Once in a lifetime.

⚠️17

February

Juliet

We walk down the stairs hand and hand. Dalton says something about how he will introduce me to the guys upstairs when dinner is over. I know he's talking about the action figures but I can't help and wonder if it has a double meaning. Her voice makes me stop dead in my tracks. "What took you two so long?"

"We were looking at my collection." He says so nonchalantly as he pulls me forward with him.

"Of toys?" A short blonde that looks almost identical to Dalton asks.

"Yeah, sure. Toys." The tall Burnett adds rolling her eyes. I take her in and she's beautiful. It's girls like her that make me hate myself.

"Noooo. How many times do I have to say action figures? You know one day when I pay off a car or a huge medical bill with one of those you're going to be sorry."

"Yeah yeah." The Burnett rolls her eyes. "You must be Juliet!" She says walking over to me and hugs me. I stand there awkwardly just as I did with Dalton's mom. Are they really all huggers? "You're even prettier than he said you were." She turns to Dalton. "You've got to get better at describing people. I mean, there have to be at least a dozen words in a thesaurus that mean 'pretty' without actually saying," she deepens her voice. "She's pretty."

The blonde stands up and joins her sister her voice also deepening. "I mean just look at her, and then he'd hand us his phone all dreamy." The girls start to giggle and I can't help but smile.

He slings an arm over her shoulder. "Isn't she pretty though?" He smiles at me, "I was right." They are all three staring at me. Beaming.

"Ohhh kay, I'm not something in a museum." I realize that could have sounded rude so I add, "I didn't get your name?"

"Oh!" Dalton drops his arm. "Juliet this is Becca, my sister. That's Lilly," he points to his look-alike, "my dad, and you already met my mom. Oh, and that's Max, Becca's boyfriend." A guy in the corner raises his hand slightly. "Everyone, this is my....." he stops. I realize now that we aren't dating. Or are we? We haven't put a label on what we are, and honestly, I didn't want to think about it. We went out on a date, so does that mean we're dating? He proposed, but I rejected him. Oh gosh. His eyes meet mine and he grabs my hand. His eyes are beautiful in this lighting. He smiles wide and says "This is my Juliet." His eyes never leaving mine.

The dinner table is all talk, and I have no idea what to say or do. The food is delicious so I decide I'll eat, nod occasionally, and then drink my sweet tea. As long as I don't think about what I'm actually doing, I think I can eat. I've tried taking Cayden's words and keeping them in a box for important moments like this. 'What does it taste like?'
The conversation is one of a family catching up and I feel like I have no part in it. I take a big bite of my mashed potatoes just as I hear,

"So Juliet!" My head whips up. It's Dalton's dad who spoke. "What do you do for a living?" Oh, God. I guess I knew that would come up, but I never thought of what I would say if it actually did. I swallow the bite of potatoes whole trying not to think about what I just did.

"Umm. Well." I take a drink of my sweet tea. "I don't....really, I mean,"

"She dances." I look at Dalton and I feel him grab my hand under the table. I never knew a man answering for me could be so releasing. "And she's really good."