Borrowed Time Part 2

Chapter 211

Exhausted.  That was Juliette's least favorite thing about waking up in a place she wasn't used to, even if she got a full night's sleep, she was still exhausted.  She curled more into Shelby's side as they made their way through the campus towards the lecture, feeling her eyes on her.

I'm fine.  Tired beyond my years and fine.

"You okay, babe?" Shelby asked, and Juliette nodded, leaning into her side as they continued to walk down the path. She was perfectly fine, she was just pretty sure that there hadn't been a day in years that she hadn't felt tired, and today was no different. She just wanted to curl up and go back to sleep, but she hated going to sleep alone in hotel rooms, and she'd felt much safer when Shelby was next to her because she knew Shelby could fight if needed.

Like, she could too obviously, but Shelby would be faster than her, she always had been. That was why Shelby always took the side of the bed closest to the door, just in case anything ever happened she would always be right there.

"Yeah, I'm okay I'm just tired, don't worry about me." She said even though she knew that asking Shelby not to worry about her was like asking water not to flow through a river. Like, it could happen, but there were a lot of steps that had to happen in between there that had not happened, and therefore it was nearly impossible to have that happen.

Shelby squeezed her shoulder's softly, leaning down to kiss the top of her head, making Juliette smile. There was something so comforting about the way that Shelby existed around her... She'd always made loving her look so easy even when it had to have been a chore, it was something that Juliette really admired about her.

Never once had she made Juliette feel like she was a burden.

"I'm sorry... Did you sleep okay?" She asked, and Juliette nodded. Sleeping wasn't the problem when she was around Shelby because it was akin to sleeping on top of a cloud - she always felt comfortable and got a full night with her at her side.

Her exhaustion just filled every crevice of her life to a point where everything else fell to the wayside, that was what was going on right now, but it was sweet that Shelby was so worried about her.

"Oh, I slept fine, I always sleep fine next to you, I'm just also always tired." She reminded her, and Shelby sighed, resting her chin on top of her head as they continued to walk, which Juliette thought was odd - didn't it hurt to be bent that way? She could only imagine the kind of strain that it was putting on her back to be twisted like that, she wanted to tell her to not be, but who was she to tell Shelby that she couldn't do something?

"Well..." She lifted her chin off the top of Juliette's head, squeezing her shoulder softly. That's better. "If it helps, Jasmine got us coffee." She said, and Juliette's heart skipped at the thought of that - honestly, she was pretty sure this was how people fell in love when they fell in love in a normal way. Getting presented with coffee felt like it was a sort of proposal, and she would say yes if it weren't for Esme. Right now, all she could do was thank them... And say something heinous.

Saying something heinous was her love language even though people had no fucking idea that about her at first.

Jasmine would learn soon enough.

"Really?" Shelby nodded, and Juliette let out a happy, content sigh as she patted her arm... The way that she would kiss this woman's goddamn feet for this if that was what she wanted... In theory, she'd actually rather die than do that, but if she had to do that, she would. Like, allegedly... Like... If that was what was asked of her. "God, I could kiss her on the mouth. I won't... But I could." She said, and Shelby chuckled, shaking her head as she pulled the door open so that Juliette could walk into the lecture hall first.