Borrowed Time

Chapter Twenty Eight

For the first time in his life, Micheal was running late and Juliette was starting to realize exactly why he hated being late so much... If he ran much later, they weren't gonna have time to actually eat lunch, but she also didn't want to leave without him. Apparently thinking about leaving without him was enough of a subliminal message for him to hurry the fuck up, because he appeared out of a classroom almost directly after and walked over to them, stopping next to Shelby. Wait, had he read her mind? Certainly felt like he had... they'd discuss that later.

"There you are." Shelby sighed, and Micheal gave her an apologetic smile, leaning down to press a kiss to her lips, which she permitted, but Juliette saw the look of frustration. Fair, she'd probably forgotten breakfast, she often did that to save on time.

"Sorry, I was asking Mr. Haines for help with an assignment, I didn't mean to get caught up." Micheal sighed, and Juliette nodded, resting her head against Esme's arm. She was fucking exhausted today... She had no reason to be, she'd slept great last night, but Esme didn't seem to mind her resting there, so she took advantage of the moment.

"It's all good-." Shelby cut her off, giving her a look. Jesus Christ, alright... She thought the look was a bit much.

"No, it isn't." Shelby gripped onto his collar, pulling him down so they were nose to nose. She didn't miss the way that Micheal's eyes widened, or the way that he glanced between her lips and her eyes. Disgusting... Why do that in front of her? They could go anywhere else in the world and do that. "If the line is long for lunch I'm breaking up with you." Shelby warned, and Micheal chuckled nervously, straightening up as he rubbed the back of his neck, looking... Smitten. Juliette wrinkled her nose and glanced up at Esme... Holy shit, how could someone's side profile be so fucking perfect.

"I feel like that's harsh, but I also completely understand where you're coming from with it." Micheal said, and Juliette nudged Esme, looking over at her. Would that be something that she would do? Probably not, but it never hurt to check... She was also well aware that Shelby was joking, but still...

"Would you break up with me over a long line?" She asked, and Esme frowned, clearly thinking about it... Which did not make Juliette feel secure, but she would allow it as it was most likely a joke.

"Depends. Is it pizza day?" Okay, that was not how she was expecting Esme to say, she was expecting her to say 'no, of course not, that's crazy...' Her answer made it sound like she might be on Shelby's side, so Juliette decided that that was probably the best use of this hypothetical situation.

"... Yeah?" Esme frowned and shrugged at her, her eyes sparkling with a sort of mischief. Oh, she was gonna say something that was gonna make her a little upset... Good to know, she could prepare accordingly.

"Maybe. It'd be a consideration." She said, and Juliette sighed and rolled her eyes, shaking her head. She could play into this, see how far she could actually take her fake frustration. Juliette pushed herself off the ground and gave Esme a look, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Wow, okay." She sighed, and she started walking towards where Micheal and Shelby had already started to go, and behind her she heard Esme scramble to her feet and felt a hand slide into hers. She smirked at how quick Esme had been, how desperately she'd followed her... It was kind of funny.

"I was kidding! C'mon, I was kidding..." Juliette turned back to her with a smile and Esme's face instantly washed over with relief as she closed the gap between them and started walking next to her, slipping so that they were only linking pinkies as they caught up with Micheal and Shelby.

"Juliette? Could I talk to you for a moment?" She jumped, turning to see Allison gesturing her to follow her around a corner... What could this be about? They hadn't really talked since Allison had slapped Samantha in the face, and while she was eternally grateful, she wasn't sure what else there was to say?