juliette
present; narrative
I woke up with a pounding headache in Rose's bed. After Azzi and Paige gathered all of us into cars they dropped me off. I stumbled up the stairs to my place and Nika laughed from the car. When I got inside Rose was watching TV and came to my side watching me laugh at nothing and struggle to take my shoes off. All I remember was changing, taking my makeup off then laying in bed with Rose telling her about what happened with Paige. The tears finally flowed when I told her and she comforted me until I eventually cried myself to sleep.
Now I have a headache and puffy eyes, great. There was a glass of water and advil next to me and I was very thankful for the angel I got to call a bestfriend. I took two advils before walking out of the dark room to find Rose standing in the kitchen watching TV from her spot.
"Look who's finally awake." She exclaimed. I probably looked like a vampire right now.
"What time is it?" I asked, rubbing my eyes and taking a seat on the barstool. Thank god it was Saturday and I finished all my work early. If not I would've collapsed by now.
"Almost one." She put another glass in front of me. It was her famous strawberry banana smoothie that cured every headache I ever had. Whoever gets to marry this girl is such a lucky shit.
"I love you." I started drinking the smoothie. Someone knocked at the door but I was too consumed with the drink in front of me to even get it. Rose went to grab it and left me in my smoothie heaven.
"You look awful." Jay laughed, walking into the apartment and taking the seat next to me.
"Don't you have your own place." I looked back at my drink. Not in the mood for Jay's remarks on how exhausted I looked right now.
"I do but why would I be there when I could be here bothering you." He had a fake sweet tone in his voice. Messing up my hair even more. I swatted his hand away.
"Why are you here?" I asked annoyed, trying to keep calm even though I wanted to slap him. My brain was pounding and now I had this annoying kid around.
"We're going out." He said and I turned to him. Hoping he was joking. The only plans I had today were a long bath and binging criminal minds.
"Like you and Rose?" Rose laughed loudly at my statement. Snorting slightly and doubling over.
"No like me and you." If I could throw his barstool over I would've already.
"Yeah, that's not happening." Jay was insane if he thought I was going out hungover, puffy eyed and sad.
"You can't just sit around like a hermit all day." He rolled his eyes at how lazy I was. Worst and best thing about Jay he could never stay still. He always wanted to be doing something and being his friend meant I was a part of that. The only time he let me sit around at home was when I had homework and even then he would sit in my room and bother me.
"Come on Jules." Rose said, hiding her laughter. She was definitely happy that she wasn't being dragged along too. You would think my best friend would be trying to get me to stay home with her.
"I hate you both." I said, getting up and walking to my bathroom.
"You have thirty minutes." Jay screamed back and I flipped him off. He couldn't see it but it happened.
He wasn't lying when he said thirty minutes. He started aggressively knocking at my bedroom door after thirty minutes until I opened it, very annoyed and tired.
My hair was back to its waves and the one thing I learned about Jay was to always wear a bathing suit under your clothes around him. He was always at the beach or the pool and I figured that's where I would be going to.
"Wow, you look alive." He teased again, going to mess up my hair again before I hit his arm and he put it back on his side. I followed him out the door and to his car. Thankfully I never had to drive when I was around Jay, especially since his car was manual and I had no idea how to drive it.
"If I give you aux, promise not to play any depressing shit?" He asked, holding the cord in his hands. I just nodded and he passed it to me.
"Where are we even going?" I asked, realizing he had been driving for a while. This could be a kidnapping and I would be too hungover to even realize.
"You wore a suit right?" Of course he would ask me this now, not before we left. I wish I didn't know Jay as well as I did because if I didn't wear a suit it would ruin his plans.
"Yes." At Least now I knew it was either the beach or the pool. I was hoping for the pool because the only nearby beach was the one Paige had taken me for our first date. I dreaded going there, as much as I loved the beach I couldn't bring myself to go when it reminded me of her.
Jay stayed silent and kept driving. I tried to watch him drive with the stick but got more confused. Note to self, definitely ask Jay to teach me sometime.
We parked at the beach and I tried to hold in a scream. He jumped up excitedly, I followed him with much less enthusiasm and remembered the blanket that always stayed in his backseat. Since it was the middle of the day the beach was a bit busy but there were still some quiet spots.
I laid the blanket down, throwing off my shirt but keeping my shorts on. Jay took his shirt and pants off, throwing them beside me and leaving him in swim shorts. He looked like a happy little kid just waiting to jump in the water. Jay was definitely the type of person who wanted to play mermaids. He looked down at me laying down with no intention of moving and his face changed drastically. Instead of a bright smile showcasing all his teeth he now had his eyebrows furrowed.
"What are you doing?" He asked, confusion laced in his voice. He was looking at me like I was insane.
"Tanning?" I said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. His face grew more disappointed.
"Get up J, you're such a party pooper." he complained, throwing his head back. I gave in, throwing my shorts off. One thing I was not about to be called was a party pooper.
"Last one in the water is a rotten egg." I said while already bolting towards the water. With my huge head start I managed to win. "I guess all those muscles are weighing you down."
I knew that would bother him. Now in the cold water I was more awake which meant instead of just Jay teasing me I could fight back. Well until he throws me over his shoulder and throws me into the water which is exactly what he did. And to make it even worse he threw me so far that I felt like I was about to drown, rising from the water and chasing after him. Obviously I didn't catch up to him, especially since it was so hard to run in water but I feel like I scared him a bit.
After a while of running around and playing in the water we just stood there, taking a break and enjoying the cold water.
"You know this is where Paige took me on our first date." I said, watching the other people play in the water, remembering how it felt with Paige in front of me with her hands on my hips.
"You just need to make new memories here, that'll make the memory of that date fade." He said, looking down at me. I looked from my hands to his face, observing the tattoos scattered over his torso, chest and neck. He watched my gaze stop on each tattoo, obviously trying to understand the meaning of each of them.
He grabbed the bottom of my chin softly, pulling my eyes up to meet his.
"My eyes are up here Bronson." He laughed, putting his hand back by his side. I shoved his shoulder lighty. I wasn't checking him out. I mean he's the one with the huge tattoos obviously I'm gonna look at them.
We just stared at each other until I heard 'You are in love' start playing from someone else's speaker. It couldn't have been far because I heard the song clearly, the smile on my face growing at the song.
"Isn't this your song?" He recognized it from how many times I played it on car rides, looking at me with a smile too. I nodded excitedly, it was nearing the chorus of the song and my heart already felt full, it was that good of a song.
"Can I have this dance m'lady?" He stuck his hand out to me. I looked between him and the water that was still at our waists. I put my hand in his, smiling before he spun me around slowly. We continued slow dancing to the best of our abilities in the water making both of us laugh and hold on to each other tighter. I had my hands around his neck as we swayed, the song coming to an end. When the song ended we continued looking at each other. This would be the part in the movie where the main characters finally kiss after an hour and a half of slow burn and I felt that. I felt him coming closer and my body took over slowly moving closer.
A new upbeat song started playing from the speaker breaking me out of the trance I was in and backing away before anything could happen. Jay took his hands off my waist and cleared his throat awkwardly, we decided then to get out of the water.
We dried up, put our clothes back on and got back in the car. The drive was silent, both of us too scared to say anything after what just happened. Was I really about to kiss Jay? Did I want to kiss him or did I just want to kiss someone? Would I have closed my eyes and imagined my blonde kissing me instead?
You could cut the tension with a knife so the drive back felt much longer than the drive there but I got much happier when I saw the complex in my view. I could run upstairs to Rose and tell her about this and she would tell me about her peaceful day.
"Let me walk you up" Jay said, getting out of the car with me and walking towards the door. We didn't even try and make small talk during the elevator ride which was going painfully slow. When it opened I started walking right away, turning the corner to the apartment when I saw someone standing in front of my front door. Jay was right behind me, catching up fast.
"Paige?" I questioned making the blonde turn around, her face dropping when she noticed the man behind me. She took time examining both our wet hair and my now see through wet white shirt showcasing the bathing suit top under it. "What are you doing here?"
"Uh- I just came to talk to you, you know after yesterday." She kept her eyes on me and out of the corner of my eyes I saw Jay's jaw clench and his face hardened. It felt like I was in the middle of two people trying to compete with each other.
"I should go." She said, noticing the awkwardness between us.
"Ya Think" Jay mumbled under his breath, loud enough for Paige and I to hear. Paige started walking away, past me to get to the elevators. I wanted to run after her but Jay's hard eyes kept my feet planted to the floor. I watched her walk away, her long blonde hair falling over her face.
"What was that for?" I turned to him angry, he had no reason to involve himself in that.
"Me? She's the one that just shows up after breaking your heart." He pointed to the elevator that Paige just walked in.
I put my head in my hands, wanting to pull my hair out at the situation.
"What happened yesterday Jules?" I put my key in the door, opened it and went to close the door on Jay but his hand stopped the door, following me into the apartment. He was determined.
"I was drunk and I told Paige her breakup sucked and I cried on her shoulder just wanting to feel her touch. I pulled away and said goodbye. I told her goodbye Jay." My voice cracked and the tears formed again.
He pulled me into him, obviously feeling bad for overreacting about it. I hated being in the middle of them. I was always trying to protect someone else's feelings instead of thinking about my own. What would've happened if Paige stayed and Jay had left?