Anywhere With You • {J.C.}

||One|Barely Legal||

"I Just Want To Turn You Down, I Just Want To Turn You Around."
-Barely Legal

"What are you listening to?" He asked, pulling her headphone away from her ear then letting it go with a snap.

Those were the first words Julian had ever uttered to her. A smile crept at the corner of her mouth. She tried her best not to, but something about the look in his eyes made it appear without her own consent.

She laughed softly, taking her headphones off before stuffing it into her locker, replacing the Walkman in her hand with a textbook.

"You wouldn't know 'em." Harlow grinned smugly, glancing up at the rather tall boy.

She wanted him to press for it—she wanted him to strike up a genuine conversation. He should've been her friend already, or at least an acquaintance—they shared three classes together, but never talked. They had almost been lab partners once, but Julian had somehow managed to get himself suspended, causing her to have to work on the biology project with Blake Hester instead.

"Try me." Julian returned the smug smirk, leaning into the locker next to hers. "Is it Shaggy?" Harlow couldn't help but to laugh at that guess. "TLC?... Coolio?" Julian continued to joke, only because he liked seeing that particular smile she was showing.

"I said you wouldn't know them. You're like... way off- totally different genre." She closed her locker, mimicking Julian's stance with books in her folded arms. "Do you even know my name?"

"Harlow, right?" She nodded.

"Julian?" He returned the nod, his eyes a little heavy.

"Friends call me Jules. You can- you can call me Jules... if you want." He shrugged, pushing himself off the locker.

"So what do you want, Jules?" Harlow strained with a jutted hip.

"Can't a guy talk to a girl without wanting something?"

"No." She laughed; she couldn't think of one guy that spoke to her without ulterior motives or without unholy intentions. "So what is it- what do you want?"

"I lost a bet. I know we don't know each other that well, but... I was hoping you could- I don't know... help me out?"

Harlow scoffed. "I don't give blowjobs on the first date, just so you know." Perhaps the joke was too crude, but the wide eyed shocking stare Julian gave was worth it.

"No. No, I'm not- I'm not asking you to do that." He chuckled nervously, pushing himself off the lockers as a shaky hand went through his dark tresses. "Date, blowjob... it's nothing like that." He cleared his throat.

"What is then? You're gonna have to walk and talk, I'm already late for class. And speaking of class, why weren't you in second block?"

Julian sighed halfheartedly, idly swinging his arms then connecting his hands with a snap and a clap as he strode beside the cute girl he'd been eyeing since the beginning of the year—too nervous to approach.

He had been sent away to Switzerland. Although it sounded pretentious and pristine, it was anything but. He was back now, home again in New York. His stint at Institut Le Rosey didn't last long—Julian had made sure of that. He had made quite a few friends since his return; his grades showing that his social life was overwhelming his schoolwork. He didn't mind though, he sort of had a plan; although, his mother and stepfather didn't particularly approve.

"I had something goin' on. It's Friday, the teachers don't really care about your attendance on Friday. Now, if it was a Monday, you would've saw my ass in second block." Julian smiled, splitting the navy steel frame of the double doors. "Which leads me to my question."

"And what's that again?" Harlow stopped in front of her English class, glancing down at her broken watch as if he were taking too long.

"You, um... you have a car, right?"

Harlow's breath hitched in her throat; she couldn't believe this guy was serious. She scoffed at how ridiculous he was being. She barely knew him—couldn't even pronounce his last name properly, she'd heard it too many times in too many different ways. Was it Casablancas or Casablancas?—Harlow still wasn't sure, and here he was asking to borrow her car.

"Are you kidding me? I worked two summer jobs to buy that car, nuh-uh, no way."

"Jus- hear me out. There's this party tonight and-"

"Take a cab. It's New York. Dude, there's seriously a cab on every corner."

"I don't wanna pay for everyone's cab-fare. I lost this bullshit bet and that means I gotta pay for everyone's transportation and... you're invited. I'll get you a fake ID, it'll be no problem."

Harlow rolled her eyes, completely unconvinced. "What's the point? You clearly just want me as a DD."

"Nope." Julian shook his head. "The bet was to pay everyone's way to the bar, nothing was ever mentioned about how they were gonna get back." He smirked. It was in that moment, Harlow knew she going to like this guy. He was clever—he found a loophole in the bet; found some wit in his own stupidity. "So, what do you say? It's like... six people. Not including us."

"So a party, huh? Why did it suddenly turn into a bar? Are you lying to me about what this place is supposed to be?"

"It's a bar. Hence, the fake ID. But... then we're gonna hit up a house party around the block." Julian pursed his lips, glancing over his shoulder. He could've swore he heard footsteps approaching.

"How did you know I had a car?"

"I saw you pull up in it a few times. You're the only person I could think of that's cool enough to, you know... not turn me down." Julian flashed a wide smile, causing his eyes to narrow into small slits.

"So that's all you need me for, you and your buddies just need a ride?"

"Yeah... so, we gotta deal?"

"Let me see the fake ID first, then we'll talk."

Harlow started to enter class, only to have the door come open. "Miss. Mavericks, you guys enjoying yourselves out here? How nice of you to finally join us." Mrs. Snyder gestured Harlow into the room with a sarcastic mock, peering up at Julian with raised brows. "You, get to class." She snapped her fingers, pointing down the hall.

Julian nodded, pointing in the opposite direction. "My class is actually that way, but I get it... sorry."