07

The next day I woke up a little scared, I sat up in bed quickly with a possible nightmare, but I didn't remember anything, the only thing I remembered was having slept and not dreaming about anything, also of Julian having come to the my room at dawn.

I looked over and he was there, still sleeping. I felt a sense of relief knowing that it hadn't been figments of my imagination, he was really there. I ran to look on my cell phone what time it was, five in the morning, soon I would have to get ready to go to school and my grandmother would wake up, Julian had to go. With a heavy heart I shook him lightly, at the same time he opened his eyes, he looked a little scared.

"Shh... It's me..." I whispered to him.

"It's already morning?" he asked softly running his hands over his face.

"Yes, five in the morning, my grandmother gets up at six to walk and comes back at six twenty to wake me up." I spoke softly. "Did you sleep well?" I asked anxiously for the answer.

"I've never slept so well in my entire life. Thank you." He said getting up and wearing the vest along with the suit next. My eyes burned slightly with tears of emotion, my heart like butter went into action, but I held back.

"Whenever I can help, I'll be here." I replied giving him a smile. Something inside me was burning, it was butterflies in my stomach, my heart felt like it was going to come out of my mouth and my voice wanted to fail when I spoke any word with him.

He pulled me by the hand carefully and took my body very close to his, again the heat rose inside my body, my breathing became heavy and my face hot. Right in front of him was my motionless body. My face hit his chest, with one of his hands he lifted my face to look him in the eyes, with the other hand he walked his fingers on my arm and then on my hair, pulling a lock and inhaling the smell with eyes closed.

"Perfect." He said running his gaze over my entire body. "Beautiful, sweet..." he spoke softly as he pressed his lips to my forehead, I shuddered and let out a breath that I tried to hold back. "Are you a human or an angel?" He whispered to himself. "I can't spoil you, I can't get close like that, you're good, you're light... Thank you very much for everything, I'm leaving. I won't dare bother you anymore." Every word was another shock in his being.

With those words my heart ached, there was no reason for it to ache and I felt what I felt when he said goodbye to me, but I didn't want him to go, I didn't want him to take his hands off me, I wanted to hear more of his voice, I wanted to feel that he would look for me again. Feeling oddly abandoned I couldn't help it.

"Aren't you coming back?" I asked with a cracked voice and racing heart.

"Do you want me to come back, Eloise?" He asked giving me a sideways smile.

"Yes Julian, I do." I replied and closed my eyes when he touched my face. His touch warmed me.

"I can't." he whispered. "Forgive me." He said and walked away from me. "Until." He spoke and left through the window, through the same place where he entered.

"Goodbye, Julian..." I whispered to him who was no longer there. I felt a strange emptiness and sadness that I couldn't help but feel.

Maybe I stayed there for a few minutes, with my feet glued to the floor, where Julian had run his hands over me and said those words that confused me. Being able to breathe normally again, I walked to the window and there was no more trace of him, neither he nor his car were there anymore.

In the window of my room, there was a small balcony, next to it was my grandmother's room which also had a balcony, in the middle of the two there was a staircase covered with leaves, I assumed that Julian had gone up there.

I took out my cell phone and sent a message to João: "I need to vent!" A few seconds he answered.

"Don't you sleep? Today I'll stop by your house and take you to school :)"

"Thank you... Kisses." I answered and walked to the bathroom.

I took a long hot shower, it was going to be a very cold day. In the morning, mists were already forming around the mountains. I opened the shower and pulled the towel that was hanging next to the mirror, wrapped myself in the towel and saw the towel that I had lent Julian lying in the doorway, I instantly approached and smelled him stuck to the towel, I smelled like those maids in movies who fall in love with the boss, smell his shirts.

I came back from my thoughts when I heard my grandmother knock on the door. I got out wrapped in the towel and opened it, it wasn't my grandmother, it was João.

"Come on, Eloise, I've been waiting for ten minutes." As? How long had I been in the bathroom?

"Oh, sorry John, I lost track of time." Embarrassed, I closed the door in João's face and quickly got ready, put on my school clothes and quickly combed my hair. I took my backpack and went downstairs, there were my grandmother and João drinking coffee at the table.

"Good morning, what happened daughter? Didn't you hear me call you earlier?" My grandmother asked. No, I hadn't heard, what the hell was going on in my head?

"Sorry grandma, I was distracted. But I'm ready, shall we go?" I said looking at my friend who looked at me with arched eyebrows.

"Eat something first, skinny one." João said eating a piece of cake. I didn't argue, I just sat at the table and ate some bread and drank a cup of coffee.

At breakfast my grandmother and João talked like two best friends, they got along as well as my grandmother and Olivia.

"Have you heard about the maniac on the loose?" Joao asked, gorging himself on the carrot cake. My heart sped up again, weird.

"I didn't see anything else go by, but only yesterday they discovered the first and last name. Julian Vicenzo." She answered.

"I hope they find him quickly, we can't be in danger with our girls around, I speak for Eloíse and Olivia." John spoke in a serious tone.

"Look at the time, we're going to be late." I got up and put my backpack on my back, I gave my grandmother a kiss. "See you later Grandma. Love you." João then got up and said goodbye to her too.

We left the house feeling light drops of rain falling. João silently opened the car door for me and I sat down, then he also got in and started it.

"Now that's it Eloise. Tell me, what's going on with you?" he asked seriously.

"No nicknames this time?" I asked finding it strange that he didn't refer to me with the nicknames he gave me.

"I'm worried about you." He shrugged.

"Okay, I need to tell someone I'm not going to explode and how you're my best friend." I paused trying to think about what I was going to say. "I think I'm in love. Yeah I know, I've only seen him three times in one day and that sounds stupid but I can't help but feel something different, I can't stop thinking about him, I know he's fast and everything, it's crazy ! But I needed to say that to someone." I sighed, catching my breath lost from talking too fast. "What a relief." I felt truly relieved to say that. John braked the car suddenly.

"Look at me girl." He said taking my face and looking into my eyes. "The only thing I can tell you right now is that time is the best answer to whatever you're feeling. It's very recent, yes, but a real feeling doesn't have a time or place to happen, you know. It doesn't exist. date, you can be in love, it was love at first sight and that happens. Just wait for it to happen, I don't want you to get hurt and even if it does, you'll have my shoulder to cry on." John kissed me on the cheek.

He was such a good friend to me, as much as his sister Olivia, they were my only and best friends, I didn't need anything else, having them and my grandmother's love. Not until she met Julian, the handsome, enigmatic man. But I was willing to move on with my life, it was just one day, I would definitely get over it.

"Thank you João... I have no words to say how much you are the best friend in the universe! I love you." She said touched by her words.

"Okay, that I know." She shrugged and smiled. "Now that's enough, let's go pumpkin candy, I don't want Mrs. Wanda to eat my liver today." She spoke and I could tell he was happy for me. There were the nicknames back.

We arrived at school at seven o'clock sharp. Coordinator Lauro was already rushing us, we ran and entered our room. I noticed that there was a new student in our classroom, so Professor Grace called him up front to introduce himself to the class.

"Hello everyone, my name is Harry Barriere, I'm 20 years old and I'm still in the third year of high school because I never made a point of studying law, just following my parents' orders." She said and gave a smirk.

"Okay, thank you very much for the introduction Mr. Barriere." Professor Grace said and the boy sat in her place, it was the last chair in the room. "Very good, now in our class we have an even number of students, today we will start a work in pairs, the pairs will be drawn to work on your communication." She explained and started writing about the work on the board.

Oh dear, all I wanted was for my name to go down with John or Olivia.