Borrowed Time Part 2

Chapter 213

Her heart was in her throat in the most anatomically impossible way... Like, Juliette was pretty sure that if someone took an x-ray of her right now, her heart would actually be in there.  There was no reason for it, she was just meeting Dakota's partner, but she was fucking scared.

What if she was evil, what if picking bad partners 1/3 of the time ran in the family and this was Dakota's 1/3 of the time?  

She took a deep breath, shaking her hands out as Shelby rubbed across her upper back.

"You know you don't have to be worried, right?" Shelby asked, and Juliette looked up at her, furrowing her brows at the soft expression on her face.  Was it that obvious that she wanted to crawl out of her own skin? She thought she'd hid that pretty good... Well... Okay, maybe it was only obvious to someone that knew her better than she knew herself. "Like, any woman that Dakota fell in love with is gonna adore you." Juliette shook her hand off, shaking her head. That was a good point, but also there were flaws in that.

How could Shelby know that?  There was no real way to know that.

"But what if they don't?" That question fell out of her without her even meaning to say it... God, Shelby really just drew the truth out of her. "What if they think I'm a freak and they make Dakota feel embarrassed for even thinking she should introduce me to them, and then-." Shelby placed her hands on Juliette's cheeks, drawing her in to rest her forehead against hers as she took deep breaths like she wanted to have Juliette draw them in with her.

Which she gladly did, placing her hands on Shelby's as she closed her eyes.  Relax, you freak.

"Holy shit babe, relax... It's okay." Shelby brought her hand to the back of Juliette's neck, rubbing comfortingly up and down the column there. She sighed, leaning into the touch and allowing herself to be momentarily distracted from her panic. "That's not gonna happen, Kota's got a good head on her shoulders. If her partner thought like that for even a second there's no way in hell that she would be important enough to be introduced to you, right?" She asked, and Juliette hesitated for a moment before nodding because honestly? It made sense. Dakota would never let someone around her who would treat her badly or hate her, so why was she so worried about it?

Trauma, baby.

Trauma. This had to be her deep-seated trauma from years of living with Samantha and knowing in the back of her mind that her own father hadn't minded bringing home someone who had hated her and treated her like shit for years... But Dakota was different.

This would be different.

"I... God, I hope so." She sighed, and Shelby pulled back, making her open her eyes to see her shaking her head, a soft frown on her face like she didn't understand what was making Juliette hesitate, which she highly doubted.

Shelby knew her better than she knew herself - there was no way that her brain hadn't already caught up to everything, right?

"No need to hope because if you're not sure, have some faith in the fact that I am sure for you, okay?" Shelby asked, and Juliette nodded. She often had to have faith in Shelby being sure for her, because she struggled to be sure for herself sometimes. It was hard shit to know what the hell was going on enough to make an informed decision for herself. "Dakota loves you, her partner is going to love you, and this is going to be an amazing way to end our trip, alright?" Juliette nodded, still not feeling 100% sure... But if Shelby was, she was going to say that that was good enough for her.

"Alright... Alright, you're right. That makes sense." She sighed, and Shelby beamed, nodding as she leaned away from Juliette, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel with a bit too much pride for her liking.