Bums

Both of their hands were sweaty as Conor and Julian entwined their fingers for what felt like the last time. Leigh was standing at the entrance to the hotel, trying not to watch their sappy goodbyes. Julian leaned forward to press a kiss to the corner of Conor’s mouth, and he gave her a small smile.

“When I’m done with all this, I’m going to come find you again, Julian.”

“I told you not to wait for me,” Julian sighed, and reached her arm up to wipe the sweat off her forehead. Conor’s smile turned wry, and he shook his head to get the hair unstuck from his neck.

“You’d be waiting for me, darling. Will you?”

“What happened to keeping ourselves from attaching?”

“I lied. I was attached that first night. I’m not going to forget you, Julian.”

“I’ll wait, Conor. I’ll wait,” he smiled and pressed his lips to hers in a chaste kiss, before pulling away and moving to his car.

“You have my phone number. If you get in serious trouble, I want you to call me. I’ll move mountains.”

“Of course,” she said quietly, and the two of them stood staring in silence for a few seconds. He ended their moment with a half-hearted wave, and ducked into his car. After one more look of longing, he pulled away in the direction Julian assumed Omaha was waiting for him in.

Julian walked back to Leigh, and let Leigh wrap an arm around her shoulders. Julian checked out of her hotel room, opting to stay with Leigh, and the duo went upstairs to fetch Julian’s things. In Leigh’s room, the two of them laid on the bed side-by-side, talking quietly.

Leigh propped her head up on her elbow, and gave Julian an unreadable look, “Do you love him, Julian?”

Did she love him? Julian brought an arm across her eyes, blocking the light from the ceiling. No. They’d met only days before, there was no way she could love him so fast. But she promised to wait for him… Why? She barely knew him, he barely knew her. But Julian knew that the two of them understood each other better than anyone.

“Do you love him.”

With a noiseless sob, Julian answered, “I could.”

***

Later, after their small talk and cheap dinner, the two girls sat on the bed watching the crappy television on the dresser. The only channel it could pick up was the news station, and currently it was displaying missing persons reports. They droned on with event, until the station displayed two pictures, familiar enough to strike despair in the pits of the two girls’ stomachs.

Julian Gina Hill, 17, and Leigh Ann Johnson, 18 was displayed under their pictures, as their physical features and possible whereabouts were described. Julian jumped from the bed and began throwing their belongings into their bags, not caring which clothing article belonged to whom. Leigh wasn’t making any motion whatsoever, so after packing Leigh’s suitcase full she lugged it onto the girl’s lap.

This broke her out of her trance, and the two girls began scrambling for ideas on how to get out of the hotel without being seen. Julian ripped the blankets and sheets off the bed, tying them into a rope and throwing it out the window. With the two girls out and their suitcases tossed haphazardly after them, they began to hurriedly make their way away from the hotel.

Hand in hand, Julian and Leigh kept to back roads and went over ideas to get out of Salt Lake City. They decided on heading to the train stop and catching the next one that was in the general direction they were going. Julian had no idea where the station even was, and Leigh only had a direction they should go in.

While struggling to remember where the station even was, Julian’s cell phone began to ring. Slowly, she pulled it out from her bra strap and looked at the screen. The number was the same attached to the voicemail left for her the other day. Leigh grabbed her arm and shook her head, “Let it go to voicemail. We can’t be too sure, Julian.”

“I know, I know,” Just as she finished speaking, the ring tone signaling a new message went off. With fumbling hands, she dialed the number for her inbox and listened to the message with a pounding heart and head.

“Jules? Please call me or something. Your mother is calling me, freaking out. We need to figure this out, okay? Please.”

“Who is your mother calling and freaking out to?”

“Jules.. Jules.. Ju- Oh god. Oh god, Leigh. Oh my god,” Julian stopped and steadied herself against the side of the brick building they were next to. It was starting to warm from the sun just coming over the tops of the buildings, and it was enough to soothe her into calming down and answering Leigh’s frantic questions, “My Dad. Leigh, it’s gotta be my Dad.”

Leigh looked at her for a long time, before giving a resolute nod, “I’m going to go stand over there and pretend I’m not listening, and you’re going to call that number and figure this out.”

If it wasn’t her father, Julian was in some deep trouble. But if it was… well, she wasn’t sure. He sounded so sad, so desperate. As her friend walked away - not out of earshot, she knew this - Julian began to dial the numbers that could seal her fate.