Teamwork

"They didn't tell me I'd be finding hot older women."

By the time Julia returns to her apartment from her grandmother's house on Sunday night, Melissa is already back home and has just ordered a pizza for them for a late dinner. Julia goes to change into some comfy shorts and a tee shirt before settling into the chair across from her roommate, who's already stretched out on the dark gray sofa after picking out a movie and putting it into the dvd player.

"Oh, so I got a strange call today," Melissa says casually, propping her feet up on the coffee table between them as the opening credits of the second Captain America begin to play.

Julia quirks a brow at her. "What kind of strange call?"

"Well, it was your number but I talked to a certain guy named Mike."

Melissa is looking at her with a little smirk but all she's focused on is the fact that the boys have thankfully found her phone and now she's going to be able to get it back. "Oh, awesome, they found it! When did he say I can get it back?"

"Okay, I think you're missing the more important issue here. You went home with both of them?!"

Julia groans, hiding her face in her hands in embarrassment. "I don't want to talk about it."

"I guess it's a good thing I left after all, huh?" Melissa teases. "Otherwise you never would have crossed 'threesome' off your secret bucket list."

"Oh my God, please shut up."

"Were they good?"

"I'M CHANGING THE SUBJECT NOW," Julia announces loudly, turning to pull the afghan off the back of her chair and spreading it over her body, pulling it all the way up to her nose. "So when can I get my phone?"

"He said you can stop by anytime tomorrow after two but I told him you work til 4 and he said that's fine."

"I don't remember how to get back there," she admits with a sigh. "Could you text him and ask for the address for me please?"

Melissa laughs and pulls out her phone. "Sure."

They spend the rest of their night watching Marvel movies and eating pizza and talking. Julia tries to avoid any topic that would remind her roommate of a certain pair of guys, but it doesn't matter because Melissa teases her by bringing them up every five minutes anyway. They turn in around eleven since they have to be up bright and early Monday morning and Julia is pretty sure she's never been more happy to go to bed in her life.

-

Work on Monday is nothing short of hellish. The girls won't shut up about their weekend trip to New York City long enough for Julia to get through the day's lesson and, after six warnings, they take advantage of her leniency for a seventh time and she's forced to write them all up. They sulk and pout after that but at least they shut up and she's finally able to split the class into groups for the discussion of the reading they had to do over the weekend.

Of course, because the universe seems to hate her today, the topic of their reading happens to be the first two chapters of one of her least favorite things she's ever had to read. She knows lots of people who loved the writings of Thoreau but she'd personally never found the whole transcendentalism thing very intellectually stimulating. In fact, she found it pretty damn boring. Trying to teach it to a bunch of fourteen year olds who couldn't care less is nearly impossible, but she soldiers through it, and by the end of class, she's staving off a massive migraine.

The rest of her day goes by in much the same way, and by four, she's not in the mood to even drive back to her apartment, much less all the way over to Arlington to get her phone. She'd just put it off if she had any way to let the guys know she wasn't coming, but since they have her phone, of course she doesn't. Luckily, her car has its own GPS because usually she'd just pull up google maps on her phone. It takes her almost half an hour to reach their apartment building and, because she has no access to their parking garage, she's forced to park across the street and walk over.

Julia didn't remember their apartment number either so Mike had told Melissa that as well and now that she's not drunk, it's pretty easy to navigate herself up to the floor they live on and over to their door. She knocks firmly then stands back to patiently wait but it opens almost immediately and she's face to face with Tom grinning at her.

"Hey, Julia," he says, moving aside to give her room to go past him. "Come on in."

She smiles in return as she walks into the apartment, but as soon as she does, she really really wishes she hadn't. Mike is playing ping pong with some guy she doesn't know and there's another three strange guys lounging on their huge tan sofa; they all stop what they're doing to look at her when she steps inside the door.

"You look more like a teacher today," Mike says, taking in her knee length pencil skirt and mostly conservative white blouse, but then his eyes come back up to her face and he grins. "Still hot though."

"Uhh, thanks," she replies, and she can't help but chuckle at the confused looks on the four strangers' faces as they watch from their various positions. At least they're not being introduced so she doesn't have to tell these men that she was Mike and Tom's one night stand from the weekend.

A large, warm hand presses into the small of her back for a moment as Tom squeezes past her to go in the direction the kitchen. "Here, lemme get your phone."

Julia watches as he walks over to her left to the dark wood and stainless steel kitchen that she obviously hadn't been observant enough to see the last time she was there. Her phone is sitting on the dark gray granite counter top and reaches out to grab it before making his way back over to her and dropping it into her open palm. "Thank you," she tells him and then after glancing over to the living room again, she awkwardly rubs the back of her neck with her empty hand. "Well, I should get going then."

"I'll walk you out," Tom offers and she nods, throwing Mike a small wave before she turns back toward the door. Tom opens it for her and she steps out into the hallway, saying goodbye to him too as she pushes the down button for the elevator then steps back to wait. "Hey, Jules," he calls after her. She's always hated when people call her that, but somehow, hearing him say it makes her insides feel all warm and tingly. God, she's ridiculous.

She looks back at him over her shoulder, raising her brows curiously. "Yeah?"

He glances down at the phone in her hand before looking back up at her, directly into her eyes. She almost has to look away from the intensity of his gaze. "We put our numbers in there."

The elevator dings as the huge metal doors slide open and she steps inside, giving him one last smile. "See you around."

-

Melissa's gone to her mom's for the whole weekend instead of just for Sunday and Julia's already finished grading the stack of tests she brought home with her from school. She's lounging on the sofa in her baby blue bathrobe waiting for her freshly painted fingernails to dry and debating on what to do with the rest of her night. It's only ten minutes past eight and she's already watched Love Actually five times today so instead of hitting play for the sixth time, she turns the television off and lays back to stare at the ceiling.

Her hands are itching to reach over and grab her phone off the coffee table to text Mike or Tom, but it's a Saturday night so she knows they're probably already busy doing something. The thought briefly crosses her mind that she should go back to that bar in Arlington and see if she might casually bump into them, but then she decides that's stupid. As soon as her gray nails are completely dry, she heads down the hallway to her bathroom.

After a quick shower, she dries her hair, puts on just enough makeup to look decent, and gets dressed in some jeans and a cozy sweater. She may be going out, but she's not planning on trying to impress anyone so she goes for comfort over attractiveness. She shoves her phone into her back pocket and decides she'll use the hidden key when she returns so that she doesn't have to carry her purse and then she leaves the apartment, turning off all the lights except for the lamp on the small table by the door.

The bar at the end of the block is buzzing with college kids but that's what you get when you live in a college neighborhood. Six months ago she was one of those kids and now suddenly she's a grown up with a job and bills and responsibilities. She pushes her way inside through the crowds and eventually makes it to the bar, ordering her usual jack and coke before going over to find herself a seat at a table in the far back, away from all the loud college kids. The music is still loud but no one is shouting at each other back here; instead people, mostly couples, are sitting close together, leaning into each other and talking quietly between themselves. A pang of loneliness twists in the pit of her stomach but she just sips on her drink, telling herself that this is better than sitting at home on the sofa alone watching rom coms in her bathrobe.

She doesn't actually end up being alone for long. Before she finishes her first drink, some gorgeous guy with tousled blond hair and smirk that screams frat boy comes over to ask if he can buy her next one, and even though she has zero intentions of letting him get anywhere with her, she lets him buy it. She goes with him to the bar because she doesn't trust him being alone with her drink for the trip back to the table and then they sit down together in her previous spot. He slides his chair over so that he's sitting extremely close then drapes his arm over the back of hers as he leans right into her personal bubble to talk. She sits back in her chair to get him out of her face, momentarily forgetting that his arm is there, and then she jolts back forward when he puts it around her shoulders.

This guy doesn't know how to take a hint and Julia glances over to the door, already plotting the best plan of escape because she is so not down for this. All she wanted was to go out and have a drink. Okay, so she might have wished someone would talk to her so she wouldn't be so lonely, but this guy is definitely not what she had in mind. His breath smells like whiskey and she wonders to herself if he's always this handsy or if it's just because he's had a little too much to drink already. Her phone vibrates in her back pocket and she sets her drink down to get it out and read what she assumes will be a text from Melissa. It isn't.

You stalking me now?

She furrows her brows as she reads the words and then she looks up, glancing around the room until she spots him. Tom's leaning back against the bar, one arm propped up on the wooden surface, smirking as he raises his beer bottle to his lips. She smiles at him then glances back down at her phone, typing out a quick message before she replaces it in her back pocket.

Looks like the other way around but I'm glad. HELP ME

Julia turns back to the gorgeous creep sitting next to her and he's still prattling on about his fraternity (ding! guess who was right about that), not even noticing that she'd stopped listening to text. He still has his arm around her chair and every few seconds, he reaches out and brushes his fingertips against her back, making her cringe internally. Alright, Tom, any second now....

"Babe? What's going on here?"

Both she and the creep whip their heads up to find Tom standing in front of their table, looking extremely pissed. She has to bite her tongue to keep herself from laughing at how scared shitless the blond guy suddenly looks, his eyes widening at the massive man standing over them.

"Who the fuck is this?" Tom continues, glowering at the guy and he holds his hands up in defense, looking between her and Tom. She tries her best to appear like a girlfriend who's in big trouble and he must buy it because he stands up immediately.

"I'm sorry, man. I didn't know she had a-"

"Get the hell out of here," Tom growls and it takes about 0.2 seconds before the blond has disappeared into the crowd of college kids up front by the bar.

Julia's laughter finally bubbles out of her mouth once the guy is gone and the rest of the couples at the tables around them are now looking at them like they're crazy but she doesn't even notice them as she stands up to throw her arms around Tom's neck. "Thank you. He was a total creep."

"You're more than welcome then," Tom chuckles, rubbing his palms up and down her back before she eventually lets him go to sit down. He follows suit, taking the creep's chair and pulling it back to sit a non-creepy distance away from her. "But you don't need to stick around some guy if he's giving you bad vibes."

"I know," she sighs, putting her straw to her lips to take another sip of her jack and coke before she glances around the room once again. "Are you by yourself tonight?"

"Yep, just being a good roommate," Tom nods and Julia furrows her brows at him, making him chuckle. "Mike has, um, company tonight."

"Oh. Gotcha." She isn't sure why but there's a little wave of jealousy flowing through her at hearing that piece of information.

"Where's Melissa?"

"Her sister's bridal shower was today so she went to Philly for the whole weekend." Tom nods along and takes a drink from his bottle and she just observes, admiring the beauty that is his face. "So what the hell are you doing in Georgetown?"

"What were you doing in Arlington last week?" he retorts automatically.

She shakes her head at the stupid ever-present smirk on his face. "Alright, fine. Point taken."

The smirk widens into a full blown grin as he leans forward a little, propping one elbow on the table. "I heard this place was good. Lots of college girls around. They didn't tell me I'd be finding hot older women."

She snorts out a laugh. "Yeah? And where would those be?"

He just raises his brows at her, the grin still on his face.

"Am I older than you for real?"

"Yeah, you said you were 22, right?"

Julia nods, twirling her straw around in her rapidly dwindling drink. "How old are you?"

"20."

Her mouth drops open and she stares at him with widened eyes. "Are you fucking kidding me?" Tom only laughs and she shakes her head in disbelief. "What the fuck? There's no way. There's absolutely no way. You can't be only twenty. I mean-...fuck, look at you!"

"Do I need to show you my driver's license to prove it?"

The topic of his I.D. brings up an interesting point and she takes a moment out of her surprise to watch him take another drink of his beer. "What, is that just a perk of being 'not really but kind of' famous then?"

He glances down at the bottle in question and grins. "No, this is just a perk of looking like I'm not underage."

Julia rolls her eyes at him. "I still can't believe it."

Tom shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly and tips back the rest of his beer before setting the empty bottle on the table between them and standing up from his chair. "You want another one?" he asks, nodding his head toward the almost empty glass in her hand.

Julia bites her lip for a moment, contemplating whether she can actually be bold enough to say what's on her mind, but before she talks herself out of it, she just blurts it out. "You wanna get out of here instead?"

He looks down at her, somewhat surprised, before that same smirk makes a reappearance and he holds his hand out for her to take. "Hell yeah."
♠ ♠ ♠
Julia's school outfit and her bar outfit.

Sorry about the wait, guys. Please let me know what you think so far!!

As always, you can check out my other stories here and you can see all the characters and extra stuff here on my tumblr! :)