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With her head propped up on her hand, Julian looked down at the man next to her in bed. He was snoring slightly, his black hair slung over his face, and the dark circles under his eyes seemed to have lessened. Julian felt weird about this whole situation - Conor was 33 years old. That’s a 16 year time difference. She frowned at the thought and tried to slide out of bed but the arm around her waist only tightened. Leaning towards him and grabbing his hand, she murmured, “Conor, you gotta let me go, I need to talk to Leigh.”

He cracked his eyes a bit before letting her out of his grip, and she scurried from the room while trying to pull clothes on. Leigh was up and awake, prodding Conor’s coffee maker. She spared a glance to Julian, before going back to trying to work the machine, “So he didn’t take advantage of you - it’s the other way around, you tramp,” Julian laughed and hopped up to sit on the counter.

“I feel like one. Have you thought of anything yet?”

“Remember the guy at the 7-11 last night? Well, I talked to him about transportation and he said that the next Greyhound bus to Denver leaves in two days. I was thinking we could go off to the bus station today and get tickets,” Leigh finally got the coffee maker to work, and soon the house began to smell like it.

“That’s awesome, that’ll bring us a hell of a lot farther.”

“Definitely. Has your mom called yet?”

“She won’t. At least, not until tomorrow morning, maybe. We’re supposed to be back tonight…” Julian trailed off and let their conversation die. The both of them began to think of what would happen once their mothers called the cops and started a full on search for them. Both of the girls jumped when the door behind them opened, and Conor shambled out looking like a mess.

“Good morning, Conor,” Julian called over her shoulder, and Leigh mocked her tone. Julian threw her a glare and looked back down at her lap. That’s another thing - she didn’t know what to do about Conor. A 33 year old man that she slept with on a whim. He dumped his whole past on her, and Julian doubted he would be so quick to just forget about her. You don’t just do something like that to a person… right?

*

Tickets in hand, Julian and Leigh stopped off at the 7-11 again before heading back to Conor’s apartment. Before they entered, they were called out by a trio of teenagers clustered at the corner of the building. Leigh gave them a once-over before dragging Julian over to them.

“Hello, ladies,” the tallest one said, his face set in a sly grin. His black hair was spiked all over, and he was wearing a leather jacket like one of those cheesy movies. He introduced himself as Brian, and the other two boys with him were Joshua and Michael.

“You girls wanna hang around? It’s not often we see such pretty ladies like you out here.”

“Oh, you charmer,” Leigh giggled a little too obviously, and Julian tugged on her elbow.

“Maybe we should go, Leigh-”

“Don’t be such a downer. We’re going to Josh’s place here in a bit, got some good shit if you want in,” Michael pulled the corner of a bag out of his pocket, filled to the brim with something white - Julian had an idea on the contents. Julian tried to catch Leigh’s eye and send her a pleading look, but the girl only grinned at Michael and gave a nod.

As she half-heartedly followed Leigh down the street with the three boys, she felt a sinking in her stomach, like something bad was going to happen. Leigh seemed to pick up on this and asked the trio of guys to wait while she pulled Julian to the side.

“What’s wrong, girly?”

“I’ve got a bad feeling, Leigh-”

“We’re just gonna go to their place, do a few lines and hang out, that’s all.”

“I just have a bad feeling, okay? I’m not going. At least give me your important stuff so you don’t lose it when you’re blasted,” Leigh rolled her eyes and dug around in her pockets to fish out her wallet, keys and money. After pocketing these items, Julian pointed to Leigh’s chest.

“Bus ticket, too,” Leigh laughed at forgetting, and fished around in her bra for the paper ticket, “Sorry, you know I’m not in to hard shit. Call me when you’re done.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Leigh ran off to the boys before Julian turned back to the gas station to begin her way back to Conor’s apartment. She still felt like something bad was going to happen, but there was nothing Julian could do to stop Leigh. Leigh would just have to find out on her own.

Conor let Julian in after a few knocks, and looked around for Leigh out in the hallway. Julian explained that Leigh left to do lines with some guys and Conor sighed, “She’s gonna get in trouble one day.”

“I hope it’s not tonight,” Julian grumbled, as she began shoving Leigh’s belongings into the girl’s suitcase. Conor leaned against the doorjamb to the kitchen and watched her as she fiddled with the bus tickets in her hands. He asked what they were, and she held them up so he could see.

“Leigh and I are taking a bus to Denver.”

“That’s a long way. When are you leaving?”

“Day after tomorrow. Bus boards at 7 AM,” Julian tucked the tickets into the front pocket of her suitcase and turned to look at Conor as she sat on the floor. They were both silent before he sighed and moved to sit on the floor across from her.

“I wish you would stay longer.”

“You don’t even know me.”

“I want to, though,” he gave her a small smile, and even though Julian tried to offer one back it didn’t turn out right. Conor seemed to notice and raked a hand through his hair that he hadn’t combed since that morning, “It’s weird, I know.”

“I know that you know,” she offered back, finally managing to muster up a smile before looking down at her hands, “I’m so scared, Conor.”

Conor looked at her without a sound, and she took that as her cue to explain, “What if my Dad doesn’t really want me? I mean, he wrote me all those letters but I feel like if I go up to his house and finally see him face-to-face, he’s going to realize that I’m just this little girl that thinks she’s all big and tough-”

“Who’s also caring, has a good head on her shoulders-”

“Good head on my shoulders!?” Julian laughed and laughed, before wiping her eyes, “Conor I took off on a road trip across the country to find a man I know nothing about. I don’t know what he looks like, I don’t even know his name. I only have this idea, something so far fetched and out of this world that I don’t even believe it, but it all makes sense.”

“What’s your idea? Who do you think it is?”

“You’re going to think I’m crazy. Lemme tell you my story first though, okay? You told yours, I tell mine,” He agreed that this was fair and reached for her hand. She let him take it, but didn’t bother to squeeze his hand or offer any affection.

“I was born on April 19th of 1994 in Belleville, New Jersey. I was a mistake, I guess. Two teenagers going at it without protection can do that. My dad was real big into drugs and alcohol back then, and after I was born she pretty much shunned him after a few months. My mom and I moved to Wisconsin and from then on I grew up with her. Even though my mom hated it, my Dad would always send me letters, they always came on Mondays. I kept every letter that he ever wrote to me. Mom never let me write back though, she was really anal about that,” Julian explained how he sent her his address in Los Angeles, and how she set out to find out his identity. She outlined all of the details she ever gleaned from the letters, and told him how the most logical person that her father could be was one Mr. Way.

“It makes sense though,” Conor gave a sage-like nod, and finally released her hand that was starting to get sweaty.

“You don’t think I’m crazy?”

“Definitely not. From what I can tell, your father loves you very much. I know that won’t change when you find him, Julian.”

“Thank you, Conor,” Julian whispered, leaning forward to press a kiss at his cheek. He turned as she was pulling back and gave her a kiss in return at the corner of her mouth. Then another, then another. Conor guided her to lay back on the floor, not breaking their heated kiss as he did so. He made to lift her shirt off but Julian’s phone began to ring in her pocket. She broke away, breathing heavily, and looked at who it was.

Her stomach dropped when she saw that it said “Mother”.