𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐓𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 - 𝐡𝐬𝐦𝐭𝐦𝐭𝐬 (𝐢𝐯) | ✔

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀𝒊𝒊. 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐮𝐬

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐨
━━ 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒖𝒔

     The next morning, as promised, Ricky rang their bell exactly at 8 a.m. Despite Juliette's warnings that she would open the door herself, her father had been quicker and had already welcomed Ricky into their household.

     It had taken Mr Duchamp and Ricky a while to get used to each other: the teenager was terrified of the man, especially because of how dry he had been to him once Juliette brought him back with her from camp, and Mr Duchamp had not quite trusted Ricky until not long ago. His behaviour, however, had changed once he had seen Ricky comfort Juliette after EJ had said his goodbyes. And after seeing him put up with the twins and letting them straighten his hair just because they wanted to see how it looked.

      "Ready for junior year, girls?" he asked, walking into the kitchen and leaving a soft kiss on Juliette's cheek. Not in a million years would he dare to kiss her on the lips in front of her parents. "Do you already know what you're wearing to prom?"

     "You shouldn't mock us, Richard Bowen," Lisa warned him as she swallowed her cereal.

     "Yeah, we know things that would destroy you," Ava continued, unblocking her phone and showing him the picture he had sent her from Juliette's phone. "You're anything but subtle."

     "Well, wait until I tell your mom what you do with those boyfriends of yours in the hallways," he continued, taking one of the cookies in front of Ava. "Ready, babe?"

     "Almost," Juliette replied, laughing as Ava let out a string of insults towards Ricky. "Do you like the outfit?"

     "As gorgeous as ever."

     It was obvious to anyone who saw them, but especially to Ricky, that Juliette felt much more confident this second time around. The first time they had dated, she was completely new to the world of relationships and not used to everything it entailed, but everything that had happened in those last months had really helped her to learn about herself. She still had some bad days from time to time, but she was far from that junior who had let everyone dictate her life for her.

     "Then let's go." She stood up from the table and took her backpack, leaving a soft kiss on her boyfriend's cheek as her mother descended the stairs and yelled for the girls to not leave her shoes all over their room.

     "Good morning, Ricky," Mrs Duchamp smiled at him. Even though they (meaning Mr and Mrs Duchamp and Mr Bowen) had had to put their foot down when it came to their nightly visits, she was really fond of Ricky and treated him as if he were part of the family as well. So far, she was still trying to convince the boy to call her Amelia instead of Mrs Duchamp.

     "Morning, Mrs Duchamp. I'll drive the three girls to school today," he told her, seeing how she was about to take her keys. Amelia was aware of the fact that both he and Juliette were teenagers in a relationship and, as such, they liked to be on their own as well, which is why many days she took the twins whereas Ricky drove with Juliette. However, he quite liked driving the three of them, it made the journeys amusing. He would never forget about the time he drove them to the Big Cottonwood Canyon and Lisa had taken hold of the aux.

     Once the twins had taken their bags (they claimed that junior year was time to start wearing more bags and less backpacks, much to their parents' dismay) and kissed their parents goodbye, all of them got in Ricky's car.

     As he drove, his hand found his place on Juliette's thigh. He didn't know why but it had become his habit putting his hand there, maybe as a way to reassure himself that she was still there and will always be, that she would not leave him anytime soon, especially now that Big Red had decided to study abroad for the semester. They could hear Lisa and Ava in the back seat, gushing about how they were finally going to see their respective boyfriends after not being able to for almost the whole Summer. Juliette couldn't count anymore how many times they had fought because they were not allowed to hang out as much as Ricky and Juliette had.