Borrowed Time

Chapter Seventy Four

The morning was a cruel mistress... But Shelby had said that she wanted to get up early... Well, early for vacation, so like... 7:30?  At least that was the alarm she'd set that had woken Juliette up instantly and that she'd managed to sleep right through...

Granted, Juliette was feeling productive, even if crawling back into bed sounded good too... She wanted to utilize this, she wanted to make the best of it.

"Mmm... Why light in my face?  Why now?" Shelby groaned, covering her face with a pillow, which Juliette quickly pulled off.  She didn't want to be up either, but this was the time that Shelby had insisted that they get out of bed last night, so she was holding her to it.

"Because, you need to get up." She said, and Shelby opened one eye to glare at her, trying to turn on her side away from her, but Juliette held her shoulder down.  No.  If she had to be up and awake, so did Shelby.

"Who told you that?" She asked, and Juliette sighed and shook her head.  You did, dumbass.

"You did.  Last night." Juliette reminded her, and Shelby sat up on her elbows, grimacing as she shook her head.

"That doesn't sound like me..." Shelby said doubtfully and Juliette shrugged. She was right, Shelby was a very lax person on vacation, not really pushing anyone to do anything... But she'd been adamant about this, and who was Juliette to get in the way, right?

"You said it after we snuck your grandmother's wine down to the beach and got a little drunk." She reminded her, and Shelby sighed, laying back on the bed as she nodded... It was fair that she was so upset, she'd drank most of the bottle.

"... Okay, now that sounds like me." Shelby looked at her suspiciously, like the idea of Juliette being up and ready for anything seemed weird. "How are you up and happy already? I've had to literally drag you out of your bed before..."  Yeah, because she was feeling productive even if she wasn't feeling awake.

"Oh, I'm dying inside but I thought I'd go for a run." That woke Shelby up, she was sitting upright in a moment, gripping Juliette's chin in concern as she turned her face side to side, like she was trying to see if Juliette was an imposter. "Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked, pulling her face away.

"Did you hit your head?"  Juliette let out a chuckle and shook her head, looking at Shelby with confusion... Why had she asked her that?

"Why?" She asked, and Shelby shrugged, still looking concerned... Okay, but why was she concerned?  This was fine, everything was fine, she didn't need to worry.

"Because you have never willingly gone for a run in your life, I've been trying to convince you to go on runs with me since we were thirteen and you never have." ... Okay, maybe.  But that wasn't entirely accurate, Juliette had gone on runs with Shelby before.

"That's not true, we did that 5k." She said, which earned her a look.  Come on, don't say it...

"You walked most of it." Shelby reminded her, her voice coming out deadpan... Okay, well she didn't have to bring that up, Juliette didn't like being reminded of the truth.

"I was still in motion and I run at cheerleading practice all the time... I don't know, I just thought it'd be good to clear my head before I start the day..."  Shelby blinked, looking at her with actual concern as she nodded... Okay, that needed to stop. "Stop looking at me like you think I need to be committed." She said, and Shelby stood up, stretching as she yawned, waiting to speak until she'd settled back down.

"Stop saying things that make me think you need to be committed."  Harsh... Fair, but harsh.  Juliette turned around and gave her a look, passing her the glass of water she'd grabbed for her.  Shelby drank it down almost instantly.