Trying Your Luck (Julian Casablancas)

Dinner

The last week with Julian had been amazing. It was suspiciously easy for us to just pick back up where we left off before Sam came to town. We started taking turns sleeping over at each other's apartments every night and even went on a few "real" couple dates. Our relationship was beginning to blossom into something more legitimate and it felt amazing.

Everything was starting to come together for me as Kim was finally coming home from rehab this weekend. Thank god. The last 30 days without her felt like an eternity. Her family was throwing a welcome home party at their house on Saturday, so I took off from work to go visit for the weekend. Julian offered to drive me so I wouldn't have to take the bus, which I thought was sweet. However, just I invited him to come with me since he was just as involved in this situation as I was. Secretly, I was kind of excited to bring him back to New Jersey so that I could show him off to Kim's family and my old friends.

On Friday afternoon, I met up with Julian at his apartment to begin our trip. I wanted to leave early so that we could make it to Kim's house before dark. When I first arrived at his apartment, the outfit he was wearing immediately caught my eye.

"Is that what you're going to wear to dinner with Kim's family?" I asked, putting my bag down on the couch.

Julian looked down at his Camel's t-shirt and ripped jeans before responding, "Yeah, I guess so."

I looked him up and down before going into his bedroom to find him something else to wear. After a minute of my searching, he joined me in the room.

"It is impressive how many of your pants have holes in them," I said, digging through his dresser.

He laughed at my observation. "Do I have to dress fancy for this or something? I've never been to a 'welcome home from rehab' party, so I didn't know what was appropriate."

Still rolling my eyes, I turned to face him. "No, it's just...Kim's mom is all uptight about the way people dress. I want her to like you... Oh, and she's definitely going to force us to go to church Sunday morning. You'll need something semi-fancy for that."

Luckily, Albert was home and was able to donate some of his clothes to the cause. After packing Julian's bag we were ready to hit the road. It was going to take us a couple of hours to get there, so we spent the time talking and listening to music in the car.

"Your middle name is Fernando?" I asked, looking at his driver's license, "That's hot."

"Will you give me that before you lose it?" He asked, playfully grabbing the card from my hands.

"Maybe I should introduce you to Kim's family as Fernando. You know, to make it more interesting."

He giggled at my suggestion before saying, "But I already met Kim's mom. And I know she remembers my name because mothers always love me."

"God..." I said, rolling my eyes.

Julian looked over to me before asking, "Why are you so afraid of her mom anyways? She seemed nice enough when I met her."

Truthfully, my relationship with Kim's family was a bit complicated. I didn't have much of a real family after my grandmother died, so I stayed with Kim's family who unofficially adopted me. They all made it a point to include me in everything like I was actually related to them. Everyone but Kim's mother. She always made sure to let me know I was loved and welcomed, but it never felt like she liked me very much.

"Kim's mother is just...intense. She means well, she really does. She's just a bit too—" Julian cut me off before I could finish my sentence.

"Crazy? Controlling?" He guessed.