Loner City // a.u Calum Hood

ten

ten

<<Calum POV>>

       We go to Julia’s apartment and she start to make herself a fruit salad for lunch.

Ijust sit and watches her at the counter.

“So… I’ll just not say anything all day since I can’t ask questions.” I finally say.

“Uh – huh.” She replies.

I see how this is. Game on Albright.

“Is the consistency of today’s plans.” I say.

“What?”

“I said-“

“I know what you said I just don’t understand.”

“I’m playing Jeopardy.” I say and J laughs.

“So… Is the consistency of today’s plans?”

“What is… this list?” She asks in response and walks over to her bag and pulls out a crumpled paper.

 I read it over and look up at her.

“Calum will be joining Julia for these events.”

Julia laughs and thinks for a moment.

“Who will accompany Julia for the day?”

We both give small laughs.

She finishes her lunch and puts it in a container then makes some tea. She grabs her jacket from the doorway and steps into the hallway.

She nods her head and I follow behind her.

“Is where we’re going.”

“What is the roof? And I gave you my list use context clues Hood.”

I give a quiet laugh but Julia was on a mission.

We went up to the top story of her building and stood infront of the roof access door. Julia tried to open the door but it was locked. Worry flooded over her face.

“Now what?” I ask. She shushed me and lifted up the door mat that was in front of it. A dusty key card laid on the ground. She smiled to herself.

“The janitors are lazy.” She whispers to me and swipes the card to unlock the door. We went up at least 3 more flights of stairs until we reached another door. The door was unlocked so Julia flung it open. Light flooded in the dark stairwell and I followed behind Julia.

We went to the edge of the building where wall went up to Julia’s chin.

She still struggled to look over it.

“Here,” I say scooping her up. She screamed.

“PUT ME DOWN! CALUM!” She shrieks. I laugh.

I set her onto of the wall and climb up next to her. Our feet dangle over the side of the building. Julia’s eyes were big as she looked at the skyline in front of us. She finally snaps out of her daze and pulls out her salad.

“You look nice today.” I said breaking the awkward silence only to make the moment more awkward.

“Thank you.” She says quietly.

“Is the significance of today…?” I say with a question-y tone in my voice. Julia swallows.

“Is the significance of to-“ I begin to say again but she cut me off.

“No more Jeopardy… Cal.” She says in a harsh tone but calms down and says my name softly.

“I’m done eating.”  She says after a few minutes and spun around and hopped off the wall.

We walk down the stairways in silence until we stand outside her apartment door.

“The next step is Champagne.”

“What is the next step on the list?”

I open the door and we step inside. Julia went straight to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of champagne and two thin glasses. She poured it into the glasses and handed one to me.

“To… there’s always tomorrow.” Julia says and drinks her whole glass in one gulp.

I stand there and take smaller sips until I finish.

“We’re going to central park… do you have a pocket knife?” She asks me.

“No… why are… woah are we planning a murder or something?”

Julia laughs and gives me a small and playful smirk.

“Hey, I said no questions asked.” She said. Woah what.

Julia burst into laughter. “I’m just kidding Calum!” A bit of relief washed over me and I laughed.

“I know I know…”

“No you didn’t.”

I laugh and Julia finds a pocket knife and gives it to me. “Mind carrying it?” She asks me. I shrug and put it in my pocket.

“Thanks.” She says quietly and picks up the flowers she bought.

We call a cab and within the hour we were in central park.

“Is what we’re doing here.” I say.

“What is you shall see?”

We sat in the grass across from a bridge that went over a small lake or river or whatever it is.

Julia asked me for the pocket knife and I gave it to her.

She pulled out a red flower from the dozen and began to cut off the whole stem.

She does this to all twelve then her and I scoop up the flower buds and I follow her to the bridge. We stand along the side and one by one each flower is tossed into the water. I can hear Julia softly crying as she looks down at the last flower in her hand. Her hair hung down covering her face. She drops the last one in the water and we both watch as it floats from the sky to the water. She wipes away her tears and fixes her beanie.

“I’m ready to go home now.” She says.

“Ya sure?” I ask.

“Yep. I just needed a second.

“Okay. Then home we go.”

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hope you're all enjoying this Jalum day //s