Chapter 5: Julian 0.5
I scooped a chunk of vanilla ice cream with my fries, "if you try this, I'll give you one free pass to ask me anything you want."
I had never seen someone chomped on a food from my hand faster than this man had just snagged the fries off my fingers. His mouth was so close to touching my hand before he quickly retreated and chewed. He made a few funny faces as he analyzed the confusing mix of temperature, taste, and texture.
"Wow, that was actually not bad," he sat in awe.
"I know," I took another bite.
"Would you go on another date with me if I share my 12-pieces McNugget with you?" he asked without taking his eyes off his sandwich.
"Only if you eat one of them with a spoonful of ice cream."
"Deal," he stuffed a piece of nugget in his mouth and leaned in close to my face and ate the ice cream off my spoon.
"Oh, wow. I didn't think you were serious."
"A deal is a deal," he smiled with his mouth full of food.
"And you wasted your question to ask me out? Don't you wanna know my name? Or what and why I wrote on my arm?" I took a piece of nugget from the box on his lap.
"I have my ways with things. You'll see," he winked before proceeding to finish his meal.
I couldn't think of any snarky comments. My brother had befriended weird and flirty people before. Some were invited to our house or I would see them at school. But never once did he hang out with interesting people. So ambiguously eccentric and confusing.
"Where would you take me for the date?"
"Well, I have until the end of the week to decide," he wiped his hands and mouth with a napkin.
"Why is that?" I offered him the vanilla Pocketbac.
"Thanks. I know you would be busy with your exam until then. Wouldn't wanna disrupt your studies."
I hadn't told him about my schedule. I leaned towards the door and away from him, "How did you know that? I've never mentioned that."
"Hey, chill out. Jake told me that he would babysit my Samoyed if I would skip band practice to drive you for the rest of the week. Don't worry, I won't be driving you to school too. I'd still be sleeping by then."
"Why would he babysit your dog?"
"My grandma's coming over and she's allergic. So, Nancy will be staying with you guys until she goes back to Nice, France."
The day kept getting weirder and weirder. At least the cold wind calmed me down from the hectic turbulence that ensued. The trip to the liquor store took about 15 minutes. There was barely any traffic. It was as if the whole town went on a vacation and us students were left to our own devices.
Julian parked the car and told me to guard it while he went inside to choose which liquor to get for tonight. I scrolled down my timeline to see what the kids in my class were up to. It was a good investment to know what your clients need or want, and social media had made me so easy for me to chart the demand on goods.
"Can you be a dear and stuff this in the glove compartment, princess?" he handed me two paper bags.
"Why are there two?" I followed his instructions.
"Don't tell me that you don't enjoy a good merlot and I just stupidly wasted $45 on it," he tilted his head as he drove to our next stop.
"Did you forget that I have an exam tomorrow?"
"Did you forget that you owe me a date? And I didn't say when we have to finish it in one sitting."
I stayed quiet during our ride to the pizza parlor and replied to Rachel's text.
Rachelxoxo214:
Hey girl! Sry abt tdy agn. Did u manage to hitch a ride? Don't tell me u soaked ur cute new pair of Converse shoes ☹
Jaded_orcas:
Nuh, my bro sent a knight in shining armour. Running errands atm.
Rachelxoxo214:
Spill!!! Is he cute? Did you kiss? Wht's his name?
Jaded_orcas:
Tht was sarcastic btw, his name's Julian. Kinda creepy fella tbh.
Rachelxoxo214:
Pic or it didn't happen. OMG I'm so curious now.
I took a picture of Julian on a red light and sent it to Rachel.
Jaded_orcas:
Happy? I gtg now. Hv fun w/ Rick. 😉
Rachelxoxo214:
He's so cute Jade! We're so talking abt this tmw. Love ya b*tch! Xoxo <3
"Did you just take a picture of me?" he propped his shades on his head as the light turned green.
I took another picture of him, "Yeah, my friend wanted to know what my kidnapper looks like."
"Har, har. Show me," he took a quick glance at me and smiled.
I turned my phone to show the picture of him with the shades on and off, "You look better with the sunglasses on your hair."
"You think I look good?"
"You're not that bad," I took a closer look at the pictures before realizing what he had meant. "I didn't mean it like that!"
"It's okay if you do, I'm flattered" he chuckled.
I put the hood on my sweater up and faced the road as the cold air slapped my cheek. You could smell the toasted cheese and tomato sauce as soon as you pulled up. We found an empty parking spot not far from the parlor. I repeated Jake's orders and pulled out the wad of cash from my pocket and handed him a fifty and a twenty.
"First of all, how did you get that money? Are you dealing in your school? Secondly, it will probably cost less than that," he took the bill.
"Maybe I'm a dealer, or maybe my arm was a hit list. Just hand Don the twenty and ask for Jake's special. Go on," I shooed him.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone