"You said you were out of books," he said gruffly.
The bag contained a slightly worn copy of Brave New World, an old paperback copy of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, and then two of Tolstoy's works—Anna Karenina and War and Peace, both of them beautifully bound but also used. There was also one entitled Selected Works of Emily Dickinson, just in case she was in the mood for poetry.
"I had to guess at what kind you would like, but I was at Half Price Books and I thought of it, so…"
Grinning as she held her copy of Brave New World, she grinned at him. "Thank you so much, Aaron; this was so nice of you."
He shrugged it off. "I remember being a poor college student, it's no big deal."
"That reminds me," she said, jumping up and running in the kitchen, opening the cupboard and pulling out the box of Rice Crispy Treats. "This is very dorky, I'm warning you in advance, so don't laugh at me, but remember that I am a poor college student."
Aaron stood there cautiously, one eyebrow raised.
She pulled the box from behind her back and presented them to him with a grin. "Now you have some."
Reluctantly, he half smiled at the "gift."
That made it worth it, she decided.
"You are a dork," he verified. "But thank you."
"Thank you for the books," she countered, smiling as she sat down and pulled them out, sitting them on the couch. "I didn't even know there was a cheap bookstore in Chicago."
Aaron nodded, but before she could pull him into an actual conversation, he quickly found something to do at the computer for a few minutes, then he was gone again.
Honestly, Julie could not wait for her stupid winter break to end. She felt like she was under house arrest. Aaron still avoided her all the time, even though she had quit wearing the beautiful diamond earrings that had been given to her, and nothing that she ever did could please the man.
He was impossible.
And the man was never home. Julie was stuck at the apartment all by herself, both of her casual school friends away on break, Matt seemingly busy with the domestic tasks of Christmas, Anna still technically banned from seeing her, and the only thing she ever did besides read was work.
She had no life. That much was apparent.
However, with the holiday season she found that she was unable to put it off any longer—she would have to talk to her mother.
Or be lectured, more than likely.
Naturally, that one ended up winning.
"I cannot believe that you haven't spoken to me at all—I miss you, you don't bother to come home for Christmas, you won't respond to my e-mails. I thought maybe Jack had murdered you or something," her mother ranted into the phone.
Grimacing, she figured that was the best chance to dive in. "Actually, Jack and I broke up a while ago," Julie informed her mother.
"You did?" her mother asked, sounding at once pleased. "I mean, that's terrible," she said quickly, trying to amend her tone to come off as more sincere.
Rolling her eyes, Julie said, "Don't worry, I know you never liked him, you don't have to pretend."
"It's not that I never liked him, I just didn't like him carting my daughter off to Chicago." She missed a beat, then went on, "So, when are you going to leave that stupid city and transfer back home? You never even liked it there; you were only there because that's where Jack took you."
Grimacing, Julie could feel her heart pick up the pace as she knew the moment of truth was approaching. "Um, I'm not actually coming back. I'm going to stay at this school—I've already picked out my classes for next semester and everything. There's this one really awesome literature class that I'm taking—”
"Why?" her mother whined, not letting her finish.
Her heart raced even faster, and she sat down, thinking the way she was prowling through the apartment probably wasn't helping.
Finally, she just blurted, "I'm pregnant."
"What?" demanded her mother in disbelief. "No!"