In The Gray..... Chapter 7

"Why can't you tell me anything about the restaruant you're taking me to?" I ask for the millionth time as we round the last flight of stairs. Julian chuckles. "It's a surprise." "Urgh! So?" I growl. Julian just laughes and ruffles my hair. "Julian! Don't do that!" I am really starting to get irritated. I push him away from me. He sends me a look of mock-hurt. "Aww, don't be that way Charlotte." I roll my eyes. I seem to be doingthat alot lately. Out of the blue, Julian's arm is around my waist. Before I object, he nods down at the bottom of the stairs where Jace is standing, oblivious to our presence. "Don't push it," I mouth to him. He just smirks and winks at me. "I just love your apartment, Charlotte. Especially your bedroom," he says loudly. I look at him in shock. "Julian!" I whisper threatingly. "Yeah, I know. We did get a little wild didn't we?" My jaw must be literally on the floor at this point. Julian squints at me. "Your hair's still a little messy. Here let me fix it..." Julian acts like he's fixing my hair as we walk out the door. I steal a glance at Jace. If looks could kill, Julian would already have been in a grave by now.
It's not until we arealready across the street and in the parking garageuntil I find my voice. "JULIAN BAIN!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU JUST DID THAT!!! NOW THE WHOLE PLACE IS GOING TO THINK I'M A SLUT!!! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!?!?!?!" I scream and trypush him away from me. But, much to my misfortune, instead of stumbling back, he grabbed my arms and turned so I was pushed up against the hard cement wall. "LET GO OF ME! I'M GOING BACK TO MY APARTMENT!" Then he growled at me. "Look," he said through gritted teeth, "You have no right to yell at me. There's nothing wrong with an adult couplepretending to have some fun. Plus, they all probably thought you were too uptight to ever have fun andbe happy. So calm down." As he talked, his voicegot softer and kinder. Am I really that uptight? I look down at the ground realizing his point. "You okay, now?" he says still hanging on to me. "Yeah," I say feeling absolutely stupid. He let go of me. "Come on," he says smiling, "let's have some fun." He pulled me to an area of cars. "Which one's your's?" I ask. He walked over to brand new black Mercedes. "This one," Julian says as hits a button on his remote and the lights on the car flash. "Oh.My. God." I am somesmerized by this beautiful car, that I can't move. Julian shakes his head with a laugh. "Get in," he says and pushes me over to the passenger side. I stand beside the door, just staring. Julian hops in and waits. I still stand there. "What are you waiting for?" he says rolling down the window. "I'm afraid to touch it." Julian sighs. "Charlotte, get in the damn car before I put you in it." I slowly got in the car and put on my seat belt. Julian starts the car and a little voice came starts talking. "Hello Mr. Bain," a computerized voice says, "Who is your guest today?" "Oh my God. Julian, what the hell is that?" Julian laughes, "Scifel, this is Charlotte Ronnings. Charlotte, this is Super Computer Incorporated For Everyday Life, or Scifel." "Hello, Ms. Ronnings." "Charlotte is fine, Scifel," I say uneasily. "Very well, Charlotte. Where are you going today, Mr. Bain?" Julian says lookingat me, "I know the way, Scifel. Just tell my step-father that the assignment will be ready tonight." "Yes, Mr. Bain." I sit silently. What assignment is he talking about? And why did he look at me when he said that? I'm not getting a great feeling about this... I push away my doubts and watch the passing buildings as Julian drives me to wherever we're going.
It's been over an hour of complete silence. We are out of the city now and I don't have a clue where we are. Julian hasn't even tried to talk to me in all this time. I, on the other hand, have tried many times to start a conversation, but Julian just shrugged them off. He's in very deep thought and every once in a while he glances at me and mutters things. I don't know what he says but I've just started to catch "Why her?" I have decided not to say anything about it. I stare out the window again. We are in a small town, smaller than a subburb. "This is my home town," Julian says suddenly. "It's nice," I say. He goes right into the middle of town where there is a group of cars in front of a decently sized building with a huge sign above it saying: "Bella's Italian Restaruant". "I love italian food," I say smiling. Julian beams at me. "Me too." He parks the car and we get out of the car. I'm about to open the door when he opens it for me and holds out a hand for me to take. I do and say, "Oh, thank you dear sir." "Tis all my pleasure, madam." We laugh and he locks the car.
We walk in and there is a girl about my age standing behind a counter. She has shortlight brown hair with black streaksand has a skinny figure. Her nails are painted black and she hasblack-linedhazel eyes. Over-all she is pretty. "How many?" she says in a bored voice without looking up. Julian laughes. "Aren't you excited Amber." Her head flies up. "Julian Bain! What on earth have you been up to? I haven't seen you since high school!"she says excitedly. "Has it really been that long? Yeah I guess so..." I nudge Julian. He jumps and says, "Oh, Charlotte this is Amber. Amber this is Charlotte." I smile and shake her hand. She smiles genuinely at me. "It's nice to meet you, Amber." She waves her hand at me. "Not at all. Here let me get you a server. Dan!!! We have some special guests! Take them to a booth!" she yells across the room. An older man, inhis mid-thirties, rushes over and escorts us to a table as Amber waves bye to us. "I like her," I say, "She's cool." Julian just nods as he goes into a daze again. We sit at a booth and give Dan our drink orders as he gives us menus. "I'll just take water," I say with a smile. "Same here." Dan nods and leaves. "So, how do you know Amber?" I ask. "She dated one of my friends. We got to be good friends." "That's cool." He goes silent after that. Dan eventually comes back and take our orders. After about another five minutes of silence, I ask Julian what's up. "Hey, Julian, are you okay? You've been a huge space-case." Julian looks intently at me. "It's nothing," he says then turns away from me. I reach across the table for his hand. I barely touch him and he jerks back, but I grab his hand anyway. "There's something wrong, Julian. You can tell me." I study his face. He is completely emotionless but his eyes say otherwise. There's something else... pain,guilt? What should he feel guilty about? Suddenly, it's gone. Completely masked over. "Look," he says, "Our food's here."
After we are finished eating, not another word is said about what happened. He opens the car door again for me and I get in. "What's your favorite kind of music?" Julian asks when we start driving home. "Anything. Your's?" "Rock." I nod. "What's your favorite drink?"I ask. He shrugs. "Depends. Alcoholic or non-alcoholic?" "Over-all." He thinks for a little bit. "I don't like beer. Honestly I don't drink much. So probably Pepsi. You?" "Coke." "Favorite color?" he says. "Green." "Green?" I smile. "Yep." "Huh... I like blue." I laugh suddenly. He gives me aweird look. "What's funny?" "Our favorite colors are the color of our eyes," I say with a little giggle. "That is weird." We continue are questioning until we reach my apartment. "Animal?" he asks. "I don't guess I have one. No wait-" "No, you can't change your mind! Mine's..." "Dogs!" we say at the same time. He parks on the curb as we laugh loudly. We get out of the car still laughing. He walks me up the stoop and we stop in front of the door. "Well, I had a wonderful time, Julian," I say smiling. He smiles back. "I'm glad. Me too." We stand there awkwardly. "It's getting late," I say looking up at the darkening sky, "I guess I should be getting in." Julian runs a hand through his pitch black hair. "Yeah, so do you want to do something tomorrow?" I smile widely. "Sure. I have some days off, so I'm free to do whatever." He smiled but then it fades quickly and he nods. "I-i'll call you tomorrow then, Charlotte." "Okay," I say and kiss him on the cheek. "Bye Julian." I walk through the door and I hear Julian whisper, "Bye Charlotte." Holy shit, this is officially the best day of my life! I practically skip upstairs to my apartment. I'm about to open the door when I hear noises in my apartment.