Thin Ice

𝟐𝟔

JULES POV

As I begin to take my shoes off, I hear a knock at my door.

I flip over my phone and check the time, it's eleven fifteen - who is at my house right now?

I walk down the stairs and hesitantly unlock the door.

I slowly open the door and am greeted by a familiar face.

"We need to talk," Lukas announces. He doesn't look like how I left him earlier. His shirt is now unbuttoned at the top and his hair is even messier than it was before.

"About what?" I dumbly question. I know exactly why he's here but I didn't think he'd want to talk about it any more than I did.

"Don't be like this Juliana," he pleads. His eyes meet mine and that same feeling I felt earlier has returned.

"Lukas, it's late," I state. I begin to close the door on him but he stops it and props it back open.

"Please," he begs. I take a step back and open the door, motioning for him to come in. "Try and stay quiet, my mom's asleep," I add.

He nods and I motion for him to follow me up to my room. I usually never let him in my room but it's the only place far enough from my mom so there's no chance of waking her up.

As I close the door behind me, he takes a seat on my bed. "Go on, speak," I murmur, taking a seat on my bed but keeping some distance between us.

He clears his throat before speaking. "What was tonight?" he questions softly. He glances my way but I avoid his piercing eyes.

"What do you mean?" I question, trying to avoid talking about the matter.

"Julie please don't be like this," he sighs in a stressed manner. He seems like he really wants to talk about this but I have no idea what to say.

"Julie?" is all I reply.

"Did I say that? It must have slipped - I'm tired," he explains.

"You haven't called me Julie since the second grade," I continue. No one has ever called me Julie besides him and it catches me off guard.

"I was just too tired to say your full name," he states. My full name is not that long so I don't know what he's going on about.

"Uhm, okay," I whisper, trying to get this over with.

Silence surrounds the space between us but it's not awkward like it's been before. It has a different feel to it.

"What did you want to talk about?" I ask again, trying to get the words out of him.

He takes a breath and his eyes meet mine again. "Tell me the truth, if Kiara didn't show up, would you have kissed me?" he questions, getting straight to the point. His usual dark eyes have softened as if he's looking at me in a different light.

"I don't know," I pause.

"Juliana come on," he stresses.

"Probably," I finally spit out. The silence from before greets us again. "Anytime we're that close, my mind gets all fuzzy and any thought of backing away from you is never on my mind," I admit. I can't believe I'm telling him this.

He takes a deep breath and relaxes. "I just wanted to make sure I wasn't making you uncomfortable or anything," he mentions as if he actually cares about how I feel.

I fall back onto my pillow. "Lukas," I start.

"Mhm," he mumbles.

"Why do you put me into those situations," I question, really wanting to know the answer.