❄ For Angelique/Asha, thank you for being my best friend❄
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HER
Her throat was dry from all the yelling she hadn't done at her brother. She wanted to maybe punch him, but the truth that she could barely make him say "ouch" was inevitable. And, frankly, she thought that thinking about it in a taxi was quite absurd.
Mustering a soft "thank you" to the taxi driver while handing him the money, she heaved herself onto the freezing cold pavement in front of her apartment. The snow had reached such a height that it was impossible to stay dry knee down, her boots were damp, her jeans were damp. She was beginning to get cranky.
And seeing Lance Taylors peep out from the window right beneath her apartment's did nothing to quieten her mood. She looked back down from the window. If anything, she got slightly more unnerved, unsettled, and confused.
"Julia!" Her head snapped up again when he called her name.
Blinking out the burning sensation of the ice cold weather, she blurted, "You live here, too?"
His eyebrows raised up in astonishment. "Too? You live here, Julia?" Rubbing her eyes with one hand, she pointed above his window to sign where she lived. She swore she saw him slightly swoon, which caused her to straighten up and -
"Come in, Julia, wouldn't want you to catch a cold. I'll meet you at yours." He nodded, smiling.
Before she could mumble a sarcastic "I never said you could" because she was feeling it, a rush of cold air shoved her inside and she subconsciously waved at it, causing someone behind her to laugh.
Of course it had to be him. "Are you tired?" He asked, walking beside her to the elevator. When she didn't respond because she was too exhausted to even keep wide awake anymore, he gently tugged her backpack from her shoulders - which she admitted to reluctantly - and lowered her head to lean on his shoulder. "There, relax."
The elevator dinged right after and he quietly guided her in, her eyes closed, and began humming the tune of a familiar song. He didn't stop when the elevator stopped, didn't stop when she tossed him the door keys, didn't stop when he let her settle down on the sofa. But, he stopped when she opened her eyes, voice faltering.
"Is now a good time to ask you why you never told me about how famous you are?" He inquired, making her shake her head to clear her mind of sleepiness. He realized, she mused.
"Well, it's not exactly like I'm famous because of what I did, is it? It's only because my parents own an expensive shop that sparkly earrings and necklaces and my brother is an actor." She was suddenly annoyed about how everyone only knew her as their 'something' and not as Julia Alexis Hart.
"Your parents own the Hart's and your brother can also dance and sing." His defensive tone rang in her ears.
"A fanboy," she realized. "You like Dom?"
"He's a great actor. Have you seen Before I Forget - ?" His eyes were wide and she was sure he was going to begin ranting.
"Yes, yes, that's the last movie he shot and I'm absolutely not watching it." A frown etched itself onto her face. If there was anything she was sure of, she knew her brother always looked forward to her criticism and mild fangirling after watching his movies. He always said it made his day. At times, he even said he acted for her to watch. She wasn't so sure anymore.
"You have that look on your face." He was frowning then, too.
"What look? I have no 'looks'." She protested, getting up to kick off her boots and rid of her hat.
"That look on your face where your eyes glaze over and your eyebrows furrow a little bit and -" He explained, before she put up a hand to tell him to stop.
"I don't have that look, Lance, and I really need to get down to Starbucks right now."
"I was going to go there, too, actually. That was why I was looking out of the window - to size up the snow."
"It's snowing, but even snow can't stop me from getting hot chocolate."
"Hot chocolate? I thought you loved coffee."
"Coffee's alright, coffee's great, but it's not hot chocolate in the cold."
She saw him grin with joy, tug his sweater closer to himself, and then shuffled to her room to get dressed up for hot chocolate.
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Boyish and adorable as ever Lance Taylors is getting, not only to Julia Hart, but me as well. Haha.
