I raised a brow. “You're really serious about this?”
She nodded.
“What about Liam and Hilary?”
She smiled. “You're actually considering it?” she asked.
I shrugged. “Just thinking. I don't know if I could leave without telling Ava, and I'm not sure if we could without telling your parents either,” I told her.
She shook her head. “If they knew, they wouldn't let me go. They'd find some way to convince me it was a bad idea-”
“It is a bad idea.”
She glared at me. “It is a wonderfully bad idea, and that's why I want to do it,” she told me, poking my chest. “I could wake Liam up, when you took me back, and he could get Hilary up. You could go home, tell Ava, pack a bag, and then pick us up,” she told me.
“All four of us won't fit in this truck,” I informed her.
“Liam and Hilary can make a nice little retreat in the bed. Or he could take his car,” she replied.
“You're really serious about this? Aren't you?”
She nodded. “Very.”
“And you think you could sneak in and out again?”
She nodded, and I saw the excitement welling up in her eyes. “You'll do it?” she asked.
I sighed and ran my hand over my eyes. “You'll be the death of me, Julie Michaels.”
♥
I drove her back to her house, my heart beating with a rush of adrenaline and fear. Julie left her blanket, and she kissed me before getting out and running back into the house. I sighed in nervousness and drove away, heading home.
I went inside and found Ava first. She was asleep, as I figured, but it didn't take much to wake her up. When I flipped on the lamp beside her bed, she started waking up.
“What's wrong?” she asked drowsily.
“I need your word that you're not going to tell anyone.”
That made her wake up quicker. She widened her eyes and stared at me. “Tell anyone what?” she asked, bewildered.
I looked at her. “Give me your word you won't say a thing until after,” I told her.
She looked at me with a dumbfounded expression. “What the he-”
“Your word.”
“Fine, fine, I give you my word, now what's going on?” she asked, sitting up.
I braced myself for her reaction. “I'm kind of running away.”
She started laughing, and when I looked at her, she covered her mouth and tried to stop herself. She obviously found something very funny in my statement.
I waited for her to control herself, and when her laughs turned into soft giggles, I raised a brow. “You good now?” I asked.
She nodded, and wiped her eyes. “Sorry. I don't think it's considered running away if you tell, Falon,” she told me, sighing in relief from the fit of giggles.
I smiled slightly and shrugged. “Julie's running away too. She's not telling her parents,” I told her.
Then, she raised a brow. “Okay? Why are you running away with Julie?” she asked. It only took a second for her eyes to widen and her hand to seize my arm. “You aren't eloping, are you? Please tell me-”
“We're not getting married,” I said, smiling.
For a moment though, I could see it happening. I could see Julie in a short, little white dress, a bouquet of flowers in her hand, walking toward me and smiling. Her head clean of hair, her face void of make up, and the only thing she was smiling at was me.
“Not getting married,” I said again.
Ava sighed in relief. “Good. I want to actually be there if you get married, or at least throw her a bridal shower or something,” she told me, smiling her weird grin. “So, why are you running away?”
“It's more like a vacation,” I said, looking up in thought. “It's just, we can't tell Julie's parents until we're gone because they wouldn't let her go. So I guess it's running away, or kidnapping,” I told her.
Ava rolled her eyes. “And I thought I was going to be lucky. At least you waited until after you were eighteen to start acting like a bad guy,” she replied.
I smiled. “It's just a few days. We'll come back,” I told her.
She nodded. “A few days. You know her parents are going to kill me,” she told me.
“Maybe. That's why you won't know where we are,” I replied.
“You won't tell me?”
“I don't even know,” I said with a laugh. “We're just driving. No destination, just wherever we end up at,” I said.
She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. “I think a few days isn't long enough then.”
“Two weeks.”
“One week.”
“Eleven days.”
She considered it, then nodded. “Eleven days. I can handle that. Who knows, I might even spend those eleven days with Jesse, in bed, na-”
“I'm leaving now,” I said quickly, standing up. Ava laughed as I left the room to pack a bag.
“Falon?” she called out a few minutes later.
“Yes?”
“I love you.”
I smiled, zipping up the bag. “I love you, too, Ava.”
♥
I pulled up quietly toward Julie's house. When I did, They were both waiting outside. Julie had a single bag, and I found myself falling more in love with her.
My simple, little Julie. She needed nothing.
Liam had two bags, and he shrugged as I gave him a weird once-over. “I wanted to be prepared.”
I got out, and Liam brought her bag to the truck. He tossed in
