“What are you doing?”
I glance over at Julie and realize I’m reaching for my phone. “Nothing.” My hand retracts and rests on my thigh. “I was thinking about Cal.”
“I don’t want him to know I’m here, Collin.”
“I can’t hide you in my apartment forever, Jules. He pops in all the time.” She sighs at this. “Why don’t you want Cal to know?” This shouldn’t be a big surprise to me. She never wants Cal to know and I never tell him when she’s in town, but this is different. She’s hurt!
She’s silent for a minute, and I don’t think she will answer, but as I park, she quietly says, “You two aren’t identical to me, you know that, right?”
I swallow hard because it feels like she’s somehow managed to punch me in the gut and allowed me to breathe. There’s no time to dwell on what she’s said. “Let’s get inside. You probably want to rest.”
Once inside, Julie climbs into my bed. She’s visited before, so her comfort level in my apartment doesn’t surprise me. There’s always been a line with Julie. I don’t cross it because she used to date my brother and I think it still exists. She sleeps in my bed and I take the couch.
My demon from hell roommate jumps onto the bed, causing Julie to gasp.
“You have a cat? When did you get him? Or her?”
“He’s not my cat,” I correct.
“Then what is he doing in your apartment?”
I walk over and sit on the bed, ignoring the orange tabby as he comes over to rub against my arm. “Because he won’t leave. He somehow got into the building and ran into my apartment when the door was open. I tried seeing if he belonged to anyone, but no one claimed him. I leave the door open for him so he can wander out, but the bastard sits there and stares out into the hallway instead. He won’t leave.”
“And you don’t have the heart to take him to the shelter,” she adds what I left out.
“I took him to the vet and got him all checked out. They didn’t believe me when I insisted he wasn’t mine either. I’m not claiming him because I don’t want him, but I’m not exactly going to make him homeless either.” I hate the cat. I’m not a cat person, yet I don’t have the heart to take him to the shelter, even so he can be adopted. It makes no sense to me, or Cal, that I kept this cat, especially since I always complain about him, but the cat likes me and I have a bad habit of petting him and scratching between his ears when he’s around.
“What’s his name?” Julie asks.
“He doesn’t have a name because he’s not my cat.”
Julie laughs as I stand and walk over to my closet. “He needs a name. Can I name him?”
“Go ahead.” She sounds like her normal self right now, and that makes me relax.
“He looks like a Marmalade to me. How does that sound, Marmalade?” Even I can hear him purring from way over here, but she’s probably petting him or rubbing under his chin.
I glance at the two of them and am proven right. But that isn’t what stops my lungs from working. Julie has unzipped her jacket. Her shirt is torn open and I spot more fresh bruises on her. She notices my staring. I can’t even feel bad as she pulls her jacket tight against her, stands with her bag, and disappears into my bathroom to change.
What happened to her? Last I talked to her, she wasn’t seeing anyone. Was this a random attack? Did she call the cops before she ran off? She shouldn’t have run anyway. Julie stills my thoughts and my motions as I’m reaching for my extra sheets when, in a small voice, she asks, “Collin, will you stay in here tonight? I don’t want to be alone.”
“Uh, yeah.” I close my closet door, walk over to the bedroom door, call for the cat to get out, and lock it on the off chance that Cal comes over in the morning. He has a key to my apartment, but not to my bedroom, obviously. I change my clothes, all the while freaking the fuck out over a new problem now.
I can’t sleep in the same bed as Julie!
At this point in my life, I’m pretty sure I love this girl, but not only am I solidly in the friend zone, I don’t know how to navigate the waters as far as my brother is concerned. And I have so much other shit in my head as far as my anxiety goes that this whole situation screams fucked up to me.
Julie lies on her side, facing me, while I lie on my back, staring at the ceiling because I don’t know what else to do.
“You aren’t okay, are you?”
“No,” she whispers.
I take a deep breath. Fuck. “Will you tell me what happened?”
“I got caught up with the wrong person, that’s all.” She scoots closer to me and presses her face to my shoulder. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she mumbles. “Can we sleep now?”
“Yeah.” That’s not what I want to say, but I can’t manage to say anything else as my arms snake around her. I hold her until she falls asleep. I don’t know the full story, and hopefully, she’ll tell me, but right now, I’m happy she’s here and safe with me.