Chapter 16
I didn't even have time to register it until Dylan was gone, and I had no idea where he went at all. I felt a little more panicked because of that. If he wasn't going to stay by my side, then who would tonight?
"Hey Timmy, I'm gonna go talk to some friends. See you later," Lily said, kissing his lips before walking off. She disappeared into the crowd of people as fast as Dylan had done.
When I turned to Timmy, his eyes found mine. "Are you okay, Jules?" He asked, worry lacing his voice.
Of course he noticed that I wasn't feeling alright. Why wouldn't he out of people do so?
I bit my lip, shrugging. "I just feel like I don't fit in. Don't tell me it's lame, I already know it is," I said, looking away from him.
He shook his head, reaching up to grip my face so I was looking into his eyes again. "It's not lame. I understand why you feel that way, but I don't think you should. You do fit in even if you don't feel like it. Come on, let's go meet some friends of mine. I'll show you," he encouraged me, taking my hand to pull me further into the house.
I wanted to disagree with him, but I realized he was right. I wouldn't get anywhere if I stayed at the entrance all night. So, I followed him into the living room and the crowd of people until we got to a couch where a few guys were sitting. Thankfully, Ansel was one of them.
"Timmy!" They all cheered when they caught sight of him, reaching out their hands to greet him or fistbump with him. "Sit down, man. Sit down," they ordered, scooting over on the couch to make room for him.
"This is my friend Julie," he said, gesturing me to sit down before he did.
I smiled at the people who looked at me. "Hey," I greeted, feeling awkward.
"Hey Julie," Ansel said, flashing me a wink from the other side of the couch. He was sitting with his arm around his girlfriend Violetta.
I grinned at him before turning to Timmy who was reaching out to grab a bottle of beer. "You want something?" He asked as he popped it open.
Shaking my head, I bit my lip. "No, I'll wait until later."
"Alright," he said, taking a swig from the beer.
He introduced me more personally to the guy sitting next to us. He had blonde hair and a pair of ocean blue eyes. It wouldn't surprise me if he was famous, but I didn't recognize him, which was a good thing. I didn't want to feel more uncomfortable than I already did.
After a while, I found out his name was James, and he was an actor just like Timmy, but he hadn't had a big part of a movie yet.
"So, how do you guys know each other?" James wondered, flicking his gaze between me and Timmy.
I looked at Timmy, hoping he would answer because I was shit at explaining things. "We live under the same roof. She and her mother are staying at our house for a while," he told James who looked surprised.
"Wow, that's cool. Can I ask why you're staying there?" He said, looking at me.
I bit my lip, letting out a sigh. "Mom and I had nowhere to go, and she works with Timmy's mom, so she offered us to stay at her place temporarily," I explained, hoping he wouldn't ask anything more.
"Only temporarily?"
I nodded my head. "Yeah, the idea is that we're moving out as soon as we can."
Feeling Timmy stare at the side of my face, I turned to him. He looked sad for some reason. I thought he knew that we were going to move out as soon as we could manage to live on our own?
I patted him on the leg reassuringly. "I won't be far away, though," I winked at the curly-haired boy, making the corners of his lips twitch a little, but the smile was still forced.
We continued talking to James, Timmy being a little more silent than he usually was. He popped another can of beer open when the first one was empty, and then another one after that. It wasn't until he was on his fourth one that I started thinking about it, though. I had emptied a few glasses of alcohol by this time as well, but I didn't feel half as bad as it looked like Timmy did.
He was starting to slur when he talked, and his head fell on my shoulder at least once every minute. I wasn't surprised that he was intoxicated already considering he was so skinny, but I didn't think he would go this far so fast.
"You alright?" I asked him when his head fell to my shoulder another time, his curls getting in my face.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm alright," he muttered carelessly.
I rolled my eyes and turned back to James who had scooted a little closer. "I was wondering if you wanted to go dance with me?"
My eyes widened slightly because I wasn't expecting that, but I did feel like dancing and there was absolutely nothing wrong with James. "Sure, why not?" I said, reaching out to empty the drink I had started drinking a couple of minutes ago.
He got up from the couch while I started pulling at one of Timmy's curls.
He let out a whine. "Hey, stop that, Julie. Don't touch my hair."
I rolled my eyes at his childish behavior. "Come on, Timmy. I have to get up," I explained, making him pout.
"Can't you stay here... here with me?" He pleaded, looking at me with puppy eyes, and I could feel my heart break at the sight. Why did he have to be so cute?
"I'm just going to dance for a while. I'll be back in a couple of minutes," I reassured him.
He let out a huff as he sat up straight in his seat. "I'm gonna... I'm gonna go find Lily," he muttered, and he was up from the couch before I was.
I shook my head at his disappearing figure, knowing that he should have been more careful with his drinking tonight. I turned to James who was waiting for me to join him. He held out his hand, and I took it with a smile on my face.
He led me out to the dance floor, and it wasn't until then I noticed that I was intoxicated myself. My head was spinning a little, but I could still make out everyone's faces. I recognized a lot of them; Lily Reinhart, Cole Sprouse, Dylan Sprouse, Barbara Palvin, Billie Eilish, Tom Holland, Elle Fanning and more. It was easier not to care about it when I had a little alcohol in my system, though.
James and I started swaying to the music, and it was fun. I really enjoyed myself, and honestly, I had always liked the feeling of letting loose a little. It was a long time ago since I last did something like this too.
After about half an hour, a slow song came on, and James took me by surprise by pulling me close to him, our chests almost touching. I could see over his shoulder how Timmy and Lily were dancing together. They were smiling at each other, having no idea that I was looking at them.
It wasn't until they started leaning closer to each other that I averted my gaze, knowing I didn't want to see when things got further. Instead, I pulled back a little to get a look at James. His ocean blue eyes were sparkling from the few lights that lit up the room, and I had to admit that he was hot. Anyone would be happy if a guy like him asked them to dance with him.
We got lost in each other's eyes, and before we knew it, we were both starting to lean in. I could feel butterflies erupt in my stomach because it had been such a long time since I kissed someone, and I was nothing but excited. Our lips were just about to meet when I suddenly felt myself being pulled back by someone who grabbed my forearm.
Turning around in confusion, I noticed to my great surprise that it was Timmy. Wasn't he dancing with Lily just a second ago? What was he doing here? "Timmy? Wha--" But I was cut off.
"You're coming with me for a second," he muttered, sounding more sobber now than he did half an hour ago.
"What? No, I was just--" He shot me a glare that made me shut up.
I turned to see James looking just as confused as I was a second ago, but he didn't say anything when Timmy kept pulling me out of the crowd and out of the living room. We ended up stopping in the hallway on the second floor where things were quieter.
"What did you think you were doing down there?" He asked, staring at me intently with narrowed eyes.
I furrowed my eyebrows together. "I was dancing with James. What's so wrong about that?" I asked, still confused about why he had interrupted us.
He shook his head frustratingly. "No, you weren't just dancing, you were going to kiss him."
Oh, that was what he was talking about? "Yeah? So what? What is that to you? Can't I kiss whoever I want?" I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest. "Don't act like an overprotective brother."
He flailed his arms out. "How can I not when you're about to kiss some stupid stranger?" He asked, his voice laced with frustration.
"Stranger? I thought you knew James?"
He rolled his eyes as if I were stupid. "Yes, I do, but you don't. Why do you want to kiss someone you don't even know? I just don't understand."
I let out a sigh, looking away from him with my arms crossed over my chest. "I'm sorry that you don't understand me, Timmy, but you don't decide what I do with my life."
He closed his eyes and pinched the skin between his eyebrows to prevent his anger from boiling over. "I know I don't, alright? I'm just trying to look out for you."
"Well, don't. I can take care of myself," I muttered, trying to get away from him, but he stopped me by trapping my body against the wall, his hands on either side of my face.
I gulped at his proximity. Was he aware of what he was doing to me when he was this close? My stomach was doing somersaults while my heart was beating like crazy in my chest. Not to mention the goosebumps that were covering my skin. He was driving me absolutely crazy.
"Wh-what are you doing?" I asked him, looking down at the floor because if I looked into his eyes, I didn't know if I could stop myself from doing something I shouldn't.
He gripped my chin lightly to turn my face up so I was looking into his gorgeous green eyes. I swallowed hard as a smile crept to his face. "I'm trying to get you to stay here and not run back to that guy."
"I wasn't--"
"I knew you were," he said, cutting me off. "It's quite easy to read your mind, you know?"
I muttered something incomprehensible because I was mad at him. He couldn't come here and think that he could stop me from kissing James. He didn't have any right to do so.
"Why aren't you with Lily?" I asked, turning this on him. "I saw you two on the dance floor."
"Yeah, I left her because I needed to take care of the mistake you were about to make," he explained, making me snort.
"You're lame," I muttered.
He narrowed his eyes at me, leaning closer to my face. "What was that?"
I inhaled a shaky breath, shaking my head. "Nothing."
When he didn't pull away, I couldn't help but examine the most beautiful guy on earth. His face was so flawless with no scratch in sight whatsoever, and his green eyes just melted my heart. Why couldn't he love me instead of Lily? Why couldn't he be mine?
I didn't know when it happened, but suddenly we were so close that the tips of our noses were touching. I could even feel his breath on my lips. I knew that I shouldn't, but I couldn't help myself. I couldn't stop my body from doing what it wanted so badly, and this was probably the only chance I would ever get to do this.
Every common sense left my mind when I leaned in to close the distance between us, my mouth melting with his. It was like my mouth was on fire, that's how intense the feeling of his lips against mine was. It was something I'd never experienced before, and I instantly loved it. It was the best feeling I'd ever had.
My lips started moving against his, eager to make him reciprocate the kiss. I wanted him to feel what I felt. I wanted him to know just how much I liked him.
I took his face in my hands, pulling him even closer to me. I was so into the kiss that I didn't register the fact that he wasn't kissing me back. It wasn't until he grabbed my forearms that I realized it, and my heart instantly broke into pieces.
Quickly, I pulled away from him, my mouth falling open in shock because how could I let myself get so weak? I wasn't supposed to act on my feelings. They were meant to be locked up inside me. Fuck.
I stared at him in shock when I realized what stupid mistake I had just made. I started shaking my head as I tried getting away from him, but he was still holding my forearms.
"Hey, Julie, listen," he breathed, making me stop my movements. "It's alright. There's nothing to worry about."
I could feel tears well up in my eyes. "Shit, I'm such an awful human being. I'm sorry, Timmy. I wasn't... I didn't mean to do that."
He shook his head reassuringly, but it was easy to tell that he was shocked by my actions as well. "No, no, it's okay, Julie. No harm is done, alright?"
I looked away from him. "I don't want things to change between us because of this. I'd hate myself forever if you shut me out after what just happened," I mumbled.
He gripped my chin once again, turning my face so I was looking into his eyes. "Nothing is going to change, I promise. We'll still be friends, okay?"
I nodded my head slowly. "I'm really sorry, Timmy."
He wrapped his arms around me, hugging me tight against his body. When we pulled apart, he flashed me a small smile. "How about we call a cab and get out of here?"
I hadn't heard a better idea since I stepped into this house.
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Holy mother of--!!! So so so close! What do you think is going to happen now?
Do you think Timmy is going to treat Julie differently?
Thank you so much for all the feedback you're giving me, it means so so much!
And, don't forget to vote or/and comment if you liked the chapter <33
Pauline .xx