𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 & 𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄 ━ girl meets world²

17│WOMEN IN STEM

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❛ ʟᴇᴀᴛʜᴇʀ & ʟᴀᴄᴇ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ᴡᴏᴍᴇɴ ɪɴ sᴛᴇᴍ ꒱


❝ TOGETHER, WE ARE
THE LAST HOPE TO
STAND AGAINST THE
TYRANNY OF MEN [ . . .] ❞

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"'What did you do to my boy?'" Cory's voice demanded when Juliet picked up the phone a few days later.

She startled at his critical tone and the fact that she had no idea what he was talking about. ". . .What?"

"'Don't you act all innocent with me, missy,'" he warned her in that joking-but-not way he sometimes used. "'Shawn—'"

Juliet flinched at the name. She took a deep breath and looked around her bright, airy apartment, reminding herself that she was safe. She was in England, miles and miles away from him. He couldn't get to her; she didn't have to face the heartache and heartbreak that came from being with him.

"'—upset,'" Cory had continued speaking, oblivious to the was she was affected by her ex-best-friend's name. "'I found him on the roof. The roof, Jules! In the middle of winter. How could you say that to him?'"

The dark-haired woman stiffened at the accusation, feeling her defensive walls rise as her other best friend predictably took his side. "How could I say that to him?" she repeated coldly. "Here's a better question: how could he say that to me after everything that he did? Do you know what he said? He said I love you! I love you!" Her voice raised in pitch as some of the panic came racing back. "I'm not ready for that! I can barely be in the same room as him!"

Cory was silent on the other end of the line for a moment, processing her outburst. "'I know what he said,'" the curly-haired man finally muttered, voice quieter now. "'He told me.'"

Juliet scoffed bitterly. "Well, at least he can be honest once in his life."

"'I know it was too much, too soon,'" he acknowledged a little softer, ignoring her sarcasm. "'But Jules. . . you kissed him, too. You didn't pull away.'"

She shut her eyes tightly. "It was a mistake."

"'Was it?'" Cory pushed. "'Because I know Shawn as well as you do, and we both know that he doesn't just say those words to anyone. Hell, he hasn't said them in years. Not since you. And yeah, maybe it was stupid and reckless and selfish to spring that on you out of nowhere— but you have no idea what it took for him to even admit it to himself.'"

"That's not my fault," Juliet snapped, pacing across her apartment like a caged animal. "I didn't ask him to—"

"'I know you didn't,'" Cory interrupted her gently. "'But you didn't have to destroy him either.'"

Juliet paused mid-step, the words landing like a punch to the chest.

"'He was trying, Jules,'" her best friend argued. "'Trying to fix what he broke. To make things right. For the first time in forever, he thought there might actually be hope. And then you shut the door in his face. Slammed it, actually.'"

Juliet leaned against the counter, suddenly feeling very tired. She held the phone tighter, like it might anchor her somehow. Her voice was barely a whisper. "You don't understand, Cory. You weren't there. You didn't see what it did to me back then. What he did to me."