He shook his head. "Don't do that. Matt asked me to keep you, and I intend on following through with my part. Just don't worry about it and stay here until you guys get everything figured out."
"I can’t," she said, shaking her head. "The conditions of Matt asking you to 'keep me' are not…. He thinks he gets to dictate what I do and he’s in for a rude awakening, because I'm not on board with his plan, and since you’re his brother, I assume you’re on his side.”
“I don’t even know what ‘his side’ is, but without knowing, I’m guessing that I’m not.”
“He wants me to get an abortion, and I don't want to do it, so…"
"Look, I really don't care about your situation or your power struggle with Matt," he said bluntly. "When he asked me to take you in, he didn't even say anything about that, so I don't think it was a contingency. Either way, the arrangements are already made, so just go with it for now, okay?" he suggested, extracting a key from his pocket and sticking it in the door he stopped in front of.
Julie stared at the back of his head as he opened the door and wondered if he realized how stubborn and condescending he sounded.
"Now, I don't know if my brother explained to you that I had absolutely no notice about this happening. I literally left work and as I was pulling into my apartment he called me to tell me he had a problem and needed my help. I had no time to prepare for your arrival. I have a bathroom full of dirty clothes; just kick them out of the way. I'm sure that the cupboards need stocked, but I know there's some Sprite and bottled water in the fridge if you're thirsty. Um, I would have gotten you an air mattress or something, but as I said, I didn't know you were coming, so… for tonight unless you've got issues with it and would rather try to sleep on the couch, we'll have to platonically share my bed. It's a queen sized bed, so we'll both fit comfortably on opposite sides."
She wanted to object to sleeping with a stranger, but the way he worded it made her feel like she would come off as silly or ridiculous if she told him she didn't want to.
Also, she didn’t want to sleep on a couch.
He was certainly more dominant than Matt.
"Any questions?" he asked, locking the door behind him.
"Are you the older or the younger brother?" she asked.
He blinked, then sighed a little as if inconvenienced by her inane question. "Younger by a year. Anything else?"
"If you're the youn
ger brother, why are you helping the older brother out of his mess?"
A tight smile crossed his lips then, but not a genuine enough smile that she saw teeth. "Good question," he stated, then he shrugged. "I was returning a favor. He helped me out with something, so how could I refuse to help him out?"
"He scratched your back so you scratch his," she concluded.
"Something like that," he said with a slight nod. "Anyway, I'm exhausted. I'm sure that you need to…do whatever girls do," he said. "Uh, towels are in the cabinet. Shampoo…I just have the cheap stuff, so if you want any special kind… put it on a list or something, I'll try to pick up some groceries and stuff tomorrow."
Glancing at her cell phone, she saw that it wasn't even ten o'clock. "Okay. I actually have some studying to do, so… I'll probably shower first so my hair isn't wet when I come to bed. Are you going straight to bed or…?"
He nodded. "Yeah, I have to be up early in the morning. About the job, you did want it, right?"
"I don't even know what you're talking about, honestly. Matt didn't explain that part."
"A waitressing job at the restaurant. I open tomorrow; I wanted to see if you wanted to come in for a few hours and train."
"Sure," she said. "I could do that. What time?"
"Do you have anything going on? You said you study, are you in college?"
She nodded. "Yes, I have class until 10:45 tomorrow, but that class usually lets out a little early."
"You want to come by 11 to 3 then?"
"If I can get there and get changed by 11," she said.
He nodded. "All right. The uniform is pretty basic, just a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt. Non-slip shoes so you don't fall."
"Okay, I can do that," she said. "I didn't fill out an application or anything though…"
"Don't worry about it, we'll take care of everything tomorrow." He yawned then, stretching and expelling a little sigh. "All right, I'm going to bed. I'm sure by the time you get there I'll be asleep, so I'll just say good night now."