Rage

Chapter Twenty Two

A/N: This one's for darcipaige being there from the beginning.

It was the day after New Year's day, which meant that it was officially the second of January, 2018. It also happened to be the day Chase was leaving.

"Take care of yourself, okay?" I demanded, tearfully as I clutched at him in a death grip that I was trying to pass off as a hug.

"Shouldn't I be the one telling you that, baby sister?" He joked, and Julio laughed, causing me to glare at the both of them in annoyance.

For some weird, yet strangely satisfying reason, the two of them had really hit it off. They'd hung out twice over the past seven days, once even without me around. Both of them had come back from that as best buddies, while I was still in the dark as to what exactly happened.

And now, Julio has actually come to see Chase off at the airport. He'd literally driven two hours with us just to say goodbye.

"I'll miss you too, sis, but you need to let go now or I'll miss my flight." Chase said gently, pulling himself away from me.

"Fine." I agreed reluctantly, stepping back, and slipping my hand into Julio's for comfort. I was squeezing it so hard that I was almost sure that I'd break something.

"I'll see you in exactly five months, okay? So don't miss me too much."

I rolled my eyes, playing off his remark, because we both knew that I'd miss him a ridiculous amount.

"Alright, bye." He said, nodding at Julio, who held two fingers up to his head in a salute. "Take care of my little sister, Hernandez. If even a hair on her head is harmed, your balls are in danger."

"I'll protect her with my life." Julio promised, and Chase grinned as one final goodbye before turning around and walking away.

Julio pulled his hand out of mine and used it to rub my back comfortingly as we watched Chase head up the escalator and out of view, casting a last glance behind just before he did.

"Oh, this is going to be a long five months." I sighed, resting my head against Julio's shoulder.

"I'll help make it shorter." He vowed, pressing a kiss to the top of my head.

"I'm sure you will." I said, pulling back, "Now, come on. I need ice cream to get through this and your task is to come with me and keep me company."

"Fine." He agreed reluctantly, knowing that there was no room for argument. Julio, for some idiot, mind blowing reason, didn't like ice cream. If I didn't like him so much, I would've dumped him for a travesty like that one.

"Good boy." I pinched his cheek, and he scowled murderously at me before holding the passenger side door open for me to get in. Annoying him was incredibly easy and incredibly fun.

The ice cream place he took me to was this really cute one, called Blue Blizzard and the entire decor inside was baby blue and white. They only had one small case of ice cream, but all of it looked so good.

I told Julio to sit down at one of the tables, and headed over to the front to order. He looked so out of place in a cutesy little place like this, with his dark clothes.

"What can I get you?" The guy behind the counter asked, smirking at me. He was pretty cute, with sandy brown hair and deep blue eyes. He actually looked a little like Chace Crawford.

"Umm, a double scoop of chocolate, please, in a waffle cone." I requested, slightly uncomfortable at the way he was looking at me like I was a piece of meat.