Be My Juliet [on hold]

Chapter 4: Chocolate Dreams

"Holy shit!" Jess whispers to herself as we are walking away.  "Holy fucking shit.  I just met Dan Howell!"

"You need to tell me why you love him so much..."

"I can't believe you have been living with me for a week and I haven't shown you any videos.  He's one of my favorite youtubers."  She continues talking about llamas and placentas, desperately trying to have me recognize something.

"Why did you walk here?" I interrupt.  "Why not take your car?"

"I don't have a tracking device on you, silly." She laughs.  "I had no idea where you were."

"Sorry about that; I didn't know my phone had died."

"Don't worry about it." She smiles.  "However, you seem upset.  I think the best thing to do whenever you're upset is to..."

"Eat ice cream!" we say in unison, laughing at the memory of us eating an entire tub of Ben and Jerry's Cookie Dough when she was dumped by her first 'boyfriend' back in sixth grade.

"Are there any good places around here?"

She smiles and turns around the corner.  Without responding, she enters a brightly lit shop and walks up to the counter.  "What would you like?" the teenager working there asks me.

"Do you want to just split something?" Jess asks.

"Um... sure.   What's good here?"

"Everything!" She smiles before heading to the freezer on the right hand side of the shop.  She pulls out a giant gallon of ice cream and returns to the counter.  It is in a pure white container, with what I'm guessing is the store's logo printed on the side, so I can't see what flavor she chose.  "You'll like this; I promise."

"That'll be  £4.00," the boy mutters.  After paying, Jess and I walk out of the store and return home.

As soon as we are back, Jess stops me.  "So, what happened?"

"I fucked up."

"No you did..." Jess starts, but I cut her off.

"Yeah, I did.  I literally cried during the audition.  In front of the directors."

"Why did you do that?"

"Because I'm a fucking idiot and lost my place." I reply, trying to stay calm.  I know what the only thing that will calm me down is.  "But can I go change into my pajamas first?"

"Of course." Jess smiles.  "Should I make some tea?"

"Tea with our ice cream?" I laugh.

"Yup!"

"Alright, sounds like a plan."

As soon as I escape into my room, I bolt to the bathroom and lock the door behind me.  I wipe off the leftover makeup the rain had smeared down my face, scolding myself for letting Dan see me with mascara trailing down my face.  I sit down on the cold tiled floor, and reach into the cabinet below the sink to find the familiar rag and metal blade.  Smiling, I roll up my right sleeve, exposing the pink, scarred skin.  Adrenaline pumps through my veins as I drag the blade across my ghostly pale skin like I have thousands of times before, being careful not to go too deep.  You were doing so well.  A voice tells me.  You haven't cut yourself once since moving to England.  This was supposed to be a fresh start.  I block out the voice, grabbing the rag and dabbing the blood away.  I feel a tear fall from my eyes, knowing this is the only time I feel like I am doing something right.  I quickly wipe it away, and gently place the blade back in its place.  After the cuts stop bleeding, I fold the rag and put it in the cabinet.  Poor Jess still doesn't have a clue.  Why would she?  This started after she left.

I walk into my closet and grab the first comfy-looking clothes I see.  I rip off my dress and tights and replace them with dark green plaid pants, a tight black tank top, and a bright red Cornell sweatshirt I got while visiting.  I throw my hair into a high messy bun before slipping on my black fuzzy socks.

As I enter the living room, I see that Jess has two mugs filled with tea and the ice cream opened with two spoons shoved into it sitting on the glass table.  She is also in her pajamas, and sitting on the couch surrounded by pillows and soft purple blankets.  "What took so long?" she asks me.

"Nothing."  I reply quickly, instinctively grabbing my sleeves to seal them around me.  "I had to take my makeup off."

"Right..." she says slowly.  After I take the seat next to her and make myself comfortable, she grabs the ice cream and fixes me with a concerned look.  "Okay, now spill."

I tell her everything, starting from walking in.  Before I know it, we've managed to devour three quarters of what I now know is chocolate ice cream with some sort of chocolate chunky thing mixed in.  "What kind of ice cream is this? It's fantastic."

"It's called Chocolate Dream..." she starts.  "It is chocolate ice cream, swirled with peanut butter, fudge, brownie bites, cookie dough, and Maltesers."

"Am I being a really dumb American when I ask what Maltesers are?"

"Oh, my God."  Jess covers her ears.  "If I didn't hear it, it's not true!  If I didn't hear it, it's not true!"

"Seriously," I laugh.  "What are they?"

"They're the crunchy bits in here."

"Well, they're delicious."

"I know!"  Suddenly, she lights up and a grin from ear to ear spreads across her face.  "Dan loves these!"

"Okay that's slightly creepy that you know that..." I smile.

"Every Danosaur knows that!  You need to watch his videos.  Now."  Before I can even utter a response, Jess is running to her room to grab her laptop.  We spend the next hour watching his videos.  They are hilarious and I can relate to a lot of them.  "He's much more attractive in person," Jess squeals.  "You should know."

I feel my cheeks go a bright red color before I playfully punch her on the arm.  "Shut up." I giggle.

"Did you get his number?"

"Yeah."

"You should schedule seeing him again.  Make friends while you're here!"

"Knowing me, that'll be a challenge..." I laugh.

"Or maybe more than friends."  Jess winks.  I lightly hit her arm again, knowing I must look like a tomato right now.  "Shall I put on a movie?"

"Sure.  Pick anything."  Jess gets up and walks over to the stack of DVDs she has.  While she picks a random movie, I grab my phone from the charger.  I notice that I have one new message.

So when do I get to see you again?? – Dan

Are you free tomorrow? – Pen

I am.  Do you want to see a movie or something? – Dan

Sounds like a great plan :) – Pen

We go on texting like this until we have a solid plan: coffee at 5:00 followed by a movie.  "Why are you so happy over there, missy?" Jess giggles.

"I'm seeing Dan tomorrow!"

"Yay!"  Jess squeals.

"So what movie did you pick?"   Before she has a chance to reply, I see the opening credits of The Lion King scrolling down the screen.  "Are you kidding?" I laugh.

"Wait, how do you not like The Lion King?"

"I never said that!   It's just not what I expected you to pick."

"Do you want me to change it?" Jess asks as she starts to stand up.

"Never!  I love this movie!"

"Good!" she laughs before belting out the opening song. 

A/N: Hey!  I know I am so bad at posting chapters when I say I will, but I just need a lot of time to fix all of my mistakes xD Please let me know if you liked this chapter by commenting/voting!! chapter title credit: Booknerd160 and JulietteXGrace stay amazing <3