Borrowed Time

Chapter Twenty Five

When Juliette woke up there was only one thing on her mind: She wanted to make Esme breakfast. Granted, this idea meant that she'd had to go to the grocery store at 7:00 AM still in her pajamas and endure looks from judgemental old women shopping before the rush, but she thought it would be worth it... Esme had never let her cook for her, they'd cooked together a couple of times now, but Juliette thought it'd be a nice treat to wake up with after an amazing performance the night before.

It didn't occur to her until after she was already getting ready that it was entirely possible that Esme was still at Emma's house, and that gave her pause until she realized that if she was, it wasn't a big deal... She could hold onto the groceries and do it another day. What mattered was the thought, the action... If it resulted in nothing, she might have a breakdown about it but overall everything would be fine.

"Hello?" Immediately, Carly started talking... She sounded more rushed and more nervous than she did when they spoke in person, like she was afraid that by calling her she was doing something wrong.

"Hey, it's Carly... Sorry, I don't know if I ever actually gave you my number back, but you did give me yours for studying and stuff, so I just thought that I'd-." Juliette cut her off with a chuckle, stepping into her jeans before she pulled them up, wincing at the way that the fabric clung a bit... God, that would be uncomfortable and with how small Esme's kitchen was... It'd be a nightmare. She slid them off and slipped on a pair of leggings instead, sighing at the comfort they provided. Right. Carly.

"Carly. Chill. Yeah, I had your number, it's just a normal way to greet people when you answer the phone." She sat down on the edge of her bed, slipping her feet into her shoes. "What's up?" Carly was silent for a long moment, like she was preparing herself for the biggest ask of her life, which just succeeded in leaving Juliette on the edge of her seat with anticipation... What could it be? What would she say?

"Are you able to hang out today? I'm kind of freaking about my date later and I could really use a set of fresh eyes on my outfit, just to make sure I'm not making a total fool out of myself." Honestly, if Juliette hadn't woken up with this plan in her head, she would've said yes... She liked judging people's outfits and deeming them worthy or not, it gave her a strange amount of power that she could exploit in a healthy way... Being a little bitchy about fashion wasn't harming anyone. But also, she knew how unofficial Carly's date was going to be with Peter, so she wasn't really holding her breath that anything could go wrong.

"You guys are gonna sit in his basement, watch Star Wars and paint those mini guys you were talking about... I don't think that there's a way to dress for that that's anything other than perfectly fine, what were you thinking about wearing?" She asked, and Carly paused for a moment, like she was thinking of something. Juliette kind of wished she'd think faster, she had places to be and a girlfriend to hopefully impress.

"Uh... I can send you a picture?" Yes, that was a wonderful compromise of an idea, she didn't want to not help Carly, but she knew that if she committed to helping Carly later, there was no way she'd be able to do her plans now. She'd just sit in her room and stare at the clock, worried that she'd leave too late or get there too early... This was the only way.

"Cool, because I can't come over I'm... Uh... Hanging out with a friend, so I've got some stuff going on." Juliette said carefully, hating how her voice cracked over the word 'friend'. Esme hadn't stopped being her friend, they'd just started dating... One wasn't going to replace the other, that didn't feel healthy. She wanted to maintain a good friendship to help the relationship transition smoothly. Luckily, Carly didn't take it personally that she couldn't hang out.