vulnerable

61.

a/n: finally a long chapter for you guys! I hope you like it!

The wind blew in Stella's hair. All the windows were down, letting in an abundance of warm air through the sports car. Hannah was in the passenger seat constantly looking at her phone. Stella tried to read the messages from afar, but being in the backseat left her eyes to a limited reach. Julian had some music playing but he quickly turned the volume down with his thumb, glancing in the rearview mirror with a grin.

"So you both knew Max?"

Hannah mumbled a response but didn't look over. Stella nodded slowly, "Yeah, when Christian was on the team. Max was nice."

"You ever date one of his teammates before Gio?" Julian chuckled, gripping the steering wheel a little tighter.

Stella leaned into the middle, shaking her head. "Pft. He would've never let me."

"She had crushes though." Hannah piped in with a grin. "A lot of crushes."

"Shut up." Stella smacked her shoulder. She waved a dismissive hand.

Julian cocked his head to the side. "So I'm guessing you always liked Gio then?"

"Very much so." Hannah said again with a smirk, then went straight back to texting.

Stella rolled her eyes. "We dated other people before... obviously."

Julian nodded. "Yeah... I never really liked Chloe."

"Do you like me?" Stella glanced into the mirror.

Julian caught her gaze and blushed a little, smiling wide. "You're okay... I guess."

Stella scoffed. "Just okay?"

Julian ran a hand through his dirty blonde hair. "I'm kidding. You're great, Stella."

Stella smiled and turned to look out the window.

"But why is Chloe coming with us today?" Julian asked after a moment of silence. "I mean, why did Gio invite her?"

Hannah peeked at him with a frown. "Ask your stupid teammate."

"She practically invited herself... I think he felt obligated."

"No is a sentence. It would've been just as easy to say no than to say yes." Julian said in a firm tone.

His words lingered in her ears. Stella tried to fight the unnerving feeling in her stomach. She glanced at Hannah who obviously agreed with Julian. She tried to reply, but nothing came out. Hannah took the opportunity to lighten the mood. "Do you have any crazy exes, Brandt?"

Julian shrugged, glancing over at her with a smile. "Depends on the definition of crazy."

"Oh hm, let me think..." Hannah sarcastically remarked. "A girl who might think she's the shit, acts like she's the best actress in the world, kisses other girl's boyfriends, cheats on her own boyfriend with an older man, texts now ex-boyfriend to rant about her problems, oh- and is a sneaky ass snake?"

Julian raised his brows as he merged off the highway. "Yeah...I don't think I have any crazy ex-girlfriends then. Just normal ones."

"Hm." Hannah shrugged. "Good for you." She winked over her shoulder at Stella.

Way to make it obvious.

"We should be there soon." Julian turned onto a one way road.

"Is your brother at Max's place already?" Hannah asked.

"Yup. Jascha texted me earlier and said he was there. He brought my other brother too, Jannis."

"Oh, the photographer?" Stella perked up. "I love his work."