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twenty-two: stupid summer birthday
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Juliette knew that opening nights were always stressful, but Shallow Lake Camp's level of stressful was something never seen before.
To start, she woke up being shaken as if there were an earthquake outside.
"What?" she muttered, covering her eyes.
"Come on, it's Ricky's birthday," Ashlyn whispered so as not to wake the girls that did not even know who Ricky was.
"I already told him happy birthday eysterday, let me sleep," she complained, turning around.
"We're gonna go surprise him, come on," Gina pulled her blanket off of her.
"Fucking Ricky and his stupid Summer birthday," Juliette whispered as she jumped from her bunk bed and walked to the bathroom to, at least, brush her teeth and wash her face. In a couple of minutes, they were in the front of the boy's cabin and Carlos was opening the door for them, as he signalled for them to be quiet.
"Okay, I'm gonna count to three," he explained.
"On three or after three?" Kourtney asked, making Juliette laugh out loud. Gina, however, was quick to cover her mouth so she didn't wake up the still-sleeping Ricky.
"Happy birthday!" Maddox yelled, changing all of their plans. The rest of them joined the cheer as Ricky woke up clearly scared. He nearly fell down of his bunk bed, which made all of them laugh.
"And happy opening night, to those keeping score," E.J. added, which made all the cheers quiet down. "Our show might be in danger but right now out focus is Ricky."
The aforementioned chuckled, "guys, you shouldn't have. For real, you almost gave me a heart attack."
"You're an old man now?" Jett mocked him.
"He's always been an old man. You should see him getting up in class," Juliette joked as Carlos told him there was another surprise in store for him. All of them looked at the boy, clearly confused. He hadn't told them anything about another surprise.
"Please, tell me these bunk beds are air-conditioned," another head of red hair walked through the door. It took Juliette some minutes to realize that it was none other than Big Red.
"Biggie?" Ashlyn asked, a huge smile on her face.
"Of course you showed up." Ricky hugged him, ecstatic of seeing his best friend there.
"We've spent every birthday together since pre-school."
"And of course you brought a lotto ticket," Ricky continued, but his smile fell when Big Red told him that that wasn't the case.
"You walked on the moon?"
Jett intervened, "he actually did it all this Summer. I'm Jett. Who are you?"
"I am Ashlyn's boyfriend."
The romantic moment was cut short when Ricky sat down in front of the cake and Jett lit up the candle, telling him to make a wish. Before he blowed them, his eyes travelled all the way to Juliette's who was already looking at him with a soft expression in her face. She couldn't believe that Ricky was already 18 (and yet, he still acted like a 15-year-old sometimes).
After the mandatory celebrations and once everyone had had a taste of the cake (although many of them had ended up with their faces full of it), they decided to go to their cabins to get changed and proceed which the day, which promised to be a very long one.
Juliette, however, lingered behind when everybody left.
"Something the matter, Jul?" Ricky asked.
"Um... I... well, you know there aren't any shops around so I wasn't able to buy you a proper gift and I didn't think about bringing one from one because I didn't know you were going to come and—"
"You're rambling," Jett exclaimed from the other side of the cabin, making them laugh.
"I made you this," the girl said as she handed Ricky a small box. "I know it's stupid but I figured that... um... seeing that it's not only your birthday but opening night as well, well..."
Ricky took the box and opened it, his eyes softening as he looked at what was inside. "A macaroni necklace?"
"Well, my first opening night gift was a necklace and, since you don't have that one, I tought... I promise to buy you a better gift once we get back home, if this doesn't end with the Summer."
"This?" he whispered, his eyes not leaving Juliette's.
"Our... friendship," she continued in the same tone, taking a step closer to him.
"Sure, yeah, you don't really need to buy me anything. We should, um, be going. We have morning rehearsal."
"Oh, yeah, sorry," she snapped out of her state of trance and took a step back again. "I'll leave you to change."
Juliette walked out of that cabin as if someone had pushed her, anxious to go back to her own as soon as possible. Her breath accelerated as she went over what had just happened.
"I just did a very stupid thing," she breathed out right as she entered the cabin, attracting the eyes of all the other girls. "I just gave Ricky a fucking macaroni necklace because my first opening night gift was a necklace but he gave it to me when we broke up and I left it at home and why the fuck did I just do that?"
"Hey, Juli," Ashlyn approached her, putting her hands on the girl's shoulders in an attempt to calm her down. "I'm sure he really appreciated the gesture. He loves anything coming from you."
"Did he say something to you?"
"No but it's obvious. You're his ex but he still holds you in high regard," she replied. "Why? Is there something we need to know?"
"Oh, no, just— no."
Juliette took her clothes and walked to the bathroom under the attentive eyes of all the girls there. She could hear them murmur as she closed the door but she didn't even care about what they were saying. She just wanted to keep her mind busy, she could not tell Ashlyn that she liked Ricky, nor any of the other girls for that matter. It was enough that Maddox and Jett knew but she didn't know how the others would react at the news. Especially Ashlyn and Gina, who had had to put up with her after their break-up. She could not stand them being as mad as E.J.
Rehearsal that morning went smoothly. All of them knew their roles and cues, Juliette and Maddox made sure that every piece of decoration was as perfect as could be and, seeing that Val had already gone home, they helped E.J. direct the play while he was on stage.
Before they realize it, they were all backstage getting dressed. The redhead ran around with safety pins and scissors in case anyone needed their costume fixed and her mouth was full of bobby pins as she tried to help Gina get her hair ready. All of them looked amazing, and she could not but wish to be a part of it.
"You look amazing, G," she congratulated her friend, giving her a hug. "I'm more than sure that you're going to crush it out there."
"I'm really sorry, Juliette."
"You shouldn't. I've always been more artsy than an actress. But you? You were born for this."
The taller girl gave her a last smile and turned around to look at herself in the mirror, closing her eyes and breathing in and out several times, which Juliette took as her cue to leave. She took a look around her, taking everyone in.
"Hey," someone whispered behind her, making her turn around only to be faced with a tall frame dressed as a reindeer.
"Nice costume," she tried to joke, but unable to hide her unconfortableness.
"Juli, I'm really sorry about everything that I said. I don't mind picking up your pieces, I just don't really want anyone to break you again," he spat, as if he had memorized that line. "And I really do not want it to be Ricky again because I'd have to beat him up."
"And he doesn't stand a chance," Juliette laughed, remembering their conversation some months ago. "I get it, Eej. But you don't have to worry because there is nothing to break me, we're just friends."
"I just can't believe how—"
"Five minutes, guys!" Maddox yelled at all of them.
"Okay guys, circle up!" E.J. interrupted their conversation taking Juliette's hand.
"Are you about to ask us for a line that inspires us?"