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Julian parks his chin on top of my head. I don’t know why, sometimes he’s just like this. Not usually in front of other people though. For some reason it calms me an inch.
“And what the fuck is this, then?” Julian nods his chin towards Daisy, moving my whole head with him. “Where the fuck are your pants?”
Christian gives him a proud smile.
“I took them off her,” he tells Julian and I wonder if he has a death wish, but Julian just blows some air out of his mouth.
Daisy rolls her eyes, turns on her heel and walks back into her room.
“Goodnight!” I call after her. She says nothing but her brother slips his arms around my waist.
“We’re good yeah? Parks?” Christian looks for my eyes. “We’re fine. Like, we’re not gonna… you’re gonna…” He tosses me this little desperate look, begging me to shut up. I think about telling him he’s being stupid, because he is, he’s so in love with this girl that sleeping with her feels like a drug addict just doing a casual bump, but then I’m stupid too, so who am I to talk?
I give him a little scowl. “We’re going to have a little talk about that shove.”
“Ohh.” He rolls his eyes sarcastically. “I’m shaking in my boots.”
“Fine.” I stand up taller. “Julian’s going to talk to you about that shove.”
Julian starts shuffling us back towards his room, arms wrapped around me.
“I’m not,” he tells me as he’s closing the door and I spin around in his arms, hands on my hips.
“You’re not going to defend me?”
He rolls his eyes. “You didn’t really need defending.”
“He pushed me!”
“Yeah.” He scoffs. “Into my arms.”
I glare up at him a bit. “BJ would have fought him for that,” I tell him but I don’t know why. I feel a bit indignant about it now. I didn’t a minute ago when in my imagination Julian might have defended me over it, but now in reality that he’s saying he wouldn’t, I do. I’m cross that the shove happened and no one is here to fight for my honour.
Julian doesn’t like it when I mention BJ though, I can tell. It’s one of the reasons I initially thought maybe he like-liked me but he keeps proving that theory incorrect.
His eyebrows arch up unimpressed all the same at the mention of his name. “Would he?”
“Yes,” I tell him proudly. A bit to bait him and a bit because it’s true.
Julian juts his chin out a bit and nods. “BJ’s also probably fucking that girl of his. Ooh—” He takes a fake glance at his watch. “Right now. So if you want to give him a call and ask him to swing by to fight your fake battles, be my guest.”
“Maybe I will,” I tell him, my chin in the air.
Maybe he’d be relieved that I’m calling him, maybe he’d come. Use it as an excuse to be close to me, to save me from a thing I don’t really need saving from.
And then, without my permission, my eyes start to well up a bit so I drop the glare I’m giving Julian and spin on my foot.
Over in the corner of the room I spot the white Charles bouclé coat from Gabriela Hearst that I arrived in and dart towards it and pluck it up from the floor.
“What are you doing?” Julian sighs.
I ignore him because my cheeks are hot and I look around for my shoes. Brown Franne sock ankle boot in matte calfskin also from Chloé. I lost them somewhere in the house during this afternoon’s shenanigans.
“Parks, what are you doing?” he asks again, sounding annoyed.
I find one shoe on his bedside table and hug it to my chest like it’s my ticket to escaping a room I don’t even want to leave, but it’s a drum I’ll beat to save face.
“Magnolia—” He speed-walks over to me and spins me around, frowning down at me. “Would you stop fucking ignoring me?”
