undercover - s.w

10

sammy wilkinson

"whoa!" a loud voice evident, as my eyes open and see nate standing in the doorway of juliette's bedroom, his hand open his mouth and his eyes as wide as could be.

"shh, fucker!" i whisper-yell, removing myself from the bed as i exit the room with nate. i close the door, waiting the interrogation to begin.

he gives me a look of confusion, "so... you and juliette?"

"long story" i begin, deeply sighing, "we.. we both know we have feelings for each other, neither one of us actually said it face-to-face. so we both confessed back-to-back nights when each other were "asleep". so, we both know now and it's kind of just, just a work in progress i guess."

"did you guys have se—"

quickly, i cut him off, "no! trust me, we didn't."

nate smirks, "better do it soon though."

"why?" i defensively ask him, wondering if he is insinuating that he would do something.

he laughs, "i mean, why not? if you guys know you like each other then bro, go for it."

my eyes automatically roll at his immature reasoning, "it's not that simple, nate."

his eyebrows pull together, "dude, it kind of is that simple."

"i don't want to just do it with her. she kind of means a lot to me" i shyly admit, my voice quite low as i respond to him.

nate chuckles, "she's softened you up, bro."

i shrug, "not a bad thing."

our conversation has finally simmered, as nate leaves and i go back into juliette's bedroom to see if she is still sound asleep. she was stirring, but she was still sleeping.

i close the door, allowing her to have minimal noises that could wake her as i go to my bedroom to shower and get ready for today. taking the time in the shower, nate's words crossed my mind quite frequently.

"she's softened you up, bro"

she has made me soft, she's made me more charismatic and loving. as i retaliated, it isn't a bad thing. i mean, it may hurt us if somebody went after her because there would be nothing crossing my mind other than protecting her. though, i should be protecting her anyway.

as i was getting out of the shower after letting juliette consume my thoughts, there was a heavy knock at my door. after quickly throwing on sweatpants and a shirt, i open it to see nate standing there.

"come downstairs" he says, turning around and leaving, letting me close the door and finish getting ready.

when i finally am done, i proceed to follow nate's instructions and go downstairs.

"what is this?" i ask, seeing all of the boys who live in this house gathered in the living room like this is some type of intervention.

nate sighs, patting the seat next to him, "we all want to talk to you about something."

gilinsky and johnson both nod their heads as i look at them.

gilinsky is the one to begin, "we want to talk to about you and juliette. you know, the consequences and what you're putting on the line if you guys get together intimately."

"i know, i know what im doing. i am aware that i would be much more sensitive if something happened. what else is there?" i defensively ask.

"we're not telling you that you're clueless, but you know you're putting yourself at risk if her father's crew finds out. she's going to be so connected to you, meaning that if you get hurt, it's going to affect her so much" nate explains, "we're not saying don't do anything with her, we're just saying be careful."

after silently sitting for a minute, i nod, "you guys are right and appreciate you guys caring, but im not going to get hurt and i wouldn't let anything happen to her."

all of them nod, allowing all of us to go on with our day and try to move on from the tension filled conversation.

— — — — — — — —

it was simply juliette and i in the house. she was in the front room as she read a book, while i was finishing up a workout. we haven't really talked, so im not too sure if she heard the conversation this morning or if she just isn't feeling well.

as i was doing push-ups, i saw movement in the corner of my eye and saw juliette standing there watching me.

"are you okay?" i ask, putting my head back down and focused on continuing the exercise.

she hums, "yeah, just bored."

i stop my exercise, standing up, "no. i mean, you haven't been talking since you've woken up. are you okay?"

"oh, yeah. just didn't sleep well last night" she shrugs.

my eyebrows pulled together, "why not?"

once again, she shrugs, "my dreams weren't the best. it's not important."

seeing her face fall, i don't push her to talk about it but i embrace her.

"thank you for taking care of me while i've been here" she adds, looking up at me as i hold her.

i smile, "it's not a problem."

she smiles back at me, "i just wanted you to know i appreciate it. and you."