Borrowed Time

Chapter 185

Juliette had only been to Danielle's place a handful of times at this point, and most of the time it was with Ophelia or Wess as a pit stop before going somewhere else, so the idea of going into her house and having to stay for an extended period of time wasn't really something that Juliette knew how to handle.  This was not to say that it wasn't a perfectly nice place, really it was, she just got nervous going into new places, and despite this techincally being a place that she had been to before, it was still new that she was being expected to stay awhile.

Plus, there was the added stress of seeing her racist ass grandmother interacting with Shelby, Micheal, Penny, Ophelia, Wess and Esme, which was not something that she was looking forward to, because she wasn't sure what the fine was for bitch slapping an old lady, but she was assuming that it was pretty hefty - she'd still do it obviously, she just really didn't have the money to bail herself out right now, and while Emma would for sure pay her bail, she didn't want to owe them any money, she wanted them on equal footing.

She let out a long breath, squeezing Esme's hand before she brought it to her lips to press a gentle kiss to the back of it, hearing Esme let out a soft chuckle as they did the same just a beat later before letting their arms fall back between them.

"Nervous?" They asked, and she let out a long breath and nodded, clearing her throat as she looked up at the house... It wasn't overly large, bigger than Tegan's by a bit but not by much, but it was daunting.  She needed Danielle to keep liking her, and she got worried that the more and more time that they spent around each other would start to affect her view of her.

Not to mention, all the other social obstacles that were going to come along with Dakota, both sets of her grandparents, her father, and all of her friends in one place.

"That's... An understatement, baby." She looked over at them, swallowing heavily before she cleared her throat, a laugh ripping its way from her throat that was nothing short of terrified - there were so many outcomes that could happen today, and 95% of them were not good ones, so she wasn't really looking forward to it. "I'm fucking freaking out." Esme gave her an apologetic look, leaning closer to press a kiss to the side of her head.  She leaned against their shoulder, breathing in their scent, their perfume.  It calmed her instantly, which she'd expected, that had been the point of her action to begin with.

She needed to go in calmer than she was, or she was going to end the day on a stretcher attached to a goddamn AED.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart.  Hey..." Esme turned to her then, letting go of her hand in favor of cupping her face and pressing their foreheads together, a movement that never failed to make her heart flutter in her chest.  "It'll be okay, and if it's not... Well, we gather the group and sneak out the back, right?" They asked, pulling a laugh from her that felt more genuine as she nodded, bringing a hand up to cup the back of Esme's neck before pressing a long kiss to their lips, and then another.

It was cute that they thought that all of them could get out of there without being noticed, they had a lot of faith in their friend group to move quickly, which was something that could theoretically work, but not necessarily.

"Well, we can hope that that plan would work, but it'd be like herding cats." She said, seeing the glint of Esme's smiley piercing when they pulled back, nodding as they slipped their hand into hers once again, swinging it between them as they started to walk towards the door.

What if I too disappeared?  That would stop this whole event from happening... I could just go with the wind-.

No.  That's a dramatic reaction, act like a goddamn person, you little fucking freak, this is why you struggle to have proper social interactions... Well, that and the autism but we're gonna blame this train of thought right now.