Insufficient

Chapter Eighteen - Slipping

Elliot's POV

I froze when I saw Juliana fall back and tumble off the bed as a result of me throwing the pillow back at her. I heard a horrible thump as she hit the ground, and then silence.

I jump into action, practically leaping over the bed. Before I know it I'm kneeling down beside Juliana, whose eyes were closed in a not-so-peaceful way. Before either of us could freak out about it though, her eyes were opening. She squinted, groaning as she sat up.

I put my hand out to stop her, but it's too late as she's already sat all the way up. I am aware that Hunter is now beside me, freaking out and asking her a shitload of useless questions that she won't answer.

"Juliana. Look at me." I demand, and she does. Her head turns to me and I see that horrible look in her eyes. Tears.

Her eyes welled up, her face pinched and next thing I knew she was crying while holding her head.

I hear a choked noise from behind me and look to see Hunter with wide, panicked eyes.

'I feel ya, buddy.'

Both of us just stare at Juliana for a little bit longer, because that's totally going to help the situation, before I reach out and take her in my arms.

'Justin. What would you do if it were Justin?' I think to myself, because what do you do when a girl starts crying? Especially one whose only emotions towards you so far has been 'fuck off, I hate your guts.'

To be fair, I did sort of start that one.

I stand up, manoeuvring her into my arms like you would a toddler. I hold her tight to me, her arms around my neck, head resting on my shoulder as she continues to cry and I continue to walk in circles, swaying back and forth.

Hunter stared at me from on the floor, giving me a 'what the hell?' look but I glare at him. It seems to be working though, because before we know it her cries have settled to little sniffles.

"Juliana, are you okay?" I ask after a second. I don't want to rush her, but I also need to make sure I didn't just give her a concussion. Dad would have my hide.

"Juliana?" I ask again when she doesn't answer. "Juliana you have three fucking seconds to answer me before I-" I cut of abruptly when I hear that whine that kids do before they start crying again.

I shush her, rocking her back and forth again to quiet her down. Hunter glared at me and I gave him a 'come do it yourself then' look. He raises his hands in surrender and I roll my eyes at him.

'Sure, go ahead and judge how I'm dealing with the situation, but don't offer any help or anything.'

"Julia." I start in a soft tone. "Are you okay baby? Did you hit your head kinda hard?" Hunter looks at me like he wants to start laughing and I mentally tell him to zip it unless he wants his fingers gorilla glued together. Again.

Julie pulls back to look at me, and her eyes are a little bloodshot from crying, but there's something different about them. They're slightly wider, more expressive than they have been. She sniffles again, moving to hold her head where it hurts while she nods.

"Yeah, I bet that didn't feel good, did it?" I ask rhetorically, and I finally understand when she still nods in agreement with me, letting out a small high pitched, 'uh-huh.'

She's acting like Justin when he's in little space.

Only she's acting a little younger than he normally does. Then again, she just got hurt, and Justin turns into a total baby when he gets any sort of injury. Just as I came to that resolution, Hunter started to speak up.