2. Julian
2225 Words
2
Julian
Julian Callahan wasn’t exactly what anyone would call studious. He didn’t see how some lame history lesson would change his life. Math definitely wasn’t in his future. And science? Well, it wasn’t like he was going to be a doctor or a chemist anytime soon.
Why did he have to sit through some boring teacher droning on for fifty minutes when he could learn anything he needed to know from books?
That was right. Julian was a reader. No one at his stupid school would think the loner who was missing from class more than he attended spent his spare time with his nose in a book. But then, no one at Twin Rivers High thought much about him at all.
That was the way he liked it.
Except for one girl.
He checked his phone for the millionth time that period, scrolling through his text messages. He smiled when he saw his sister’s random messages that had basically no meaning other than the fact that she was craving cupcakes.
She was always craving cupcakes.
Pulling up the text he’d sent when he first slid behind his desk forty-five minutes ago, he grimaced when he saw there was no response. Why did he even care? Addison Parker was not the girl she used to be. The girl who’d spent half her time defending Julian’s sister, Peyton, from her cheerleading squadmates and the other half drooling after his brother, Cooper.
Golden boy Cooper Callahan. Was it wrong to envy a dead man? When they were kids, Cooper and Julian were inseparable. As they got older and entered high school, they went to opposite ends of the food chain. Julian had never hated his low status among their annoying peers. He didn’t want to be one of them.
But he had envied the fact that Addison Parker never hid her feelings for Cooper. And what had Coop done? Taken advantage of it.
Julian hated thinking about the night the accident took his twin’s life. Not only because his brother died, but because in the hours before the car went off the bridge, he’d hated him. For the first time, his annoyance with Cooper turned into a full-blown fury that he hadn’t been able to contain.
Before the party, he’d planned on that being the night he told Addison she pined after the wrong twin, that he’d do anything to show her he was the guy for her. It was the only reason he went in the first place.
Images returned to him and he no longer sat in history.
“Hey, Julian.” Addison smiled in that honest way she had. She wasn’t like the rest of her squad. There was something deeper in her eyes, some knowledge that she knew and no one else did.
Julian fumbled for words as he always did around her. He wasn’t confident like his brother, not when it came to Addison.
Addison smiled into her cup and swayed on her feet.
“You okay, Addie?” He reached out to steady her.
She nodded, latching onto his arm. Her fingers sent waves of heat through him.
“I’m glad you came to my party tonight.” Her words slurred, and her unfocused eyes held his gaze.
“I wouldn’t have missed it.”
She laughed a full-throat laugh, not the dainty giggles of the girls in the room behind them. “Yes, you would have. You never hang out with us anymore.”
She wasn’t wrong. Their group—Addie, Cooper, Peyton, Cam, Nari, and Avery—had been friends since they were kids. As the years went on, Julian pulled away. Or he guessed Cooper pushed him away little by little.
Julian only shrugged.
Addie didn’t let go of his arm. Was Julian imagining her grip tightening? She stepped closer to him. No, he couldn’t do this. Whatever she was trying to do, she was drunk, and Julian would not let her do anything she’d regret.
If he was going to make his move, she’d be stone-cold sober and in charge of her actions.
“Addie.” He groaned, stepping back.
“Julian,” she whispered. “Your eyes are prettier than Cooper’s.”
Her words were like a splash of cold water in his face. Everyone compared him to Cooper, but her saying that just reminded Julian he wasn’t the twin she wanted.
As if on cue, Cooper appeared, slinging an arm over Addison’s shoulders and breaking her connection with Julian. “Hey, Addie.” He dropped his voice seductively.
Yep, Cooper was drunk too. It was a party. He wouldn’t expect anything else from his brother.
“You keeping my girl company, little brother?”
Julian scowled at the little part. He was thirteen minutes younger than Cooper.
Addison giggled, and Julian hated how she changed as soon as Cooper neared. Where was the deep chuckling? It had been replaced with this girlish sound. She wasn’t Cooper’s girl. As soon as school started on Monday, he’d act as if she didn’t exist once again.
“Come on, Addie.” Cooper pulled her with him as he turned. “Let’s get you another drink.”
The ringing bell jerked Julian from thoughts of his brother. As it always did, guilt swirled inside him. He’d been the reason Cooper got behind the wheel that night. There’d been a fist fight after he…
“Mr. Callahan.” Mr. Randolph stood looming over Julian’s desk.
Julian lifted his gaze, realizing his classmates were already heading out the door. “Yeah, teach?”
“When you are in my class, I expect you to actually be in my class. Did you hear a word I said today?”
Julian shrugged. “I’ll just read it in a book later. No big deal.”
Mr. Randolph studied him as if trying to decipher the joke. Julian, read? How ridiculous did that sound? Julian almost laughed at his expression but held it back and slid out from behind his desk.
He picked up his books and stepped around Mr. Randolph, who turned to follow him.
“Be ready for the test on Friday,” he called after Julian.
“Sure thing, Mr. R.” Julian waved a hand behind him and stepped into the hall.
He was always ready for tests. It was one of the things that annoyed his teachers to no end. Julian skipped half his classes, yet he managed to ace all their lame tests.
American literature was his final class of the day, but they’d just be discussing Of Mice and Men, which they were supposed to have finished. Julian wasn’t a fan of the classics, preferring either books with a history bent or his guilty pleasure, romance novels.
He chuckled to himself thinking what his classmates would say if they knew the truant of Twin Rivers had a thing for sexy love stories.
He considered walking out the doors, getting into his car, and heading home. His parents would both be at the family diner, and Peyton usually headed there straight after school for the dinner shift. It was his night off, and he’d have the house to himself.
But he couldn’t leave. Not when Addison might need him. It was stupid how he hadn’t gotten over his insane crush. After the accident, he left town, returning eighteen months later. He wasn’t the same kid who’d once watched her every move.
Now, he was darker, both physically and mentally. He’d lost his brother, yet couldn’t stop hating him. The bell signaling the start of class rang and students ducked through doors.
Julian kept an eye out for the hall guards as he opened his locker and stuffed his books inside. He pulled out his k****e and slammed the door shut. The sound echoed in the empty hall. Ducking into a stairwell he knew they didn’t patrol, he sat on one of the lower steps and powered on his e-reader. The seventh Outlander book was open. Peyton recommended the series to him after she’d borrowed his k****e—without asking—and saw the kind of books he’d been reading.
To her credit, she didn’t laugh. Peyton was good like that. The next hour flew by as Julian lost himself in colonial America.
Five minutes before the end of class, he walked back into the hall and toward the other side of the building where Addison had Spanish. People would probably think it was creepy he knew that, but Julian was just observant. Meaning, he observed everything Addison did. Even now, when she’d turned into everything she’d always said she hated, he could sense her presence in a crowd as if she called to him.
He shook his head, almost laughing. Addison Parker would never call to him. Not when she saw Cooper every time she looked at him. Julian saw the ghosts in her eyes, the desire to attach herself to people who didn’t care about her rather than the ones who once had.
That night—Cooper’s drunken actions—haunted her.
Students rushed into the hall as the final bell rang. Julian leaned against the wall by the door, acting as if he was meant to be there. No one spared him a glance until her. Addison appeared in the doorway, struggling to carry her messenger bag as she leaned on her crutches.
Helplessness crossed her face, and Addison Parker was never helpless.
Julian kicked off the wall as her eyes found his, relief shining in them. She might have a bite to her now, but she knew Julian would help her, anyway.
He couldn’t stop himself.
She ignored him, yelled at him, and compared him to Cooper, but he wouldn’t let her fend for herself. He wasn’t her. He couldn’t just write people off.
Before he reached her, Meghan skipped out of the room, her cheerleading uniform leaving little to the imagination. Long, toned legs, fake tan, blond hair. She was half the male student population’s wet dream. But Julian saw her distaste for anything and everything. He’d watched her belittle Peyton and Cam and Nari. She even treated Avery like crap until he’d finally dumped her.
Meghan walked quickly, and Addison tried to keep up. She stumbled, and her bag slipped from her shoulder and crashed to the ground. Julian jumped to help her, but another set of hands, large hands meant to hold a football, reached for the bag.
A smile spread across Addison’s face as she gazed up at Beckett Anderson. He returned her grin, tossing her bag over his shoulder as he straightened.
“Can I help the lady?” he asked, gesturing for Addison to walk beside him.
Julian rolled his eyes and turned in the other direction. He couldn’t even hate Becks for his charm. They were friends…sort of. Becks was the lead singer of Julian’s band. At school, it was as if they didn’t know each other. But on stage…they fit. And Becks was a good guy.
Better than Cooper, at least.
“Julian.” Nari appeared at his side.
He raised a brow at the fact she was hanging out with him in the hall. They didn’t do that. Julian wasn’t really the kind of guy people wanted to associate with.
Nari shrugged. “I wanted to practice tonight, but Becks just texted me he was with Addison.” She mimicked gagging. There was no love lost between the two even if they occasionally looked at each other like they wanted nothing more than to regain the friendship they’d once had. “He wanted to bring her to practice, but yeah… Not ready to have the entire school know about the band.”
“Me either.” He didn’t say he also didn’t relish the thought of seeing Becks and Addison flirt all evening.
“Sooo … diner? I know Peyton is working, but she said you’re off. I thought we could work on some new songs.”
Julian suppressed a grin. “I thought you and Avery would be hanging out.”
That earned him a punch to the arm. The entire school thought Avery and Nari were dating over break. Julian had seen the picture of them kissing, but he also knew Nari.
“I am never hanging out with Avery again. I can’t believe he told everyone we’re dating. Today has been the weirdest day of my life.”
“Whatever you say, Nari.” They stepped outside. “Come on. The Main it is.” She gestured to his k****e. “What are you reading?”
“Oh.” His face heated up. “Um … it’s um … historical fiction. Yeah, just Revolutionary War stuff.”
“Have I heard of it?”
He always forgot Nari was as much a reader as him. She’d recognize any info on Outlander if he gave it to her. He shook his head. “Probably not. It’s … b****y. Yeah, a b****y, manly book.” He cringed at his own words.
Nari scrunched her face in distaste. They’d gotten into many discussions about books, and she was always clear about what she didn’t like: Blood and s*x. Nari was an innocent who even refused to curse.
It was one of the things he liked about her.
She slid into his Honda. “I don’t know why you read that crap.”
He tucked his k****e in the glove box, out of sight. “So, what kind of songs are we working on today?”
“Angry ones.”
He almost laughed. Nari was not an angry person. “Angry songs?”
She nodded. “About castration.”
He choked. “Castration?” The word wheezed out of him.
“I may have issues.”
“What did Avery do to you?” He really wanted to know if there was an a*s to kick. He’d been friends with Avery once, but Nari was too good for the football star who’d dated Meghan Lewis of all people. If Avery hurt Nari, he’d pay.
She sighed. “Nothing. It’s nothing.”
“You promise?”
She nodded, leaning her head against the cold glass of the window, a firm set to her jaw. Julian didn’t believe her, but he let it go, realizing if she wanted to confide in someone, it wouldn’t be him.
They were bandmates, nothing else, because Julian knew becoming friends with people only led to disappointment.
- Writer
