In Love, With You, With Us

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The next morning, Juliette woke up in Chris's arms; they literally slept on the hood of the car. She stared at him; she looked deeply into his face. She watched him sleep and she hasn't looked at anyone like that before. A few seconds later, Chris woke up. "Good morning beautiful." Then he smiles. He pulls Juliette tighter before getting up from the wind shield. "Don't you have somewhere to go today?" asked Juliette. "Oh my date's not gonna be 'til seven hours from now, Jul." Chris replied. "Should we be going home right now?" Juliette asked while sitting all cute on the hood. "Nah, I still got a few hours to kill. Where do you wanna go?" Chris asked. "Hmmm... Let me think. Oh what the heck! Let's go to the tree house!" Juliette answered and then she giggles. He offered his hand to help her get down from the hood, and opened the door for her before getting into the driver's seat. On the way home they shared a few glances, they kept on laughing, they talked and then Juliette put her hand on his hand while it was resting on the stick shift. Chris smiled at her as he drove. He kept on looking at her and examined every bit of face; he quickly found beauty and content. He kept on smiling and laughing and was being cute while they were nearing their destination. So they reached Chris' house, she took a shower in the guest room; Chris took a shower in his room. She wore Chris' sweater and her shorts. Chris wore a simple white t-shirt and shorts. So, they took their breakfast and then went up to the tree house. They sat beside each other; Juliette rested her head on Chris' broad shoulders. Chris rested his head on Juliette's head and just sat there in silence. "Hey Jul, can I ask you a question?" Chris broke the silence. "Sure, go ahead." Juliette answered. "Is it a good idea for me to be dating again?" he asked. Her heart beat so fast and he could feel it; she stopped for just a second. She didn't answer. Chris looks at Juliette as she plays with her hands. He knows that it is one of Juliette's mannerisms when she gets nervous and doesn't want to talk. They were silent for a while again. Juliette finally broke the silence saying, "Have you ever loved someone so much and fear is holding you back from telling them how you really feel?" She asked and looked up at him. "What kind of question is that? Well, I guess I have and pretty much know that feeling." He answers. "Oh." Juliette sighs. After how many hours of talking in the tree house they both parted ways.

Juliette visits her girl best friend's house - Jess, Allison was there too. Jess' mom let Juliette in and they went to the back yard and she saw Jess on the hammock while Allison was typing something on her computer on the outdoor table. "Hey guys!" Juliette greeted. "Nice sweater, it really fits you." Jess said sarcastically. "Ha-ha very funny. What are you guys up to?" Juliette asked. "Can't you see I'm relaxing, I'm chilling, and I'm enjoying the breeze." Jess said. "I'm doing my English research. Do you want a cookie?" Allison added. "Okay, you guys suck. Anyways, I need to tell you guys something." Juliette said. "What?" Allison asked. "What am I going to do with Jake? We fight every day, we broke up again yesterday and I feel like it's really bad for me." Juliette exclaimed. "Calm down, you're still with that asshole?" Jess said. "And he flirts like crazy! I don't know what to do anymore." Juliette said. "So what's this really about, Jul?" Allison asked. "I don't know." Juliette replied. "Simple, just break up with him. Oh wait, you already did... Yesterday! So what's the big deal?" Jess joked. "I don't really know. So technically, I'm single right? And I choose not to go back to that jerk anymore, right?" Juliette asked confused. "Yes! Problem solved. Anything else you want to talk to us about... Like maybe whose sweatshirt is that?" Allison implied. "This is Chris' sweatshirt, why?" Juliette answered. "Jess, you know what that means?" Allison joked. "You're in love with Chris!" Jess teased. "What?! No I'm not! He's my best friend." Juliette defended herself. "She's just afraid to admit the obvious. I've seen you look at that boy and I've seen you around that boy. You light up and smile whenever he's around." Jess pointed out. "Because he's my best friend! We've known each other since kindergarten! It's all too familiar." Juliette exclaimed. "Oh shut up! You've been in love with Chris since forever! Was there ever a time when the two of you weren't in love?" Jess exclaimed. "You love him, why can't you see that?" Allison exclaimed. "Exactly! Both of you fight like a married couple, you always have deep conversations, and both of you flirt like crazy and you guys don't even know it! It's meant to be, Jul." Jess said. "Awe c'mon stop assuming or thinking that we're something but we're not! We're just really close." Juliette said. "When are you going to tell that boy how you feel?" Allison asked. "Never, because I don't feel anything for him. We're just friends!" Juliette insisted. "Ugh! When are you going to learn woman!" Jess whined.

Chris drove over to one of his closest guy friends - Dylan's house. Oliver and Chase stopped by too. They were the core four of the basketball team, plus they are really close. They went to Dylan's game room where they played NBA 2K13 on his play station three. "Bro, I spent the night with her again." Chris opened the topic. "Who?" Oliver asked. "Juliette." Chris answered. "The best friend? Ayyee! Did you score?" Dylan asked. "What? (Laughs) Hey don't talk about her like that. She's different. She's my best friend and we grew up together. I know her all too well." Chris said. "Yeah right." Chase said. "Yo, what's that supposed to mean?" Chris asked. "Bro, you love that girl!" Chase said. "Whaaaaat?! Nah, no way!" Chris defended himself. "Stop denying it bro. It's so obvious." Oliver said. "C'mon guys, even if we did love each other it would never work out." Chris said. "Why don't you kiss her? Why don't you tell her how you really feel? Why don't you let her see the feelings that you hide? She'll never know if you never show her the way you feel inside." Dylan pointed out. "Bro, I don't want to ruin my friendship with her, too much is at stake. We're the best of friends, we share our deepest secrets, and she knows everything that is running through my mind. Again even if I did confess to her what my heart knows, she would just turn away and it hurts me to wait and leave me questioning." Chris said. "So basically, right now you're just admitting that you love her. Did you know that?" Oliver teased. "No, I'm just telling all of you the reality if that would ever happen. Dude, she's my best friend." Chris said. "What's wrong with falling in love with your best friend? Isn't that a good thing?" Chase asked. "Bro, we'd lose too much. The friendship that we've built since kindergarten, the countless memories that we've shared and made, we were there for each other all our lives. I'm not risking all of that for the feelings that might not be even sure. Plus what if it doesn't work out? Don't tell me we'd be strangers again? I don't want to not talk to her, I don't want to not spend time with her, and I don't want to be away from her." Chris said his point. Everyone was silent for a while. "But how can you surely know? You haven't even tried it yet." Dylan said. "I'm never going to just 'try' that." Chris said. "No one falls in love by choice, it's by chance. No one stays in love by chance, it's by work. And no one falls out of love by chance, it's by choice." Chase said. Chris fell silent and he reflected a while and he looked down and scratched his head.