serenity | h.s | ON HOLD

seven.

Harry.

tw/ mentions of addiction (drug & alcohol), alcoholism and smoking

I often wondered why I ever chose to become best friend with Juliette.

Meddling, sneaky little Juliette.

For as long as I could remember, she has always thrown herself in as the middleman to just about any situation she could. There was the time I had a crush on Stacey in year seven, Juliette would write notes to her and sign them as if they were from me. Now, you would think that wouldn't work because our penmanship was different, but Juliette had mine memorized from the first time we were partnered up in class together.

Then we had Breanna, whom was my last girlfriend. When things got tough and they started to act really distant, Juliette took it upon herself to confront Bre at their house after work. Thankfully, there wasn't any violence that commenced, Juliette has never been a violent person. She simply demanded an answer to Bre's sudden silence towards me.

That was when I discovered they had been cheating on me with their coworker.

Needless to say, you already know Juliette had her fair share of words that were said to Bre. Now, I could've definitely fought my own battle and had a proper talk Bre myself. The way I see it, is that you get blessed with a person in your life who will willingly "take a bullet for you" if need be, and Juliette happened to be that person for me.

So to bring it back to the moral of the story, with Juliette being the meddling type, that's how it came about for us being the hosts of a party tonight.

It happened when we made a stop by Sweet Aroma's this afternoon for smoothies before Juliette had to drop me off at work. As nervous as I was to see Sarita, I was secretly hoping she would be there. It had been about two weeks since the last time I had any contact with her, trying my best to keep my distance. Especially after the day at the bookstore when I caught her staring at my lips while I spoke. Something in us had shifted after we shared the bed together that one stormy night, and now I was wondering if she had known it too.

I also wonder if that's why I hadn't seen her come into the bookstore recently. According to Walter, she had been in just a few times when I wasn't working, but it often occurred when she would go a while without visiting, The only other place I felt like she could have been was Zee's Records, but the fear of rejection kept me from going to scope it out. I was probably reading into everything all wrong anyway, like usual.

Quite honestly, it wasn't even my idea to grab a smoothie before I went to work. Juliette just pulled into the parking lot and shot me a grin before hopping out of the car and shouting out to me that I could either follow her in or stay in the car and wait for her to get back. It took me a few minutes to compose myself, having to give myself a pep talk on how I was going to act towards her if she happened to be inside. Once I finally stepped foot into the shop, I saw the two of them acting all giggly and secretive with one another.

"What are you two giggling about over here?" I asked as I walked up to the counter, the two of them standing up straight and close to one another.

"We're having a party tonight!" Juliette enthusiastically shouts. "The whole gang is coming to ours!"

It takes everything in me to keep myself from shouting 'What! 'at Juliette, so instead I play everything off casually. "Oh? What's the occasion?"

This time, Sarita is the one with a cheshire grin across her beautifully tan cheeks. "Luli here was just telling me how cute your guys' place was and I was kinda hurt that I haven't been invited over yet." I catch a glimpse of her subtle wink that she sends my way, causing my throat to go dry.