Chapter 207

                                    

                                          
If it wasn't for the hickies on her neck, Juliette would honestly believe that she looked fully heterosexual... And hell, even with them she still looked pretty damn straight because a guy could've just as easily given them to her.  Thankfully it was her beautiful partner and not a man, but it could've been...
And maybe... Did everyone think she looked straight?  How long had they known that she was gay?  Was it obvious to the rest of the world and just a secret to herself?  Did she fail to hide it?  God... 
Those questions had been circling in her head the whole time that she'd been sitting on Shelby's bed, listening to her and Micheal rant about something they'd learned in science until she simply couldn't bear it anymore.
She had to ask otherwise she was going to drive herself crazy wondering and she really didn't want to end up shaving her head during a mental breakdown, that just really didn't sound like the best idea.
"I have a question, and I want you two to answer me honestly." She said, making both of them pause.  Micheal shifted closer, resting his chin on his hand as he looked at her seriously, like he was ready to answer any question that was coming his way.
"Okay." He said, and Shelby gave her a thumbs up and a joking smirk.
"Maybe." She watched Micheal elbow her ribs lightly before tilting his head towards Juliette.  Thank you.  "I mean... Yeah, of course." She said, and Juliette puffed out her cheeks, leaning back a bit on her hands as she looked between the two of them.
God... This could really hurt her self-esteem because what if they'd known the whole time?  Then she'd just been really bad at hiding it, and what did that say about her if she couldn't even lie right?
"How long did you guys know I was gay before I told you?" She asked, an uncomfortable silence settling over them as Micheal and Shelby seemed to have a silent conversation about her, about what to say.
Oh my god, don't coordinate, just speak.
"Freshman year." Micheal's answer was perfectly respectable, because that was a pretty gay year for her if she thought back on it - being friends with Ingrid was not something that helped that situation in the slightest, in fact she seemed to try to actively hinder her from not being gay... Yeah.  Contextually, perfect time. "You had a very big gay vibe going on with whatever the hell you and Ingrid were doing." Juliette nodded, turning to Shelby, who grimaced, making her face fall.
Well, she wasn't gonna like this very much, was she?
"Seventh grade was when I really started to question it... I don't know, something about how intently you'd watch the soccer games just seemed a little odd... And sometimes I'd even see your eyes drawn to a certain player-." She cut Shelby off, scoffing as she shook her head.
There was no way in all holy hell that Shelby was implying that she had been staring at Esme back then, wouldn't she remember that?  She couldn't even remember them; wouldn't she at least remember staring at them?
She could vaguely recall Shelby's soccer games, but unless her brain had gotten really good at blocking everything out, that had never happened, and she was willing to die on that hill.
"No way, I didn't even remember Esme until this year, and even then, I was a total ass about how they used to look." She said, grimacing as she thought back to that day in Esme's van where she had so candidly described what a greasy, unkempt mess they were... Really, she was shocked that Esme didn't just choose to run for the hills right then and there, God knows that she would've.