Her Life Of Maybes

Chapter Sixteen

The pair had ended their dance and were walking out of the venue back to Julian's car. Julian had grabbed her hand once the song ended and hadn't let go since.

Trinity peeked up at him. "You kissed me."

He snorted and kept his eyes pointed ahead. "Why yes, I do remember doing that."

Trinity couldn't think of much to say at the moment. She was lightheaded and her thoughts were cloudy. She wasn't sure if it was from the kiss or her condition. It was probably due to the confusion that her lips whispered, "Why?"

Julian looked at her then. He saw a glassy look take over her face and worry gnawed on his heart. "Because I like you Trinity."

She shook her head. "No."

His eyebrows furrowed intensely. "Yes," he drew out slowly, "I do. You're snarky and you like to argue with me and everything's always a question. You love music as much as I do, maybe even more. You dance like your body is going up in flames and moving to the sound of the notes around you or in your head is the only way to put out the fire."

Trinity had her head bowed and water was leaking from the corners of her eyes in fat drops. Julian put a strong, rough hand up under her chin and brought her face up until it was looking at his.

A thumb pressed intimately on her bottom lip as he continued, "And you're strong. You're so strong. You've had this big secret wrapped up inside of you this whole time, but you have never let it break you. You put on a thick facade so I won't ask questions. You smile and you laugh despite the fact that there's obviously something going on. You've got heart and soul and strength and I fucking like you, darling. A lot."

His thumb traced her quivering mouth as he spoke and dropped when she began to talk. "You wouldn't like me if you knew."

"Try me."

She glanced away from his knowing eyes and thought about the routes she could take. She didn't want to do this to him, to tell. It was her problem and hers alone. She had already burdened too many people with it. She had already brought aboard too many victims to her crashing plane.

But, she wasn't going to let him go. Trinity knew that if her brain wasn't a ticking bomb, if she didn't have only a little bit of time left, Julian would be it. She didn't want him to walk away. Would he stay if she told him? Would he stay even if she didn't?

She didn't know.

Julian could sense the turmoil taking over the pretty girls body. So he did the only thing he could think of. He kissed her again.

It was small and soft, but it got his feelings across. "I'm here, Trinity. I am here."

She nodded against him, wiping frantically at her eyes. She made her decision. "Okay. Okay, but I can't tell you here. Can you come over again?"

Julian thought about it. "My mom and her husband aren't here for the weekend. Come over to my house? You still have clothes in your bag, right?"

She agreed. On the drive over she texted her mom to say she was staying an extra night at Sky's and texted Sky asking to cover for her. Her parents were lenient, but staying at a boys house with no supervision was a line even they wouldn't cross.

They pulled up to Julian's house and it was a comfortable looking two story. She could see that him mom had obviously been apart of doing up the outside, seeing as there was a rosy trim around the windows and flowers littering the lawn.

Trinity was too consumed with looking at the house that she didn't notice Julian was already halfway out the car, looking back at her. "Come on."

They made it inside, but instead of going upstairs like she thought they would, he lead her towards the kitchen. He opened a door off to the side of the pantry to show a flight of stairs leading to the basement.