We can't be friends

Houstwift Cutscenes.

.::.

She can't believe him.

She thought she could trust him, he told her she didn't have to run away and yet there he was, coming up with poorly disguised excuses to talk to her, to get close to her and to tempt her. Again.

She's with Frank. Frank is in the building at this very moment.

Just went down to get food, actually. How convenient.

He's smiling at her, he shouldn't be smiling at her. He brought her coffee. She groans internally.

To anyone else, it would be completely innocent, no one would notice and of course no one has. What they don't know though is that this is how he got her in the first place. This is how their affair started. He can't do that.

So she walks down the hallway and he follows her, of course he does, always does. (She lov- hates it. She hates it, it's infuriating.)

"Jules it's just coffee" He says as she reaches her hotel room.

"You can't do that." He has to understand, the random acts of kindness every day were her downfall in the first place, she needs to stay away from him. "You can't act like we're friends. We're not." She's hurting him. She can see it on his face, hates it, and because she can't stand it, she decides that she wants to make him feel better. "We can't be." it's not that she doesn't want to, it's just that they can't.

He doesn't seem to understand though. "We can be friends. We are friends."

He can be so infuriating sometimes. How is he not realizing what is happening? "You just called me Jules."

"Yeah I did, it's just a nickname." She scoffs.

"Michael… we both know it really isn't." It's actually way more than just a nickname. He only calls her that when he wants her, when he's desperate for her, when they're this close to slipping up, again.

Or once they already have.

This time he gets it though if the look he gives her is any indication. But then his expression softens and smiles. "We can be friends, Julia." and she hates him for the emphasis on her name.

She hates him so much she smiles. Considering it for a minute, she knows they could. For a short while at least. "Do you really think we can?" she asks, because genuinely, he cannot be this naive and think that this time around magically they won't make the same mistakes they did before. Twice.

"Yes. I do." Apparently, he is.

"I don't." She sighs. If she thought they could do it she honestly would, he's a great guy. Kind, smart, funny, caring, loyal.. and this is exactly why she can't be friends with him.

"Why?" He's testing her patience. She can see it in his eyes. Maybe he thinks he can break her, maybe he thinks he could change her mind, and he should know he can't do that. He should know how little it would take.

But she can't tell him that. "We both know why. And how that would go."

"No, we don't. it's going to be fine," She's leaving. She can't keep having the same conversation with him. She can't. Her resolve would crumble. She's about to leave, she swears she is, she even turns around to do so but then- "i care about you i- we're over. I get that. I respect that and you know it I wouldn't- I just want to be your friend. I want you in my life. Friends is good, friends is safe. I don't want- I'm not looking for anything else."

This time she laughs as she turns back. He's cute when he babbles. No, he's not. She needs to stop thinking like that. "You literally just proved my point by not being able to say you don't want me." She tries to sound annoyed but she can't help being amused. They really have it bad, don't they?

"I don't. Not anymore. Not in that way." She can't help but raise an eyebrow at that.

"Alright, you think I'm wrong? You think we could be just friends, get together sometimes, chat about our lives and have fun?" She needs to ask, he can't actually mean that, can he?

"What I'm saying is we're both adults here." Still not saying that she's wrong. She can see right through him. "So yes, I think we could do it."

"Let me tell you how that's going to go." Because really, he seems like he needs to hear it. Hear what they both know. "First, we'll be fine. We'll get coffee, talk, it'll be fine. It will, because we are similar and we could be great friends." He's about to agree, tell her that she's proving his point but she's not done. "We're also very good at convincing ourselves we can resist each other." She raises an eyebrow because really, that he can't deny. They tried that. They failed. "But then because we will be fine at first we'll do it more often because we would enjoy each other's company, we'd think we're safe and then with time we won't be able to pretend we don't want each other anymore." She realizes that she didn't use past tense too late, but if she's being honest she doesn't really want to take it back. It's the truth. "Don't smile, you know I'm right." He does smile though. God, he needs to stop smiling. "Before we know it the coffees and talks won't be in public anymore, we'll find excuses to be alone together, accidentally get closer and closer until we stop pretending we're getting coffee altogether and one of us throws themselves at the other."

He looks scared. Like he's done something wrong all of a sudden, "I respect your choice I wouldn't-"

And no, she can't let him think that. It's not on him, he's only human and it just so happens that she has stronger resolve than he does… or so he thinks. "I never said it would be you."

That takes him by surprise. Every time they slipped up, he always instigated the beginning of the affair. Sure, once it was on the table and she decided to stop fighting it, she had initiated almost as much as he had, but he was always the one taking that first step. "I could push you back." He seems truly convinced of that, it's cute. He's never been able to before, always caved to her advances, this time would not be any different.

She replies "Could you?"

"Yes." He smirks. Actually smirks at her. That- He's just- God he's infuriating.

"You could?" She's daring him now. Daring him to say he could when she knows damn well he couldn't. She has experience on her side.

"Yes, I could." She's going to ki- slap him. She's going to slap him. He's provoking her and she knows it. "And we'd be in public."

Ha. She smirks, like that's stopped them before. But even so, she just knows how they work. They'd find a way. "Until we wouldn't be."

"I would resist you." He truly believes that, doesn't he? He's truly convinced that if she tried to get through to him he wouldn't break any rules. She smirks. Alright.

If he's so convinced then she's going to play.

She's going to prove him wrong.

"Even if I told you I want you?" She takes a step closer. Just one.

"Yes." As if to prove his point, he takes a step away from her and is now leaning against the wall and yet whatever he could do, she would know is not what he truly wants. It's all in his eyes.

She's not done though. Not by a long shot. So she keeps walking towards him until she's almost fully pressing against him. "Even if I got really close to you, so you could feel my breath on your ear as I whispered that you are my biggest temptation?" He shivers but doesn't try to hold her, doesn't lean towards her. Yet. Which is why, and the only reason why, she keeps going. "That I can't stop thinking about you? About kissing you?" This is a bad idea. She should've been talking about something else, not what she actually wants. He is now fully pressed against the wall next to her door and she's against him.

"Yes." He's full of shit. She's breathing down his neck, but she knows him. She doesn't have to see to know his eyes are closed, she can feel his body tense, she knows he put his hands in his pocket to stop himself from reaching out and touch her. She loves a challenge.

So she decides to cross boundaries. And it's the last time, she swears, but he's right there and she just- she will prove him wrong. That's all this is. "And what if I kissed your neck? Wrapped my arms around you and told you how much I miss y- missed you." She says between kisses on his neck. He smells good. She shouldn't acknowledge that, she's just proving her point, but he does… and she needs to stay focused on her goal and not get lost in him.

He moans. She hears it. "You wouldn't do that." He says to cover it up yet she smiles through the kisses. Decides to let her hands touch and explore, it's the last time she can do this after all. (is it really?)

"Wouldn't I?" He likes to underestimate her, doesn't he? He shouldn't. Everyone knows that once she wants something, sets her mind up to something, she doesn't let go until she has it, and right now she wants him.

She needs to stop though. She needs to stop because this is getting to her and soon it's not going to be about proving him wrong anymore. Not yet though. He's going to crack. Soon. She can hear his breathing getting faster. (What if hers is as well? she's just proving a point.)

"No, you wouldn't." Now whispering too and she hates him for it. He can't whisper things to her while she's kissing his neck. That gets her and he knows it, it's unfair. She can't think, she can't- that's- she needs to take a step back before she loses control of this.

She doesn't. She's always found it fun to provoke him, tease him, and she's having a hard time stopping. She runs her hand through his hair. "You know how I get when I really want you." He knows. He's experienced it. And since she's being honest… "You know I couldn't care less about almost anything else when you're this close to me." This should bring her back, this should be the point where she realizes what she's doing (she already knows) and steps back (she doesn't) but she can't. Her brain is now as clouded as his is. "We both know I'm not above begging." He inhales sharply at that. He knows she's not.

"I would push you back." He says, yet doesn't. So she moves her kisses to his jaw and he starts to break. Gets his hands out of his pocket. She almost got him. He still isn't reaching for her yet, still trying. It's almost sweet. It's killing her. She needs to break him before she loses her common sense and breaks first.

"Would you really? Or would you pull me closer?" Her voice is deeper, darker than she heard in a while. In weeks actually. Just as she says it, he breaks. Reaches for her and pulls her closer. Let his hands move up and down her back. She shivers. Can't help but taunt him a bit more. "Let your hands touch every part of me you never could if we were just friends? Breathe in my scent? Try to kiss me, knowing full well you drive me crazy and I couldn't step away…"

She avoids him just in time.

He was this close to kissing her, she was this close to letting him.

But she knew that if he kissed her, everything would break. If he kissed her, she would send it all to hell and drag him into her hotel room. If he kissed her, there would be no stopping and she couldn't do that.

So she avoids him. Steps back entirely. She tries to steady her breathing and smiles.

She got him.

He knows she did. Doesn't say anything because he knows she got him.

She proved him wrong.

"We couldn't be friends." She says, still breathless. " I want you too much."

She needs to get out of here. She can still see the longing in his eyes and it's breaking her. Making her want things she shouldn't. Making her want to jump back into his arms and kiss him. She debates for a second about getting into her room but she knows if she does that, he will try to follow her and right now she's not sure she would have the willpower to close the door before he gets in. Quite frankly, by trying to play with him she played herself. She thought she could handle it, she thought it would be fine, she was fine staring at him for almost two weeks now so why would that change?

She couldn't have been more wrong. The feelings didn't simmer down, she just stopped paying attention but now she had been foolish and now they were back with a vengeance to the point she actually was almost considering opening the door to that room and inviting him in. No one would know, Frank went to dinner with Leo, the cast was still rehearsing…

She couldn't give in though, not this time.

So she runs.