Hate vs. Love ✓ [Original Version]

Chapter 54 Are You Wearing Lipstick...Julian?

"I'm not fidgeting!" I said defensively. "I've never had a conversation like this." We were legitimately talking about the most uncomfortable things.

He chuckled. "You, my darling, couldn't just go along?" My darling, huh?

"Dah-ling," I imitated.

"Dar-ling. Better?"

"Bettah?" I ended up laughing at his expression.

"Are you mocking my accent?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"Don't worry, you won't have to hear this after Sunday," I said leaning back.

"What? You're not going to keep in touch?" he asked pretending to be hurt.

I grinned. "I will. Maybe. 'Communication is the root of all good relationships.'"

"Good. Now, I need to have one serious talk with you, since we are communicating," he said angling his body so that he was facing me. I narrowed my eyes at him. I didn't like the sound of this. "It's about the prom-posal and what Lucas did."

"I don't want to talk about it," I said pursing my lips. He started again but I raised my hand. "Julian, drop the subject." He sat back crossing his arms, not looking very happy. I sighed and stood up. "I'll be back in a second." He shrugged. I ran over to my car and pulled out the rectangular gift. Hesitating, I brought it back to him. He looked between my hands and my face. "This is for you," I said handing it to him as I sat down in my original seat.

"Cassie, I don't think this is--"

"I worked pretty hard trying to find something," I said looking down. What if he doesn't like it? Oh damn. "It's just a little something between us."

Julian reluctantly ripped the gift paper off. He pulled out the frame and once reading over it, he stared at me. "No."

"You don't like it. Shoot. I thought it was--"

"Cassie, this is absolutely . . . I don't know what to say. This is amazing." He read over it again. "You really bought a binary star? And named it Julian & Cassie?" He held up the certificate in the frame, a grin on his face. Relieved, I nodded. "'Goodbyes are not forever, goodbyes are not the end. They simply mean I'll miss you until we meet again.'" He read the quote I had asked to be put on the certificate. His pleased look made me much happier.

"Found it Google," I told him. He chuckled. "Binary star consists of two stars around each other. You and I spent a heck lot of time together since we met, so I went with it. And now, you can look at the stars from Europe and I can from here. You know what the best part is?" He shook his head and simply watched me with a smile. "Once it's registered, it'll forever be ours. No one can take it away now!" I told him excitedly. "Ever after we are dead!"

"That's bit too far," he said. His looked over the framed certificate again. "You have no idea how much I appreciate this." He now met my gaze, shaking his head.

"What?" I asked as his expression turned melancholy.

"You really make it difficult for me to fall out of love with you," he said, his head tilted, staring at me. I didn't know how to reply to him as I felt my heartbeat quicken. He needed to stop saying things like these. "Thank you, Cassie. Thank you for this," he said holding up the certificate when he realized I wasn't going to say anything.

"No problem. Think of it me making up to you for the whole ignoring thing," I said.

"Okay. There is one thing I want you to help me do since you're making it up to me," he said smiling.

"What else?" I thought the binary star was enough.

"Help me find the stars," he replied as he pulled out the star chart that was still in the gift wrap.