Arranged love

safe with me

Juliet's Pov

Later tonight there is another gala, but I still haven't chosen a dress for the event. There are four dresses in front of me, and I don't know which one to pick. My stylist brought all four of them here and they are all tailored to fit me so eventually I will wear them all. But now it's about which one to choose for tonight. I wish I could just stay at home with Lilly and Will in our jammies watching a movie or playing a game, but now I need to dress up and mingle with people I don't particularly like.

I've grown up in this world, attending banquets and galas since I was a little kid, around Lilly's age. But it was no place for a child, I would have been better off at home or at the playground. It's not that I resent my parents for making me go to those places, making me take etiquette classes, and have a stylist as a young child, but I can't help but feel like I missed out on a childhood. they wanted me to be prepared for the life they wanted me to have, but I wish I got to be a kid as well.

When I got pregnant with Lilly, I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't give her the same childhood I had. She would be allowed to play in the mud, do activities, go to mommy and me playgroups, and just be a kid. She can wear whatever she wants and be her goofy silly self. I'm not trying to change her into something that she is not or make her grow up too quickly. She deserves to experience the joys of childhood for as long as she can because she has the rest of her life to be a responsible adult.

I am also hesitant to go to the gala because I don't want to risk running into Travis again. I'm not stupid, I know I haven't seen the last of him. This week alone I've gotten two new flower arrangements with an accompanying creepy note. I have still not told anyone though; I don't want to make it into a bigger thing. If that's the best way to handle it, I don't know.

"Mommy I like the blue one," Lilly says as she comes skipping into my bedroom pointing to the V-neck baby blue dress that's one of the options. "Then I will wear that then, I think it's pretty too" I say and pick her up kissing her cheek. 

"Mommy I like Willy; he is really nice. Do you like him?" She says and I grin at him "he is a good person. And I'm happy that you get along since he is going to be in our lives" I tell her. I've grown feelings for Will, but I'm not about to tell my six-year-old that when I don't even know what to do with those feelings myself. 

  ｡ﾟ•┈——୨♡୧——┈• ｡ﾟ

After getting ready will and I arrive at the venue for the event and walk in hand in hand. He knows me well enough now to know that these events make me nervous, and I would rather be anywhere but here. "You're okay Juliet. If you want to leave squeeze my hand twice and I will know" he says quietly so only I can hear after we walk the red carpet together. 

Just like it always is, the ballroom is filled with people in expensive outfits drinking Champagne and mingling. The venue, theme, and company may change between the galas, but they are all basically mirroring the last one. It is yet another thing that makes them straight-up boring. 

We grab a glass of champagne and do what we are expected to do, mingle. But I spot my parents here who are waving me over while Will is being summoned by some friends. "Meet up with me later," we both say at the same time before we go our separate ways, him to his friends and me to my parents. 

I've been avoiding them ever since the wedding because I was pissed, they made me do this. What they did to me is something I could never do to my daughter, so I don't understand why they did it. Sure I'm starting to have feelings for Will, but that doesn't mean I accept what my parents did. But they are also my parents, and I can't hold a grudge against them forever. Even though it was hurtful they did have my best interest at heart I guess, at least that's what I'm pretending happened.