Anywhere With You • {J.C.}

||Fifteen|Take It or Leave It||

"Leave me alone. I'm in control, I'm in control."
-Take It or Leave It

Julian's face fell; his kind eyes went soft as all the muscles in his face relaxed under the weight of her words. She swallowed hard, gently stroking his forearm with her thumb as she realized she may have spoken too quickly.

Harlow wasn't sure if she was ready for this to be anything more. Sure, the thought of him sleeping with someone else stung a little—of course, she couldn't imagine herself with anyone else; there wasn't anyone else in the world she would rather waste her time with than Julian.

Without saying a word, Julian's lips grazed across Harlow's. His breath beat against her face through his nose as the kiss became intense. She supposed this was her answer—Julian wanted more; and right now, so did she.

There was a knock on the door—two light taps that Harlow knew all too well. She started to push Julian away; he hadn't seemed to notice the sound as his lips continued moving against her unmoving mouth. It was too late, Harlow's mother was known for knocking twice and then entering her bedroom without verbal consent—it was too late to make this look innocent.

Harlow pushed on Julian's chest, causing his lips to move away from hers with a smack. He was still hovering over her—settled between her legs as the door swung open.

The sight of an attractively petite woman stood at the door in violet scrubs—annoyed, shocked, confused.

Julian quickly rolled off of Harlow, rubbing his hand across his lips in embarrassment as he slunk to the side of the bed.

He wasn't sure what was more embarrassing—the fact that he had just gotten caught making out with the fuming woman's daughter, or the fact that Harlow's mother could probably see the budge in his pants. If it had been with any other girl, he wouldn't have cared. But this was Harlow—Harlow Mavericks, the girl he was about to declare his girlfriend; even though it had been against their original plan.

Harlow sat up, quickly crossing her legs as she looked to her mother in humility. She wasn't sure how she'd react—Frankie didn't know Julian and she'd never been caught in this particular predicament with Alex before.

Harlow cleared her throat, glancing over at Julian before looking back to her mother. "Mom, this is Julian- Jules, Frankie."

Julian nodded, forcing a half smile that didn't reach his eyes. The good news was that his hard on had gone noticeably soft in the time it took for either women in the room to speak.

"Hello." Frankie smiled, trying her best to appear genuine—Julian saw through it. "Lo... we need to talk. I didn't see a car out front, so I'm guessing you brought him here, I'm gonna need you to take him home. When you get back," Frankie sighed, folding her arms across her chest before leaning into the doorframe. "We're gonna have to have a long talk, do you understand? Julian, it's nice to meet you- I'm sorry I'm kicking you out but, Lo and I have some stuff we gotta discuss."

Julian was already out of the bed, making his way toward the door. He was a little surprised by Frankie's kindness.

"Yes, ma'am." Julian spoke low, but loud enough for Frankie and Harlow to hear. Once Frankie was out of sight, Harlow was looking for her shoes. Whatever Frankie wanted to discuss couldn't have been good—it wasn't just what she had walked in on, it had everything to do with something else.

She looked to Julian, seeing that his usually tired eyes were wide and unusually round—his brows even slightly raised as he chewed on his bottom lip.

"Sorry." Harlow mouthed in a whisper, slipping on her shoe. "I thought she'd be asleep."

"It's cool. I just wish I hadn't been on top of you when she opened the door." Harlow laughed, but saw that Julian didn't.