Once in a lifetime.

22

This is going back to before Juliet tells Tori. Those two chapters overlap.

March

The whole elevator ride up to our floor was silent, she hasn't said anything and I'm doing my best to keep my anger at bay. I have not worked as hard as I have for Cayden to come and possibly destroy it, it makes me want to steal her away, lock her up and never let her out, but that would make me crazy. The doors ding open and she walks out again silent. "Jules," I break it because I don't know what's going on in her mind and I can't just spend the rest of the night wondering. "Are you going to go?" It comes out way different than it was said in my head, I didn't wanna seem harsh or mean, but was she really going to give him a chance romantically? After everything we've worked so hard to rebuild, after it didn't need to be destroyed in the first place?

She turns around quickly. "I don't know, maybe."

My mouth hangs open confused and hurt, feeling like everything I've worked for is being thrown in the trash "What does that mean for us?"

"Well, I'm not just going to break up with you! We've come too far!" I get excited but I try not and let it show, that still doesn't explain what is going to happen.

"So we're still together, you're just also going on a date with him?" I wish there was a way of sounding perfectly panicked and confused all at the same time without being too much of one either one. She nods at me, "So you're dating both of us?"

"Arrug!" She huffs turning away. "I don't know, I'm so confused right now!"

"What is there to be confused about?" I love you, I've worked for you, he likes you and wants to destroy us, that alone should tell you something, I don't under what's so confusing."

"Him?! You?! Me?! All of it all at once?! I've been spending months thinking one thing just to be flipped upside down!"

"The only thing being flipped is Cayden, we're still the same as we were yesterday, I'm never going to stop fighting for you Jules, never in a million years."

"I think I'll take that extra hotel room you're paying for." She grabs a section of her hair and runs her fingers through it thinking. "You're paying for it anyway and I need a second to think."

"About what?!" I yell at her, I close my eyes so I can't see her face, I don't wanna see her sad or upset, and have me pretend I'm feeling something I'm not. I am upset, I'm very confused and also super hurt. Deep down I know that Cayden probably will treat her better, if anything he doesn't have a fucked up brain, and I don't want this to be the last time I see her, for her to choose him just cause they haven't hit a rocky part yet. 'A relationship takes work' that's what my mom has always said, we've done that, we've had the work, working through the hard parts. I feel completely robbed for him to just swoop in and pretend like he has done more for her than I have.

"Dalton, I want to go to my room now." I lace my fingers together on top of my head, keeping my eyes shut and breath out.

"Dalton." This time her words force my eyes open. I reach in my wallet and hand her the extra room key. I'm so annoyed at myself for being on a high of Jules and paying for that second room.

"Room 104." She nods and walks past me as I'm putting my wallet back into my pocket. "That's it?" I turn towards her. "That's all I'm getting? I'm just so confused Jules, aren't things going well? Haven't I been good to you?"

She nods. "Yeah, but I need to get my thoughts straight."

She takes a step and I throw caution to the wind and take four steps to her. I stop in front of her and hold her to me, rubbing her hair on my cheek and doing my best to memorize the smell of it. I'm trying to make my panic and sadness, and love and commitment seep through my arms into her. She struggles at first and I know that of anyone we're to come outside it would look bad, but I refuse to just let her walk away for me tonight without reminding her that I'm not stopping, this isn't over for me. Finally, like I knew she would she stops fighting and relaxes into me.