The next morning, Julio was gone.

When I woke up, I was feeling disoriented, until the events of the night before came rushing back. I turned to my left, but found that there was no warm presence in my bed beside me.

"Fuck." I groaned, falling back into my covers, and cursing myself for being so stupid.

A few minutes later, I grabbed my phone from the bedside table, hoping for a text from Julio, knowing that, if there wasn't one, Ally would be there to comfort me and threaten to beat him up, even though she'd be too scared to follow through.

Fortunately, there was a text.

Sorry, had to leave. I'll see you at school tomorrow, princess.

– J

Although there wasn't an explanation, it was better than nothing. He didn't hate me.

However, he didn't mention anything about the night before. We hadn't even spoken about it. Did he regret it? Was that why he'd left? Did he just want to continue as friends or did he want something more?

With all these questions in mind, I did the only thing I could; I called Ally, in the hopes that she'd give me boy advice.

It went straight to voicemail.

"Ugh." I groaned, hanging up. Did boys have to be so confusing?

"What's wrong, young Padawan?" The voice of my favorite therapist asked amusedly as the man himself walked into my bedroom. I hadn't even noticed the door opening.

"First off, what's a Padawan?" I asked Ryo Karasawa, "And, secondly, I have boy problems."

"Have you never watched Star Wars? Like, never?" He demanded, seemingly offended.

"Isn't it super geeky?" I asked, confused. I hadn't known that he was into sci-fi.

"How dare you?" He gasped dramatically, his hand flying to his heart, as if greatly offended.

"Nerd." I teased, smiling.

"Anyway, what's this I hear about boy problems? Is it who I think it is?" Ryo said, smirking.

I nodded, and he took a seat at the foot of my bed. I sat up, and the entire story came spilling out, sans all the details about the kiss, of course— I would save that for Ally.

"He doesn't hate you." Was the first thing that Ryo said when I finished.

"I know that, too." I snapped impatiently, before saying, "I just want to know what he's thinking. I mean, is he even the kind of guy who has relationships or is he into the whole hump-and-dump situation more?"

"That's something that only he can answer, Tay." Ryo explained, calm as ever. "Both of us might be guys, but that doesn't mean I know exactly what he's thinking or, in this case, feeling." That did make sense, despite the fact that it didn't help at all.

"But that doesn't help me figure out what to do next!" I complained, burying my face in my hands.

"You like him. You don't know if he likes you. Act normally, maybe a little nicer than normal and then see how he responds. Is that good enough advice for you?" I nodded vigorously, glad that I now had something.

"You know," I said, brightening up, "If you had a tad bit more patience, you'd be an amazing psychiatrist."

"And have to deal with psychos like you all day? I'm good, thanks." He joked.

I hung out with Ryo for a while longer before finally letting him leave because he needed to watch his siblings. I would've offered to help, but I just wasn't good with kids.

So, I calmly waited for my sad demise at home with only Truman Capote to keep me company.

*

The next day, in Physics, I waited anxiously in my seat for Julio, fidgeting nervously.

Finally, after multiple people shot me looks that were both annoyed and curious for tapping my pen against the desk nonstop, he walked in, wearing his usual getup. He really needed to invest in some nicer, more varied clothes.

"Hi!" I squeaked once he sat down, his expression stoic and unforgiving.

"Hey." He said huskily, his features softening as he smiled softly. That was a good sign, right?

"What's up?" I asked, watching him lean back in his chair and propping his legs up on the desk like he owned the place.

He shrugged, not replying. The girl sitting in the seat behind his was careful to bite her tongue and just shift so that his head wasn't in her face.

I smacked him upside the head, glaring. He immediately scowled at me, righting himself.

"What's your problem?" He demanded, sitting straight again. The girl, whose name was Kayla or something like that smiled gratefully at me, and I nodded. Julio looked at her and glared.

"You shouldn't be inconsiderate. It's mean." I informed him, ignoring the first look he gave me as I grabbed my Mortal Instruments book from my bag. Mr. Barker wasn't in school, but I needed something to do to avoid Julio's stare.

"I don't care." He said plainly, and I met his gaze, just as steadily.

"You should care." I said softly, settling deeper into my seat.

He huffed at me, but I only smiled as he sat straight in his seat and didn't put his feet back up again.

I opened my book to the first page, angling myself into him slightly to see how he'd react. He didn't seem to mind, so I sat like that until the bell rang. It was a good thing that he wasn't talkative, because I'd been dying to read that book.

When class was over, I turned to him, smiling brightly. "Do you want to do something today?"

"Sure." He shrugged, looking uncomfortable at the way Chelsea, who sat in front of us, was staring at our interaction. "I'll take you to the warehouse."

The only place we ever went to was the warehouse, and I loved that. It felt like our place, and that made it all the more special. The warehouse was the one place in town where I felt completely at home.

"I'll see you later, then." I squeezed his hand quickly before giving him a parting wave and walking to my next class which I, unfortunately, shared with Millie. Since Millie didn't know anyone in class, she felt the need to degrade herself slightly less by sitting with me as opposed to anyone outside her extended social circle.

I spent lunch with Chris, Ryo and Ally while Ryo shot me knowing looks every time I looked around the cafeteria, hoping to find Julio sitting there somewhere. Since starting at this school, I hadn't seen him in there once.

Finally, it was time to leave. I stood by Julio's bike in the parking lot. I only had to wait for five minutes before he joined me, looking rather pissed off.

He wordlessly handed me the helmet and, this time, I didn't bother arguing. He was in a pretty bad mood.

I wrapped my arms tightly around his waist and leaned in, placing my chin on his shoulder. His back was tense, and I really wanted to know what had happened between first period and last that had gotten him so worked up.

When we got to the warehouse, we went to the roof as usual. I didn't complain about the climb, unsure if he was in the mood to humor me or not.

"Hey." I finally said, when we got to the top.

He only nodded.

"What's wrong, Rage?" I asked, hoping the nickname would soften him up a little.

He smirked slightly, his features becoming a little less tense as he spoke, "You have some assholes for friends, princess." He informed me and I groaned instantaneously. Had Ryo tried asking him something?

"What did Ryo do?" I asked, resignedly. I'd have to tell him that anything that Ryo had questioned him about, it had been because of me.

"It wasn't him. That guy's fine. It's that stupid Melton kid, the one who thinks he's the shit." Julio muttered savagely, glaring at the thought of Charlie.

"I'm so done with him right now." I groaned, "What did he do now?"

"He wanted to remind me of my place. Told me that I shouldn't hang around people above me."

"What the fuck?" I burst out, causing Julio to look at me, startled. I rarely cursed out loud, around people, at least. "What did you say to him? Please tell me you gave it back to him."

"I punched him." He stated so plainly that I let out a surprised laugh.

"I'm not a huge fan of violence but, in this case, I have to agree that he deserved it."

Julio didn't respond to that, and only looked steadfastly forward, not meeting my eyes. Was he feeling awkward about what happened the other night? He probably regretted kissing me.

Or else......

"Hey," I said, my brows furrowing in confusion. Was his awkwardness because of Charlie? "You do know he was wrong, right?"

"Do I?"

"What?" I was shocked that Julio could believe all of that stuff. "You actually believe that bullshit? There is no way in hell that I think I'm above you. You're my friend!"

"Oh, so we're only friends now?" He interjected, sounding pissed, "Then what was that kiss? Have you already forgotten?"

"Of course I haven't forgotten!" I exclaimed, before adding in a much smaller voice, "I just thought you wanted me to."

Julio's entire body softened. He was no longer tense. He turned around to face me, and I saw that he had a slightly troubled look on his face.

I immediately looked down, not sure if I wanted to meet his gaze. I felt him come to stand in front of me, but I still didn't waver.

Then, suddenly, he carefully pushed my chin up with his fingers, so that I was looking him in the eyes. His eyes were probably my weakness.

He let his hand fall so that it was on my waist before he spoke, gentler than I thought he was capable of, "Why did you think I regretted it?"

"I d-don't know." I stuttered out, attempting to keep my cool, "It's just that I assumed you regretted it or thought it was a mistake."

He sighed, resting his forehead against mine for a second, before pulling back to speak. "Look, I'm probably only going to say this once, so you're going to have to listen carefully. I like you. I care about you. I don't want you to forget about that kiss unless you want to. In fact, I want to kiss you again right now."

"So kiss me." I said, so softly that I wasn't sure he heard until he did as I asked and kissed me.

His lips were much less insistent than last time. They were slightly chapped as they pressed gently against mine, and I responded fully, wrapping my arms around his neck.

We pulled away at the same time, and I let my hands stop at his shoulders, holding onto him. I couldn't believe what was happening.

We just stood there for a while before Julio spoke, smirking lazily, "You do realize that this means you're my girlfriend now, right?"

I smiled softly, "I wouldn't have it any other way."