Borrowed Time

Chapter 157

There was no reason why auditioning for a musical should make Juliette feel like she could throw up on the ground, but here she was... Feeling physically ill at the thought of her audition.  Maybe it was the rejection, maybe that was what she feared... Maybe it was fucking up and having other people hear it... Whatever it was, it was making her want to die... She couldn't get out of her own head about it.

Maybe I could go get run over by a car, then I'd have a reason not to audition... But then I'd also be run over by a car, and that wouldn't be fun.  Decisions, decisions.

"Why are you holding me to this?  Did I do something to personally offend you?" Becky asked, and Juliette glanced over at her, raising an eyebrow as she waited for the words to really wash over her... Sometimes someone would speak, and it could take a few minutes for her to fully catch their meaning, like her brain had to catch up to speed.

"Hm?" Right, the auditions.  She shook her head and cleared her throat, giving Becky a gentle smile. No, you're just the unlucky fucker not doing sports. "Oh, no... I just don't want to be doing it alone, and you're a really good singer... Plus, you must be a good actor, you acted straight for years." She said, mostly as a joke, but it did ring a little true... Becky had clung to that narrative until her knuckles were white, that had to stand for something.

She smiled, nudging Juliette lightly as she did.  Good, you got the joke... I would've explained it, but people act like that makes it way less funny even though I'm just trying to share the laughter.

"That was a very immersive role, I was method acting." She said, and Juliette nodded.  That was something that she could deeply relate to - she'd been method acting ever since she was born... She called it masking, but still.

Same thing.

"Me too Becks, me too." She sighed, feeling someone bump into her shoulder from behind, making her stumble as Becky put her hands on Juliette's biceps, steadying her.

She wasn't sure if it was intentional, but either way? Surefire way to put her in a bad mood.

"Excuse me-." The second she saw the face of the person who'd knocked into her, she was sure it was no accident - Iris glared at her, looking at her like she was something scraped off the street... They hadn't interacted much since the beginning of the year when Esme had told her off, but it was clear that the hurt feelings on Iris's side had not lessened. Wonderful. "What are you doing here?" She asked, her tone dripping with venom...

Was that not obvious? Sorta thought it might be...

"Auditioning for the musical... Unless the location changed, I'm pretty sure that auditions are right here starting in like... Thirty minutes, right?" Juliette asked, and Iris rolled her eyes like Juliette was trying to be annoying... And sometimes she was, but this wasn't one of those times. She was just... Here. And she didn't know why that was such a problem for Iris.

"Right, but what are you doing here?" She asked, her tone still deeply accusatory as Juliette shrugged... She was pretty sure that it wasn't that hard to put two and two together, but alas Iris was still seeming to struggle to make that connection.

I'll help.

"Auditioning." She said, and Iris shook her head... Okay, so that doesn't stop me, I hope you know that.

"You don't do theater." Iris's tone was flat when she spoke, and Juliette shrugged.

Last time she checked, this wasn't a closed audition to the kids already doing drama, anyone could audition.