"You don't eat, Taylor." Julio said. His use of my actual name betrayed his concern, as did the worried look in his eyes as he looked at me, watching for my reaction to his words.

We were lazing around in my room. School was done for the day, and I had homework to get around to, but I'd only do that later. I was meeting Ally later for a movie, but I was just content to be hanging out with Julio for a while. That is, until he brought up my eating habits.

"It's fine. I eat enough." I cleared my throat awkwardly, looking anywhere but at him.

"No, you don't." He was insistent now, and he'd sat up straighter in bed. His tone was serious, more so than usual.

"Eating one meal a day and the occasional treat isn't healthy."

"I need to lose weight, anyway. I just eat whenever I'm hungry." I informed him, fiddling with my fingers.

"Bullshit." He stated simply, "I know you and I know when you're hungry. Why don't you eat? You've lost a lot of weight since we first met, and I think you're probably little more than skin and bones at this point."

"It was weight I needed to lose. I still need to lose a little more. I'm on a diet, Rage." I used the stupid nickname only to soften him up a little. It didn't work.

"No, you don't." He protested. "I don't know who's been feeding you all that shit, but you're perfect. You were perfect before, too."

"Have you seen the models my mother works with, Julio?" I demanded, my voice breaking slightly. "They're all so beautiful and so thin. I'm disgusting compared to them."

"You're not disgusting, Taylor." Julio snapped, "And you can't compare yourself to them. It's their job to look like that, and I honestly pity them. Do you think they don't want to eat?"

I refused to meet his eyes, and I didn't say anything further. I didn't know what to say. I knew that he was speaking out of care for me, but I just couldn't have this conversation right now.

"Look," His tone softened considerably, and he gently placed a finger beneath my chin, pushing it up so that I met his gaze. "You're beautiful, princess. So what if your mother compares you to her models? Even if you become nothing but skin and bones, she isn't going to love you. That's because there's something wrong with her, not you. She's not capable of love. You have people who love you for you. Your brother loves you, your friends love you, I love you."

"You do?" I asked, vulnerably, shocked at his words. I was falling for him, and I was falling for him fast, I just wasn't at that point where I could say I was in love with him yet.

"Yes, I do. And it's okay if you're not there yet, but I love you. And I hate seeing you like this. You need to be healthier, Taylor. Please. Just try."

The desperation in his voice made me stop to think. Was he right? Did I really not need to lose more weight?

Honestly, I didn't know. But, the least I could do was try. Try for him, and for myself.

"Okay." I promised, and he took my hand, breathing a sigh of relief. "I'll try."

"Thank you." He said, kissing my hand, then my cheek and then my lips.

I leaned into the kiss, instantly feeling better. When he tried pulling back, I held him by the nape of his neck and deepened the kiss.

I pulled him down, onto me, insistent against his lips, nipping at the lower lip to get him to open his mouth. He obliged, letting his tongue run over my lips, before entering my mouth and beginning its exploration.

I let my hand slip up his shirt, never breaking away from the kiss. I felt the tough planes and contours of his hard stomach, tracing his abs.

He moaned as I let my hand dip lower. It was hard to believe that a moment that serious had melted into one like this.

My shirt rose up as I wrapped my legs around his waist, leaning into him as much as I could, wanting to feel every bit of him against me.

Julio's fingers traced the exposed skin of my stomach, and slowly pushed my shirt up higher, his hands holding me by the waist. They dug into my sides as he took over control, my small moment of dominance ending.

He pulled back from my lips to press butterfly kisses across my cheek, stopping to nip at my earlobe before reaching my neck, where he began kissing and sucking at the skin, probably leaving numerous hickeys. I didn't care.

I moaned loudly, moving my hands to his shoulders to brace myself as he continued his assault. His hands were slowly inching upwards, and he was about to go further. We'd gone this far before, and maybe slightly farther. I pushed him back and tugged his shirt upwards, and he obliged by pulling it off, tossing it to floor on the other side of the room.

He was about to do the same for me, my hands already raised over my head to help him out a little, when we were interrupted.

"Hey, are you ready to—ahhh!" Ally screeched, her hands rushing to shield her eyes. "Oh, my God, I'm so sorry!"

We pulled away from each other quickly, and I blushed. It guess I'd lost track of time while we were otherwise occupied, and had forgotten that I was scheduled to meet up with Ally.

Julio hurriedly got off the bed and stood there awkwardly. His shirt was on the floor by Ally's feet, so he couldn't exactly get it without making things even more awkward.

"Um, hi." She squeaked, after peeking to make sure we were sufficiently separated.

"Hi." I said, embarrassed, as I adjusted my shirt and sat up a little straighter.

"I'm, uh, I'm Ally." She introduced herself to Julio, gawking at his chest. He was pretty built; lean, with the bare outline of a six-pack from whatever he did at the gym and arms to die for. He wasn't fully jacked with washboard abs and ginormous muscles, but I definitely preferred this.

"Julio." He said, stoically, as if completely unaffected. Neither of them even made the slightest attempt to shake the other's hand.

"Should I wait downstairs?" She asked, trying to avoid staring at my incredibly attractive boyfriend.

"No, it's fine. I need to get going anyway." Julio said, before I could say anything. He was being surprisingly nice, and I appreciated it.

"I'll see you tomorrow." He told me, smiling softly. Tomorrow was my birthday, and I smiled at first before realizing what he was saying.

"You aren't coming over tonight?" I noticed Ally's eyes widening slightly, and cursed myself for bringing it up while she was still uncomfortably standing there.

"I've got something to do." He said mysteriously, and I pouted. It would have been nice to see him first thing in the morning the day I turn eighteen.

"Alright, fine. I'll see you tomorrow." I agreed reluctantly, blowing him a kiss.

I almost giggled at the absurdity of the situation as Julio headed over to Ally. She looked mortified for a second, probably wondering if he was going to say something to her, until he bent down to pick up his shirt, stepping back a little before putting it on.

His backpack was by the balcony door, and he picked that up too, before turning to leave.

"Bye!" Ally called after him, still blushing crimson at what she'd just seen. He acknowledged her with a nod and smiled at me again as he left, going down the tree even though it was broad daylight.

"I'm sorry." I apologized the moment he left. "I completely forgot that we had plans. I'm also sorry that you had to see that."

"It's fine. At least it was better than walking in on my parents that one time. Admittedly, what my parents were doing was a lot worse....." She trailed off, shuddering.

"I pity you." I said, consolingly as I pulled out a pair of high-waisted black shorts and a red off-shoulder shirt. I loved how it was warm enough, even in January, to wear shorts, especially at night.

I didn't bother going into the bathroom to change because it was only Ally, just slipping behind the closet door so that the whole thing was less awkward.

"It's a mental image that still haunts me to this day." She informed me, and I heard her shuffling around near my dresser, probably looking for lip gloss or something.

"What do you think?" I asked, emerging from behind the door.

"Perfect," She said, before adding, "But only if you let me braid that mess you call hair."

"Thanks, Ally." I said, sarcastically, but I went and sat down on the chair anyway, so that she could do my hair.

Within two minutes, she had deftly pulled my hair into a fishtail braid, and had handed me some cherry lip gloss to put on. I hated lip gloss because of its stickiness, but I obliged anyway.

"Now, we can go." She said, stepping back. I grabbed my purse and headed downstairs, where we got into her car and went to the nearest movie theatre.

Ally refused to let me pay for my ticket or for snacks, stating that she'd been the one to pick the movie and it was my birthday tomorrow, too, so it wasn't fair to let me pay.

"Fine." I agreed, popping a little bit of popcorn into my mouth. It was small, but it was a start. I'd promised to try, so I was trying.

The movie, Pitch Perfect 3, was hilarious, but it wasn't as good as the first one. We came out laughing. It was a pretty good movie, but the first one was, without a doubt, the best in the entire trilogy. The second was okay, too, but I was just upset about the lack of Jesse in this one. None of the other Trebles were in it, either.

In my opinion, he'd been one of the best things about the previous movies, and to not have Jesse be in it was just sad.

"I love Fat Amy, though." Ally said suddenly, as they pulled out of the parking lot.

"She's funny sometimes, but she's a little too much for me." I said, voicing my unpopular opinion.

"What?" Ally demanded, glancing over at me in shock, her mouth falling open.

"Focus on the road." I chastised, rolling my eyes. Almost everyone I told this to gave me this reaction.

"How can you hate her?" Ally asked, seeming personally affronted.

"I don't hate her, Al." I responded, giggling, "She's just not my favorite."

"I guess I can accept that." She said resignedly, as if she had no choice.

"Goodnight." I said, as we reached my driveway. It was a little after 8, but I still had homework to do, and so did Ally.

"I'll see you tomorrow, birthday girl." She promised, pulling up in front of the double doors.

"I'll see you tomorrow." I agreed, hugging her over the center console.

"Hey, enough of that now. You don't want your boyfriend thinking he has competition, now, do you?" Ally teased, pulling back, her eyes glinting with amusement.

"Very funny." I said sarcastically, slinging my purse over my shoulder and slipping out of the car, making sure to slam the door loudly behind me. Ally mock-glared dramatically, and I only wiggled my fingers in a sly wave.

This year was shaping out to be pretty decent; definitely not as bad as I'd thought it would be. I might even miss this place once it was time to leave.