Esme's skin... Their moans... Their touch... Juliette sighed, turning on her side, grimacing at the feeling of her bed... Bed? Seat! Fuck... She was in a goddamn car.
Why was she in a goddamn car?
"Hey." Juliette jumped a bit, coming out of her slumber as if she was coming out of a fucking trance, shocked by the trees going by above her... She always forgot that Shelby's car had a fucking sunroof. She cleared her throat, trying her hardest to get her bearings.
"Hm?" She sat her seat up, stretching as she rubbed her eyes, willing herself to feel even slightly awake, but after last night, she would be lucky if she could fake it for even an hour, she was too busy having muscle memory take over on her memories and her wandering mind take over in her dreams to think too much about reality... But being around Shelby was the wrong time to have that happen, she didn't sign up for that. "God, sorry... Didn't mean to fall asleep there..." She sighed, and Shelby reached over, patting her thigh lightly. She looked over to see a concerned glance before Shelby focused on the road again a second later.
"You okay?" She asked, and Juliette nodded, taking Shelby's hand and removing it from her thigh instead placing it on the center console. She didn't want Shelby touching her while she was thinking about Esme touching her everywhere just a few hours prior.
"Yeah, just... Didn't get much sleep last night." She chuckled softly, chewing on her lip as she thought back to how fucking hot Esme had looked on top of her, even if she'd been kept from being able to take control of the situation. "Gave Esme a going away present." She said, and Shelby raised an eyebrow, the smile on her face telling Juliette that she'd already known that, which she'd figured.
Even if she hadn't said it, Shelby was smart enough to understand the context without having to have it all explained out for her.
"Yeah, I could tell that much from the marks... Didn't you warn them you had an hour drive this morning?" Shelby asked, and Juliette nodded. Well... Okay, so she didn't really warn them about that, but she knew for a fact that Esme knew exactly how long the drive was and they knew the risks.
So... Yeah. We'll go with that.
"Mhm." Juliette folded her arms behind her head, grinning to herself, feeling rather proud of herself in that moment because well... God, Esme was fucking hot, and she was lucky as hell that she was the one that had gotten to distract Esme like that. "Suffice to say that what I had on sort of wiped their brain." She said, and Shelby raised an eyebrow, drumming her hands on the steering wheel to the beat of the music on the radio.
"What were you wearing?" She asked, and Juliette chuckled, shaking her head.... Wearing? She hadn't been wearing a damn thing.
"Nothing at all." Shelby's jaw dropped for a moment before she cleared her throat, shifting a bit in her seat before she nodded.
"Oh." Her voice cracked over the word, making Juliette let out a loud laugh... it was funny to think that she had the ability to make Shelby squirm... Well... Squirm? Was that the right way to say that? She was pretty sure it was, that seemed like a squirm. "Yeah, okay, that's hot, I don't blame them." She sighed, and Juliette nodded.
It had been a very fun night.
"It was very fun." She said, shivering as she tried to think about anything but what happened last night, but it was impossible when she was talking about it.
Shelby cleared her throat, clearly trying and failing to keep her focus.
"I don't doubt it, but we're up the whole day we're there, you know that right?" Juliette nodded. Obviously she knew that, she was paying attention to what they were doing today... Sort of... She was... Okay, so she knew that they were up there, that was good enough.
"That was a risk that I gladly took." Moving on. "Do you think you're gonna see the girl from the plane? The one who goes here?" She asked, and Shelby let out a breathless chuckle, shaking her head as she did.
What? What had she said wrong?
"Amazing that you can't remember how to do slope-intercept off hand, but you can remember that..." Shelby mumbled, and Juliette nodded. Really, that made perfect sense, she gave absolutely zero fucking shits about math and she gave a lot of shits about women - that was all it took for her to really explain why she knew some things and didn't know others, it wasn't a hard sell.
"I've got a good brain for gay activity, not a good one for mathematics." Juliette pointed out, and Shelby paused for a moment before sighing and nodding like what she had said made perfect sense.
Good.
"True." Shelby chewed on her lip, biting back a smile before she sighed, nodding... She had every right to be that pleased with herself, from what Juliette could remember of her, the airport girl had been really fucking hot... Granted, everyone that Shelby hooked up with was hot, so that really didn't narrow it down. "Jasmine and I have been talking, yeah... Turns out she's helping run the event, so I'll be seeing plenty of her." Shelby's tone made Juliette raise her eyebrow.
She was pretty sure that she knew what that meant.
"Will you be seeing her or... Seeing her." She said, putting extra emphasis on the second seeing so that Shelby could hopefully get what she was saying, because she really didn't want to say 'are you gonna be fucking this weekend?'
That just seemed a little bit crass even for her.
Shelby nodded, seeming to instantly get what she was saying, which was really good, because she really didn't want to say it again.
"Probably a little of both." Shelby said, and Juliette grimaced, resting her chin on her hand as she looked out the window. She was all for Shelby hooking up with whoever she wanted, but she was pretty sure that they'd gotten a room with one bed, and she really didn't feel like sleeping in the bathroom just so Shelby could fuck someone... Granted, she was pretty sure that Shelby wouldn't make her do that, but still. It was a worry.
"We should've gotten two hotel rooms." She mumbled; hearing Shelby let out a chuckle before she looked over at her.
Why are you laughing at me?
"I'm not fucking in our hotel room; I'll go to her dorm." Shelby said, making Juliette let out a sigh of relief as she nodded. That was exactly what she wanted ot hear, she needed to know that Shelby respected her enough to not fuck right in front of her.
Like, obviously she was pretty sure that Shelby had no want to do that in front of her, but she was never sure, you know?
"Fair point." She reached over, patting her arm lightly with a half smile. "Thank you." Shelby rolled her eyes, smacking her hand lightly.
Why hit me? What the hell?
"Obviously." Cool... Coolio... What am I supposed to say? Uh...
"Are you looking forward to that?" Juliette asked, grimacing at her question. She felt like some kind of awkward mother trying to show their kid that they didn't give a fuck if they were having sex or not - like the vibe of I'm not a regular mom, I'm a cool mom.
Shelby sighed happily, nodding.
"Oh yeah." Shelby shook her head, puffing her cheeks out as she seemed to relive the little bit of time that she had had with Jasmine. Gross. "We did things in that airport bathroom that I did not know you could do in such a small place; I can only imagine how good it'll be in an actual bed." She said, and Juliette nodded.
Well... She had no fucking idea what she was supposed to say about that.
"Well, have fun... Be safe?" She asked, and Shelby nodded.
"Yeah, I will be. Don't worry." Good.
"Cool." For a moment, neither of them spoke... And then Shelby just had to interrupt their calm quietness in order to have a damn conversation.
"What are you excited about for this weekend?" Shelby asked, and Juliette shrugged. She wasn't sure what she was excited about per se, but she was interested in hearing about what had killed her mom... Well, maybe not interested, but she did have a morbid amount of curiosity surrounding it.
"Getting to walk around campus more, see what it's all about, learn more about the whole... Cancer thing." The car felt uncomfortably quiet, and Juliette cleared her throat... She wanted to move past what they had been talking about, she felt like she'd killed the mood. "So, how'd you find out about this?" She asked.
"Dakota sent me a link." She looked over at her, grinning at her. "She'll be there too." She said, and Juliette gasped, looking over at her.
"Really?" She asked, and Shelby clapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes widening as she gave Juliette an apologetic look, which she found confusing. She didn't really know why Shelby would want to apologize for anything, she hadn't done anything wrong.
"Shit, I wasn't..." She grimaced, shaking her head. "I wasn't supposed to tell you, act surprised, okay? She wants to introduce you to someone." She said, and Juliette nodded slowly... Well, Dakota had mentioned having a partner, maybe that was the person.
She wanted it to be the person, that was for sure because she wanted Dakota to know that she had her full support, but she wasn't sure how she could show it without ever meeting the partner... Seemed... Difficult.
"I wonder if it's her partner." She said, and Shelby nodded, squeezing the steering wheel anxiously as she looked out the window, seeming genuinely upset with herself that she had told Juliette about Dakota being there, but she wasn't upset at all. She liked knowing that Dakota would be there, that just made it even better that she'd be there.
"Probably."
"I will act so excited." She promised, making Shelby raise her eyebrow.
Hello? What's going on? Why?
"I mean, I don't think you'll be acting about being excited to see her." Shelby pointed out, making her pause... That was true, she wasn't sure why she'd added excitement there, she'd meant that she would act like she was surprised.
Why was it so hard to say that she would act surprised?
"Right, I meant surprised... I just woke up, cut me some slack." Juliette yawned, stretching as she did. She wanted Shelby to apologize, but there was no such luck, no - instead all she did was chuckle and reach over, patting her leg softly.
"I never do that, gotta keep you sharp." Shelby said, and Juliette shook her head, unable to stop herself from grinning either way.
"You're a dick."
"And yet you love me." Shelby said, and Juliette nodded. That was completely true, she'd love Shelby until the day that she stopped breathing, with even the dying beat of her heart, even if she was a total fucking asshole.
"Till the day I die, yeah." Juliette sighed, laying her head back against the headrest for a few minutes, enjoying the quiet of the drive before Shelby cleared her throat.
"Oh, we're here." Juliette opened her eyes and sighed, stretching again as she went to unbuckle her seatbelt
"Thank God."
"Don't unbuckle, we still gotta park." Shelby instructed, and Juliette groaned, laying back in her seat as she glared over at Shelby... Really what good would it do to stay buckled up right now? There wasn't much going on right now, she was perfectly safe right now... Unless someone just pulled out out of nowhere, but still. She was pretty sure she was gonna be okay.
"Come on-." Juliette tried, and Shelby shook her head, giving her a stern look. Okay, that was an unneeded look. Why would you do that?
"Accidents can happen. Park until the car is done moving." Shelby insisted. Juliette sighed, shaking her head as she looked out the window, pulling her hand away from her seat belt buckle. Sure, she might think that Shelby was just being nervous for her safety, but still.
"You're like a mom." Juliette said, keeping her voice as deadpan as possible, and Shelby rolled her eyes, reaching over to smack her arm softly.
Ow.
"No, I'm a concerned best friend." Juliette rolled her eyes, letting Shelby find a parking spot before she spoke again - she was pretty sure they'd get into an argument if they were to talk right now, Shelby always got a little irate in parking lots. After a few minutes, she felt the car get put into park. "Now you may unbuckle and get out." She said, and Juliette sighed in relief, unbuckling the seatbelt before she crawled out, yawning as she stretched her back.
"God, that was the longest fucking drive ever." She sighed, hearing Shelby let out a chuckle, shaking her head as she looked down at her fondly.
"As if you don't make that drive to watch Esme get tattooed sometimes." She pointed out, and Juliette rolled her eyes... God, she couldn't be dramatic around Shelby, she always tried to put her logic into things, and what was the fun in logic, right? Whimsy was where it was at.
"They haven't gotten a new one in a while actually, not since I got mine." Juliette said, and Shelby blinked, frowning for a moment before she nodded like she actually understood what was going on... Though Juliette wasn't sure why she had been confused at all.
"I always forget about yours." Oh. Well... Juliette had sort of just thought that Shelby would remember that, but she also forgot about it sometimes. Like, she'd see it in the mirror and it would startle her sometimes getting out of the shower, like she'd think it was a rash or something but no.
Pretty flowers.
"Well, you'll see it plenty this weekend." Shelby paused, looking down at her with a raised eyebrow. Oh. That's... Yeah, that sounds a little fucked, damn. That's not what I meant. "When I'm changing. Obviously." She said, and Shelby nodded, giving her a soft girn as she nudged her softly.
"I was about to say, I don't think your partner would love that connotation." Shelby said, and Juliette grimaced, shaking her head. That kind of joke wasn't needed... Granted, she did find it to be a little funny, but if she laughed that would ruin the point of her pretending to be disgusted by what had been said.
"Ew, Shelbs." She groaned, earning her a chuckle as Shelby wrapped an arm around her waist, walking with her towards the school.
"I'm kidding." She insisted, and Juliette nodded. She would certainly hope so, otherwise they would have to have a long, awkward conversation and she wasn't really in the mood for that this weekend.
"Good." Juliette could tell the exact moment that Shelby found Jasmine, her eyes actually lit up.
"Jasmine!" Shelby called, breaking into an almost jog, which Juliette resented the second it happened because it meant that she would have to keep up with her, and she was not dressed for running anywhere, plus the cool air was just... Not great for her lungs.
Jasmine lifted her head, giving them both a wide smile as she waved them down to her. Honestly, Juliette could hardly remember her from the plane, but she looked beautiful, and for sure someone up Shelby's alley - full face, wide smile, wide hips , a low-cut top... And the same gothic sort of style she'd had on the plane. Juliette wanted to ask where she'd gotten some of her pieces, she'd been struggling to find stuff that fit her the way that she wanted to since gaining weight, and she wasn't sure if she should be shopping at a plus sized store or not... Was that rude to ask? She didn't mean for it to be rude, but it could come off that way...
Unimportant, Jasmine was hot as she'd expected, and God really had done something right when he made women, that was for damn sure. She was pretty sure that women like Jasmine were proof that God existed to begin with - who else would put someone who looked like the human embodiment of sex and beauty on the earth if not a godly being, right?
"Shelby!" She embraced Shelby fully, pulling back a moment later with an appreciative grin, her eyes slowly working their way up Shelby's body in a way that made Juliette shift uncomfortably... She felt like she was intruding on a private moment, and she'd done that enough for one year. "Oh, you look even better in person." Juliette snorted.
Right, like that was possible - she was pretty sure that Shelby looked just as hot in person and online, and sure she looked like God's gift to fucking man but come on... How could she ever look better?
Shelby, on the other hand, took the compliment well, grinning widely as she let out a low, appreciative whistle, her hands squeezing on Jasmine's arms and then her hands, rubbing across the plush flesh on the back of it... They looked soft, like soft... Skin and flesh, all of it... She wanted to touch her skin just to know if she was right and if she was, she wanted to know Jasmine's lotion, because she was fucking glowing.
"God, so do you, I didn't know you could get even prettier, but here we are and God..." Shelby cleared her throat, stepping back as she rubbed the back of her neck, seeming sheepish as she did. "You know how to make a girl's knees weak." Jasmine bit back a grin at her compliment, rocking back on her heels before she leaned forward a bit, a smirk on her face. Juliette glanced away, her face flushing when she accidentally looked down her shirt.
That was so not meant for me, I should leave... Where would I go? I can't leave.
I'm trapped in hell.
I'm trapped in gay hell.
"I know how to make a girl do a lot of other things too." She murmured, making Juliette grimace as she shook her head... That was the last thing that she needed to hear today, and the confirmation she needed that Jasmine and Shelby had accidentally entered their own little world, not that she could blame them.
Two hot people with chemistry sometimes just clicked, that wasn't anyone's fault, that was just how human nature worked.
"Oh, I remember." Shelby murmured, stepping a little closer as she rested a hand on Jasmine's waist, looking down at her with the same expression that Juliette had seen used on Penny, Emma and Micheal. Ugh. I know what that means. "You're always welcome to show me-." She cleared her throat.
Nope. Alert the masses, your best friend is still here and wants to die now, please don't make that worse with your gay words.
"Gross." She muttered, watching as Jasmine quickly stepped away from Shelby, giving Juliette an apologetic smile as she took a step towards her... She felt a little bad for cutting them off, who was she to cut short a reunion, right?
But also, if she had to listen to even one more second of them flirting, she was going to take a swan dive off a fucking roof, so it was for the greater good.
"Sorry! Oh my god, I totally forgot." She extended her hand out with a large, kind smile before speaking again. "Juliette, right?" Juliette nodded, shaking her hand quickly... They were very soft, and warm and Juliette liked that she wasn't too firm with her handshake while still making it not limp. Jasmine cupped the outside of her hand with her free one, holding her there for a moment, which was a welcome change from the cold air that had been touching her a moment prior.
"Right." They dropped the handshake. "It's nice to see you again, Jasmine." She said, and Jasmine nodded, looking just as excited to see her as she had been to see Shelby... Well, in a different way... There was no vibe that she wanted to jump Juliette's bones, which she was grateful for, but she did seem happy that she was on campus, which was nice.
She'd been worried that she'd feel out of place - so far, that wasn't the case and Jasmine was a very big reason why it was not. She was just... Welcoming. Warm. She seemed kind down to her very core, and Juliette could understand why she was running an outreach event like this - who wouldn't want to come to school here after talking to someone like her?
"You too!" She pointed at Juliette's shirt, looking fascinated by the design. Why? What am I wearing? "I love your shirt by the way, what band is that? The design is so cute." She looked down, nodding. Esme's old Broken Roses shirt, of course.
She was right, it was a cool design.
"Oh, it's my partner's band." Shelby elbowed her in the ribs, making her wince - bitch, I was gonna mention the rest of them, just give me a minute. "And two of Shelby's partner's. And our other friend too." She mumbled, giving Shelby a look just to see her shrug.
Oh, you almost break my rib and all I get is a shrug? I know where you're sleeping tonight, asshole.
"That's so awesome, do they have a link? I'd love to listen to some of their music." She said, and Juliette blinked, nodding... She hadn't expected that, but Jasmine looked genuinely interested, so she pulled out her phone to send her the link that Esme had given her a few months back when she was trying to get the vibe of the bad before going to any shows.
"Yeah, they have one, I'll... I don't have your number-." Jasmine cut her off, taking her phone out of her hand to punch a number in before handing it back with a wide, excited smile. Juliette blinked, looking down at her phone to see that Jasmine had sent herself a text.
Oh. Is this friends? Did I make a friend organically? Is this considered organically if I had the added help of my best friend fucking you in a airport bathroom?
Unimportant, I made a friend.
"Here. Now you do, and I want you to use it because I wanna be your friend, Shelby talks about you a lot. She says you're really cool." She said, and Juliette smiled to herself before looking over at Shelby, who was grinning right back, proud of what she had said - that was something that Juliette really loved about Shelby. She never shied away from showing how much she loved her.
It was nice to be loved loudly like that.
"Thanks." She copied the link into the text chat before looking up at Jasmine, just confirming once more before she sent it. "I'll send you the link." Sent.
Jasmine's face lit up at the notification before locked her phone.
Cool.
"Awesome." She tucked her phone away before squeezing both of their hands, her smile only growing... It was a warm one, one that took up her entire face. Juliette liked how her dimples moved into the lines of her chin a bit, how her entire face just seemed to radiate light, it made her not want to look away from her. She liked being in the presence of joy. "You two are gonna have so much fun this weekend." Juliette nodded, but Shelby snorted and shook her head, slinging an arm around Juliette's shoulder before she spoke.
Okay, this is unnatural, you're too tall for this.
"Well, I am. I'm the science nerd, she came along for moral support... and because her aunt is helping with the event, but that was supposed to be a surprise." Shelby said, making Juliette chuckle. Shelby was about as good at keeping surprises as she was, so she wasn't shocked that the cat was out of the bag.
Jasmine furrowed her brows, looking confused as she gestured to Juliette.
"Who's her aunt?" She asked, and Juliette stood up a little straighter, letting Shelby talk.
Yes, embarrass Dakota by sinking her down to the level of being related to me, I'm sure she'll love that.
"Dakota Smith." Shelby said, and Jasmine's eyes lit up as she nodded, which filled Juliette with pride - she loved seeing that people had such a positive reaction to Dakota, considering that she was a fucking angel. She'd been deeply mistreated by Hollingsworth, it was good to see her in a place where she was appreciated for who she was and who she could be.
"Oh! She's who I talked to to get in contact with Dr. Quinlen." Juliette frowned... She hadn't even realized that Dakota was looking into anything with Oncology, last she knew she was stopping with nursing... Were there subsections to nursing? She had no idea, that... Maybe that made sense. "She's cool." Juliette grinned to herself as she nodded.
On that they did agree, Dakota was pretty fucking cool. She was lucky that she got to call her her aunt and even luckier that she'd cared enough about her to put up with her.
"Mhm, I think so too." Juliette felt someone bump into her shoulder and turned, giving the guy who had ran into her an apologetic smile. "Oh, sorry." She said, instantly realizing that her smile was a mistake once she saw him stop moving and grin right back at her.
Damn it.
"No problem, never a bad day when a hot lady runs into me." He said, looking Juliette up and down in a way that made her grimace as she stepped back beside Shelby, clinging to her arm as a feeble attempt to pretend like Shelby was her girlfriend or something... Well, okay so maybe that was something that wouldn't work on a frat boy, but she just really wanted to make sure that he had a reason to believe that she was unavailable.
"Oh... Uh..." She turned back to Shelby and Jasmine, clearing her throat as she hoped that maybe he'd just go the fuck away. "Anyway-." She felt his hand on her shoulder and sighed, rolling her eyes... Well, isn't that just great? I just love getting hit on by random fucking strangers.
"Has anyone ever told you that you could model? Like, I'd buy any spread that you did-." Shelby cleared her throat, stepping forward to place a hand on the guy's arm, easing him away from her, seeming to make him shrink right there in front of her.
Granted, it was really hard to seem bigger than Shelby, she was just... Intimidating. It was impossible to be more intimidating than her.
"And something tells me you're thinking about her doing a whole different kind of spread, and trust me, she only does that for one person, and it's a hot ass punk goth guitarist who hangs on her every word." "She's not into frat guys."
"Well, I mean I could change that-." Juliette cleared her throat, cutting him off - she didn't want to know where this was going, she just wanted it to be over.
"What she means to say is that I'm not into guys at all." He blinked, seeming confused. Okay, well... Alright. I guess I'll be more clear with you then, my bad. "I'm a lesbian, so even if I was single, you never stood a chance either way." He stepped back, nodding. Okay, so he understood the word lesbian, she was sure it was probably in his search history somewhere.
"Oh, word?" He asked, and Juliette nodded.
"Mhm." She said, and he nodded, holding his hands up in surrender before he took a step away from her.
Okay, cool.
"Well, can't blame a guy for trying." He waved at her, walking away backwards for a moment before turning forward again. "Later." Juliette turned back to the group, clearing her throat... Huh. She didn't feel scared, normally she felt scared after getting hit on, but he didn't seem like he'd harm her, that was good.
"That was an oddly respectful way to be hit on." Juliette said, and Jasmine grimaced, looking at her with some confusion.
"Was it?" She asked, and Juliette nodded. That was one of the more polite encounters that she'd had over the years, so she'd take it over the average one that she had in Hollingsworth. At least he'd backed off when she told him that she as a lesbian.
"For a frat dude? Yeah." Frat dudes had rules that were different, unfortunately... At least this one hadn't touched her. "Normal humans? Probably not, but I'm used to Bryce Benedict." She sighed, and Shelby gagged, nodding with a grimace.
"Good point."
"Bryce Benedict?" Jasmine asked, and Juliette nodded. Right, not everyone knows our small town drama, maybe I should tell her about that.
"An asshole we go to school with, got the shit beat out of him a few times." Juliette said, and Shelby sighed, shaking her head as she grimaced, looking disgusted with the fact that Bryce's name had ever even passed her mind, which was fair because Juliette also hated the fact that she had to think about him existing.
"And somehow he's still going on with his bullshit." Juliette watched Jasmine wrinkle her nose as she sighed, shaking her head.
"God, that's the worst." Yes. I'm glad you agree. "Like a cockroach, huh?" She asked, and Juliette shook her head.
That was an insult to cockroaches everywhere.
"Worse." She looked doubtful.
"Well, I don't know if anything can be worse, I hate cockroaches." Jasmine said, and Juliette sighed. Yeah, okay, she did too but they were nothing compared to Bryce Benedict. At least a cockroach wouldn't call her a liar, right?
"I hate some men more." And she meant that - some people were fine, some guys were nice, but she'd met plenty of men who fucking sucked ass, and Bryce was one of them.
"Yeah, fair enough." Exactly.
"Sometimes comparing a man to a cockroach seems unfair to the cockroach, you know?" Shelby asked, and Juliette nodded. That was true, she felt like that when it came to Ethan and Bryce.
She'd rather spend a night in a whole room of cockroaches over even 1 unchaperoned minute around Bryce or Ethan.
"In the case of Bryce, I know for sure." Juliette said, and Jasmine grimaced, nodding as she did, seeming disgusted with the mere idea of Bryce, which was the right way to be. If someone wasn't disgusted by Bryce, she would probably be inclined to think that they were fucking crazy.
"Well, I pray to God that I never meet him." She said, and Shelby chuckled, wrapping an arm around Jasmine's shoulder.
"Oh baby, don't come to Hollingsworth and I'm sure you'll have no problem not meeting him." Shelby said, and Juliette snorted, chuckling as she nodded. That was exactly right, she was pretty sure that Bryce would absolutely rot in Hollingsworth over improving in any sort of way.
Why would he improve? He seemed to like his stupid, fucked up self.
"Right? He screams future football coach who reminisces a bit too hard about the 'glory days'." Juliette said, putting quotes around the words as Shelby snorted, shaking her head.
"He'd have to have some glory days for that to make any sense." That was a really good point, under most circumstances, that would be true, but he would lie about it, she was pretty sure about that because why would he care about the truth? He never had before.
Shelby chuckled, nodding.
"He'd make it up for sure... Something about going pro if it weren't for his knee or some shit." Shelby sighed, making her chuckle.
"True, true."
"So Jules." She turned to Jasmine. Yes?
"Jasmine." She said, watching Jasmine gesture to Shelby before gesturing back to her.
"I know Shelby's major... What's your gonna be?" She asked, and Juliette sighed, shaking her head. She hated the question, she had no idea what she wanted to do with her life right now. She hadn't even fucking thought about what she wanted for dinner.
"God, I have no idea..." She sighed, feeling Shelby's hand on her lower back. She glanced up to see her giving her a half smile.
What is happening?
"She's a gifted writer." Juliette gave her a look.
Come on.
"Oh, really?" Jasmine asked, and Juliette snorted, shaking her head - that wasn't true at all, she was really good at writing essays and shit like that, but she'd always felt like her creative endeavors fell short in comparison to what other people were able to do around her. What was the point of trying when everyone else around her was just so much better than her at it?
"Back that up." She said, looking over at Jasmine. She wanted to give her the whole story, Shelby always spoke about her with way too much pride, and she needed to ensure that things were done in a way that was at least slightly accurate. "I'm a gifted academic writer... My partner does poetry and shit like that, but I don't think I'm any good." She said, and Shelby placed a hand on her shoulder, moving her behind her as she spoke.
"She's amazing, actually." Okay, well... That wasn't what she thought, but she wouldn't be able to stop her from saying what she wanted to say, would she? "She's good at short stories... Essays too, she's not wrong." Juliette grimaced, her face burning as Jasmine nodded, clearly believing Shelby.
She'd be sorely disappointed if she ever saw her writing.
"Well... Maybe journalism?" Jasmine asked, and Juliette shrugged. She wasn't sure about journalism, there just seemed to be an ethical layer there that she wasn't sure if she understood completely to a point where like she wanted to fuck with it. Some of it seemed out of her range.
"Maybe... What do you do?" She asked, and Jasmine grinned, tucking her hands behind her back.
"Psychology and History." Damn. Two. Cool.
"Smart woman." She said, and Jasmine beamed for a moment before clearing her throat and lessening her smile, which was a shame. She had a pretty one, Juliette loved getting to see it - few things could beat a truly brilliant smile.
"I am one of many talents, yes." Jasmine said, and Juliette paused, looking over at her warily, seeing a smirk on Jasmine's face. She was pretty sure that she knew exactly what Jasmine was saying right now.
"Was that another sex joke?" She asked, and Jasmine grinned, nodding as she did, seeming far too proud of herself.
"It was, yes." Ew.
"Mmmm... Wonderful. This weekend is just gonna be so fun." Juliette mumbled, hearing Jasmine chuckle as Shelby pulled her along.
"Trust me, you'll have a blast, and I'll make sure of it." Jasmine said, squeezing her hand as she pulled Juliette along behind her and Shelby. "Promise." Well... She wasn't sure about that, but she was willing to trust Jasmine.
Hesitantly.
But trust her nonetheless.