Julie Bane

Chapter Forty-One

"What if she's dead? What if they killed her? What are we gonna do! Julie could be hurt!" Sam freaks out, pacing in front of me as I stand leaning against the wall and rolling my eyes.

"Sam, you're not helping." I mutter.

"But Carlos, you care about her too, don't you? You care if she's hurt or not. How are you just standing there like that!"

"Because I'm dead inside Sam!" I yell and he stares at me. "And plus I've been through this before. With her sister. That wasn't easy. We found her."

"So you think we'll find Julie too?"

"I don't know. I'm not getting my hopes up, though. And neither should you, Sam. You should really jut go home." I say and he frowns.

"Why? And give up? I have to help! You're just telling me to leave because you don't like me." He crosses his arms.

"No, Sam." I shake my head. "Well, actually, yeah, I don't like you." He rolls his eyes. "But I'm just telling you to go because what we're about to do is dangerous. And I don't think you want to get involved with gangs."

"If getting involved in a gang war means getting Julie back, then I'm in." He says sternly. I sigh and shake my head.

"Sam." I push off the wall and take a step toward him. "What I'm trying to tell you, is that Julie might not come back." I say softly.

"What?"

"Our plan might not work. It might fail. We might not find her. And if we do find her... she could be dead." He looks down.

"You're so full of doubt." He shakes his head at me and starts pacing again.

"I'm just trying not to get let down again." I say. "I already went through the love of my life dying in a damn bomb thing. She sacrificed her life for her gang. But now the other gang now has Julie. So she really didn't have to do that, but she still did." I bite my lip as I look at my feet. "And so I'm not going to get excited and be so determined we'll find her and she'll be safe and all in one piece. And you shouldn't either." I finish. He opens his mouth, about to say something, when Dennis walks over to us with Adam and Ian.

"Tomorrow is Christmas. Do you think it's possible to cancel Christmas?" Ian asks.

"Probably not." Adam shakes his head.

Tomorrow's Christmas. That's right.

And I was planning on spending it with Julie.

I was going to give her this really great present. Although she might say, "nothing can replace Misty!" I still think she would appreciate the effort I did. I even got the same kind of car, except it's a kitten and it's black with green eyes instead of gray with yellow eyes, and it's a boy. But whatever, still a car. Right?

  "Yeah, tomorrow's Christmas. Sam, go home to your family." I grumble.

  "No."

  "No?" I raise a brow.

  "No." He huffs.

  "Why not?"

  "Because I care about Julie. I can always have a nice Christmas another time. I need to find Julie."

  "We're taking care of it. And if you come with us, then you might never get a nice Christmas again. You might be in either a coma, or dead."

  "I-I don't care. Julie's important." He says and walks away.

  Jeez, I wonder if I was that desperate and crazy when I was his age.

  "Hey, Adam. Was I like him when I was seventeen and I was with Sadie?" I ask.

  "Uh, yeah." He says without skipping a beat.

  Oh.

  "We should probably stop sitting around and go look for my daughter." Dennis points out.

  ""Yes, we should stop sitting around and go find my princess." I nod.

  "We should stop sitting around and go find my girlfriend." We all tense and look over to Sam who's sitting on the edge of the couch, arms crossed and eyes to the floor with an angry expression his face.

  "Excuse me?" I ask. "Girlfriend?" He looks up at me.

  "Yeah. Julie is my girlfriend."

  Oh my god. I can't believe this idiot thinks after a few hang outs with Julie he suddenly thinks Julie is his girlfriend. This guy is insane!

  "Um, no. No, she is not your 'girlfriend', Sam."

  "Well she's not yours, that's for sure." He rolls his eyes.

  "And why do you say that?"

  "Carlos," He stands up, "Julie doesn't like you like that. You're not good for her, you need to understand that."

  I stare at him for a minute, not sure if I should say something or slap him.

"Don't you dare tell me what you think is good for Julie and what isn't. Who's the one keeping her ass safe from gangs? Me, not you. I'm great for her." I mutter.

"Oh, really? You're keeping her safe, right now? Then where is she?" He looks around. My eye twitches before I jump at him.

"Carlos!" The others shout as they run over to me. I throw one punch at him before I feel arms grab me and hold my arms back as I get pulled away.

"Stop it Carlos!" Adam snaps.

"Why? He's deserved it." I say as I glare at the asshole in front it me who's pinching his now bruised nose.

"We need to focus Carlos. Before Julie actually ends up dead." I stop squirming and sigh.

"Ok." I nod. I look at them. "You can let go now." I say and they let go.

"How are we going to find her?"

"Same way we found Sadie."