Love from, Hell

When Julie woke up the next morning, she was lying on the couch. Malcolm, of course, was not there. Julie noticed, with a small spike of happiness, that he had put a throw pillow under her head. Julie sat up and pushed her hair out of her eyes. It was quite early, but she could hear her mother tinkering around the kitchen. Julie went into the kitchen.

“Morning mum,” Julie said stretching her arms over her head.

Heather looked over at her. “Morning Jules. What are you doing up so early?” she asked curiously.

Julie dropped her arms to her sides. “I fell asleep on the couch,” she sort of answered.

Heather mother turned to frown at her. Malcolm entered the room then. Although he made no sound, both Julie and Heather turned to him, sensing his presence. He was already dressed, wearing Kyle’s clothes: light jeans and a long sleeved waffle t shirt. Although the boys were different sizes, Malcolm filled out Kyle’s clothes nicely, making them cling and hang on him differently than they did on Julie’s brother.

“Good morning Malcolm. Did you have a good sleep?” Julie’s mother asked him.

Malcolm looked at Julie and she looked back at him.

“Yes I did. Thank you,” he answered quietly.

Heather went back to her coffee-making task. “Good. Well since you both are up you can bring in any fresh raspberries. Only pick the ripe red ones Jules,” she instructed.

Julie grabbed her coat from the back door and slid her arms in. It looked a little strange since her pajama shorts were so little, but it was too early to care. Malcolm followed Julie outside.

The day was grayer than yesterday. Light clouds covered the skies now, but in the distance darker storm clouds were threatening to encroach on their territory. Julie walked over to the raspberry bush and began to examine it. She began selecting raspberries based on her mother’s criteria.

Malcolm observed Julie for a moment, and then began picking raspberries too. He was much more careful with his selection than she was, Julie noticed, taking his time to look around the bush for ideal berries.

He spied a good one near the back and reached in to pick it. He withdrew his hand sharply, making a quiet hissing noise. Julie looked at him, alarmed. Malcolm was holding his hand, and looking accusingly at the bush.

“Are you alright?” Julie asked concerned.

Malcolm looked at her and quickly let his hand drop, like nothing was wrong, but rubbed his fingers together.

“Let me look,” Julie said immediately and reached over for Malcolm’s hand.

He didn’t protest as Julie lifted his wrist. There was a small thorn stuck in the pad of Malcolm’s beautiful index finger. Julie felt bad- she should have warned him that the bush had thorns.

“Hold still,” Julie said and delicately pinched the end of the thorn. She pulled on it very carefully.

Malcolm hissed again and pulled his hand back reflexively.

“Hold still,” Julie commanded again.

“It hurts," Malcolm told her darkly.

“Well if you hold still it won't hurt as much and it will be over quicker," Julie replied.

Malcolm growled very quietly under his breath but turned into a statue. Julie quickly plucked the thorn from his finger. It was longer than she had anticipated. A tiny pearl of blood swelled at the pricked site. Malcolm rubbed it away with his thumb. They took their bowl of raspberries inside.

“It looks like there’s a storm brewing," Heather commented as she washed off the raspberries.

Julie poured herself a bowl of cornflakes and offered Malcolm a bowl as well.

He stood beside her and accepted the bowl. “Thank you,” he said very quietly.

Julie smiled and nodded at him. He was slow to express his thanks for things, but at least he always did. They ate their cornflakes in silence as Julie’s mother chattered on.

“What will you two do this afternoon?” Heather wanted to know.

“Maybe go up to Blockbuster and rent some movies for when the rain comes,” Julie said.

Malcolm looked up at her and she raised her eyebrows at him but he didn’t object.

“Ok. Don’t be gone too long. Dad and I have a dinner to go to and I want to make sure you two eat before we go,” Heather.

She was excited about going to the dinner, Julie could tell. But Julie was more preoccupied with how much she liked it when her mother said “you two”.

After breakfast, Julie got dressed and came back downstairs. Malcolm was waiting for her by the kitchen table. Heather had gone outside to get some work done in the garden before she had to get ready to go to dinner. Malcolm looked up at Julie.

“Do… you want to go to rent some movies?” Julie checked, unsure.

Malcolm nodded and stood up.

“Cool. How do you want to get there? Drive or…” Julie asked.

“Could we bike?” Malcolm asked.

Julie smiled. To him, the bike was the novelty and not his fantastic car. “Sure,” she replied.

They went outside to the shed and pulled out the bikes. Malcolm held the bikes while Julie hunted for bike locks but could only find one chain lock.

“Mom?!” she shouted.

“What?!” her mom called back.

“Where’s the other bike lock?!” Julie shouted.

“I don’t know Julie!” Heather replied.

Julie rolled her eyes; of course her mother couldn’t remember. Julie bit her lip. She didn’t want to deny Malcolm the chance to ride a bike since he clearly wanted to. She came back out, though, to tell him.

“I can only find one bike lock,” she apologized and held up the chain.

Malcolm frowned, looking down at the bikes. He pushed out her bike, relinquishing it to her to put away. Julie put her bike away. She came back out and Malcolm looked poised to put his bike away, but seemed to be thinking.

“You could sit on the handlebars,” he said finally and looked up at Julie.

She looked back at him, surprised; where had he gotten that idea?

“If you don’t mind,” Malcolm added quickly. “And then we could still bike,” he finished.

Julie could tell that Malcolm really wanted to ride the bike… and that he didn’t recognize the romantic connotations that riding on his handlebars held. Julie wondered where he had gotten the idea from, but she didn’t have any reasons to reject it.

“Um. Yeah ok,” Julie said, trying to keep her eagerness in check. She walked over to his bike and slung the bike lock around the bike’s neck.

Malcolm mounted the bike and waited patiently for Julie to get on. Julie turned around and held the handlebars behind her. She hadn’t done this before, but managed to awkwardly jump up onto the handle bars. Malcolm kept the bike perfectly steady.

Julie gripped the handlebars tightly, balancing tediously on the bike. Malcolm pushed down on the pedal, straining very little under the new weight. The forward momentum pushed Julie off balance and she had to lean back against Malcolm’s shoulder. He adjusted quickly, leaning his head forward, so that it was next to hers. Julie felt her skin tingle, leaning against Malcolm as he pedaled out of the driveway.

Malcolm biked easily down Julie’s road. Although he seemed perfectly in control, Julie gripped the handlebars anyway, frightened she’d fall if she let go. And the proximity of Malcolm’s face to hers was making her very tense… though in a good way. When he turned the corner, the unfamiliar shifting of the equilibrium freaked her out and she squeezed her eyes shut gasping quietly. She thought she could hear Malcolm chuckle very quietly under his breath.

Malcolm sped up down a longer stretch of residential road. With the new speed and the wind blowing her hair, Julie cautiously opened her eyes. It felt kind of exciting. She experimented loosening her iron grip on the handlebars and raised her arms just a little. Julie smiled and raised her arms a little higher. It felt like flying. She grinned.

Malcolm swerved suddenly. Julie shrieked a little and gripped the handlebars again. Malcolm chuckled and she glared at him accusingly. But his face was too close and too beautiful to glare at for long and she stared as he glanced at her, his dark face unapologetic. But he didn’t swerve anymore so after a minute, Julie loosened her grip again so her hands were only slightly resting on the handlebars. When they biked past a dog that was catching a Frisbee, for some reason Malcolm was intrigued by this and stared at the dog.

“Watch the road,” Julie panicked, gripping the handlebars again although the smooth bike ride didn’t sway at all. She knew her panic was irrational, but she couldn’t help it.

Malcolm looked forward again, and then looked straight up at the sky. “Look at that cloud Julie,” he said quietly, his stunning voice teasing.

“Don’t Malcolm!” she cried, tapping insistently on the handlebars.

He chuckled again. Julie felt a surge of happiness when he returned to looking at the road. She’d never addressed him directly by his name (which was a little strange, she realized) but she enjoyed saying it very much. Probably more than she should.

They arrived at Blockbuster and Julie slid ungracefully off the bike despite her best efforts. Julie showed Malcolm how to lock the bike up to the bike racks and then they went inside.

Julie did a quick lap around the new selection of movies and found nothing interesting. Malcolm quietly followed her, his hands in his pockets. Julie wandered into the rows of older movies.

“What do you feel like watching?” Julie finally asked, turning back to Malcolm.

Malcolm looked down at Julie. “Whatever you like,” he shrugged indifferently.

Julie paused, looking at the wide selection. She decided she’d need to administer a test to see just what Malcolm’s movie repertoire was like.

“Have you seen… Jaws?” Julie tried. She glanced up at Malcolm from the corners of her eyes and held out the DVD cover.

Malcolm looked at it and shook his head. Julie handed it to him decisively. Malcolm took it obediently. Julie continued slowly down the row. Jaws was a classic, but she needed something even more undeniably popular...

“Have you seen the Matrix?” Julie asked, picking up the movie.

Malcolm frowned at the title and looked at the cover. He shook his head. Julie nodded then.

“Ok. Your movie education begins now,” Julie said and handed him the Matrix.

Malcolm smiled and took the movie. Julie turned away, moving on and trying to ignore her heart beating faster at Malcolm’s smile. She ‘hmmed’ at the rows of DVDs. What was essential for Malcolm to watch versus frivolous? She didn’t want to fail him in trying to supply the classics. She took a long time, trying to be thorough. Malcolm didn’t seem to mind in the least.

They were in the 007 collection and Julie was having a particularly difficult time selecting which James Bond would be the epitome of the series. She knew that it would have to be one that featured Sean Connery, but she wasn’t sure exactly which movie. Julie glanced up over the movies, trying to remember the plot of Dr. No, when she suddenly ducked behind Malcolm.

He’d been reading the synopsis of Indian Jones and the Last Crusade and looked around at her startled, twisting to his left and right since she was directly behind him. “What are you doing?” he asked her.

“Don’t move. There is a guy who went to my high school over in the comedy section,” Julie said to him.

Malcolm looked over the aisles in the comedy section. “So... then, why are you hiding?” he asked, confused.

“Because if he sees me he’ll come over and talk to me and I don't want him, too,” Julie explained.

Malcolm nodded and then returned to reading the Indian Jones synopsis. He was good at pretending Julie wasn’t there-

“Julie?”

“Crap,” Julie muttered.

The guy, Anthony, had sidled over to their aisle. Julie straightened up from behind Malcolm. Malcolm glanced at Julie then went back to the DVD cover.

“Hey! I thought it was you! How’s it going? I haven’t seen you since high school. Well I guess that makes sense since I went to Brown and you stayed locally. You’re going to school here in Kansas, right?” Anthony said. He was taller than Julie but not as tall as Malcolm. Anthony had short brown hair, a shiny forehead, cheeks like a chipmunk and very tanned arms.

“Right,” Julie answered and smiled awkwardly at Anthony.

Anthony cleared his throat and glanced at Malcolm then back at Julie.

“Oh, um, this is my friend, Malcolm,” Julie said, putting an emphasis on friend, hoping Malcolm would notice.

Malcolm did and smiled a little so only Julie could see.

“Malcolm this is Anthony. We went to high school together,” she explained to Malcolm.

Anthony held out his hand and Malcolm shook it.

“I was the mega dork class president,” Anthony grinned at Malcolm.

Malcolm raised his eyebrows and nodded. Anthony inhaled and nodded as well, awkward in Malcolm's silence.

He turned to Julie again. “So I guess you’re on your spring break now too eh?” he said.

Julie nodded.

“That’s cool. Did you hear about Matt’s party?” Anthony asked.

Julie shook her head. Matt was another guy that went to her high school, but had opted not to further his education.

“You should come. Its tomorrow night. It’s gonna be a huge shin-dig. The old crowd is going to be there,” Anthony went on.

Julie nodded, raising her eyebrows. She didn’t really want to see the ‘old’ crowd because he was referring to the more popuular kids and they weren’t really her crowd. Or Anthony’s crowd, really, since he’d been too busy being class president to have friends.

“I’m sure you see them all the time, huh?” Anthony said.

Julie shook her head.

“Really? You should totally come to the party Julie. I’ll bet they’d like to see you,” Anthony encouraged, grinning for emphasis.

Julie glanced at Malcolm, wondering if he had any interest in going to a party. Of course, he was reading the back of the Matrix and seemed to not even be aware that a conversation was going on in front of him.

“Uh, well... we’ll try to be there,” Julie answered diplomatically.

Anthony’s grin faltered a bit at the mention of ‘we’ and he glanced at Malcolm anxiously, but then he recovered and smiled. “Awesome. Well I’d better run along, got a million things to do. Hopefully I’ll see you later!” he said with a big wave as he walked off.

Julie scratched her neck. Malcolm looked up and watched Anthony bustle out of the store.

“I can see why you tried to avoid him,” Malcolm said simply.

Julie breathed a chuckle. She made a quick decision and selected Goldfinger from the James Bond series and lead Malcolm to the counter. The girl behind the counter amazingly checked out both their movies and Malcolm simultaneously. Malcolm ignored her completely.

Outside, Julie unlocked the bike and slung the bag of DVDs as close to the middle of the handlebars as possible. Malcolm held the bike still as she hopped back up on the handlebars.

When they’d been cycling for awhile and Julie was comfortable and relaxing her grip again, Malcolm finally said “I suppose the ‘old crowd’ are people you went to school with."

Julie made a face. “Yes,” she answered.

“Do you want to go to the party?” Malcolm wondered.

“Do you?” Julie asked surprised.

Malcolm glanced at her. “I don’t think I was invited,” he said.

Julie could hear in his voice that he could have cared less about being invited, but wondered what Julie thought of it.

Julie shrugged. “Who cares?” she said; no one would deny Malcolm entry to any party.

“Well then, should we go?” Malcolm asked her.

Julie enjoyed very much his use of the word ‘we’. “We could. It would be something to do,” he said, trying to hide the excitement in her voice. She didn’t really want to go the party itself, but she did want to go with Malcolm.

“Then we should,” Malcolm decided.

They rode along in silence for awhile.

“Have you ever been to a high school kind of party?” Julie asked, curiously. She guessed that he hadn’t, but didn’t want to assume.

Malcolm glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “No,” he answered simply.

Julie nodded, thinking he was lucky.

“This will be an experience, then,” Julie noted.

Malcolm laughed at that and Julie grinned while her heart raced when his echo-y laugh washed over her.