Teamwork

Waking up in her own apartment with just Tom is vastly different than waking up with Tom and Mike in theirs. For starters, there's the fact that this morning she wasn't woken up by an elbow in her face. Mike is a rough sleeper and squeezing into one bed with him and Tom both was definitely a memory to file away for future sad times, but not something she thinks she's going to repeat. Tom on the other hand is more of a cuddly sleeper so even though this is only their second time together, he's got a heavy arm slung over her body while she has her face pressed against his bare chest and one of her calves wedged between his.

Julia carefully untangles herself and slides out from under Tom's arm, fitting a pillow in her previously occupied space before she grabs his baby blue tee shirt from the floor and pulls it over her head on her way out of the bedroom. It's just past eight in the morning so she makes her way into the kitchen and begins pulling things out of the fridge, setting them all out on the light granite counter before getting to work making breakfast.

Tom still hasn't gotten up by the time the waffles are finished so she makes her way back down the hallway to her room and quietly pushes the door back open. He's still asleep, lying on his stomach with his arm draped over the dark gray pillow she left in her place so she creeps further into the room and jumps onto the bed. He groans and squeezes his eyes shut tighter but doesn't move otherwise.

Julia lies down, propping her head on the pillow he's cuddling so that her face is level with his, and she reaches up to brush back the hair that's fallen down into his face. "Tommy," she calls softly and, when his eyes flutter open, she smiles at him. "Want something to eat?"

"Is that supposed to be suggestive or are you talking about breakfast?"

"Good God," she chokes out in surprise before letting out a laugh. "No, I actually cooked breakfast."

"Hmm, too bad."

She smacks his shoulder but he only laughs and pushes himself up onto his elbows so that he can duck his head down to kiss her. She wastes no time wrapping her arms around his neck as she kisses him back, tangling one hand in his shaggy hair while his fingertips trail up her bare thigh and under the tee shirt she's wearing. A shrill ring erupts from somewhere on the floor by the bed and Tom breaks the kiss, groaning in annoyance as he leans over her to grab the iPhone from the pocket of his discarded jeans.

"It's Latts," he tells her before he sits back against the pillows to answer the call. "Yeah, man?"

Julia gets up on her knees and climbs over onto Tom's lap, straddling his hips while she runs her hands up his bare chest to his shoulders and down his arms. He just keeps his eyes on her and a little smirk on his face as he listens to whatever Mike is saying through the phone.

"Well, maybe I got lucky too," he tells his friend and after a moment, he laughs. "No, it's Julia. Say hey, Jules." He holds the phone up a little so that she can speak into it and she rolls her eyes playfully.

"Hey, Mike."

Tom grins at her again as he puts the phone back to his ear, listening as Mike talks some more before he shakes his head even though obviously Mike can't see it. "Nah, man, sorry. My girl made breakfast."

"Don't be rude," she chides softly. "There's plenty for him too if he wants to come over."

"Hey, she said you can come eat with us if you want. She made plenty."

Mike is hesitant to accept at first because he feels like it'll be weird since this is Tom's hook up, not his, but Tom hands the phone over to Julia and she assures Mike that it's no problem and that he's more than welcome. He finally agrees and she rattles off the address for him so that he can put it into his GPS before she hangs up, handing Tom back his phone. He simply tosses it over onto the small wooden nightstand by the bed before he suddenly flips them so that she's on her back and he's hovering over her.

"Now, where were we?"

"Mike'll be here in like fifteen minutes," she says, despite the fact that her body is already embarrassingly receptive to his light touch as his hand skims down her thigh.

He shifts down on the bed, picking up her right leg as he ducks his head under it and then he places it on the other side of him, grinning up at her from between her legs. "Fifteen minutes is all I need, babe."

-

Luckily, it's twenty-one minutes until Mike is knocking on her front door because fifteen hadn't been nearly long enough to enjoy herself. Twenty-one isn't really long enough either but she doesn't want to keep Mike waiting so she begrudgingly pushes Tom's face away from her body and jumps up from the bed, pulling the too big tee shirt back down over the tops of her thighs as she makes her way down the hall and through the living room. Mike smiles sheepishly when she pulls the door open and she ushers him into the apartment, just as Tom emerges from the hallway, still pulling his jeans up his hips.

"You guys, sit. I'll get the food," she says, before making her way over into the kitchen to divide the waffles onto three plates then add the eggs and the bacon. "Blueberries or strawberries?"

"Huh?" they reply in unison.

"For your waffles. I have both."

"Blueberries," Tom decides, and Mike just nods his head in agreement so she grabs the bowl of blueberries that have already been washed and sliced, adding them on top of both the boys' waffles. She brings the plates over to them before going back to pour a few glasses of orange juice and grab the maple syrup.

"So, how was your night?" she asks Mike once she's finally seated at the table with them and cutting into her waffle.

Mike raises his brows in surprise. "Um, good. You?"

Julia and Tom exchange looks before both of them smile and look back at Mike. "Good," they both answer and Mike just rolls his eyes but they all get a chuckle out of it. The whole situation is just honestly so strange but somehow it isn't awkward for them and they eat their breakfast, exchanging small talk the whole time. They even help her clean up the kitchen after they're finished eating, despite the fact that they're all bumping into each other trying to put things into the dishwasher and into the fridge and Julia's trying to wash the pans at the sink.

The boys make themselves comfortable in the living room when they're done, Tom stretching out on the dark gray sofa and Mike flopping down into the green and white chair across from the television. Julia checks the time on the huge iron clock on the wall, seeing that it's already 10:15 so she informs them that she's going to take a shower and start getting ready and that they're welcome to hang out while she does so. She doesn't really expect them to but she tells them anyway before she makes her way down the hall to the bathroom, pausing to remove Tom's tee shirt and fold it up neatly to set on the bed for him.

Thirty minutes later after she's showered, blow dried her hair, and put on some tinted moisturizer and chap stick, she makes sure the pink towel wrapped around her body is secured tightly at her chest before she leaves the bathroom and goes back down the hall to the living room. To her surprise, the boys are both still sitting there, but now, there's a third person sitting in the white chair across from Tom. They all three look up when she appears and she groans inwardly at the look on her mother's face. Thankfully, Tom has found his shirt sometime while she was gone so at least he wasn't sitting there half naked when her mother arrived.

"Mom? What are you doing here?"

Angela smirks a little at the obvious worry in her daughter's voice. "Rick's working so he won't be at lunch today. I thought I'd stop by and see if you just wanted to catch a ride with me to Gigi's."

"Um, sure....."

"Go ahead and get dressed then," she says, checking the time on her dainty watch. "I'll just sit here and chat with your friends some more."

The boys don't appear to be bothered by her mother's presence, which is freaky all on its own. Her one night stands (or two, in Tom's case) are sitting in her living room having a casual chat with her mother and they don't seem to find it awkward at all. Julia retreats to her bedroom and gets dressed at lightning speed, grabbing a pair of shoes before hurrying back out to the living room to put them on. Mike and Tom are just getting up from their seats when she comes back, apparently gathering that it's time for them to go since Julia herself is about to leave.

"Thanks for breakfast," Mike says, leaning in to kiss her cheek before turning back to her mother. "It was nice to meet you, Angela."

"You too, Michael," Angela replies, watching with a smirk as Tom leans in to hug Julia before he too exchanges pleasantries with her mother. The boys put their shoes back on at the door because they're such good little Canadians and then once they've got their coats on, they say goodbye one more time before heading out.

As soon as the door is shut behind them, Angela turns her gaze to her daughter and just starts laughing. "Oh God, baby, I'm sorry. I didn't know you'd have company."

"We ate breakfast, Mom. It's not-"

"Tom was half naked when I got here." Julia closes her eyes and lets out a heavy sigh, knowing that she can't pass it off as an innocent thing anymore. "Don't worry, baby. You're a grown up, I'm not going to lecture you on who you choose to sleep with."

"Okay, can we go now? Let's go."

She heads toward the door, grabbing her leather jacket off the hook and pulling it on over her black and white striped dress as she thinks to herself that at least her mother doesn't know about Mike too. Angela follows her out the front door and they walk down the hall together to the elevator, stepping in and pressing the button for the first floor. It's silent for only a moment before her mom decides to speak.

"I just hope you're being careful."

"Mom-"

"You're still on your birth control, right?"

"Yeeeeesssss," Julia groans.

"And he used a condom?"

"Yes, oh my god, please stop!"

"Well, I just wanted to make sure."

The younger girl sighs as the elevator slows to a stop and the doors open to let them out. "I'm being careful, Mom. I promise."

"Good," Angela nods. "That's all I ask."

They both step out into the lobby and head for the exit to the parking lot where the little cherry red two-seater sports car Angela's fiancé bought her for her birthday this summer is waiting. Julia climbs into the passenger seat as Angela gets behind the wheel and the subject of the two boys is dropped for the rest of the day.

-

School is hectic and stressful all week. Julia had somehow managed to fuck up her lesson plans so everything is out of order and it takes her hours to get it all fixed into something at least halfway salvagable. Then there are the students who, though usually behave pretty well, are completely disinterested and unattentive in class. She gives them a pop quiz as punishment and all but three of them fail. Then there's the extremely overbearing parent who requested a meeting with her because she's concerned about her child's failing grade on the pop quiz and after Julia explains the situation, the mother becomes even more livid and demands to see the headmistress. Of course Julia has to stay after school to be present at the meeting and the whole time the mother is rambling on, Mrs. Buckley nods attentively and promises to handle it. Once the mother is gone however, the headmistress waves off the whole thing and tells Julia not to worry about her ridiculous complaints.

Finally, Friday has rolled around and both she and Melissa manage to get out of work on time so they make plans to head three blocks over to the pilates studio they frequent. A friend of Julia's from high school teaches the class so the girls are free to come in and participate in any of the classes they choose whenever is convenient for them. Friday night classes are always busier than the classes held earlier in the week but they get there early enough to grab their usual spots up in the front right corner.

The classes doesn't make her feel like she's dying as they did when she first started taking them, but they're still definitely not the easiest thing she's ever done. Melissa, on the other hand, loves them and would probably go every single day of the week if she had the time instead of the two to three times a week that they go now. After it's over and they're both gross and sweaty, they head back out into the cold November air and start the walk back to their apartment.

Julia can't help thinking about Tom and then Mike as they pass the bar near their place and she thinks about texting them, but then decides they probably don't actually want to hear from her. She was a one night stand and a two night stand to them and that was it. Besides, after they'd had to endure the awkwardness of sitting there with her mother, they probably don't care if they ever see her again.

As soon as they make it back to the apartment, Julia heads to the bathroom to take a shower and wash the grossness off of her and then she pulls on some warm flannel pajama pants and an old tee shirt from college. She and Melissa are going to have another cozy night in with some take out and a movie, so while Melissa takes a shower, Julia removes her old chipped nail polish and paints them a fresh color. She waves her hands around a little in hopes of drying them faster and while she's doing that, her phone buzzes from its position on the kitchen counter where she'd set it in passing on the way to her room. She gets up to grab it and sees it's a text message but she's surprised to see the name that's attached.

Mike
Free tomorrow night?