Chapter 40 #2
Jessica tried to ignore them, acting like she didn’t know. But they could smell a lying skank as well as the rest of us. They cornered her in the basement and as they all took turns shitting on her, the younger siblings came in suddenly, bursting into the room t—
“We’re here.”
“But it was getting good!” Julian groans, his brows scrunching above the blindfold.
“Next time,” I promise, guiding him off the road. “We’re going to be heading up, but it’s clear and I’ve got you.”
Julian nods as I look down the familiar path, glad to find it empty of wolves. I’d had Emitt help me set this up, and if he’d done his job and kept an eye out until he heard me coming, nothing should’ve messed it up.
“We’re somewhere high,” Julian comments as he waddles forward, arms raised high. “There’s a chill, and it’s in my old territory.”
“How the hell do you know that?” I ask, and he grins under the cloth.
“There’s not a lot of pine here,” he replies nonchalantly. “That’s what you and your lands smell like.” I snort a laugh. “I’m serious!” Julian groans. “You smell like pine wood and… maybe apple cider.”
“Apple cider?” I parrot as I help him up the growing incline.
“Yeah,” he says, aiming a smile so bright my way, that I almost send us both tumbling down. “What about me?”
“Sweet and citrusy,” I admit. “Like watermelons and lemons.”
Julian’s grin turns sweet. “Aren’t you lucky?” he teases, nudging me with his shoulder.
“Very,” I admit with a kiss to his cheek.
Lucky in more ways than one.
We crest the small hill, and I bring us to a stop. Everything’s just as I left it. Julian stands still, shifting anxiously as he holds onto me.
“Are you ready?”
It’s a question I should be asking myself, given the fact that I’m sweating so badly that my fingers are sliding between Julian’s.
“I suppose,” he says calmly, though the buzz flickering through our bond betrays his excitement.
Which is good, ’cause I’m excited too—scared shitless, and desperate to call this whole thing off—but excited.
Taking a deep breath, I slip the blindfold from his head, and Julian blinks his eyes open before they land on the field ahead of us.
The grass is cut low, empty except for the great willow tree glowing with candle-light at its roots.
The blankets are spread with pillows, the food is all laid out, covered and sectioned.
And beside the setup is a telescope. The candles are really electric lights—no burning our pack down on my watch—but they have the desired effect of making the tree’s trunk and all its leaves glow.
“I thought you’d enjoy stargazing, since you seem to love astronomy so much.” I wait for a reaction, but his face stays terrifyingly blank, even as he slowly walks towards my attempt at a surprise.
I follow behind him, too scared now to say a word.
Would he laugh? Would he cry like I teased?
Julian does neither as he takes off his shoes and steps gingerly onto the blankets, as if he’s afraid to disturb them. When he reaches the telescope, his fingers hover before brushing the cool metal, tracing them over its length. Then, he turns, fixing those awestruck eyes on me.
I barely manage to breathe as he walks back to me, clearly on a mission. But when he reaches me, he doesn’t kiss me. He presses his forehead against mine and takes my face in his hands.
“Thank you,” he whispers softly. I watch him, or try to, but his eyes stay closed as he holds me close. “I don’t know what else to say but thank you.”
His fingers are shaking, like his side of our bond, and that tells me everything I need to know.
“That’s more than enough,” I promise, but he shakes his head.
“It’s not—look at all this!” he breathes, extending his arms as he steps back. He shakes his head while stars seem to dance in his eyes. “Thank you, Aiden.”
“Anything for you.”
And I mean it. I’d do anything for Julian Heil. Anything.
Pressing my lips to his forehead, I kiss him softly and try to sit us down, but Julian tugs me instead—straight to the telescope that I can already tell is about to become the love of his life, which it had better be after the fortune I spent on it.
“It has so many lenses!” he gushes, excitedly rifling through the box beneath it full of eyepieces and a hundred other little parts I don’t have a chance of telling apart.
“Well, go ahead. Look into it,” I say.
He peeks through, adjusting the knobs with careful fingers, making fine-tuned adjustments before he gasps. “I can see the moon.”
His smile is large as he stares up at the sky, which was supposed to be clear—apparently, there are times and special days and shit to see a nice sky, so I had to plan this well. I’m glad to see Mother Nature has kept up her end of the deal.
“It’s beautiful,” he whispers, melting as the wind wafts around him.
“Sure is,” I murmur, looking at him until my chest aches.
“Come look,” Jewels demands, barely uttering the words before he pulls me towards the cylindrical eyepiece.
Sure enough, the sky is sizzling with billions of twinkling stars, seen and unseen, but to me, none of them shines like the one beside me.
Still, Julian makes it his duty to show me all the visible constellations and planets he knows, passion brightening his eyes, and I listen, loving him more for it.
But I’m not quite done with my surprises yet.
“Jewels,” I say, cutting him off before he could tell me about Orion’s Belt. “Remember how I said I skipped lunch? Can you feed me before you show me the next one?”
“Okay,” he says, blushing a little as he follows me down onto the blankets. “Sorry, I got excited.”
“And I’m glad,” I tell him. “I want to hear all about it.”
He eyes me doubtfully, and I narrow mine.
“Why would I lie to you, Jewels?”
Smiling begrudgingly, Julian nods. Growing up as enemies first, there’s no harsh truth I’m too afraid to tell him. I mean my words, and he knows it.
I pluck some grapes free and toss one into my mouth. Julian grabs some too, and one look tells me what’s coming. Breaking it from the stem, he tosses a grape into the air; I dive forward to catch it in my mouth.
He laughs, and does it again, and when it bounces off my nose instead, that laughter doubles. The rest of it we eat without making it fly. I prepped sandwiches and some fruit since I’m not the great cook Jewels is, but he scarfs it down without complaint until there’s nothing left.
“That was really nice,” he whispers as he sprawls himself across the blanket.
“I’m glad,” I say, glancing at the paper tucked beneath my thigh. “I still have one more surprise, though.”
Julian immediately sits back up, so fast I chuckle as I grab the envelope from its nook and hold it out.
His eyes light up before he even snatches the envelope from my hand.
“You didn’t!” he exclaims. Somehow, he already knows. “Aiden, you didn’t!” He tears the seal before he pulls out the certificate with trembling fingers. His eyes fill as he stares at it. “You bought me a star?”
“I named it Jewels.” I grin. “I hope you don’t mind.”
A trickle of tears escapes Julian’s eyes, splashing on the certificate he can’t seem to look away from.
“I can show you exactly which one it is later, or at least try to,” I mumble. The process was weird enough; I’m not sure I could pick it out from the actual sky.
Julian lets out a half-sob, half-laugh and dives into my arms, slamming into me with a force to match the happiness crashing into our bond. “Aiden, thank you!”
I hug him back, holding on tight while everything good seems to ricochet inside me, demanding to be let out. I’m scared to let it, terrified, until Julian pulls back, and in his crystal eyes, I see the one person who makes feeling this way anything but terrifying.
“I hate you,” I say but continue quickly before those words can cause him any pain. “I hate the fact that you can cook and clean every day and never complain. I hate that you don’t like most people, and yet you check on them every day to make sure they’re fine.”
Julian’s eyes soften as I card my fingers through his hair, holding him close.
“I hate that you feed those squirrels living in the tree next to us every single morning, even though you know I want them gone.”
He laughs, and so do I, but it fades as I look at him—really look at him.
“I hate that you’re the most caring and wonderful person I know, even though you try to pretend otherwise,” I whisper, words meant only for him.
“I hate that even though you’re a genius, you’re really an idiot.
But most of all …” I take his face in my trembling hands.
“… I hate that all those things are what I love about you.”
Julian stiffens in my arms while fresh tears swim in his already watery eyes.
“I love you, Julian.”
He exhales like a dam breaking, the same way I do, as something in me cracks open and lets him in entirely.
Tears pour down his cheeks. I try to wipe them away, but they refuse to stop. Lips quivering, he tries to speak but can’t; his soft sobs grow louder, becoming heavy and real.
My eyes bulge as I try to soothe him. Despite my teasing, I hadn’t expected him to react like this.
I’d been prepared for everything else, even him freaking out and running away, not him unravelling in front of me.
“I … I—” he tries and fails miserably, making me chuckle.
“Sshh, breathe,” I say, but he shakes his head, utterly determined to get the next few words out.
“I-I—” He swallows hard, then forces it out. “I love you too.”
It’s shaky, breathless, but clear.
It’s unfamiliar, the wave of something warm and thorough that ripples through me, but it fits into place like a puzzle piece. It unlocks that joy inside me, the same one he sparks with every one of his sweet smiles.
That joy only grows stronger as he kisses me suddenly.
“I love you,” he says against my lips, not stopping even as his words make tears stream down my face. “I love you. I love you. I love you.”
He says it over and over, like a broken record that I never want to stop playing.