“Julie? It's been a while,” he said, leaning forward and giving her a hug. She returned it, squeezing him as if he were an old friend. “Has everything been okay?” he asked her.
Julie looked to me, smiled softly, and then looked back to him. “Yeah. So are you two going out?” she asked.
Ava looked like she blushed, and I reveled in that. That meant Ava really liked the good doctor.
“Going out for dinner. What are you doing here?” he asked her.
Julie nodded her head toward me. “The other one. I hope you have fun,” she said, smiling at Ava and Dr. Marstens.
But there was a look that passed between Dr. Marstens and Julie that made me feel aware. What I was aware of, I didn't know. Just that they had a past together, and I knew nothing of it.
“Teach him something. I obviously can't,” Ava told her with a smile as they passed each other.
“I will, Ms. Walker. Have fun,” she said.
We both watched as they walked out of the door, and then Julie came in and closed the door behind her. She looked up at me and smiled softly.
“Hello, Falon,” she said. She was still wearing what she had at the hospital, but the peach smell seemed stronger, and her hair wasn't held back by a barrette anymore. Instead, it cascaded across her forehead and swept to the side.
“Hey,” I said. “You never texted me back.”
She shrugged, walking farther in. Her eyes were looking around. “I didn't figure I needed to unless I got lost. I'm pretty good with directions though,” she replied.
I didn't say anything as she looked at the walls, staring at the pictures. She laid her bag on the table beside our love seat, and crossed her arms.
“Why aren't there any pictures of you?” she asked, turning to look at me.
“I don't like taking pictures,” I told her.
She raised a brow. “Not even before?”
I sat down on the couch. “There's no point in keeping those up. They're just reminders of what I use to be,” I told her.
Julie came to me, sitting down beside me on the couch. “What? Did you change when you got burned?” she asked.
I looked to her. I wondered how she could ask a question that had a lot of meaning without the slight flinch. As if she never really understood how that felt to the person she was asking.
“Yeah. Now I'm a lovely monster,” I told her, trying to remain easy about it, but the look that crossed her face assured me that she was being serious about it.
“Everyone changes. I'm not the same person that I was a few years ago, but I didn't make my parents take down my pictures,” she said.
“I'm not you.”
Immediately after I said it, I wanted to take it back, but pride kept me from doing so. Julie didn't say anything else about it, which only added to the guilt.
Instead, I saw her force a smile. “So, are we going to work in here?” she asked, masking whatever it was that she was feeling behind those beautiful green eyes.
“Yeah. That sounds good,” I told her.
I pulled out my books, and we got started from where I had stopped. I listened to her, and we talked back and forth about what we were studying, but not much else.
I kept think about how bad I felt about snapping at her. I thought about the look that had passed between her and Dr. Marstens, and I thought about how much I didn't know about her.
“Liam was kind of mad that you didn't invite him to ever come over and study,” Julie said, looking at me.
I laughed slightly. “Well, it's not like I could text him the directions,” I told her.
“He never gave you his number?” she asked.
I shook my head.
She stood up and walked over to her bag. She took out her phone and turned around. She handed it to me. “His number should be in my contacts. I'm going to get a glass of water. Want one?” she asked.
I shook my head. “No, I'm fine,” I told her.
She rolled her eyes. “And now he's stuck on himself,” she teased. “I'll be right back,” she said, and disappeared into the kitchen.
I smiled long after she left, and took my phone out too. I searched through her contacts, coming up to Liam's name. I typed in the number and saved it.
But the name under Liam's caught my attention, and I scrolled down. She had a contact named 'My Love' and beneath that was 'My Lovely Monster'.
I thought about what Liam had said about her relationship. I felt my chest tighten at the words.
My love. He was her love. He was hers.
I was just her monster.
I felt how foolish I was. How foolish I was to believe that she could ever see me as anything more than a freak. She could never look at me and call me her love, because it would always be pity she felt when she was around me.
That's all anyone could ever feel around me. That, or disgust. Never love, and I was stupid to believe different.
“What's wrong?”
I heard her voice before I saw her. It scared me as I turned around and saw her eyes on me fearfully. She was holding a glass of water in her hand, and looking at her phone.
Slowly, she came around the couch and sat down. She rested the glass on the coffee table and folded her hands in her lap. “This is about Thad, isn't it?” she asked.
I assumed that was her love, and found myself biting back hurtful remarks as I laid her phone between us.
“No. Let's just get back to work,” I
