The next day, I picked up Julia from her house, and we drove to school.
"Okay, so it's retro night at that little theater this Friday. We should go," she said, when I started pulling out of her driveway.
"You know I can't do Friday nights, Julia," I told her, just like I had last week.
"I know, but I just thought you could miss one night at your cousin's?"
"Julia, I can't, and you know that," I told her, trying to hold my ground.
"It's just one week. I mean, you go every other week," she begged.
"Julia, I can't," I stated firmly.
"Why not?" she whined.
"Because, my aunt and uncle work late on Fridays and they have a six year old," I explained to her for the thousandth time. I hated having this argument with her every other week.
"And an eleven, thirteen and, fourteen year old. And I'm pretty sure they can take care of themselves."
"They just feel more comfortable with me around."
"Why can't you just find a baby sitter this one time?" she begged.
"It's just a movie, Julia," I said, clenching the steering wheel. "If a retro movie night means so much to you, we can rent a few of them, and watch them on Saturday night, they are still the same movies."
"Why is this so important to you? And don't tell me it's because there is no one else to take care of them," she said sternly.
"Because I like seeing them, and I think I have a right to spend time with them," I said. There was a knot in my stomach. I hated having this conversation. It made me so angry that she never listened to me, and would always try to plead with me.
"But don't I have a right to spend time with you too?" she said. We were on an empty road, so I pulled over to the shoulder and I turned my car off.
"Of course you do," I said, honestly.
"Well we never seem to hang out anymore," she said, sounding a bit hurt.
"Julia, we see each other everyday."
"In school. Seriously, Eli, I feel like even if it was our anniversary, you would still go to your cousin's," she told me, looking down at her hands. I lifted her chin up, so she we looking me in the eyes.
"That is not true," I said to her, "I love you, Julia, and I would go to the ends of the world to prove that to you."
"So you'll come this Friday?" she asked hopefully.
"No," I told her. Her face dropped. "But, I will make it up to you, I promise."
"Fine," she said. I took my hand out from under her chin, and I took her hands in mine.
"I love you," I reassured her.
"I love you too," she said, a small smile creeping on her face. I kissed her gently on the lips.
"We should get to school," she said, when I pulled away.
"Yeah, we should," I agreed, and I turned on the car, and pulled off the shoulder of the road, finishing our drive to school.
I parked the car when we got to the school. Since we got there a bit later than normal, I had to take one of the spots farther from the school. We walked to the school hand-in-hand. We walked passed groups of people who were hugging and talking. I overheard a few people whispering to each other "Who are they?" "Are those the new people?" "Why did they transfer together?" and my personal favorite "I heard that they are siblings?" I tried to hold back. I always laughed at gossip, true or not, I just always found it hilarious how people could get amused by the smallest of things.
Julia and I walked we continued talking about when she was coming over that night, and the rest of our plans for that day. We got into the school, and needed to go our separate ways, because we had our first classes on opposite sides of the school.
"I'll see you at lunch?" she asked me.
"Yes, you will," I answered, then pecked her on the lips.
"I love you," I told her, when I pulled away.
"I love you too," she said. Then we went our separate ways.