Lola woke up with a start the moment the morning sunlight hit her face. She didn't realize she had fallen asleep and she glanced around her room wondering if last night had been a dream.
One look at the floor next to her bed only reinforced how crazy last night had been. Julian lay on the mattress, as still as a statue with his hands tucked under his head. He looked so peaceful and the more Lola stared at him, the more she started panicking.
She was harboring a damn fugitive in her house. Did that make her guilty somehow? What if the police came over? What if her parents found out?
Lola took a deep breath and forced herself to stop over thinking things. Julian only needed to stay one night and that night was already over. He just needed to rest and after today she wouldn't have to worry about him again.
But then where would he go? Would he have to hide out in the wilderness again? As guilty as she was for hiding him in her room, the thought of Julian sleeping in the woods or in some old deserted house made her feel even worse.
She pushed her blanket to her feet and was about to get out of bed when someone knocked on her room door loudly.
"Honey, breakfast is ready. I brought you some juice. It's a new recipe," Her mother exclaimed excitedly from behind the door.
Lola froze and immediately looked at Julian. He shifted and then turned before he opened his eyes. She didn't think he'd heard her mother.
He smiled at her and was about to speak when she leapt off her bed like a frog, landed on top of him and clasped her hand firmly over his mouth.
Julian jerked at the impact but Lola ignored him as she replied her mother quickly.
"Thanks mum, I just got up. Will have it later," She said loudly and took a deep breath in, hoping her mother wouldn't push further.
"Okay, dear. You're father and I are leaving first. See you after school!"
Silence ensued and Lola finally lifted her palm from Julian's mouth. He stared back at her, his dark blue eyes boring into hers. How was it even possible for someone to look this good after the hell he's been through?
Lola had always believed people looked like crap in the mornings. Her hair was always a mess, sometimes there was drool stuck to her chin. If she was lucky the least she had was a swollen face. Even Nalini and Hanna would wake up with groggy, weather beaten faces when they slept over.
People looked like shit in the mornings, that was just a fact, a universal law but apparently that law didn't apply to Julian Grey. The undisturbed night of sleep did him wonders, his face was literally glowing under the morning's sunlight and the dark hair falling across his forehead looked clean and glossy.
And Lola felt like an idiot for openly gawking at him.
"Sorry, didn't want you to make a sound," She sat up quickly and Julian just smiled at her. It was a content and grateful smile which reached his eyes.
"Lola." His voice was raspy as her name rolled of his tongue. "Thank you."
She couldn't help but smile back. He looked so happy, so unlike the brooding, moody person in school everyone was used to.
It was only then that she realized she was sitting on top of him, she was literally straddling him and the mere thought made her blush. She quickly apologized and attempted to get up when she felt something hard pressed up against her back.
Lola's eyes widened just as Julian's did and she jumped off him immediately. Her eyes trailed down his torso and then lower but he quickly grabbed his pillow to cover himself.
Looks like his face wasn't the only part of him showing his happiness.
"Fuck, Lola. I swear it's not what you're thinking. This is normal. All guys get this way in the mornings, sometimes," His face was red with embarrassment as he clutched the pillow to himself tightly.
She just stared at him, all the while wondering how things could get even weirder after yesterday.
Guess she could add boner to the list now.
She nodded at him awkwardly and rushed to the bathroom to collect herself. She leaned against the door and stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was messy, her pajamas crinkled and her face was as red as a tomato.
This was the first time she'd ever seen a boy like that. She squeezed her eyes shut wanting to laugh at the whole thing. It all felt like an over the top episode from a kdrama.
She took her time to shower, giving Julian the time he needed to 'relieve' himself. She didn't know how that worked but she'd had enough dirty conversations with her friends to know he needed his hands and privacy and she hoped he would have it all sorted out once she was done.
She scrubbed herself from head to toe and grabbed her towel to dry herself. It was only then that she realized she had rushed into the bathroom without grabbing something to wear for school.
"Dammit," She muttered under her breath. She wrapped the towel around herself firmly and slowly peaked out from the bathroom. Julian was there, he was folding up the blanket and tidying up the sheets he had slept in.
He turned around when he heard her and his eyes widened when he took in her appearance.
"Umm, if there's no one downstairs, I can head there," He quickly suggested.
Lola gave him a tight lipped smile and nodded her head fervently. She grabbed the toothbrush and towel she had given him last night and practically threw them at him.
"There's a bathroom downstairs. You can wash up there."
He caught them like an expert and left the room without a word. Lola threw on some old pair of jeans and a t-shirt, combed her hair and then grabbed her school bag before heading downstairs. She sat at the table and drunk the fresh orange juice her mother had made. She heard Julian shuffling around in the bathroom by the living room and glanced at her food.
There was just a plate for one.
Her mother usually made extra just in case because Lola and her dad loved having seconds. Breakfast was her favorite meal of the day because it was the first meal and no stuck up bully or insane amount of homework could ruin your first meal. Not yet anyway.
She thanked her lucky stars when she saw a plate of baked beans, omelette, bacon and hash browns in the oven. She pulled it out, buttered some toast and placed it on the table just as Julian walked up to her.
"Hey, I think I've overstayed my welcome. I'll head out now while the coast is clear," He said.
"Why don't you have something to eat first?" She gestured at the seat in front of her and he sat down hesitantly.
He seemed unsure at first but after a bite, Julian scarfed down the rest of his food like it was going to be the last meal of his life.
"So good," He smiled meekly with a mouth full of food and Lola chuckled but then her tone turned serious.
"What are you going to do now?"
He swallowed his food and his face turned dark, like a curtain of misery had just clouded his features.
"I don't know. I'll probably head to the woods and try to get out of town. Maybe to a neighboring county and figure things out from there."
"Why are you running if you're innocent?" Lola just had to ask.
"Listen, you can believe me if you want or don't. The fact is I didn't kill those people but I have no alibi and I was charged and found guilty. I can't do anything right now but run, Lola. If I turn myself in, I'll be going to juvy and I'm not going to jail for something I didn't do," Julian runs his hands through his hair suddenly looking defensive and angry. "This isn't a movie, there's no Shawshank Redemption for me. I'd be lucky not to be killed."
"Who's going to kill you in juvy?" She eyed him skeptically.
Julian's eyes narrowed on her face and suddenly she felt wary of him. "Let's just say my father pissed off the wrong people."
"Mr. Mahoney? Of Mahoney's pizza?" She stared at him in bewilderment. She thought about the middle aged balding man who used to live across the street. She hadn't seen him since Julian's parents got divorced. All she knew was that he stayed in town and remarried before Julian and his mother moved back.
How does the owner of a pizza parlor create the kind of enemies who would want to kill his son?
"Lola, I know it all sounds like it doesn't make sense. Thank you so much for last night. I'll get going now, okay?" He stood up, his height towering yet his voice was small, defeated.
"What about your mother?" She tried. She knew it wasn't any of her business but she just couldn't let him go. Not like this, when things were so uncertain.
What if he got caught? Or worse, killed in a shoot out. Lola's mind churned out all the worst possible scenarios in front of her eyes from all the movies and dramas she'd watched over the years.
Julian wasn't some Jack Reacher or James Bond, he was just a teenager, he could barely surivive the weather last night. How was he going to survive tonight and the next one and so on?
Why the hell was this bothering her so much?
"I don't want to trouble her any further, plus the surveillance around my house must be the heaviest." Julian started walking towards the back door but Lola stood up and rushed to him.
She grabbed his arm and pulled him back. Although her strength didn't do much, he still stopped in his tracks.
"Stay one more day. Think about it before you do something rash," The words were tumbling out of her mouth, she couldn't stop them even if she wanted to. "Do you have a friend you can trust? Maybe help?"
He paused for a second, contemplating her words. "I trust Damien. He was the only one who stood up for me during trial."
Lola nodded as she thought about Julian's best friend, the quarterback. Damien Reed was kind of a big deal in school, very popular and always surrounded by people. It would be a challenge to get him alone but it wasn't impossible. He had been very loyal to Julian during the span of his trial and till he was sentenced, everyone in school knew that.
If there was one person Julian could trust it most likely would be Damien.
"And Natalie," Julian added.
Lola's heart sunk when he mentioned his ex girlfriend. Natalie was one of the most beautiful and popular girls in school and she was Julian's on and off girlfriend since the beginning of high school.
She was now dating Alex, one of the guys on the football team and they had become inseparable eversince. Lola wasn't sure how to break the news to Julian so she just nodded silently.
Nope, she wasn't going to tell Natalie anything anytime soon.
"Okay, so you stay here today. Lay low and hide in my room if you hear my mother get back early. They're usually back after me and they don't snoop around in my room so there's no need to worry. We'll figure it out tonight, okay?" Lola pulled him away from the back door and pushed him towards the stairs.
The floorboards creaked under their weight as Julian let her push him up the steps but then he stopped and she could feel the muscles in his back tense under her palms. He turned around swiftly and now they were face to face.
"Why?" His voice was thick with emotion and there was a storm brewing behind those dark blue eyes of his, Lola had to look away before she drowned in their intensity.
"Why what?"
"You, know. This," Julian gestured at me and then scratched his head.
I knew he was asking me why I was helping him but I had no answer myself.
Instead, I pushed him into my room, wished him goodbye and ran out of the house before I could doubt myself any further.