The next couple of days went by slow for Julia the time seemed to be working slower by the minute. As much as she tried to avoid the thought of nick, he only was in her mind more.

Her work was clumsily done, and she purposely avoided her friends. Especially Cassie. She was humiliated! The reason she hung up didn't have a good excuse, all her friend did was bring up a guy. A guy, that's all he is, Julia would comfort, and He's nothing, nothing worth risking myself for.

Julia sighed heavily and made way across the empty campus of Jefferson High, stopping at an vacant lunch table. Reaching into her purse, she pulled out a class-required book she had enjoyed from the first day of reading it, and decided to get ahead of her class.

It was her free period, so she had a whole hour to herself. Apparently, none of her friends had the same free time as her. As grateful as she was at the time, she knew it was going to get harder as the year progressed on without any company. Settling down, she began to pick up where she left off, and felt herself entering the shoes of the character, suddenly no longer being Julia Carter.

That was her favorite part of reading, it was being able to be someone else, go on her own adventure, see things from another point of view...

"Hi." The page Julia was reading suddenly came into focus and the world that she had built from the story shattered. Quickly she glanced up at who was talking to her, and felt her heart nearly stop from the sight. Nick stood there, looking like he wasn't really sure he wanted to be there himself. "Hey, look, about last Monday..." he trailed off, and looked away.

Julia wasn't exactly sure how to respond to the little that he said, she didn't even know if he wanted her to, or if he was going to eventually continue. Slowly she marked her page and closed the book, staring at a distant trashcan. "Shouldn't you be in class?" She wanted to sound kind enough to care, but it ended up sounding rather redundant instead.

Nick, slightly taken aback silently walked to the other side of the table and took a seat, dropping his backpack right next to him. "It's my free period, but why would you care?" Julia bit her lip and looked down, feeling the harshness hit her hard. She knew she deserved it though.

"Look, I haven't really been myself lately," she said rather quietly. Nick leaned his elbows against the table and leaned forward, trying to catch her eyes.

"Ok, I guess that's fair." He paused a moment, letting the awkwardness settle between them. "Would you at your normal self have accepted my offer out on a date?"

Julia sat straighter and caught his gaze, staring wide-eyed. She knew exactly what her usual self would have done, but it was her new self she had to worry about. What she wanted was to accept right there, and completely allow herself to fall for him, since she had been falling for him over the last few days by herself. However, the sheltered part of her still terrified her of the thought of being hurt in the end, like so many people she knew.

"Julia?"

"Well—well, no," she faltered. She caught Nick's gaze, and saw him start to nod to himself, watching him hold back some emotion. "I think I'd better go," she said suddenly, seeing he wanted an answer. And frankly, Julia wasn't ready to tell him she was falling for him just as much as he was for her.

She let her book fall into the opening of her purse, and was already halfway over the bench she was sitting on. Just when she was turning to get away, she felt the warmth of Nick's hand slide over and wrap around hers. Of course this was a simple gesture, but she couldn't help but notice how smooth and rough his hand felt at once. Along with how gentle it was, and she felt herself back in his kitchen, feeling this same hand running lightly across her face.

"Don't go," he whispered, tightening his hold just a little, giving almost a pleading squeeze. "You've run away from me enough lately." Guiltily, Julia looked down and allowed him to slowly lead her back to her seat, only now he was no longer sitting opposite her; now he was sitting right at her side. "Look, I really want to talk to you about Monday. You don't even have to say anything. Just sit and listen for all I care, just please, please hear me out."

"Alright."

"Ok," Nick let his hand slide off of hers and placed it firmly on his lap, folding it with his other. "To be honest, I've never kissed a girl I met in one day. This may sound like an excuse, but you were different." He tried to keep a steady gaze with her; still she looked at everything else that wasn't him. "I couldn't get you off my mind all day, and when we were alone in my kitchen, with your face suddenly so close to mine—I—I don't know, I was entranced or something." His words stumbled over themselves as he talked; yet he continued anyways. "Since then, you haven't left my mind." He shook his head slightly to himself and then added, "I really hope I didn't offend you that night, though."

Julia was speechless. She wasn't sure what she wanted to say to this. She wasn't offended at all; it was like a dream when they were together. Even for her, when she had vowed secretly she would never let herself fall in love after her father lost her mom, or after her friends would be heart broken after a relationship ended, thought that night was just magic. However, she had no idea how she was to explain this to Nick.

"Look, I understand if you just want me to go away and leave you alone from now on. And I will. I just needed to try, just try one last time to explain to you that I really like you. What really hurts is that I don't know if you even believe me or not. And whatever you want to be believe is all up to you now." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumbled piece of paper and handed it to her. "Right now, I at least know I tried. That's all I can do. See you around."

"Wait--,"

"Later." He threw his backpack over his shoulder and started to head off. He looked back three times, Julia had counted, and still, she didn't call after him. When he was gone she eventually realized she wanted to call him, but now it was too late.

Julia felt herself start to feel overwhelmed with sadness. Why she had not told him? Or even at least said she wanted to be friends? She didn't do either; she just sat there and listened. She heard him out and didn't do anything about it. She quickly wiped her hand across her eyes, feeling crying in the next category of emotions for her.

Slowly she opened up the crumbled piece of paper and found it saying:

349-8829

Call me.

Julia's index finger played with the buttons on her phone, over and over again dialing Nick's number, but pushing too softly to actually be dialing his number. She would mumble as she outlined the different numbers, just talking quietly to herself. "3--," after saying it she would outline the number and then, "4--," outline that number a moment later. It just went on and on. She wanted to call, she wished she had the courage to call and say the four simple words, "Hi, is Nick there?"

She couldn't do it though. All she managed was to stare at the number pad, letting her finger tip glide across the seven numbers that would connect Nick and her on the same line. Landon questioned her at first, when he saw his daughter just sitting on her bed, mesmerized by outlining Nick's number.

"Julia, honey, are you alright?" he asked, waiting patiently for an answer, sitting right in front of her.

"Yeah," she replied, her voice not sounding at all like her own. "I'm just outlining some numbers, I'm fine."

Landon didn't say anything, quite sure Julia was far from okay, but still decided it was best if he left her alone for a while. Kissing her lightly on her forehead, he slowly left her room, watching all the way until he shut her door fully.

Julia suddenly dialed the first three numbers, feeling her finger pushing down the keys so they beeped and signaled she was actually about to call someone. Then, she hung up. She couldn't call. Then she tried it again, only this time, she managed to type in all of the numbers... However, her nerves took hold of her at the first ring and she found herself hanging up once more.

Stupid, stupid! Why can't I just call? Just to get it over with? Why, why, wh--. Ring! Julia dropped the phone as soon as it rang. Since she was deep in thought the obnoxious ring was louder and more pronounced then she had wished. Gathering herself together a second she picked up the ringing phone, wishing deeply she had caller I.D. Unfortunately she did not.

"Hello?" she questioned the caller. The line was silent a moment, just absolutely nothing. Julia could tell, however, that the caller was still on the other line because she could hear the background noises. "Hello?" she tried again, "Is anybody there?"

"You called?" Immediately Julia knew who was on the phone, and had to resist the strong urge to just hang up, and call it quits. Her finger wouldn't follow through with the command. It just dangled in her lap, nearly lifeless, while the other tangled itself in her phone cord.

"This is Nick," she said back, trying to make it a question. Unfortunately, it sounded much more like a statement. There was silence, and somehow Julia knew Nick was waited for her to talk first. She had to talk first, so he would know why she had called only minutes before.

"Well, what you said today," I began, swallowing hard, "Well, you did try, and I'm glad." She twisted the phone cord tighter around her finger, "I guess, well, lately I haven't been myself; I'm opening up to new things. I guess you could say. I guess, I'm not very good at admitting things." She sighed in defeat as she finished.

Silence engulfed the line for another minute, to where she began to wonder if Nick wanted her to say more. "Admitting what?"

"There's some things I haven't told you," Julia whispered, slowly lying back on her bed. "I guess one thing I really should tell you," she swallowed back her pride and said just loud enough for Nick to make out, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry? Wait a second," he began, she quickly talked over him.

"Just hear me out, alright?" There was silence, just the silence she gave Nick when he needed it. "I thought about you all day Monday too, and, at your house." She paused, feeling a blush coming at the thought of his face so close to hers, with his gentle hand brushing against her face. "It's a long story why I've been pulling away, and I'd rather not explain now." Julia stopped a moment, feeling the question she had been longing to ask him since Monday night. "Nick?"

"Yeah?"

"Is it too late to accept the date offer?" her heart nearly burst from her chest it was pounding so hard, and she was sure her finger was suffocating from loss of blood with the phone cord wrapped around it so tightly.

"You're still interested?" Nick sounded somewhat surprised, Julia noticed, and she was surprised he had even asked.

What shocked her more, however, was the next set of words that played on her lips, "Nick, you gave a chance and tried to get me to notice you. I noticed, and now it's my turn to take a risk. Yes, I am interested, and if you're still willing, I'll go with you."

A/N I don't think I did this chapter as well as I could have, but please review and tell me what you think. Thanks!