Soundtrack for this chapter:
Clair de Lune—Claude Debussy*
The Scientist—Coldplay
Dive—Ed Sheeran

9

Jules

The second time I woke up in Theo's bed, rather than stealthily slipping out of it, I rolled closer to the middle, hoping my body would find Theo's. But he wasn't there. Oh...is this how he felt that morning I left?

Before I could process anything, before I could even begin to think about what happened the night before, I heard the distant keys of a piano being depressed just softly enough to emit the faintest sound. Careful not to make any movements too quickly, I pulled myself out of Theo's bed and followed the music.

My feet led me to the living room, where a fully awake Theo had his back to me as his fingers pressed out Debussy's "Clair de Lune"; as I listened, I was brought back to a piano recital I'd played at as a teenager. My mother and father had ignored my pleas for guitar lessons every year, instead insisting I continue with the piano.

"The piano is a classical instrument. The guitar is so...common. Do you know how regal it is to have a piano in the home? And for others to hear the music coming from our house! You will keep up with it," mother used to say.

I learned to fall in love with it, and there was no denying the beautiful sound and limitless possibilities of the piano; I would never forget the look of horrified disapproval on my parents' faces when they heard the spin on I put on their beloved Debussy composition at my recital. My piano teacher had praised me for the creativity I put into it; she was fired that evening.

I walked up to Theo and put my hands gently on his shoulders. His fingers lifted from the keys immediately.

"Keep playing, and slide down."

He set his hands back on the keys and picked up where he'd left off. I sat on the bench beside him and started adding in my own chords and notes; some of which were from my original performance of the song, some of which were on the spot additions. Very quickly, I felt the cut on my right hand start to strain against my skin when the movements of my fingers picked up, and I had to pull back and continue with a gentler touch.

The melodies that flowed from the piano were a beautiful mixture of classical music and modern sound, an intertwining of two very different personalities. In all honestly, while sitting there next to Theo, listening to the music the two of us were creating together, I was almost happy to have been part of the accident from the night before.

When the final notes were struck, I let myself sink into Theo next to me, and his right arm came around my back. It felt incredibly romantic, regardless of the journey that got us to that point.

"I'm sorry I woke you. I was trying to play quietly."

"Don't be sorry." I imagined his lips turning up into a smile.

I lifted my head from his shoulder and turned to face him. He regarded me with concern in his eyes.

"How're you feeling?"

I took a moment to take stock of my body. "A little sore. My head hurts, but not as bad as last night. And my hand," I held it between us, "this hurts more than my head."

"That's because it's in an awkward place. You'll have to be careful not to reopen the wound once it closes."

I looked back into his eyes. I wanted to kiss him. I wanted to recreate our first night together. I wanted him to replace everyone else in my life from back home. There was a moment the night before when I realized I had no one; even though my mother and father and Will existed, I could never count on them like I'd been able to count on Theo, at least, not in a way where I could still be myself. Why did I run from him in the first place?

"What're you thinking about?"

Caught. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. Mistake.

"Mmmm. I think my head hurts more than my hand now."

Theo stared hard into my eyes. "Your pupils are no longer dilated, which is good. Do you want some ibuprofen?"

"Does my aftercare packet say I can have it?"

He rolled his eyes at me. "Not in so many words, but it says you can take OTC pain meds, and I have ibuprofen in the cabinet. Come on, I'll make you something to eat with it." He made a movement to get up.

"I'm not hungry."

He turned back to me, a slightly frustrated smile gracing his features. "Okay, why don't you tell me what you want to do and I'll tell you if you can do it."

"I'm still kind of tired. Can we go back upstairs and rest?"

"Whatever you want."

Whatever I want. That was something new, something novel and foreign.

Theo swung his legs over the bench and took my hand. At the steps, he told me to wait a moment, then came back with an ice pack wrapped in a kitchen towel. Up in his room, he set the ice pack down and then reached around to the back of my head.

"Just feeling for swelling," he whispered as his fingers danced lightly across my skull.

When he hit the spot that I'd whacked on the pavement, pain shot clear around my head, and I took a sharp intake of breath.

"Sorry, sorry. Here, give me your hand." I placed my uninjured hand in his. "Gentle now." He brought my hand around to the back of my head and set it on the massive bump under my hair. I pulled my hand away immediately.

"Is that normal?" I could feel my eyes going wide.

"Yes, yes, Jules. Relax." His hands came to my shoulders to steady me. "Haven't you ever hit your head before?"

"I told you: I'm very careful."

He shook his head, light laughter falling from his lips. "You must've lived a very sheltered life."

He had no idea.

I grabbed the ice pack from his desk and got back into bed. Theo climbed in after me and gestured for the ice. I gave it to him, nestled into his side, and rested my cheek against his chest. I felt the relieving coolness of the ice pack make contact with my head.

"You're a good EMT, but I hope you don't offer this service to all of the people you help."

His chest rumbled under me with laughter, and I closed my eyes and fell back asleep.

***

I woke up in nearly the same position I'd fallen asleep in, though the ice pack was thoroughly melted and Theo's tattooed forearm rested on his chest. I let my fingers dance along the lines and images inked into his arm, tracing the colors and committing their hues to memory.

"That tickles." His gruff voice made my heart skip.

"I guess I woke you this time."

"S'alright," he picked up his head and looked across the room. "It's past eleven."

I suddenly felt like I'd overstayed my welcome; how long was I going to stay in his house anyway? I knew I must've looked like a mess given everything that happened, and I figured I should just go back to my apartment and give him his weekend back.

"Do you have plans for today? I, I can go back to Parnassus. I don't want to disrupt—"

"I'm off this weekend. You're not disrupting anything."

"Oh, okay, I'm sorry, I just didn't—"

He turned so that his eyes met mine. "You apologize a lot."

"I don't want to be a burden."

"I invited you into my house, so you're not a burden. You witnessed a terrible accident last night, then you fell, concussed yourself, and slit open your hand. You had to go to the hospital, a place you hate, and had gravel and glass picked out of your palm; I'm trying to be here for you because, if you haven't noticed from the first night we spent together, or the second time I ran into you at the park, I want to get to know you, Jules, but you tend to make that difficult. But if you want to go, I won't stop you. If you don't want to continue whatever this is, that's your decision."

My head was spinning, but it wasn't from the concussion. I wanted him; I wanted him quite a lot, but I knew it was dangerous. I knew entering into, well, whatever I was about to open myself to, was going to be difficult in many ways. Part me wished I'd knocked myself into amnesia and would remember nothing other than waking up in Theo's home, wished that all memories of my life in Georgia were dumped into the recycle bin in my brain and permanently deleted.

"I think about you a lot." Was that out loud? Maybe I did lose some control over my cranial functions.

Theo's eyes searched mine. "I haven't stopped thinking about you since that night at Midtown."

I don't know who made the first move. I think it was me, but my brain was also processing things a little slower than usual. What I do know was that Theo's lips were on mine, and it finally felt like I'd found a home I wanted to stay in.

His hands made careful movements as they worked over my body, and I knew there was no turning back. A one night stand was one thing, but this, this I had plans for. This I wanted to turn into something more. Sleeping with Theo for the second time was as gentle and exciting as the first, but far more intimate. It was as if those weeks between us meeting and that moment were building up to the ultimate intimate encounter. Not to mention he was really good at it; I tried not to think of all of the practice he must've had because he was far better than Will had ever been, even when we were in love.

After he cleaned up, Theo crawled back into bed with me wearing a fresh t-shirt and pair of boxers.

I rolled over to face him. "I need to shower. I feel disgusting."

"That bad, huh?"

I laughed, a good soul shaking laugh. It kind of made my head ache.

"Please don't make me laugh like that. I just meant because I haven't showered since yesterday morning, and after the accident and the hospital and then, well, that, I'd just like to shower."

"Understandable. I can drive us to Parnassus and you can get some clothes and whatever else you need."

"Are you asking me to stay over again tonight?"

His face turned ever so slightly pink. "Um—"

"Because I'd like to, if you're offering."

"I can't figure you out, Jules."

"I hope that's not a bad thing. I'd like to shower before going there, though, I just don't know what to do with this." I held up my bandaged hand to him. "How do I shower without soaking this thing?"

"I can wrap it in something for you."

"Okay. You're the professional here."

Another playful roll of his eyes. "Let me go get some plastic wrap from the kitchen. The bathroom is down the hall if you want to wait in there."

I smiled at him before turning over in his bed to rise out of it.

As Theo took a right out of his room to descend the stairs, I turned left to go into the bathroom. I hadn't seen myself in a mirror since I'd left Parnassus the night before, and I wasn't too keen on finding one. When I did, I almost didn't recognize myself. Mascara and eyeliner had settled under my eyes, my foundation had completely worn off and all of my freckles were on display, and my hair looked as if it'd been attacked by the flock of cardinals that always fluttered around my grandmother's garden. The door opened, and I almost tripped over the edge of the tub.

Theo grabbed me and pulled me back to a steady position.

"How could you have possibly just done anything with me? I look awful. These damn freckles are everywhere."

"I like your freckles. You should stop trying to cover them. Now, sit down and let me wrap your hand."

Well, damn.

I sat on the edge of the tub and held out my hand to Theo. He wrapped layer upon layer of plastic wrap around it before finally securing it with a rubberband.

"There, that should do it. I'll, uh, I'll wait in my room. If you need anything—" his right hand was rubbing the back of his neck. I'd seen him do it enough to recognize it as a sign of nerves.

"Can you wait in here? In case I need you?"

"Oh, sure, well let me just turn around, and you can let me know when you're in the shower and then I'll just hang out till you're done."

"Thanks." I watched him turn into the corner and stare up at the ceiling.

It was almost funny. If you looked at Theo, you'd see someone of decent stature, reasonable build, half sleeve of tattoos. If you talked to him, he'd tell you he was ex-military, played in a rock band, and worked as an EMT. All of these things may cause someone to think he could be a little rough around the edges, and maybe he was, but not with me. When his hands were on me, they were of the most gentle touch, and he was sweeter than my grandmother's tea. Though he did have this habit of challenging me, but I was beginning to like it.

Once in the shower, I tried to keep my hand out of the stream of water, but it proved quite difficult to shower with one hand. Multiple times I had to stick my usable hand outside the curtain with soap or shampoo to have Theo squeeze some of it into my palm.

With the water off, Theo held a towel through the curtain for me to dry off with. When I stepped out, he was standing near the door.

"Feel better?"

"Lots."

"Good. I'm going to shower, so if you want to go back and change into your clothes from yesterday, I can be ready to take us to Parnassus in about ten minutes."

I walked back to his room and changed into my clothes from the night before, but they were dirty; my shirt had small rips in it from when I fell, and there were drops of blood on it from my hand. I didn't want to wear it again, so I tossed it into the little trashcan in Theo's room and moved towards his dresser. He'd given me a t-shirt to wear the first night I stayed over. I remembered it being a Celtics shirt, so I searched in the drawer for that one. When I found it, I just had it slipped over my head before Theo walked back in, a towel draped low around his waist.

He smiled when he saw me. "You've found your shirt."

"The one from last night is ruined. Is it okay if I borrow this one for now?"

"Perfectly okay." He had joined me next to the dresser, and I knew it was rude but I couldn't take my eyes off the two scars on the left side of his torso. But it was too soon to ask him about them.

Before I could stop myself, my fingers came up to them and traced along them, much like they had his tattoos. I had my assumptions as to what caused at least one of them. Not many things cause circular scars. I felt him shudder, and I pulled my hand from his skin instantly.

"I'm sorry, I—" before I could finish, my phone started ringing from the depths of my purse. "I'll just—"

"It's okay. Go answer it. It might be the police."

"Right." I tried to remember if I'd talked to anyone other than Theo the night before. Everything after I fell was kind of a blur until he had gotten there.

I dumped the contents of my purse onto his bed to get to my phone before it stopped ringing. When I answered, I held it to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Hi. Is this Jules Calhoun?" A female voice asked.

"Yes."

"I'm Detective Andrews. I'm calling to follow up from yesterday's accident. Would you mind recapping everything you saw?"

"Oh, of course." I relayed everything I could remember: the car going through the light rather quickly, the motorist pulling out of the side street, the crash, and then the tires screeching away.

"Would you recognize any faces if we were to show you a line up?"

"I, I don't think so. It was dark, and I couldn't see into the car's windows."

"Do you think you'd be able to identify the car if we found it?"

"Maybe. It was a white four-door sedan. But I didn't get a good look at plates or anything, though I'd have to imagine it has front end and hood damage given what happened."

"Alright. Thank you, Ms. Calhoun. I'll call again if I think of any more questions. In the meantime, feel free to call in if you remember anything else."

"Okay. I will." With that, I hung up. When I turned to Theo, he was dressed and ready to go.

"I'm going to borrow Danny's car. Mine's still at the station, but I don't need it this weekend. It'll be fine there until Monday."

"Oh, um, okay. I'm sorry I made you leave your car. I didn't even think about that."

"We're going to have to work on that apologizing habit of yours. Ready?"

I smiled at him, one as genuine as I could make it. When we got to his brother's car, I caught sight of my guitar on the front seat. It wasn't in great shape. I picked it up and turned it over in my hands.

"It's not as bad as it looks." Theo stared at me from over the top of the car.

"It looked pretty bad."

"I'm sure my dad can fix it. Besides, better the guitar be more banged up than you." He smiled at me, but since my phone call with the officer, the image of the motorcycle driver splayed out on the ground hadn't left my mind.

When I climbed into the car, I buckled myself in and turned to look out the window. I felt Theo's hand settle just above my knee.

"What's wrong?"

"Did you hear anything else about the man who was hit?" I wasn't sure if I wanted to know the answer. Often times, living in ignorance was far easier.

"I can text Marnie when we get to Parnassus and ask. One of the nurses last night said she was on day shift today."

Marnie? I vaguely remembered hearing him say that name the night before. "Is she one of your friends?" Don't be jealous. He's not yours. But maybe she was the girl Nora saw him out with.

"Kind of. She's Dan's girlfriend."

"Oh. This is going to sound weird, but does she have like, um, reddish brown hair?"

He kept his eyes on the road, but his face scrunched up in confusion. "Yeah. How do you know that?"

My chest sunk in relief. "Nora said she saw you out with a girl with the same color hair a few weeks ago, but neither of us knew you had a twin. I thought maybe after the second time I left with no explanation you found someone new."

He gave my knee a little squeeze. "Full disclosure, I was out with someone that same night, one of Marnie's friends that she tried to set me up with, but there wasn't any connection. Not, at least, like the one I had with you."

Theo wasn't like an open book, he was one. I started to think that he'd be willing to answer any question I asked of him, regardless of the subject. There was a little pain in the back of my head, and I knew it was from shame rather than the concussion; there was no way I could be completely honest with him. I couldn't tell him I was technically still married. I wasn't going to destroy whatever chance I had with him.

I turned to him with a smile. "Good to know."

Back on campus, I had Theo wait in the car while I ran into my building to grab a few necessities and change my clothes. My apartment wasn't a complete disaster, but it wasn't ready for him to see. I also didn't feel like having to explain anything to anyone who spotted us.

When I got back into the car, Theo was looking at something on his phone. I tossed my bag into the backseat and climbed into the front.

"All set?"

I nodded to him. "Is that a text from Marnie?"

"The motorcycle driver has a few broken ribs. He's also in a medically induced coma until they can get the swelling in his brain down. He was wearing a helmet, but it seems as though he was still jarred forcibly enough to cause some trauma."

"Is he going to be okay?"

"She said they're hopeful he'll make a full recovery. May need some rehab, but with time he should be alright."

"Well, at least there's that. Do you think they'll find the person who hit him?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I hope so."

On the way back to his house, I counted my blessings. It wasn't something I did often, but in that moment I was lucky. I was lucky to have not suffered worse injuries. I was lucky Theo came to the scene. I was lucky he was kind enough to offer me a place to stay.

I really didn't want to mess anything up with him, and I figured so long as I could keep my life in Boston completely separate from my life in Savannah, things would be okay.

I felt Theo's fingers squeeze and release my knee a few times. "Did you hear me?"

"Huh? Sorry, I was just thinking."

"About?"

"Things."

"Alright, Ms. Calhoun, you can play coy if you'd like. I was asking if you were hungry now because I'm starving."

"Actually," I felt my stomach gurgle, "I am. Then I can take some medicine for my head back at your house."

"You don't feel dizzy or nauseous, do you?"

"I, I don't think so. No. Definitely not."

"Would you tell me if you did?"

"Would that mean I had to go back to the hospital?"

"Not necessarily. I just want to monitor things."

"Well I don't. Just hungry. And like I have a raging hangover."

He laughed. "Not altogether abnormal. What do you think of picking up some sandwiches for lunch? There's a great Italian place down in the financial district."

"Sounds great."

We drove on, Theo's hand on my knee and his heart on my mind. I was walking a fine line; engaging in anything more than a friendship with him was a loaded gun. If my parents or Will found out, or if Theo found out about Will, everything could come crashing down. But there was a little bit of that rebellion still bubbling in my chest. I was best at putting everything else before my problems, and that was exactly what I was going to continue doing. Theo was the perfect distraction.

A/N: Is it bad that I want to forgo all of the plans I have for these two and just write like thirty more chapters of cute scenes between them? No?

Yes. That's bad. Very bad. But don't worry, I'll keep them happy...for now 😉

Okay, now I have to be the bearer of bad news. My personal life is getting quite busy, and I can't imagine that I'll be able to keep up with double weekly updates. You'll always have a chapter on Fridays, but I can't guarantee Tuesday chapters as well. I'm sorry 😞

Anyways, thank you for reading and for keeping my dream alive. I love you all and I hope you will vote and comment and chat with me.

Have a great weekend!

-L