Devil May Love

He had just stepped in the door and kicked his shoes off when the phone rang. Muttering tiredly, Jullien made his way slowly into the kitchen to answer it. It was on the seventh ring by the time he got to it and he wasn't surprised to find it was Judy on the other side.

"Jesus, Jules, what took you so long," she said, a suitable replacement for the usual hello in her opinion.

Jullien rolled his eyes and slid up onto the counter, grabbing a bag of chips beside him and munching on them as he talked. "Just got in. Why, what's up?"

"Well, Mr. Too Busy To Answer His Phone, I just happen to have good news for you."

Jullien snorted a little. "Good, I could use some. Just got my hours changed again. Now I gotta work mornings instead of the daytime shift."

"Well that'll make my news even better then." Judy didn't sound as thrilled as she usually would have been when delivering so-called good news. It made Jullien wary.

"It better be a doozy then. Get on with it, I wanna relax a little before I have to cook."

"Hehe," she giggled, "You said doozy."

Jullien only rolled his eyes. No one had ever accused Judy of being too serious about anything.

"Okay, okay, fine. I just talked to Mom on the phone and she wants me to let you know that she talked to Gaibriel's dad yesterday and he agreed to let Gaibriel come over under the pretenses of tutoring Amanda."

It took a moment for Jullien's tired brain to sort out all the names, connections, and just what Judy was saying had happened. "Damn, that is good news... When's he supposed to be over there? I can come too, right? I mean, he's not really gonna tutor her, is he?"

"I dunno, you'd have to ask Mom. I didn't think about it. She should be home soon. 'Bout an hour or so. Wanna come over and eat with us? Save you from having to cook..."

"Who's cooking at your place?"

"It's my night."

"Uhh, no thanks." Jullien had sampled Judy's cooking before. Once was all it took.

"You know, you're the third person to say that to me today." Judy laughed. "If mom says the same thing, I can toss together a sandwich and call it a night."

"Well, speaking of calling it a night, I need to work on doing just that. Since my shift's changed, I'll drop by tomorrow when I get off. It should be a little after your mom gets home so let her know I'm coming to bug her for details."

"Actually, Mom figured you'd wanna do that. She said it would be fine. But I wanna see if you can come over a little earlier... I wanna talk to you. You know, just you and me for once."

"Sure. I'll have to grab supper beforehand tho, unless your mom's cooking tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah, I know I suck at it. And she's cooking, so you're safe. Unless last week's creation has made it back from the dumpsters."

Jullien shook his head and laughed a little before saying his goodbyes and hanging up the phone. Digging in the freezer for a simple microwave dinner, Jullien got it going before heading off into his bedroom, changing quickly into a pair of loose-fitting sweatpants. He felt like he should be excited about this but for some reason, he was calm. Almost as if it was nothing special.

"Maybe its just because I don't know for sure yet," he mumbled aloud, retrieving his dinner and taking a seat in front of the TV. He didn't turn it on this time, just ate and stared off into space, wondering what it would be like to see Gaibriel when he wasn't having a crisis and forced to wonder if he would feel the same about him then.

The though had crossed his mind more than once that maybe the only reason he was so interested in Gaibriel was because of the way the younger boy had seemed to need him so much. Jullien wasn't apt to lie to himself about much of anything and he knew that his life felt empty to him. He wondered if maybe he only wanted to be around Gaibriel to remedy that feeling. But at the same time, Gaibriel's dependence on him was scary and a little intimidating. It didn't help that Jullien's own feeling's left him thinking in circles.

"I think I'm going a little crazy," he said to his reflection in the TV screen. Shaking his head a little, he threw his plate in the trash, too tired and thoughtful to be very hungry and climbed into bed. He lay there with his eyes closed, thinking a lot longer than he wanted to before finally drifting off to sleep.

---

The new shift wasn't as bad as he'd expected it to be. Jullien was starting to think that he could even get used to having to wake up so early as long as he got off at times like this. Not to mention the fact that there were less calls now, due to so many other people also at work. He stopped by one of the cutesy novelty stores on the way to Judy's house and bought her, her mom, and Amanda small gifts. He was about to leave, when he went back and bought something for Gaibriel as well.

He entered the house without bothering to knock, seeing Judy's mom's car in plain view when he came up.

"We're in the kitchen," two female voices called to him in unison and then erupted into giggles. Smiling, Jullien gave them each a hug and a peck on the cheek.

"What's in the bag, Jules," Judy asked, eyeing the small white bags.

Jullien smirked. "Got a nose for presents, huh?" He held up the two in his right hand. "These are for you two. The other's for Amanda."

"Oooooh," Judy popped up from her seat at the kitchen table and tugged the bags from his hand. "Which one's mine?"

"Doesn't matter. They're all the same thing."

Passing one bag to her mom, Judy unfolded the top of the bag and dug down inside of it, producing a small Thanksgiving decorated tin. She pulled the top off and her eyes sparkled. "Ooh, Momma, look! He got us white chocolate balls!"

The entire female part of Judy's family was nuts over white chocolate. No gift would fail if it included that one ingredient. At the stove, Ma peeked over into Judy's tin and beamed.

"Oh, Jullien, thank you! How sweet!" She pulled her spoon from the pot she was stirring and set it down on a folded paper towel. "And such a cute little tin too! I can put tea candles in these and use them on the table for Thanksgiving. Which, by the way, young man, you will be attending."

Jullien smiled. "Yes, Ma... Glad you like them. You guys have done so much for me and all... just thought you needed a thank you."

He got another set of hugs and all three of them settled at the table and talked as the delicious smell of spaghetti sauce filled the house.