Borrowed Time

Chapter Ninety

It felt a little weird to be at the diner without Esme there with her, but she also didn't want to sit at home all night because she just slept when she did that and she did actually have to study... So coming to the diner was really Juliette's only option because otherwise she'd have to go home and she didn't want to do that... And Shelby had a date, and Carly was busy and Micheal was working on something for his Environmental Science course... Everyone was busy.

Everyone but her. But at least Gianna was working, that meant that she didn't have to pay for her food, no matter how many times she insisted upon it because Gianna simply wouldn't let her... Which did kind of suck. How was she supposed to repay Gianna for her kindness if Gianna simply never allowed her to do so.

"Hey kiddo... Need some more coffee?" Juliette jumped, feeling Gianna's hand on her upper back, rubbing comfortably as she looked up at her. God, she walked quietly on these floors, it was crazy how softly she could move through the world, how was that even possible?

"Yeah, that'd be great." She said, smiling softly up at Gianna, who crouched down, giving her a worried look as she gripped Juliette's chin, turning her face side to side with scrutiny. Juliette let her face be moved around, if only because it felt wrong to pull away from Gianna when she was clearly worried about her.

"Are you sleeping enough? I know Esme said that you'd been getting enough, I just worry about you with everything going on, you know? You're my responsibility when you're under my roof, kid." She said, and Juliette chuckled, pushing Gianna's hand away softly as she nodded. She was getting enough sleep as far as she knew, but she wasn't sure how restful most of it was... Well, she'd slept like a brick on Tuesday and Wednesday night... Esme had made more than sure to tire her out enough that that was true.

But she couldn't exactly say that to Gianna, she'd want to fall through the floor from sheer embarrassment if she did because who the hell said that to their girlfriend's mother? That would be a little fucked up.

"I am. I promise." She insisted, watching Gianna straighten up. She knew that she didn't believe her, but as far as she knew, she was telling the truth. She was sleeping way more than she used to, which was a start even if it wasn't the best that she could possibly be doing.

Gianna sighed and tucked her pen behind her ear, squeezing Juliette's shoulder once more before she bent back down to press a kiss to the top of her head. It felt nice to have a mother figure do that.

"Alright... Well, if that changes you just let me know and we can figure that out." She said... Juliette knew that she meant it too, that she would help if she needed to and that was what made her so easy to trust. She actually said the things that she meant and meant the things that she said.

"Cool." Gianna walked away to get the coffee and Juliette looked back down at her math study guide, furrowing her brows at the questions that she was trying to figure out... It was hard to know what to do when everything blended together, she was constantly confused at how to solve for a fucking letter, it didn't make sense.

"If you're looking to solve for y, the answer would be 4.5. If you were curious." Juliette jumped at the sound of a melodic, sort of low voice behind her... God, for a moment she'd thought it was Emma, but it belonged to someone else, a woman who looked to be in her early to mid forties who sat down across from her. Something about her was intimidating, but she had a smile that was warm and disarming and eyes that sparkled... And Juliette was very conflicted, she didn't know what to say.

Or how to speak.

"Uh... Thank you?" She raised an eyebrow... The longer she looked at this woman, the more that she looked vaguely familiar. The way that she sat, the energy that she carried, even the way that her smile spread across her face -left to right, but reversed when it came down-, all of it reminded her of someone. Had they met before? "Do I know you?" She asked, and the lady chuckled and shook her head, eyes seeming to shine even more as she leaned forward and grabbed a fry from Juliette's plate... She wouldn't protest, she was full anyways.