And So It Goes

He called two days later and Michelle just stared at the phone in petrified horror, as it played 'We no speak Americano'. She let it go to voicemail but he didn't leave a message. The next day, he called again and she took a few deep breaths before she answered the phone. By then he'd already hung up. Several texts were started but never sent. A few times she let her hand linger over the little green phone thing so that she could call, none of which resulted in actually going through with it. Michelle didn't know what to say so saying nothing at all seemed like the best bet.

Two weeks went by. Julius never called back.

Naturally, Michelle went to the one person that always cheered her up and lit even the gloomiest of days with sunshine. Antonio seemed overjoyed when he got a phone call for some extra hands on the farm. She was just overjoyed that his voice hadn't seemed to change in years.

"I thought you'd be taller by now!" he said, walking up to her, shirtless even though it was a bit chilly outside. Michelle noted the little beads of sweat about his neck and assumed he'd gotten to work early.

He leaned down and scooped her in crushing hug that lifted her tiny frame from the ground and pressed her into his sweaty, dirty speckled chest. Mmhm, Antonio.

"Chelle?"

She blinked, "Hm?"

Antonio looked at her a bit concerned, though he had yet to but her down and this proximity was screwing with her thought process. "Are you ok? I mean, you look mucho lindo when you space out like that."

"I'm fine now," Michelle answered. How cheesy, lady. But Antonio still laughed it off.

"If you say so, hermosa."

Hermosa meant beautiful in Spanish. Beautiful in Italian was bella…Julius called her bella. Ack! Michelle squirmed out of Antonio's grip.

"So, about that work?" she quickly changed the subject looking away at the rows of vegetation and trees ready for harvesting. It should keep her mind occupied for a few hours at least.

Hopefully.

Something plopped on her head and Michelle looked up as Antonio secured the straw hat over her hair and smiled. "I found it in the shed!"

She reached up to touch it and straighten it but didn't remove it. Well, it looked nice with her two messy braids that were secured by red ribbons. "Let's get to work!"

She started with ripping every non-edible plant out of that very large walled garden. The farm wasn't that big really, just a few rows of vegetables and fruit trees, the main crop being tomatoes. Of course, it wasn't her friend's livelihood; Antonio was a kindergarten teacher but having the farm made for a great fieldtrip. The children loved coming out here to gallop through the fields or feed the chickens. Since Antonio lived alone, the kids sort of acted as free labor. Sort of.

For Michelle though, the tedium of bundling plant stalks and the grunt labour of mixing fertilizer were all too relaxing for a country girl such as herself. She felt just as comfortable in her dusty, torn, rudely stained denim overalls hanging off her shoulders with a red tube-top underneath and muddy work-boots that swallowed her feet as she would in a sundress. She didn't even mind the occasional nick or scratch of something biting her arms or neck, because the fertile black soil under all the weeds and vines was what she was after.

After ridding the plants of weeds, she moved from the garden to the fruit grove. Antonio offered her some heavy-duty gloves and a pair of shears. Michelle spent most of the time moving the ladder from one side of the tree to the other so she could prune branches and leaves. It was a cool day but midway through her labor the sweat started to set in and she tossed away the hat so she could see well.

She had to reach on her toes to get the very top of Antonio's cherry tree that was being more stubborn than his apple tree. Huffing, she was in the middle of reaching too far when she felt the ladder suddenly come free and begin to fall, her world slowing right down as the vertigo of an impending plummet caught her like a net. The shears fall from her hand-

"Woah," Omgthisisgonnahurt – "Michelle!"

For a split-second she's grateful she wasn't too high up, because one moment she's falling, awaiting impending doom and the next she's squeezing her eyes shut, prepared for the impact that wasn't quite as hard as thought. Her head was pounding and her chest felt weak and sore, but that could have been from the sudden burst of adrenaline that accompanies knowing you're about to fall to your death.

"Michelle?" Huh? "Dammit- Michelle! Are you okay?" Who the-? "Hey! Answer me!"

Michelle opened her eyes under the dappled sunlight to find that she was being cradled next to a particularly warm chest with strong arms. A booming voice that rumbled deep in his chest against her ears making her close her eyes again for a moment. Tawny skin looked so golden against the green leaves and sunlight that he looked sort of like an enchanted dream.

"Julius?" Michelle finally mumbled.

"Who? What? No, Chelle, it's me, Antonio." He shook her just a bit and she focused her vision on his face. "Are you okay?"

Antonio? So it would seem.

"I'm fine. I just…"

"You fell from my tree," he said matter-of-factly and sat her on her feet, "For a second there I thought I was gonna have to call Francis and apologize for putting you in the hospital."

She held on to him until her legs stopped shaking. Then let go so she could look up at the tree that almost caused her demise.

"Maybe you should take a break," Antonio suggested and she looked at him while he also gazed at the tree.

"I'm fine," she said and shrugged.

He pressed on, "Well, I was coming to tell you someone was looking for you anyways so you kinda have to."

Someone was looking for her? Here?

"Is it Lili?"

Antonio beamed a charming grin at her. "It's a guy, amigo."

A guy? Looking for her? Here? Michelle was doubtful but Antonio just kept beaming a lopsided grin her direction. "Fine," she conceded and went to gather her things. She sat the hat half-heartedly on her head and picked up the sheers and the small basket she had with various ripened fruits in it.

She and Antonio walked from the fruit grove while her mind contemplated who could be here for her.

You know who…Shut up brain!

Naturally, her brain was right. As they made it to the edge of the grove, Michelle spotted the lone figure sticking out amongst rows of greenery. Julius appeared to be checking out the place, fiddling with something in his hand as he stood near the tomato fields. Antonio patted her shoulders and she looked to see him wagging his eyebrows, looking also like Gilbert minus the whole albino thing. She rolled her eyes in response and shoved the handle of the shears in his gut for him to take. He feigned pain and took the shears just as Julius seemed to notice them approaching.

Antonio veered off toward his shed and Michelle, well; she clung to her basket of mixed fruit and chanted a mantra to keep calm as she approached him.

Julius looked down and eyed her for just a moment before meeting her gaze.

Michelle was not amused.

"Lili told me where I could find you," he finally said and she noted that he toyed with his car keys before casually slipping them into his pants pocket.

"What are you doing here?" she countered, being sure to sound as indifferent as possible…even if her heart was beating at an alarming.

He didn't seem bothered by her indifference at all and kept his cool demeanor. "You disappeared without letting me explain myself."

"Based on what you said and your actions, I understand how you feel loud and clear, thank you." She retorted sarcastically and pushed the basket further up her hips, "So maybe you should just go, Julius."

He raised a disbelieving brow at her and stayed put, "You want me to leave without letting me explain myself?"

Michelle wanted, very desperately to stay detached and seem unmoved. She didn't want him to know how embarrassed and hurt she felt over the whole kissing incident. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing how emotionally involved she already was.

But people very rarely get what they want and, just like them, she failed in her exploits and her emotions exploded.

"What is there to explain? You kiss someone; they don't kiss you back. They call you two days after the incident. Two days, Julius! Without so much as leaving a message and then just disappear."

"I wanted to talk to you, not a machine." Julius said, still calm, still cool but she just rolled her eyes at him. "Why are you so upset, bella?"

And there it was. That phrase that made Michele feel like he knew something about her that she didn't. Even if his eyes looked pleading, Michelle glared at him and squeezed her hands around the handle of the basket.

"Call me crazy but maybe, just maybe its because I put myself out there and kissed a guy who just looked at me in return."

"You'd had several glasses of wine," Julius pointed out. "Want did you want me to do?"

Michelle grunted and looked away, letting the rim of her hat hide half her face. "Kiss me back, you idiot! Because I thought that's the direction we were going what with all of your flirting, and bella this and cioccobella that and the lingering kisses and stuff."

He took a step forward, drawing her attention. He frowned, looking down at her as he did so. "You were drunk, what kind of man do you take me for?"

"Clearly the kind of guy who likes to jerk girls around by saying pretty things to get them all involved and then leave them." Michelle said with enough sarcasm and annoyance to get her point across.

"So I kiss you back and then what, huh?" Julius questioned, his cool demeanor slipping with indignation in his tone. "You wake up the next morning and either don't remember it or be pissed at me for taking advantage of you."

"I wasn't that drunk!"

"You could hardly stand on your own, Michelle." It was the first time he'd called her by her name. But the way he spat the word out like venom, it made her take a half step back. "I didn't just leave. I called you, twice, and you didn't so much as send me one of text that you love so much."

She chuckled without humor. "After completely embarrassing myself by displaying an affection that you obviously didn't want, did you really think I wanted to talk to you and get shot down again?"

Julius grunted in disbelief, "You're right, I didn't want to kiss you then. A sloppy, drunken kiss isn't exactly my ideal. Instead of calling be back to asking why, your solution to the problem was to avoid me instead?"

"Worked fine for the past two weeks for me," she practically sang the words.

Now it was Julius' turn to look peeved. He bit his lip as if holding back words and looked away from her for a moment to tug a hand through his hair. She waited for him, prepared with a comeback until he exhaled and removed his keys from his pocket.

Was he leaving?

He turned away completely and she was prepared to give him a farewell of her middle finger before Julius turned around so quickly, she clung to her basket in startled shock.

"You're impossible you know that," he pointed a finger at her. No smiles, no cheery disposition, just frowns and heightened emotions. "A walking breathing, contradiction of passive-aggressive stubbornness."

Michelle held her ground and turned her nose up at him, "Oh, well, thank you for your generous observation of my character." He wasn't the only one peeved here and she wasn't about to show how his booming voice just scared the hell out of her.

Her comment succeeded in making him growl in frustration. Julius grumbled something in Italian that she couldn't quite catch before he switched to English, "See, that right there is exactly what I mean. You claim to want something but everything you say and do completely contradict it. I can't read your mind, woman. I stand next you, you inch away. I tried to hold your hand and you slip it from mine. I try to talk to you and you keep me at a distance with subtle sarcasm, yet from that you wanted me to assume that you actually intended to kiss me that night?"

"Oh my God, its call playing hard to get," she yelled incredulously, "Is the concept of playing hard to get something foreign to you? "

Julius locked his jaws and narrowed his eyes and, in that moment, Michelle saw his age. It was a look that made her feel incredibly small with those eyes boring at her.

"Hard to get, you're playing hard to get? Do I look like a toy to you that you can jerk around and watch me dance? I don't play games, bella; I'm too old for that. If I want something I take it. When I wanted to take you to dinner; I told you. I went to your house to get you. When I want to talk, I call you. When I want to see you, I come to a tomato farm in the middle of fucking nowhere. If hard to get is all you can offer, than maybe it's best that I leave it where it was."

Michelle was silent as he was on a roll. She could understand now how he was such a good arts dealer. Those eyes felt like they stripped her bare and gaze at her soul.

Julius exhaled but his eyes were still fiery and she could see that she'd made him upset, "Do you honestly think you're the only one who had apprehensions about this whole thing?" he pointed to himself, "You think I make it habit of going around talking to twenty year olds at the pool, knowing that the only reason some that young would entertain me is because-,"

"Because, why?" she pointedly interrupted with narrowed eyes. If he said what she thought he was going to say…

An irritated huff escaped before he answer, "Don't give me that look, you know what I was going to say and you know it's true."

"Is that why you didn't kiss me back?"

"…I didn't say that," He said but she just kept talking over him.

"Because you think I'm only interested in you because of you're money? Do you think I'm some kind of gold digger who goes around preying on old men? You asked me what kind of man do I think you are, well what kind of woman do you take me for?" She asked but hardly gave Julius time to reply. She'd just been insulted and she was on a roll now.

"I have my own money,"

"-Michelle,"

"…My own car, my own apartment that was paid for by my brother. "

"Michelle,"

"I'm in school, on scholarship and am capable of working and paying my own way, thank you very much. I don't need your money or you for that matter."

"For the love of—shut up!" Julius yelled, "Stop putting words in my mouth. I don't think that about you. I know you're not a gold digger or, at the very least, I'm hoping you're not. Despite you being slightly crazy obviously and a pain in the ass; I like you."

She opened her mouth the closed it.

She wasn't a pain in the ass and this argument wasn't getting them anywhere. He'd admitted to liking her, which was all she really wanted to hear anyway.

"Okay fine," Michelle agreed, "you like me, so what now?"

"You tell me what you want." Julius' automatically replied.

She looked at him to see that he was completely seriously. "What?'

"What you want. What do you want, Michelle?" he stated, "No games, no playing hard to get nothing. You tell me, now, what it is you want from me."

Michelle bit her lip and looked down, the hat covering her eyes. "You know what I want, Julius," her voice sounded as small as she felt before him.

"No," he damn near commanded and walked closer. He reached a hand to lift her face up to look at him. "No, don't you do that. Don't back down from me now. Say it, Michelle, just say what you want."

She jerked her held away from his hand. Julius didn't protest but threw his hands up and grunted in annoyance when she didn't say anything.

"Jesus, woman-,"

"I want you take me on a date," She finally blurted out, cutting through his impatient protest. She was squeezing that damn basket so hard the weaving of burning her palms, "a proper date. No art shows or causal lunches."

He nodded. "Anything else?"

She thought for a moment before adding, "The next time I kiss you, kiss me back."

He nodded again, "That can be arranged. Any particular date you have in mind?"

She threw up one of her hands, "I don't know. Dinner?"

Another nod, "Alright, where?"

"Jesus Christ, Julius, this isn't a bidding at one of your art shows. Just take me to dinner."

"No," he stated clearly, "This is your date so you tell me how you want it to go."

Michelle huffed. God, this man was so difficult. She thought for a few seconds, mentally think of any restaurant she's eaten at lately. There was a restaurant that she'd been that she really liked but she dismissed that thought. "I don't know, a Caribbean place?"

"Caribbean or Africa?"

Michelle glared but Julius didn't waver. Fine, if he wanted her boss him around like her little puppy than she would do just that. "I want to go to Kabash," she stated, "It's a Moroccan restaurant by the riverfront. I want you to pick me up at six and we're going to Leaf for pre-dinner cocktails. Kabash doesn't service alcohol so we're getting it there. Make the dinner reservations for seven-thirty so we have at least an hour to drink before we eat. Afterwards, I want to walk along the river to walk off the stupidly large meal we're going to eat and from there, you can be creative."

She finished, glared, fully expecting him to outright laugh at her proposal but Julius, for the first time since she saw him in two weeks, grinned at her.

"Alright bella, I'll see you at six then."

"Tonight?" she asked in disbelief.

He chuckled and fiddled with his keys, "Unless you have a different day in mind…?"

She didn't.

"No," Michelle admitted, "Tonight is fine."

"Then, I'll see you tonight at six."

A/N: Finally, the next chapter is here! It took like a week or two. But! But, but, but, I come with peace offerings in story form! I've written another little short for this unconventional paring that is finished! Tis only three chapters so, you know, easy peasy to right! Anyways, you can go read my peace offering if you like and don't stone me to death!

-CeCe ^^