Julie Bane

Chapter Twenty-One

  "Morning sleeping beauty," I say to Julie as she walks down the stairs and into the kitchen. "Sleep well?"

  "Meh." She shrugs. "What are you cooking?" She asks, peeking over the island.

  "Well, the first morning I was living with you, you made us pancakes. So, I thought I could repay you by making you pancakes." I smile.

  "Thanks." She nods.

  "How's your arm?" I ask, glancing down at her sling.

  "Fine. How's your wrist?"

  "Fine." I say.

   "Some nice foodies for my favorite Julie." I say as I set the plate of pancakes in front of her and boop her nose. I ignore the weird look she gives me and sit down next to her.

  "Will I still go to school?" She asks and I freeze. I slowly look up at her and swallow. Being the little nerd she is, I don't think she'll like the news.

  "Well," I start. "I've been thinking, you don't remember but the past two weeks, you've kind of gotten the shit beat out of you by some people at your school. And so, being your bodyguard and deciding the best way to keep you safe. I've decided on having you let go of school for a little bit. Just until your arm gets better." I explain as calmly as I can.

  She stares at me then frowns.

  "You can't do that!" She shouts.

  "Oh, but Julie, I can. Your dad's already talked with the school and made a deal. You don't go to school for two weeks or more, and he'll..." I trail off.

  "He'll what?" She asks.

  "I guess it's not really a deal. More like a threat. Your dad threatened to shut down the school if they didn't do what he wanted."

  "How would he shut down the school?"

  "Lets just say he knows some people."

***

I hear music as I get upstairs and when I walk past Julie's room I laugh. She's jumping around on her bed while listening to 'Everybody talks', by 'Neon Trees'.

I watch her flawless hair whip around everywhere, wishing I could stroke it. I listen to her voice. If it weren't for the jumping motion and how out of breath she is, you would actually hear a really pretty voice.

Oh please be careful.

As if someone heard my thoughts, her foot gets wrapped up in the thick blanket as she spins and starts to fall over. She stops singing and screams, notifying me that I need to go save her before she hits her head on the floor and gets a concussion.

I run over to her and right before she hits the floor I sweep her into my arms.

I gently lay her in the bed and unwrap her foot.

"You have to be more careful." I say as she stares at me, breathing heavily from shock. "You okay?" I ask and she nods. I rub her left shoulder with my hand to calm her down.

"Were you watching me?" She asks.

"Maybe." I say. "But be glad because if I wasn't then you would've hurt your head or something." I add.

"Thanks." I nod.

I stand up and walk to the door.

"Carlos," I stop and look back at her. "I'm sorry." She says and I face her fully, confused

"For what?"

"For not remembering anything. You seem mad that I can't remember anything that's happened. And I don't know what happened between us or if anything at all happened between us. But, I'm sorry I don't remember. I really wish I could, and I want to. I just can't. I'm sorry." She explains.

I tilt my head to the side slightly and look at her. I walk over and sit beside her.

"Oh sweetie, it's okay. I'm not mad at you. And it's not your fault. I'm the one who was driving. And that must've freaked you out so much that you had a heart attack." I say as I hug her.

"What?" She pulls away some and looks at me. "What about you were driving and a heart attack?" I stare at her for a minute.

Shit! No one told her that yet!