CHAPTER TEN
X. FLASHBACKS
JULIET HAD NEVER LIKE ADMITTING TO THINGS, ADMITTING SHE'D DONE ANYTHING WRONG, ADMITTING TO ANY SECRETS SHE HAD. It made the girl uncomfortable. So having to admit to Kiara the real reason as to why her and JJ weren't the same anymore wasn't the most pleasant conversation Juliet had ever had. Arguably, it was probably the worst. Even worse when Juliet was caught smoking weed with JJ once at home by Paul and she had to explain to him why her room had smelt of marijuana. And even worse when Juliet had once bumped into Luke Maybank after JJ hadn't been home in close to five days and the man was asking her where his son was.
And Juliet had felt even worse when she'd seen Kiara's reaction. The girl was absolutely gobsmacked. Utterly surprised. There was no way Kiara would have even guessed it. Especially when she didn't see why it had lead to the two not being friends anymore. "You two did what?" Kiara's voice had echoed through The Wreck making Juliet wince. She could tell Kiara was mad. Shocked too, but mad at Juliet for keeping it a secret from her for this long about something so serious. Kiara was supposed to be one of her best friends. She should have known.
Juliet let out a sigh, avoiding eye contact with the girl sitting opposite her. "Listen, I'm sorry I never told you and I feel so bad about it. Especially after you told me straight away that John B kissed you. Trust me, I wanted to tell you more than anything." Juliet told Kiara. And it was true, the first thing she wanted to do was call Kiara but she couldn't, it wasn't as easy as that.
"Why didn't you?" Kiara didn't understand why she couldn't just tell her.
"Because I didn't know if he wanted anyone to know. He made it very clear to me that it meant nothing so I just thought keeping my mouth shut was the best idea." Juliet explained. "I'm sorry, Kie." Juliet apologised again, tears welling up in her blue eyes. She really feel awful for keeping it from her. That mixed with having to relive it almost while telling Kiara made Juliet a little emotional.
Kiara saw that Juliet was getting upset so she quickly switched seats and sat down beside Juliet, taking hold of her hand to comfort her. "Hey, no. It's okay." Kiara told her. "I'm gonna kick his ass, I hope you know that." Kiara then said, trying to cheer her up but Juliet just shook her head.
"You can't tell him that I told you." Juliet looked up at Kiara, her eyes still filled with tears.
"Why not?" Kiara frowned.
"You've seen the way he acts towards me now, that just says it all. It's obvious he regrets what happened and I think he'd prefer if no one knew, so just don't say anything, please." Juliet begged her. She didn't need another reason for JJ to hate her, she couldn't deal with the arguing and she knew if he found out that Kiara knew, he'd kick off.
Kiara sighed and nodded. She understood. "Alright, I won't but you need to talk to him because I don't think you know the whole story." Kiara told her. She didn't think Juliet was seeing the whole picture. JJ didn't like talking about his feelings, they all knew that so what's to say he wasn't keeping some from Juliet? They all had eyes, they could all see the way JJ acted around Juliet. Or more the way he used to act around Juliet. There was more to it than Juliet realised.
6 WEEKS AGO
It was a Friday night in the middle of June. The blazing sun had ducked down behind the houses in Figure Eight as a salty breeze blew through the streets and gardens. Juliet had been sitting out on her balcony to clear her head from the God awful day she'd had.
First of all, Juliet had woken up at The Chateau with the worlds worst hangover and to no surprise to Juliet, John B had absolutely no edible food in his kitchen. So Juliet had to wait until Pope and Kiara had woken up for Pope to drive her home. Then when she'd gotten home, she'd opened her front door to hear the screams of her younger sister echoing through their house. Addison had been arguing with Maria after she'd decided to ground her youngest child for lying about where she'd been the night before. Addison Cooper had told her mother that she was going to a friends house the previous night but instead had gone to a house party. The girl hadn't seen the issue, not when her older siblings went to parties all the time, Juliet especially, but the difference was that Juliet never lied about it. Maybe if Addison had asked about going then Maria wouldn't of gotten so mad.
So Juliet had made a beeline for her room once she got home, wanting to change out of her clothes and shower. So Juliet didn't end up eating anything till the afternoon but had then started to panic that she wouldn't be hungry enough when she was out that night.
Juliet had a date that night. A date with a boy from school. Jake Turner. A boy Juliet had sat next to in History that year, a boy she'd known since he'd moved to the island during Middle School. He was cute, he was funny but Juliet had never really paid much attention to him till that year when she'd been made to sit next to him in class. Their teacher had decided on using a seating plan that year so Juliet's plan on sitting beside JJ had been thrown out the window and she had to sit beside Jake instead. Which wasn't too bad, he was absolutely fine to sit next to but she still wished she could've sat beside JJ instead.
Jake had been trying to ask Juliet out for months but whenever he'd found a way to ask her, he'd either get too nervous or somehow JJ got in the way. And Jake wasn't about to ask Juliet on a date in front of JJ.
Juliet had obviously said yes when Jake had asked her and he'd planned on taking her for dinner and a movie. That was what he'd told her and he'd told her multiple times how excited he had been for it the weeks leading up to their date. Even the night before. Juliet had a hangover that morning because there had been a small party on the beach. Jake had been there and he'd spoken to Juliet.
So it was rather a shock to Juliet when she'd been stood up that night by Jake. He hadn't turned up for their date, he didn't call or text Juliet and he wasn't returning any of her messages. So Juliet went home almost in tears, wondering what the hell she'd done wrong.
And it wasn't as though Juliet had really liked Jake, she hadn't. If she was being honest, it was JJ she'd wished had asked her out. But it hadn't been and she certainly didn't think he was going to anytime soon. So Juliet thought she'd give Jake a chance at least. But he blew it and that was how Juliet ended up sulking on her balcony that night. And she'd planned on staying out there all night alone till there was a knock on her bedroom door.
She knew it hadn't been Addison, she never knocked, and it hadn't been Tyler, her older brother, either because he always knocked and then announced it was him. Maria usually knocked and then opened the door so it wasn't her mother. So Juliet had been expecting Paul to be standing on the other side of her bedroom door and not JJ. Maria had let the boy into their house and had told him that Juliet was in her room.
JJ was standing in the hallway, one hand in his pockets, the other holding a crate of beer and a smile across his face. Juliet had frowned but had let JJ enter her room anyway. "What are you doing here?" Juliet had asked him as he followed her out to her balcony.
"Kiara told me what happened." JJ told the girl as he followed her out and sat beside her on the cushioned bench she had out on her balcony.
Juliet had rolled her eyes as she avoided looking at JJ. "Of course she did." Juliet hadn't told JJ for a reason. But Kiara had been the first person she had called after she had realised Jake wasn't turning up.
"Why didn't you call me? Or text me?" JJ then asked, twisting to face Juliet. He rested his arm on the back of the bench, his hand resting behind Juliet's head, his fingers twisting in her hair.
"Because it's not that big of a deal. I was stood up, so what?" Juliet shrugged her shoulders but still didn't look at him. "Plus I didn't think you'd care that much. You made it very clear that you didn't like Jake anyway." Juliet's voice had gone quiet, she was almost whispering. And she was right. JJ hadn't liked him, at all. Was that partly due to the fact he'd had the guts to make a move on Juliet and JJ hadn't? Absolutely. But was JJ ever going to admit that? No.
"Not a big deal? You're clearly upset over it, of course it's a big deal." JJ told her, his fingers wrapping around more strands of her hair. He'd been staring at the side of Juliet's face, noticing the way she stared out at her garden. He could tell she was more than just upset about it.
Juliet let out a quiet sigh. She should've known better than to think JJ wouldn't notice. "Can we not talk about this, please?" Juliet didn't want to talk about the fact she'd been stood up by Jake, or even how JJ didn't like Jake. None of it was appealing to talk about in that moment.
Which JJ understood, so he nodded despite the fact Juliet couldn't see and reached into his pocket. "I only have the one but...." JJ had pulled out an already rolled blunt, one he'd been planning on smoking before he went home that night. "you want me to light it?" He asked his friend once Juliet turned her head to see what he'd brought with him. He'd brought the beers, thought him and Juliet could drink them together and that it would cheer her up but JJ could see that she needed a little more than a couple of beers to do that.
Juliet had obviously said yes to the weed, she didn't even care if Paul had caught the two. But she'd only smoked a small amount, probably less than half of the joint, letting JJ smoke the rest. Juliet opened the beers after that.
The two best friends had sat in silence for a while, not saying a word, till Juliet broke that silence to ask JJ if he'd been home at all. "So, did you go home earlier or did you just stay at John B's all day?" Juliet asked. JJ had stayed at John B's the night before too so Juliet was curious as to whether he'd stayed there all day or not.
"Just stayed at John B's. I didn't feel like going home." JJ told her, his hand still playing with Juliet's hair, unconsciously, as it was still resting on the back of the bench.
"You know you can always crash here, right? If you don't want to go home." Juliet said, looking up at JJ. She knew JJ wouldn't ever ask because he always felt like he was overstepping but he was welcome to stay at her house whenever he wanted to, she always wanted him to know that.
"Yeah, I know." JJ replied, giving her a tight lipped smile. He didn't want her worrying about him.
The two then fell into a conversation about the most random things, about the future, about life. An hour later, Juliet ended up with her head resting on JJ's shoulder. "Do you think we'll all be friends in, like, 5 years or something?" Juliet asked, taking a sip of her third beer.
"Yeah, why not. Maybe some of us will be more than friends too." JJ laughed. They'd just been talking about John B having the biggest crush on Kiara and how he was too scared to make a move, especially with the rule. But JJ wasn't just referring to John B and Kiara.
"Maybe." Juliet said, laughing too. And she wasn't the only one thinking about it being other people. Juliet didn't know how long she'd been thinking about JJ as more than a friend. Maybe a few years or more. But she never did anything, told anyone. It wasn't something she could act on. JJ was her best friend and that was it. She would rather bottle up her feelings and get hurt in the process than to tell JJ how she really felt about him and loose her best friend.
"What about us? Do you think we'll still be as close?" Juliet then asked as she lifted and twisted her head up to look at JJ. She wanted to see his face.
"I hope so." JJ told her, his voice just as quiet as hers. Their faces were inches apart but it wasn't the first time they'd sat like that, in that position, but something felt different.
Yet, Juliet turned away. She was high and slightly intoxicated, she couldn't let that ruin her most treasured friendship. Both had gone quiet again and Juliet had gone back to thinking about Jake. She wished she hadn't but she couldn't help the spiralling. She'd never been stood up before.
"Is there something wrong with me? Is that why he never showed up?" Juliet asked, knowing JJ would know what she was talking about straight away. She didn't look at him though, she kept her eyes focused away from JJ.
The blonde boy had immediately turned to face his friend with his eyebrows pulled together. "What? Of course not." JJ couldn't believe she would even ask something so stupid. "Why would you even think that?" He asked her, still frowning.
Juliet shrugged. "Because there must've been a reason he didn't show, and the reason must've been me or he would've called or something." Her reasoning made sense. Why else would he stand her up and not tell her why. "Maybe there is something wrong with me, maybe that's why they always leave or they cheat or they're not interested." Juliet explained. No one ever stayed, no one was ever interested enough so Juliet had no other reason to believe it hadn't been her.
"You know I think the absolute world of you. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with you." JJ told Juliet, still looking at her but his face had now softened. JJ was no longer frowning.
"You can tell me if there is. You're my best friend, you don't have to lie to save my feelings." Juliet looked left at her friend, her face in an unreadable expression.
JJ almost laughed. "I'm not." He paused as Juliet looked away and then looked back at him, her heart feeling like it was being squeezed in her chest. "It's them that has something wrong with them, trust me."
But Juliet didn't believe a word that had come out of his mouth. "You're just saying that."
"Jules." JJ mumbled her name, trying to reach for her hand but Juliet had moved too quickly to run her fingers through her hair.
"You're high." Juliet said, shaking her head. JJ didn't mean it. He couldn't be saying those things when she was sitting there high while repressing such strong feelings for him.
"When have I ever lied when I'm high." JJ said, laughing lightly.
"You say stupid things when you're high all the time." And it was true. JJ was always saying the most stupid things when he was high. So Juliet had no reason to believe what he'd been saying now wasn't just him talking nonsense.
JJ knew he said absurd things when high, there was no disputing that. "But I don't lie." And he was right. He never, ever, lied.
"Well, there's a first time for everything." Juliet had mumbled, casting her eyes down to her hands that had been resting in her lap. A few of her fingers had been fiddling with the bracelet on her wrist. One of the many friendship bracelets she wore.
JJ had unconsciously sighed as he scooted closer to Juliet. "Hey, look at me." JJ had slowly reached up and placed his hand on the side of Juliet's face to make her look at him. "There's nothing wrong with you, okay?" JJ's eyes scanned the girls face before landing on her eyes. His hand had moved to the side of her jaw, his thumb resting on her now flushed cheek. "And I'm not just saying that because I'm your best friend." A small smile then appeared on JJ's face. "You are the best person I know and anyone would be the luckiest person alive to be with you." And JJ was definitely not lying. JJ didn't move either, he kept his hand on the side of Juliet's face, his thumb on her cheek and his eyes on hers.
The two didn't move as they continued to stare at each other. Juliet felt strange, like something was different than all the times before, but she still couldn't help but remember they they were both intoxicated so Juliet tried to move away but JJ's hand stopped her. His hand that had been resting on Juliet's face had prevented her from moving. Then when Juliet's head was back where he had wanted it, he used the same hand to move some of her hair away from her eyes and then it resumed its position her jaw, her skin heating up underneath his. The next thing Juliet knew, his face was getting closer and as much as Juliet didn't want to move, she didn't want him to do anything that would mess things up. But she couldn't move, she wanted it just as much as he did. Juliet was frozen in place as she continued to scare into JJ's eyes, those blue eyes that were mesmerising to her.
Their lips touched and Juliet felt like her whole body had been set on fire. Like every nerve in her body started to tingle. Her hunger, the one she'd had for months and months, had finally been fed. It felt right, for the both of them.
JJ's hand stayed firmly on Juliet's jaw as their lips moved against each others. He kept her close to him. Their kiss was slow, like they were both trying to savour it before one of them pulled away and reality hit them.
Juliet pulled away first, she needed to catch her breath and she wanted to know if JJ was going to freak out or regret it. Her eyes opened and scanned over JJ's face to detect any sign of regret or anything else that would make her stop. But there wasn't. "JJ...." Juliet had mumbled his name as she nudged her nose against his own.
"Yeah?" JJ had mumbled back, his voice just as quiet as hers.
But Juliet didn't know what to say and all she could think about doing was kissing him again. So that was exactly what she did.
The next kiss wasn't as slow as the first one. It was more desperate and needy. JJ had taken hold of Juliet's face with both his hands as Juliet twisted her body so she could kiss JJ more deeply. His kiss was like a black hole pulling her in and she felt like she couldn't control herself.
JJ's hand then moved from Juliet's face down to her neck, holding her in place. His thumb was throbbing at the hollow of her neck, rubbing up and down, pulsing warmth as his tongue came in contact with her own. Juliet's own hands ended up in JJ's wiry, blonde hair, running her fingers through it.
JJ had kept his eyes half open, sneaking a guilty peek at her every time he came back for air, just to make sure it wasn't a product of his imagination. It had honestly felt like it was. The one thing he'd been dreaming about for months was happening in that very moment and he didn't know what to do next. So it was a good thing Juliet made the next move.
After a few more minutes of kissing on Juliet's balcony, Juliet had stood up and pulled JJ up with her. She then practically dragged him into her room and shut the balcony doors behind her. Once she'd done this, her hand then went back up to JJ's head to pull it down to hers, their lips meeting once again. JJ had then pushed Juliet down on her bed and there was a sound from the back of his throat, half growl, half moan. Little shivers of pleasure and panic shot through Juliet as JJ deepened the kiss, parting her lips once again. After a minute or two, his lips finally moved down to her jaw and then to the smooth skin of neck. He couldn't go too far as Juliet had a hoodie on, so his hands made their way up her torso from where they had been situated at her hips and sliding under the material of the hoodie and her shirt. "Wait, wait." Juliet had mumbled, pushing JJ up once she felt his hands brush over her stomach.
"Is something wrong?"
"No, no." Juliet shook her head but continued to push JJ off her. When she could stand, she made her way over to her bedroom door. She locked it and double checked no one was going to be walking into her room. When she was sure it was locked, she made her way back over to her bed, discarding her hoodie on the way. Juliet then laid back down with JJ, her hands grasping his face again so she could kiss him for the fourth time that night.
As things escalated, Juliet started to grow nervous. Not that she didn't want to do anything with JJ, she was just worried about how it would effect their relationship. Was it just going to be a one time thing? Were they going to make it a regular thing? Were they going to start dating? Juliet had no idea and that scared her more than anything ever had.
A few minutes later, both JJ and Juliet were topless and JJ was pressing kisses down Juliet's neck and chest. "You're so beautiful." He'd mumbled, loud enough for Juliet to hear. A blush covered her cheeks as she smiled down at the boy.
When he made his way back up to her face and kissed her again, Juliet could feel JJ's hands making their way round her back. "JJ, wait." Juliet wanted to say something before it went any further.
"What's wrong? Did I do something?" JJ quickly asked, his hands stopping almost instantly. His eyes searched hers for any sign that he'd done something wrong, that he'd hurt her or made her uncomfortable.
"I just, I've never...." Juliet almost whispered. She felt embarrassed saying it, especially to JJ who seemed to have so much experience. He was always telling the boys how much he got, even Juliet sometimes. So she knew it wasn't his first time, or even second. And she knew most people expected her to be the same.
"I know." JJ told her. He knew Juliet had never done anything with a boy before. She told him everything, he would've known if she did. "We don't have to, if you don't want to. It's okay."
"No! I want to, I do. I just wanted to let you know." Juliet told him, running her hands up and down his arms. "But, w-what is this? What are we doing?" Juliet's voice was barely a whisper. She hadn't wanted to ask but it was eating away at her fast and she needed to know.
"I don't know but it feels right." And that was all Juliet needed to hear before she reconnected their lips. JJ's hands resumed moving to the back of Juliet's bra. He paused for a second, leaning back just to make sure again that she was okay. A nod from Juliet allowed him to continue.
The rest of the night was filled with more kissing and quiet moans. Juliet couldn't believe what they'd done. Not only had they broken John B's rule but they'd also probably just ruined their entire friendship. There was no going back from it. But after it happened, twice, and JJ laid beside Juliet with a smile on his face, she thought it would all be okay. They both fell alseep in each other's arms that night and Juliet had no worries.
But when she woke up the next morning and the spot beside her was empty and cold, she knew then she'd fucked up. She had no idea why JJ had left, it wasn't as if anyone was going to catch him in her bed. And when Juliet tried calling him and it went straight to voicemail, she knew things were never going to be the same between them again.
"Why?" The question came out of nowhere, the girls had been sitting in silence for a while.
"Why what?" Juliet didn't understand the question. She turned her head to look at Kiara confused.
"Why did you do it?" Kiara asked, she wanted Juliet to admit to her why she'd slept with JJ. Kiara knew why, she just wanted to hear Juliet say it and finally admit to it.
The blonde girl shrugged. "I-I don't know. It was just in the heat of the moment. We were high and we'd had a few drinks—" Juliet stuttered out but Kiara didn't want her giving her lies about being high or drunk. That didn't make a difference and Kiara knew that.
"You two can handle your weed and alcohol, Jules, don't give me that crap." Kiara said, raising her eyebrow at Juliet. "It's because you like him." Juliet's silence was enough for Kiara, who had smirked when Juliet looked back up at her.
"It doesn't matter anyway. He showed me how he felt leaving before I even woke up." Juliet tried brushing it away. She knew falling for JJ was a stupid thing to do, he'd never feel the same way. That just wasn't how JJ was.
"Everything makes sense now." Kiara said and Juliet gave her a confused look. "The arguing, the fact JJ went M.I.A that whole week, the fact he'd suddenly started macking on with every Touron he could find after not even looking at one in months." Kiara explained. She knew something was up the first week after it happened. No one had heard from JJ that whole week and as much as it wasn't weird for JJ to disappear for a few days, it was weird for Juliet to have no idea what was going on. She always knew where he was. That's when they all knew something was up and when he finally appeared, he was acting different and they could all see it.
"I don't think that had anything to do with—" Juliet didn't think him not macking on with anyone had anything to do with her.
"Juliet, JJ was infatuated with you. He practically followed you around like a lost puppy. He had feelings for you, whether you wanna believe it or not. You were the only girl that had his attention, for months." Kiara told her. And she was right. JJ had been acting differently with Juliet, everyone had noticed it. Especially Kiara. They all knew JJ had feelings for her. Especially when he started ignoring any girl who tried making a move on him because that was definitely not like JJ at all. Every Kegger, he stayed by Juliet's side. Every house party, every day at the beach, every time they were at The Wreck surrounded by tourists.
"Kie—"
"Jules, I'm serious." Kiara didn't want her denying it. Deep down, Juliet knew Kiara was right.
"Well, even if he did, he obviously doesn't anymore." Juliet mumbled, slumping back in her chair. Kiara could see now how truly upset Juliet was over it all. JJ really hurt her. He'd broken her heart.
"Maybe you should try talking to him again? Or I can talk to him for you?" Kiara suggested.
"No, it's not going to do me any favours." Juliet shook her head. "Look, I didn't tell you so you could fix the problem between me and him. I just needed to get it off my chest." She admitted. She didn't want Kiara fixing her problems for her. Juliet needed to fix what happened between her and JJ herself and that meant she needed to talk to him, no more shouting at each other. Just talking. And it needed to happen soon.
NOTE
･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ ﾟ
AND FINALLY!
ik most of u guessed they did the nasty but i hope it surprised some of y'all lol
and it makes me so happy seeing people's comments on how much they wanted to know what happened, like seeing u guys invested in this story makes me 🥰🥰
and i hope u guys enjoyed the chapter!
AND THIS IS DIFFERENT FROM THE FIRST TIME! i did change what happened slightly (with the whole being stood up part and some of the dialogue but the premise is the same. they slept together and jj left)
so finally kiara knows, maybe she'll try and get jj to apologise 👀 it will juliet talk to him first. BUT the will talk soon. no more arguing
and don't forget to vote and comment!!!!