girls found Julian strange; "weird" was the word used most frequently. Others found him irresistible, but too afraid to approach him because of his intimidating demeanor.

It took actually getting to know Julian for Harlow to realize that he wasn't what others thought—he was simply a shy guy with a lot on his mind. He was socially awkward but yet, made friends everywhere he went. He also made a few enemies from time to time on their nightly excursions; fights Julian didn't really want to be apart of, but found himself involved in.

Harlow had witnessed it firsthand—Julian was a guy other guys liked to fight. She wasn't sure why, perhaps it was his height; the fact that girls wanted him and boyfriend's didn't like that. It was clear that Julian was oblivious of this. Only a couple weekends before, Harlow had witnessed a man follow Julian into the men's room—to fight.

Julian had been standing at the bar; when he turned around, he had bumped into a young woman that had been standing too close—he apologized, even offered to pay for the girl's drink. It wasn't too long after that, he was approached by a man wanting to fight. He had shoved Julian into the bar—Fab and Nick stepping in to scare the guy away. It worked—until Julian had to "piss like a racehorse." Fab—despite being the smallest of the group—had stepped in to break it up. He claimed it was his "Italian side" coming out, which gained a few laughs from everyone.

Julian was a quiet storm with a heart of gold. He seemed to have life figured out, which was something Harlow wished she possessed.

"So... you wanna go to the record store?" Julian broke through Harlow's train of thought—her eyes wide and slightly confused. Before she could ask, Julian answered. "You know, since there's nothing else to do. Sitting around here watching a movie we've already seen... and no more homework." He smiled.

"Wanna take my car or yours?" Harlow shrugged; giving into Julian's suggestion.

"Let's just walk."