*told from Julia's point of view*
"Sorry about Luke." I apologize to Rod before I open the door to my room. "He doesn't really care about what goes on in my love life."

Rod sighs. "It's ok, I guess. I still don't like the fact that you live with a guy."

"You have got to understand that we aren't and have never been romantically involved." I explain.

Rod nods. I can still see a trace of insecurity in his muddy brown eyes.

"Anyways, welcome to Casa de Julia!" I open the door to my room with a flourish, nearly tripping myself in the process.

Rod pokes his head in and peers around.

"You can go in you know." I state.

Rod mumbles something that I can't quite make out, probably "right" or "I know". He takes a moment to looks at the greater portion of the room, then shifts his attention solely to the large chest sitting by my bed.

"What is that thing?" Rod inquires.

"A chest." I answer.

"Yeah, but what does it have in it?" Rod asks as if I should've known he was really asking that.

"Open it and see for yourself." I reply.

Rod stares at me for a moment, wide eyed, nervous yet curious about the chest with strange engravings, a rusty lock, and a florescent green hue.  He takes his sweet time opening it, as if he thinks he's going to find the treasure of King Tut. We don't have any stuff from King Tut's tomb, he's an overrated pharaoh whose father had created a fake God and forced all of Egypt to worship it. We do have some scrolls from both Rameses the II and III. But that's beside the point.

Rod finally fully opens the gigantic chest and basks in awe of the magnificent treasures it contains. I think I hear him squeal, but if I mention it he would probably just feel like I'm trying to further attack his masculinity. I guess I can let his childish giddiness go this time, but once we've been dating for awhile he's in for a teasing. He starts sifting around, but before he gets too far deep, I crouch down and gently place his hand on his.

"Hey, let's not focus on that stuff." I suggest. I stand up and sit on my bed, beckoning for him to sit next to me, and he does.

"Do you love me?" Rod asks abruptly.

"What?" I'm shocked at his question.

"You heard. If you don't love me, I don't see how this will work." Rod explains.

I think for a moment. "I think I will love you once I get to know you. But I don't know anything about you. Give it a few weeks."

"Alright. That makes sense." Rod replies.

"We could get to know each other now." I suggest, trying to hint at something other than talking.

"What do you want to know?" He doesn't get the insinuation, so instead of beating around the bush, I kiss him hard and shift us fully onto the bed. He stops me after a minute. "I don't wanna do, you know, until I know you love me."

"Good, I don't either." I reply. Lord, I just wanted to make out a little. Although I'm glad we've established boundaries. We resume our previous engagement for a little bit before he announces that he has to go. I walk him downstairs and he turns down a ride in the golf cart, probably because it would be Alexa driving. After he leaves I plop down on the couch with Lexa and Luke.

"So," Lex immediately prods, "Did you fuck him like you did with Chase? If he hurts you, I'm going to crush him."

"No, I did not." I respond. "We just made out and talked a little."

"First of all," Lexa chides, "I don't believe it was a little, it's been an hour since you two went up their. I'm actually really surprised."

"It'll be a few weeks before we do it, he says he wants us to love each other before we go all the way."

Both Lexa and Luke look suspicious, Lexa raises an eyebrow and Luke furrows his. "Jul, it takes more that a few weeks to truly love someone. Hell, it takes quite a while to really, truly love someone." Lexa states.

"No it doesn't, it takes minutes sometimes." I reply.

Luke gets into the debate. "Lexa is right. The chemical reaction in your brain of 'love' can take minutes, but what we humans think of it as is too complicated to happen that quickly."

I think for a moment. "So I'll just say that I love him, that doesn't mean I'm ready to settle down or anything."

"You're going to lie to your boyfriend to get him to fuck you?" Lexa and Luke say in unison, then look at each other in a weird way, very surprised at what happened.

"So what? He implied that he loves me already, at least I'm taking some time." I retort.

Lexa and Luke take a moment to think, and then Lexa tells me her verdict. "Well, as long as you're both on the same page, I guess." Luke nods.

After a few minutes of me flipping through tv channels, Luke staring off into space, and Lexa with her nose buried in a book about Isis(once again, the goddess, not the terrorist organization), I voice my unpopular opinion. Well, it's unpopular in this household.

"You guys have known each other for years. Maybe you two are in love." I tease.

"NO!" They yell, once again in unison.

"I'm just saying. You're even in sync with each other and all that jazz." I decide to go further in my torment. "And your patrons are married. With a son. Aw, you two are going to have a kid named Horus!"

"Definitely not." Lexa rejects my statement. "You seem to be forgetting that I don't do the whole romance thing."

"You don't have to date, necessarily. You could skip straight to the marriage. Ooh, we could have the reception at the Brain Bar or the Crypt!" I suggest playfully.

"No no no no no no no no no no no no!" Lexa screams as she puts a pillow over her head to cover her ears.

"Ditto." Luke says nonchalantly.

"Well, I guess I'm the only one with a crush here." I say to myself.