"Yeah, it's..." She sighed, allowing herself to get swept up in another hug. It was still hard a week later, and Julie wasn't sure how long it would take before she felt normal around Karolina again. She could try to do things that a friend would do, but there was always something nagging her at the back of her mind. Romantic feelings weren't something she could just turn off like a light. It took time to develop, and she imagined it'd take time to get over as well. In the meantime, she was stuck somewhere in the middle, and it was deeply uncomfortable. Having Howard around helped, but that came with its own unique set of complications, and every now and then, Julie wondered if she shouldn't take a step back to sort herself out on her own, rather than relying on someone else as a crutch. That line of thinking never went far; she liked his company too much to go cold turkey now. She hoped, for Mettle's sake, that the same thing didn't happen to him. She didn't want anyone to go through what she was going through. "I told her, about us, so she won't be taken off guard by anyone else, and we're going to try to be friends, but there's still a lot she doesn't know about." The joke was appreciated, and she smiled up at him so he understood that, even if she wasn't playing along.
She stepped away to get two plates out of the cabinets, and passed one over to Mettle. "We have soda and juice in the fridge of you want anything. Berto's joined up with SHIELD, doing training as a junior agent," she explained, glad to have something to talk about that wasn't as painful as Karolina not having feelings for her, "so he's busy with that a lot now. We're working together on the weekends, though, with Laura and Nico... he talked to Carol about training us, so she got some of the Avengers to help out. You'll have to come. It's kicking my butt, but it's so worth it."