¸„.-•~¹°"ˆ˜¨missing out¨˜ˆ"°¹~•-.„¸

The Sekai Taikai was back on and Jules was training nonstop. Whether it was her own doing, training with Eli and Lexi, or her and Robby getting pulled out of their bunk beds at 5am by their dad to run—Jules was nonstop.

Right now, she and Robby had just run from their apartment to Balboa Park and back. She felt like her legs were on fire when she finally got to the apartment and collapsed against the water fountain.

"I'm never letting you plan out training again." Jules said as she tried to catch her breath, resting her head back on the cold stone behind her.

She looked up at Robby, who was standing in front of her with his hands on his knees. Julianna ripped the water bottle out of his hands, making him stumble a couple steps, but Jules didn't care.

"How are you feeling? Ready?" She asked before she took a large swig of water, drinking almost all of it.

Robby ignored his sisters tone and put his hands on his hips. While still trying to catch his breath, Robby nodded. "Yeah, Eli and Demetri said they had a plan for me so Miguel and I are heading to Miyagi-Do tomorrow to work on it. You want to come?" Robby asked, raising his eyebrows at Jules.

Julianna finally pulled her lips away from the once full bottle and shook her head. She already knew all about Eli and Demetri's AI they've been building for Robby to fight Axel and as cool as she thought it was, it wouldn't benefit her. Plus, Jules was planning on meeting up (bombarding) Tory to train with her.

"No, I've got my own plan for training tomorrow." She said as she handed Robby back what was probably about a sip left of water.

Robby frowned at his water bottle that lost a significant amount of weight and when he inside and saw it was practically empty, he sighed. Robby fell onto the ground beside Jules, his shoulder bashing into hers.

"Look, Juli... We both need to be in complete focus during this competition." Robby started and Jules squinted at him. She wanted to say "duh" or something because that was obvious? But she held back.

"Yeah..." She decided to say instead, her words trailing off as she raised an eyebrow at her brother. Robby took a deep breath, suddenly terrified to say what had been bothering him for the past couple days.

He looked to Julianna and even though she was a little confused about what Robby was about to ask, he felt himself calm. This was his sister—his twin. He was just going to ask a semi-heavy question and she would answer. She wouldn't stop speaking to him, she wouldn't be mad at him, not for long at least because he's her brother.

So Robby took a deep breath and looked back to his knees that were pulled up to his chest. "There's one thing that I really think would help me focus during this fight, but it might be a lot to ask." Robby said, his eyes glued on his twiddling finger resting on his knees.

He licked his lips to gain the courage to turn to Julianna. "I want mom there, but I know that if she's there, you'll be out of focus." Robby breathed out and Jules immediately looked away from her brother and licked her teeth. Robby sighed, scooting over so Jules was forced to look at him.

"All I'm asking is that we go over to her place for dinner tonight. Maybe something could be resolved? I know she's wanted to talk with you for a while." Robby explained, he didn't purposely try to make it happen, but his voice sounded desperate—which he was.

Jules scoffed at Robby's words, her eyebrows raising. "She could reach out." She spat more to herself than Robby. He raised his eyebrows, giving Jules a "really?" look.

"Juli, you threatened to shave my eyebrows if I gave her your number."

"Fair point."

Robby sighed, making Jules finally turn back to him. Julianna knew Robby really wanted this and although she probably would never admit it out loud, deep down, she wanted this too.

In a few months, she would be on the other side of the country. She'd be too busy and too broke to come home whenever she'd like and would probably only be able to come back to California for breaks. Her whole world was about to flip upside down and even though they were never close, a part of Julianna just wanted her mom there with her.

Robby took Julianna's silence as hesitance and shook his head. "It's just one dinner. Two hours max." He tried to reason before a small smile grew on his face and he shrugged. "And who knows? Maybe having mom there will help you too."

Jules was about to answer—about to say yes, but just as the words were about to leave her mouth, a thought came into her mind and she rolled her eyes. "Is Jace gonna be there?" Jules groaned as she brought up the man she met a couple days before. 

Robby threw his head back and laughed. "No." He answered as his laughter started to die down, shaking his head reassuringly.

Jules watched her brother for a couple seconds. They both already knew her answer, but Robby wanted to hear her say it out loud.

With a groan, Julianna finally answered.

"Fine."

...

After agreeing to go to her mom's for dinner, Julianna showered and started to find something to wear, FaceTiming Eli as she waited for her and Robby to go.

"Any new acceptances?" Jules asked, her back to the laptop where Eli's face filled the screen as she rummaged through her closet. Robby hadn't given her a dress code, so she had no clue what was okay to wear.

She heard Eli sigh and turned her head back toward the screen.

"Nothing from MIT." He muttered, his voice quiet and his eyes dropping.

Jules frowned, walking over to the bed and crouching to be eye level with her laptop. She gave him a small, reassuring smile. "Well, that's okay! Miguel still waiting on an answer from Stanford." She said softly and Eli nodded, but his expression stayed tense.

Julianna tilted her head, her smile turning playful. "But besides MIT, I want to hear about everything you did get into." She hummed, voice teasing.

Eli's face slowly turned red, and the smile he was trying to fight off started to win.

"I got into CalTech."

Julianna felt her heart stop. CalTech was huge. Her jaw dropped as she stared at her boyfriend, who was watching her nervously, waiting for her reaction.

"Are you serious?" Jules whispered, almost afraid to speak any louder, as if speaking would pop the dreamlike bubble they were in.

Eli only nodded. Off-camera, his leg bounced anxiously, and he picked at his hangnails.

Jules is gonna be mad at me for liking a school so far from Boston and she's gonna break up with me and—

"Eli, that's amazing! Holy shit!" Jules screamed, cutting off his overthinking thoughts. She practically leapt onto the bottom bunk of her head as if she could tackle-hug him through the screen.

The immediate burst of giggles made Eli's chest unclench a little. His eyes stayed locked on hers as she fumbled to hold her laptop properly, her camera shaking with her excitement.

"Really?" He asked, voice quiet, like he still didn't quite believe it. Jules continued to laugh, nodding her head crazily.

"Yes, really! CalTech is huge!" Her words tumbled out, barely understandable through the high-pitched excitement in her voice.

Eli relaxed, taking a deep breath of air and finally smiling about this acceptance. He had been too nervous to really celebrate it, but knowing Jules was happy for him, he finally let his excitement take over. His smile stretched as wide as hers. "Yeah." Eli breathed, letting out a small laugh. "I'm really happy about it."

Julianna's giggles softened as she sat back up. "Is that one of your top choices?"

Eli's smile faltered.

There it was.

His stomach twisted, and he pressed his lips into a thin line before licking them nervously. Taking a deep breath, he nodded.

"Yeah, I think so."

Jules didn't respond immediately, her camera shaking as she moved her laptop closer to her closet to keep searching for clothes. Eli gulped, his eyebrows raising. "Is that... okay?"

As Jules set her laptop on her desk, she turned back to him, nodding her head wildly while her eyebrows furrowed. "Of course that's okay! Why wouldn't it be?"

Eli frowned, nervous that if Jules hadn't found a reason to be upset yet, she was about to. He shrugged sheepishly, suddenly finding it hard to look at his girlfriend on his screen. "It's on the other side of the country from Boston..." He murmured.

Julianna finally found a sundress that would be perfect for tonight. She pulled it off the hanger and draped it over her chair before turning her full attention back to Eli.

"Yeah, but this is CalTech." Jules shrugged, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "If you decide to go there, we'll be okay." Julianna said and Eli let out a breath he didn't even realized he was holding in. When he looked back at her, his eyes were big, glossy.

"You won't... want to break up with me because I'm so far away?" Eli asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Julianna's heart clenched. Her face softened as she shook her head. "Oh my God, never." She breathed out. Eli nodded quickly, dropping his head as he sniffled.

Jules bit her lip. "We'll do long distance." She suggested and Eli's head snapped back up to look at his girlfriend. The two of them never really discussed it considering they were both planning to be in Boston, but everyone else was doing it, they could too.

Eli swallowed hard. The idea of not seeing Jules all the time hurt, but the idea of losing her completely hurt more. It made him sick to his stomach.

"Anything to still have you." He whispered and Jules snorted at his cheesiness.

"Jules! We gotta go!" Robby yelled from the living room.

Julianna's face dropped. She glanced down at her body still wrapped in its towel from her shower and the sun dress on her desk chair.

"Shit!" She yelped, turning back to Eli, who was now watching her scramble in a panic with a big, dopey grin.

"Eli, I have—"

"—to go?" He finished for her, having heard Robby's yell faintly through the call. Jules nodded her head and Eli smiled. "You've got this. And if you need anything just stop by my place, yeah?" Eli asked, watching Julianna carefully.

Part of him was a little nervous for this dinner since the moment Jules told him it was happening. Julianna's mom was always a tough subject for her, it's what broke the two of them up in the first place! He knew Jules had a quick temper when it came to the woman and Eli was nervous Shannon would say one thing wrong and the whole night will be ruined in Julianna's eyes

Jules smiled at his offer. When she looked up her mom's address on google maps earlier, it was in the complete opposite direction of Eli's house, but she'd be would just head over—force robby to drive her—to Eli's if things went south.

"Yeah... okay." She murmured.

Eli smiled, bringing his phone off his desk and adjusting the angle of the camera to show off some of the tech he'd been working on.

"Okay, I love you." Eli said as Jules finished getting her dress on.

Jules looked back up to her screen to respond and giggled at the all of Eli's work sitting on his desk and the expecting smile on his face. "I love you too. And very nice AI." She hummed through a laugh and Eli's smile doubled.

"Thank you very much." He muttered, like he hadn't been fishing for the compliment.

They hung up, and Jules checked her reflection one last time, relieved she'd done her hair and makeup during her FaceTime with Eli.

"Jules!"

"I'm coming!"

...

Jules didn't really know what to expect when she got to her mom's apartment, but when she and Robby walked into the small little unit with the table already set with chicken alfredo, Julianna froze.

Chicken alfredo was her favorite.

She never grew up with her mom's cooking. Instead, Jules was told to grab whatever was in the fridge or would walk somewhere to get food with the allowance her Grandpa Sid would send her monthly. She may not like the guy, but he was still family and he was still offering her money.

So having a "mother's homemade meal" for the first time was pretty cool. Her mom was actually really good at cooking and instead of talking most of the dinner, Jules ate her pasta spoonful after spoonful while Robby and Shannon talked.

Robby tried to get his sister to jump into the conversation, but every time he would, Jules would take a big bite of food and Robby would roll his eyes.

He decided the best way to get the two to start talking was to force them to be alone. So, Robby left and went to the bathroom.

And never came back.

While Robby was in the bathroom—for a long time in Julianna's opinion—an awkward silence settled over the dinner table. The only sounds were the clatter of forks against their plates as they ate.

Shannon couldn't take her eyes off her daughter, and Julianna could feel it, but she kept her eyes on her plate, ignoring the burning feeling of her mom's eyes on her.

"So, how was Barcelona?" Shannon asked. She hated that her relationship with her daughter had been demoted to small talk, but she knew that if there was ever a time to get everything off her chest, it was when it was just her and Jules.

"It was good." Jules tried to keep her answer short, but she couldn't hide the small smile that tugged at her lips and the string of giggles as she remembered the trip. "I kinda dragged Eli to all the touristy spots."

Shannon's eyes brightened and her eyebrows raised. She tried her best not to smile, worried it might scare Jules away. "Eli's your boyfriend, right?" She asked and Jules looked up at her mom for a moment before she nodded and turned back to her food. If Shannon blinked, she would've missed it.

"Yeah, I don't think you've met him yet." Jules answered, her eyes still on her plate.

Shannon watched as her daughter spun her fork in the pasta and brought it to her mouth. "I have." She replied and Julianna froze. Jules squinted as she tried to remember when her mom met Eli.

Then, her mind flashed back to prom—standing in the courtyard in her half-zipped purple dress, yelling at her mom while her dad and Eli walked in.

Jules cleared her throat and looked back down. "Oh, yeah... I guess you kinda ran into him when you stopped by before prom."

Shannon's happiness faltered at the mention of prom night. She remembered scolding herself that night for not being there with Jules, for not telling her she looked beautiful, for not helping her zip up her fucking dress.

Still, she forced a smile and shook her head. "No, I met him before that."

Julianna looked up from her food with furrowed brows and a tilted head. A small, confused hum left her lips as she watched her mom finally look away from her to squint at the ceiling. Shannon squinted, thinking hard about the memory to make sure she got out right.

"Your... I think it was your ninth birthday. The one at Skateland?"

Jules straightened at the mention of her birthday and the fact that her mom remembered the party and her age correctly.

She stared at her mom as if the woman had three heads while Shannon smiled softly at the memory. "I was dropping Robby off, and there were only three other kids there besides you: Lexi, Demetri, and Eli."

Jules blinked. Her mom remembered her friends' names?

"You and Lexi were already skating, and the boys were playing arcade games. While Robby went to get skates, I was with that boyfriend of mine, Toby—if you remember him—sitting by the exit of the rink." Shannon said, waving her hands as if mapping out where everyone had been.

Jules continued to stare at Shannon, her eyes wide like a little kid.

"And you and Lexi skated over to the exit, and screamed for the boys to come over. You two were begging for them to skate with you, but Demetri said he didn't want to hurt himself." Shannon started to laugh to herself.

"He kept talking about all the injuries you could get skating for so long, that he scared Lexi out of skating." Shannon explained and Jules didn't even realized she was smiling until she scoffed and noticed her cheeks were sore.

"I was so mad at him for that." Julianna muttered. Shannon let out a breathy laugh at her daughter's words, and Jules looked up again.

"While Demetri led Lexi to the arcade, Eli saw how sad you were." She raised her hands and gestured to her face. "I could practically see that boy gain the courage to tell you that he would grab skates and skate with you."

Jules remembered that moment—she was bummed that Lexi decided to stop skating because it was a rollerskating party! You're supposed to skate! Not play arcade games!

And then she remembered seeing Eli still standing there, his head slightly lowered to hide his scar, but she could still see the small smile on his lips and the red in his cheeks.

Jules smiled at the image in her mind and Shannon smiled over the fact that Julianna hadn't gotten up and left yet. She had to keep going.

"And I just remember, your entire face lighting up—you were so happy. You almost slipped getting off the rink to go with him and get skates." Shannon laughed as she spoke, remembering her stumbling daughter eager to get Eli onto the rink.

Julianna's eyes were fixed on her lap as she twiddled her thumbs, but she was still smiling at the memory.

"Toby and I were supposed to head out after we dropped Robby off, but I asked him to stay so I could see you for your birthday a little longer—Robby's party was the day before, but that day was about you."

When the twins were growing up—and still in contact—they had alternated what day they celebrated their birthdays because they didn't want shared parties since they had different friends. That year, Robby had celebrated on their actual birthday, and Jules celebrated the next day, on the fifth.

"I watched you teach Eli to skate for hours, and he just couldn't stop staring at you. When he finally got the hang of it, you were so excited you pulled him into a hug, and you both fell over." Shannon breathed out, and Jules felt her cheeks burn at her mom's retelling of the story.

Jules hadn't realized how much Eli had been watching her. In that moment, little nine year old her been too terrified that her hands were sweaty when she held his.

Julianna still kept her eyes on her lap and for once, it wasn't to shut her mom out, but because she couldn't hide the smile taking over her entire face. She let herself quickly peak up at her mom across the table from her through her eyelashes and shook her head. "I can't believe you remember that. Dad doesn't remember meeting Demetri and Eli until sophomore year."

Shannon's smile softened, and her eyes shifted away from her daughter. "I tried to know as much as I could about you." She whispered and Jules licked her lips, a sudden defensiveness, pushing down against her chest as she shrugged.

"You could've known a lot if you were around more." Jules said, her words coming out harsher than she wanted.

When Shannon flinched at her tone, Jules felt her stomach twist in guilt. She nervously bit her lip and looked back down at her lap.

Shannon felt as if all the progress they just made was erased in seconds. She knew that she wasn't going to fix everything just by bringing up a couple old memories, she had to actually work for it.

She sighed, her head dropping. "I know, I know, sweetheart. It's just... when you and Robby were born, I was all alone in that hospital room." Shannon explained, her voice wavering. Jules looked up, still nervously twiddling her thumbs, her pasta completely forgotten in front of her.

"I wasn't prepare for twins so when I walked out with two newborns, I panicked and I left you with your dad."

Jules licked her lips and shifted her gaze to a painting behind her mom, trying to focus on that instead of the burning in her eyes and throat. She couldn't cry.

"And I tried to keep in contact as you and Robby grew up, but whenever I saw you, you seemed so happy with your dad. I kept thinking that if I got too close, I might take that happiness away, and it'd be my fault." Shannon admitted. Julianna's head snapped back to her mom at the way her voice broke and she finally noticed the tears welling up in her mom's eyes.

Julianna's hands dropped, and her face fell at the sight. Her heart pounded in her ears so loudly she was worried she wouldn't be able to hear her mom anymore. So she stared at her to try and lip read anything she could possibly miss.

"I shouldn't have pushed you away, and I shouldn't have pushed you and Robby apart. I am so sorry for what I put you through, Julianna. You didn't deserve that—you deserved a mom."

It wasn't until Jules felt the tears streaming down her face that she realized she was crying. Shannon hesitated to grab her hand.

But after a couple seconds, she did grab Julianna's hand

And Jules didn't pull away.

"And if it's okay with you, I would love to be in your life." Shannon muttered and when Julianna's eyes widened, Shannon closed her own and continued softly. "I know it'll take time for you to see me as your mom. Maybe you never will, but I want to be in your life."

She readjusted in her seat to scoot closer to the table—closer to Jules. She squeezed Julianna's hand tightly, a small smile on her face, but Jules could see the way her bottom lip quivered.

"I want to help you get ready for senior prom and be there when you and Eli take your prom photos, I want to get to know Eli more—and all of your friends." She listed almost all in one breath.

Jules squeezed her mom's hand, silently telling her to slow down.

Shannon paused, a breathy laugh escaping as her words died out. She took a deep breath, her eyes staying on Julianna's and when her daughter nodded, she continued.

"I want to watch you graduate, I want to watch you win this Sekai Taikai, I want to help you pack up for college." Her smile softened as she cut herself off. She tilted her head at Julianna and leaned closer to her from over the table.

"Robby told me you're going to Boston University. Julianna, that's... that's amazing." Shannon breathed out and Jules laughed through a small cry, finding it a lot harder to hide the relief she felt finally getting to hear her mom's side of it all.

The two laughed, and looking at her mom, Jules could see that she had her smile and they both laughed the same.

After their almost identical laughter died down, Shannon sniffled. "I don't want to be missing out on any more of your life."

Jules stared up at her mom, feeling an overwhelming weight that had been building up on her for over ten years finally lift off her shoulders. Her shoulders shook as she tried to catch her breath.

Without another word, Jules pushed herself out of her chair and ran into her mom's arms for a hug.

—if this fic was in the show and i was the writer, that whole scene where shannon is retelling julianna's birthday would be a voiceover on top of a scene of younger jules, lexi, eli, and demetri.

IT TOOK SIX SEASONS BUT JULES AND SHANNON WILL FINALLY START TO BE OKAY😫‼️

i have a plan for this fic and elianna you guys MUST trust me