Bums

As the phone vibrated in her hands and chimed, Julian stared down at the caller I.D. with dread. Mother. On the final ring, she finally answered the call and held the phone up to her ear.

“Where are you.”

“We decided to stay another night-”

“Absolutely not. You get home now.”

“See, we can’t,” Julian decided that it was finally time to be done with all of the lies - hers, and her mother’s, “I’m not coming home. I’m so sick of you keeping things from me, Mom. Leigh and I never went to Chicago. I won’t tell you where we are, or where we’re going.”

“You ran away!? Julian Gina Hill, I swear to God that I will call the police if you do not tell me where you are right now. What have I don’t to make you leave? I nurtured you as you grew up, I made it so you never went without food, clothing or shelter-”

“But I went without a father,” Julian ended the call quickly, and looked up to see Conor pushing himself off the floor to find his jacket and shoes. When she questioned what he was doing, he stopped his search and gave her a frown.

“If you stay here and wait for that bus, your Mom will have found you by then and dragged you home. Call Leigh, tell her to get here now. We’re leaving.”

“We?” Conor didn’t answer Julian, so she tried to call Leigh’s number. When the girl answered, Julian couldn’t understand the jumbled mess of speech that was spouting from her friend. Conor reached over, ended the call, and turned the phone off.

“That answers that, I guess. We have two options, Julian,” Julian asked what they were, and he reached to pull her up with both hands. Keeping their hands together, he leaned forward to press a kiss at the corner of her mouth, “We can find her, or leave her.”

“Kind of a sick way to get me to elope with you, Conor.”

“Well, I don’t particularly want her with on the honeymoon.”

“Help me find her… please,” she trailed off, and Conor gave her another kiss on the lips.

“Of course, but we have to be fast,” He gave her hands a quick squeeze before shutting the lights off in the apartment and helping Julian carry the suitcases down to his car. With Julian in the passenger’s seat directing him, Conor drove to where the two girls had split up before. On the way, Julian reached for his hand seeking reassurance, and he entwined their fingers.

“Scared?” He asked, and she nodded mutely, not bothering to hide her anxious fidgeting. He smiled and squeezed her hand again to try and comfort her, “I won’t let them take you.”

“How poetic,” she whispered, earning a small laugh from the man in the driver’s seat.

As they pulled onto the road that Julian indicated, they saw a female figure stumbling quickly down the street, a glowing phone clutched in her hands. Julian hopped out of the car before Conor could pull to a complete stop, and ran over to her stoned friend.

Julian scooped up Leigh into a tight squeeze and Leigh mumbled into her neck, “Mom, mom called, said we’re in trouble, calling the cops-”

“I know, I know. We’re leaving, c’mon.”

“Howdyou get a car?” Leigh asked as Julian helped her lay in the backseat. Conor waved at her from the front and Leigh let out an unintelligible noise. Julian forced out a laugh and climbed back into her own seat as Conor took off in the direction that Julian hoped California was in.

It was early into the next morning before Julian finally spoke, asking Conor why he was doing this. He smiled and said that he wanted her to meet her Dad, especially after all this trouble. Conor explained that he had only just met her, but something inside him pulled him to her.

“What do you want with me, Conor?” she whispered, afraid to wake up Leigh in the back seat, and afraid to speak louder in a whisper or the moment would be lost.

“I don’t know, Julian.”