.: Let Our Crosses Crown Our Past [Julian Drain] :. Info

Loud banging on the door was what woke me up this time in the early hours of the morning. I would have never guessed that it was morning at all though. It looked exactly as it has looked at midnight outside and my bed still seemed awfully comforting at the moment, as if it were begging me to stay. I almost regretted going on my little adventure with Juke since it took away some of precious sleep time.

I finally gathered up my will and sat up in bed, still not being able to open my eyes. I felt around the small area of the bed until my hand came across a relaxed lump right next to me. My eyes finally adjusted and I reluctantly opened them to see Julian still snoozing soundly as if nobody had ever disrupted him in the first time.

“Juke, wake up,” I mumbled as I started to shake him slightly.

He groaned and turned over. “Just a few more minutes…” he murmured back in a raspy voice.

I sighed and reached for his arm to start shaking him again, but when I touched it, I recoiled slightly. His arm was abnormally warm. “Julian, are you okay?” I asked in a worried tone as my drowsiness started to ware off a little.

“Mmhmm…I’m just tired,” he replied in the same hoarse voice.

I placed my hand on his forehead, which wasn’t even necessary since I could feel the heat radiate off of his body. “Juke, I don’t think you’re doing so well. You’re burning up,” I said to him, now fully awake.

“No, I’m fine,” he argued as he sat up. The area around his nose was slightly red and his eyes were a tad bit puffy. “Let’s go get ready.”

He was about to pull himself up to stand but I grabbed his arm and sat him back down on the bed. “You’re not going snowboarding. You have a fever,” I told him.

He looked back at me and frowned. “I feel fine th-“ he began before letting out one loud sneeze.

“You’ve just made my point,” I said, giving him a knowing look. “Go back to sleep. You need some rest so you can hit the slopes sooner,” I said as I was getting up.

As I had done to him, he grabbed my arm and pulled me back onto the bed. “What am I supposed to do while you guys are away enjoying yourselves?”

I looked at him for a moment as I thought about what I could do. “I’ll stay with you, if you’d like.”

“No, you don’t have to do that,” he stated. “I’ll probably be asleep all day anyways. I don’t want to ruin your fun.”

“It’s alright, Juke. You’re definitely not going to stay in bed so someone needs to stay and force you to. Besides, all this is my fault anyways. If I hadn’t made you do that ridiculous stunt last night, none of this would have happened. So no more arguing. I’m staying and that’s that,” I said as I quickly got off the bed before he could pull me down once more. I turned back around to look at him. He merely gave me a warm smile from the bed and lay back down in it to get some more sleep.

I went out into the hallway where I saw Antero just heading downstairs. “Hey, why aren’t you ready yet?” he asked as soon as he saw me.

“Julian came down with a horrible fever so I’m making him stay here for the day. And I don’t want him to feel alone in this cabin so I’m staying as well,” I explained to him.

“Yeah, that’s fine. Is he going to be okay?”

“Yeah, he just needs so me rest and he’ll be fine. Have fun without us, though!”

“Okay. We have some soup in one of the cabinets downstairs and there’s probably some cold medicine somewhere around here since I doubt this is the first time somebody’s gotten sick here. I’ll see you in a few hours.” And with that, he headed back downstairs while I went into the room Juke and I now shared. I found him already in a deep sleep when I climbed back into the bed to get some sleep with him. Due to the tiredness I still felt, it wasn’t long before I was fast asleep as well.

I drifted back into consciousness a few hours later. I opened my eyes to find that Julian was still knocked out like a drunken frat boy. I climbed out of the bed carefully so as to not wake up Julian and went back into my own room to get ready for the day. After freshening up a bit in the shower, I slipped into some jeans and a t-shirt. I went downstairs to start making Juke and I some food.

I found the cans of soup in one of the small cabinets in the tiny kitchen and started to look through the other cabinets to find some sort of a pot I could cook it in. We were lucky that we were ordering out while we were here because there was absolutely nothing we could use to make food. I would have been surprised if I even found utensils to eat the soup with.

“There might be some in the one next to the stove,” a congested voice said from behind me.

I jumped slightly and turned around to find Juke standing there in sweatpants and a sweatshirt while holding a large box of tissues under one of his arms. He smiled at me and sat down on the counter looking exhausted.

I went to the cabinet he said to look in and found a pot just big enough to make the soup in. I dumped the contents of the can into the pot and let them sit on the heated stove before turning back around and approaching Juke. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I got stranded in a desert,” he replied sadly as he leaned back on the wall and closed his eyes.

“Do you want me to get you anything?” I asked in a worried tone as I pulled myself onto the counter next to him.

“No, I’m alright…” he replied quietly while still looking like he was unconscious.

I shot him a sympathetic look and jumped off the counter to go check on the soup. After a few more minutes on the warm stove, it was finished so I transferred the contents into a bowl and somehow managed to find a spoon among the vast emptiness of drawers and cabinets.

“Jukey-Poo, your food is ready,” I announced, trying to hold back my giggles.

He opened his eyes and slowly got off the counter, grinning slightly. “What did you just call me?”

“Nothing…Let’s go eat in front of the fire,” I said as grabbed his food and headed for the living room. I got there and set his food on the coffee table before going over to the fireplace. “Let’s figure out how to work this thing…” I mumbled more to myself than anything.

“Do you need help?” he asked from his comfortable position of lounging on the couch.

“No, I got it,” I replied, even though I had no clue what I was doing. I stared at the thing as if it were the thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle from hell before finally reaching out for one of the large logs next to it. I threw it into the fire and then found the small bottle of gas nearby. I dumped some onto the log, unsure of just how much I needed. I had no clue how to do this since I had never worked a real fireplace before. Back in New York, I was accustomed to the ones you could switch on with the light switch.

“Are you sure you can do it?” Juke asked once again, feeling my uneasiness.

“Yeah…” I replied, not sounding entirely sure even in my own ears. I lit the match and threw it into the fireplace, watching it ignite with such force. It blasted out but I couldn’t get my hand away quick enough. I saw the fire reach my hand before I could even feel the pain. But it wasn’t long before I felt that though.

“Natalia, are you okay?” Juke asked, quickly getting up from the couch and running over to me and grabbing my hand.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I replied in a little strained voice since the hand now started burning with the heat of the fireplace itself. I looked at my hand, which looked slightly red, but nothing too impacting. “It’s not too bad.”

He sighed at me before getting up and walking into the kitchen. I was confused for a second before he came back holding a cube of ice. He sat down on the couch again and patted the spot next to him. I complied with his unspoken wish and sat down next to him. He took my hand and started to rub the ice against the part that was burnt. It felt like a relief against the heat.

“You’ve never worked a real fireplace, have you?” he asked quietly.

I chuckled lightly. “How’d you guess?”

“You put too much gas in,” he replied laughing as the ice started to slowly melt away. We leaned back on the couch as he continued caressing my hand and spreading the cold relief onto it. As soon as the ice was all gone, he brought my hand to his lips and kissed it lightly. I smiled at him rested my head against his chest. He wrapped his arms around my body and pulled me into him.

“Thanks for taking care of me, Natalia,” he said softly as he stroked my hair.

“Don’t thank me. It’s my fault you’re in this situation in the first place,” I replied in a guilty tone.

“I’m kind of glad I am,” he answered. I looked up at him to see his blue eyes gazing back at me. I hadn’t seen that look on his face since that night at the club when I dragged him out and kissed him with all my life against the wall. I hadn’t ever been that impulsive before, but Julian made me feel something different. I felt like I could follow my impulses without any consequences whatsoever. He made me crave to give in to my urges, which I knew would lead to something bad someday. But for now, I planned on enjoying every second of having him with me.

His hand went from stroking my hair to softly caressing my cheek. I closed my eyes and tried to savor the soft touch of his hands on my skin. That sensation was soon mixed with the gentle touch of his lips upon mine. I slowly kissed him back, trying my hardest not to go too fast even though I was yearning for more. It was a long but innocent kiss: no tongue, no intense passion, and no excessive touching.

We reluctantly pulled away from each other some time later and looked in each other’s eyes. He smiled and swept some hair out of my face before giving me one final short kiss. He lay down on the sofa and rested his head on my lap.

“If you catch my cold, you can blame it on me,” he said jokingly as he closed his eyes.

I chuckled and softly started stroking his hair. “I’d say it was worth it…” I saw him crack a smile on his adorable face. “Sleep well, Julian.”

“You too, love,” he replied in an exhausted tone. I leaned back on the couch and decided to catch some rest as well. Besides, it wouldn’t be long before the others got here anyways.