Renewed

"You have feelings for my daughter."

“So I leave you alone for half an hour and you go ahead and get yourself a girlfriend?” Mila bit into her bagel and arched a brow at me, offering her breakfast to the cat for a moment but Mrs. Ginger scrunched up her nose in disgust.

“I mean, I don’t even know if I have a girlfriend or not but I have a...someone, I guess.” I smiled down at my phone as I typed out a message to Julissa. “Did Reid catch you last night?”

“Yeah, God, she’s still crazy gorgeous. Don’t get me wrong, Jules is the girl for you, I saw it the second I saw you two together, but Reid...if she wasn’t your ex…”

“Mila, if you want to try anything with Reid, I’m not about to stop you.” I rolled my eyes, my phone dinging with another message from the complaining girl at the hospital.

“Nah, it’s a good idea in theory but Reid and I are too similar, we’d ruin each other’s lives.” Mila scoffed.

“Well,” I looked up to my best friend. “The option’s there. I’ve gotta head out, I told Lissa I’d bring her breakfast and now it’s leaning more towards lunch.”

“Tell Miss. Perfect I’m sorry I kept you from her this morning.” 

“You may have to make it up to her with chocolate or something, I’m pretty special, you know?”

“Are you trying to tempt me to steal your girl?” The brunette waggled her brows playfully.

“Try it,” I challenged, grabbing her set of car keys and making my way to the door. “I dare you.”

“You don’t wanna do that.” Mila scoffed. “She’s too pretty, she may just ruin our friendship.”

“Thanks for letting me borrow your car.” I called over my shoulder, grabbing a coat and making my way out of the house.

The drive to the hospital was far less stressful the second time around, knowing Julissa wasn’t being driven there in an emergency in which we had no idea what was wrong with her. No, this time, my heart was beating at a normal speed and I wasn’t praying to some greater deity to keep her with me.

This time when I walked into the hospital, I didn’t have to wait to be told where she was and then led there by her mother, I simply made my way to the room, barely remembering the maze from the previous night but finding her nonetheless.

She was frowning at the TV hanging in the right corner of her room, playing a show that I knew was before our time.

“I didn’t bring lunch.” I put my hands up defensively as if she’d attack me at any moment.

“Well then tell me why I keep you around.” She shot me a fake glare asI made my way over to her.

“I mean, I’m kind of cute and make you laugh every now and then.”

“First of all, you’re beautiful,” She corrected me, taking my hand in hers as soon as I was within reach and I was inclined to lean down and allow our lips to meet. She cupped my cheek with her free hand, her lips reluctant to release my own but I knew her mother could walk in at any moment. “Second, you’re really not all that funny.”

“Hey!” I pulled my hand away from hers and crossed my arms.

“How come we’re not having lunch?”

“I figured since you’re being released soon, I could just take you out for lunch instead.” I shrugged.

“Sounds nice.” The smile that touched her lips melted away any minor resentment I felt towards her and I couldn’t fight the smile that sprawled upon my own face. “I can’t wait to get out of here. I’ve spent enough time in this place.”

“I bet,” I perched myself down on the seat beside her bed. “What are you watching?” I let my head rest on the bed beside her and felt her fingers run through my hair.

“Something from the eighties, I think,” She turned her attention back to the screen and I watched with her. “Is it weird that I missed you even though I saw you like twelve hours ago?”

I shook my head, turning my head and looking up at her. “This is new, we’re allowed to miss each other even if the time apart is, like, a minute.” I smiled, kissing her palm as she continued to weave her fingers through my hair.

“Good, I thought it was just me and my crazy brain.”

“I like your brain.”

“That makes one of us,” She scoffed, her eyes glanced back up to the screen. “Last night it told me that maybe I’m too much for you,” She confessed. “Like all this might be too much and you have no obligation to-”

“You’re not too much for me.” I assured her, sitting back up and catching her eyes. “I promise, you’re not. I have no obligation to be here but I want to be here. I think that’s better, don’t you?”

“You sure?”

“Nowhere else I’d rather be.” I winked as we both heard her room door open and only then did she retract her hand.

Melanie didn’t look at all surprised to see me, greeting me with a smile and handing Julissa a drink she’d probably requested. My not-yet-girlfriend took a hearty sip of the drink, closing her eyes as she enjoyed it for a moment.

“They’re bringing your discharge papers,” Melanie let her daughter know. “We can get you home.”

“Thank God,” Julissa beamed. “But I’m gonna head out for lunch with Winter after I freshen up at home.”

“Is that right?” Melanie’s eyes shot over to me with a hard warning in them to tread lightly.

“Not a hair out of place, I promise.” I put my hands up defensively. “It’s just lunch then straight back home. Not even a sniff of alcohol near her.”

Melanie looked between us, Julissa ready to challenge anything her mother said and me ready to accept the firm ‘no’ I knew was playing at the tip of the mother’s tongue. Melanie had every right to be cautious, last night had been a scare for all of us and a repeat of that was not an option. 

Part of me wanted to lock Julissa up in her room myself to make sure nothing in the outside world could hurt her but I knew how unrealistic that was. It was a protectiveness I hadn’t experienced in a long time. It’s the same protectiveness I felt every time I woke Mila up at night after finding her wandering around the house unconsciously. When her eyes were wide with fear and her body shook a little and all I wanted to do was wrap myself around her like a human barrier from whatever put her in that state. 

That’s how I felt about Julissa, I wanted to put me between her and anything else that could hurt her. 

“Lunch.” Melanie conceded and I watched a wide smile take over her daughter’s face as those wide, brown eyes found mine. 

I shook my head slowly at her excitement but offered her a smile in return nonetheless.

That’s how I found myself perched at their kitchen counter at home with Melanie holding out a glass of water for me whilst her daughter was upstairs eagerly getting ready for our lunch date.

“You have feelings for my daughter.” Melanie decided to confront me without so much as a warning. And before I could offer her any further explanation, she chimed in. “And she has feelings for you. I can see it. I never thought she would-she’s never-” The latina sighed softly before rubbing her forehead. “I’m not opposed to...two women...I’m just-”

“Worried.” I concluded for her.

“Social cues are one of the things she struggles with, so if you two are out and someone is looking at you a certain way, you may be able to interpret it but...she won’t.”

“I think it’s a good thing.” I shrugged. “She will never know what it’s like to experience that kind of judgment and I want that for her. I want her to just...live her life.”

“I don’t want you two to start something that you’re not ready for.” I watched as Melanie tried to find the right words. “She’s still learning so many new things and you’re still learning...her. The chance for you both breaking each other’s hearts is just so much higher than most.” She leaned over and took my hand in her own. “I don’t want my daughter to wake up one morning and realise that she mistook friendship for romance because you’re the first real friend she’s had in a long time. And I think she needs you now so I don’t want her to lose you.”

“You’re saying this could just be a whole lot of confusion for her?” Because I would be lying if I said that it hadn’t crossed my mind.

“I’m saying I’d like you both to be careful and be ready for whatever you’re jumping into.”

And as the words left her lips, we both heard hasty steps down the hallway only to hear the slamming of the front door, loud enough to shake the house and for panic to set in for both of us.