9. Juliet
Chapter 9
Juliet
Everything, and nothing.
Whenever I thought I might not want or need to take an item, I did. Even though I made a mental list, being physically in my room threw me for a loop. I kept swinging back and forth between wanting to take everything to wanting to leave it all and start anew.
"Juliet." Luciano's concern broke my chain of anxiety as I looked over at him with a small frown. "What's wrong?" His comforting presence consumed me in his soothing scent when he approached my side.
Even though I pulled a good armful of items and tossed them on the bed to be packed, staring at it all made me want to turn away after throwing a match to it all. "I just… This feels weird. A part of me kind of wants to just forget it all and start anew because it feels wrong to bring bits and pieces of my old life with me to your place. It also feels like I'm tainting your place with my junk. On the other hand, there are some things that have a lot of sentimental value to me." I hated how indecisive I was.
The feeling of his hand on my lower back caused a bloom of warmth to engulf me. "You're not going to tarnish or cramp up my place. Besides, it is now your place as well, and I want you to feel at home." With a soft nudge, he urged me toward the bed, where I had a growing pile of items. "Just because this is part of your past doesn't mean it's all bad, so just bring the good with you and leave the rest to rot with time."
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I slowly made my second round with my room, this time mindfully looking at everything, unlike before, when I went at everything mindlessly. It didn't take me long to go through everything, as I thought. Soon, I was packing my things away into boxes with Luciano's help.
"Who's this?" It was an innocent enough question, but the grave tone, ladened with seething jealousy, chilled me to my very bones as a fire lit itself in my chest.
Warily, I turned my attention to Luciano, who held a picture frame of Gale and me at the library. One of our friends snapped the picture of me falling asleep on Gale's shoulder because I'd grown so exhausted from studying for our finals. It was rare for me to have pictures of my friends, at least the ones that meant the most to me. I had a shit ton of pictures on my social media, but they were all for show or with the 'it' crowd because it was what my parents wanted. The only pictures that mattered to me amounted to exactly five photos, the one in Luciano's hands being one of them.
"That's Gale… He's just a friend. We were all studying late for finals last year, and I'd fallen asleep on him without knowing. One of our other friends thought it was cute and snapped a picture of us. It's the only copy I have because my parents made me delete the one I posted on social media and the one on my phone. They also made my friend delete the original, too." Yeah, my parents controlled my life very tightly, and with the wealth they wielded, they got away with nearly everything.
Grumbling, Luciano briefly narrowed his eyes at the picture. "Friends don't look at each other like that." I barely heard his low words as he tossed the picture into the box.
I knew that look and reaction all too well. "Gale is just a friend. Besides, why does any of that even matter to you anyway? What difference would it make if Gale and I were dating? Hm?" Luciano's jealousy was wrongly placed, in my opinion. I mean, it was kind of fun to see a man like Luciano getting jealous over simple 'ol me.
Gale was nothing more than a friend, even if it seemed otherwise at times. Honestly, I had no romantic feelings toward him, nor would I ever. By society's standards, Gale was a perfect man, and he would be a great partner to anyone lucky enough to win his affection.
"Sure, just a friend. Soon, it'll be just my husband before you know it." He grumbled as he continued packing things away. "You're too young to be dating anyway. You have college to get through, and a whole life to live before you even begin to think about settling."
Scowling, I softly 'tsk' while crossing my arms. "I am 18, that is not 'way too young' in this day and age. I'll have you know, a lot of my classmates are already engaged. Besides, I can date whoever I want because I can… I just don't want to." My eyes softly glared at him as I nervously tapped my foot.
Scowling softly, he rolled his eyes before giving me a stern look. "You shouldn't date whoever just because you can. If you're going to date someone, then it better be for serious intentions. Just focus on yourself and learn to love yourself again before you try to love someone else." He replied with a soft sigh. "I'm not trying to control you or anything, but I'm not going to let you do stupid shit."
Gritting my teeth, I huffed and scowled in response before giving him the silent treatment as I continued packing the rest of my stuff.
I didn't want to engage with him further because I felt it would get nowhere. Luciano was firm in his decision to keep me around and steer my life right, and I would be a complete fool to let this chance pass me because of my own stupidity. But he was up to something, though; I could feel it in my gut, and I'll damn well figure it out.
Luciano's little snickering chuckle made my attention snap back to him. "Cute, looks like I have a little nerd on my hands." He commented while waving a ratty textbook up in the air.
Dropping whatever was in my hands, I rushed over to him and grabbed the old book, only to have him hold it out of reach. Asshole. "Hey, be careful with that! Give it back to me!" I pleaded with a cracked voice.
Immediately, his playful demeanor changed to a concerned one as he handed the book back to me. "Hey, I was just teasing, no need to get upset. Besides, I can get you a new and better book that's probably more updated, too."
Snatching it from his hands, I hugged the precious book tightly. "I don't want another book." I snapped at him with a glare.
"Juliet, don't be silly. It's just a book." Luciano scoffed dismissively with a roll of his eyes.
Frustrated, I let out a low growl and kicked my leg out at Luciano, aiming for his shin.
"Whoa! Hey!" He quickly stepped back and caught my leg, stopping my kick. "You have a mouth, Juliet. Use it." He said sternly with hard eyes.
"Come here so I can use it to fucking bite you." Okay, that might have been uncalled for, but I felt a little spicy right now.
Luciano's jaw ticked as it tightened, his eyes darkening with his deep breaths. "You better change that fucking attitude of yours, or else." He left the threat hanging as his grip on my leg tightened.
Hopping up to him, I got right up in his face, or at least as much as possible with our height difference. "Or else what?" I challenged him with a defiant glare.
Taking a deep breath, he grabbed my neck firmly with his other hand, making my breath hitch at the sudden flare of heat exploding throughout my body. "Juliet, I am trying to give you the space and time you need to recover from your ordeal, but I am still only human at the end of the day. Push me enough, and you'll find that bratty mouth of yours occupied in ways you might find unsavory." He warned me lowly.
Reality quickly snapped me in the face like a taut rubber band. "L-Luciano, let me go, please." The phantom feeling of all the disgusting hands grabbing at my body crushed my nerves, and the room started to close in on me.
Choking on my own breaths, I desperately clawed at his forearm to be released. "Let me go, let me go, let me go!" Breathing felt almost impossible with how much my chest tightened, and the edges of my vision started to blur and close in.