Borrowed Time

Chapter Six

Going to Bryce's party was probably the last thing that Juliette wanted to do with her weekend, but a promise is a promise... and promising Shelby that she would be a 'yes man' whenever she needed to go somewhere and didn't want to go alone... Maybe a mistake in the moment but she wasn't really one to go back on her word.

"Do you know how little I want to go in there, Shelby?" Juliette groaned, and she shrugged, giving her a wide smile. She couldn't say no to her, that'd never been a word that's been in her vocabulary when it came to Shelby Hart... It was like her one downfall.

"Very little, but I know that you still will because you love me and you don't want me to go in alone." Shelby said, and she shrugged. See, but that didn't hold up when another person from their group was also in the party, she could easily go and Shelby would not be alone inside of her personal hellscape.

"Micheal's in there." She pointed out, and Shelby's face fell before she looked down at her steering wheel, drumming her fingers on it. Had something happened? No... One of them would've already told her if it was something severe that she had to pay attention to.

"Yeah, that's... That's loaded right now." She sighed, and Juliette reached over, rubbing comfortingly across her upper back. She wanted this to be less complicated for them, that was all she wanted... And for them to just admit it fully. There was no freedom in secrecy.

"How so?" Juliette asked, and Shelby looked over at her, sighing as she rested her chin on her knuckles, looking out her windshield as she spoke. Really, she was gearing it up like this was going to be something terrible, it was making Juliette's heart drop in her chest.

"We kissed again." Good? How was that bad? How was that 'loaded' if it was what they both wanted to have happen?

"Okay? Is that not good?" Juliette asked, not seeing a place where that would be bad. Shelby shrugged, leaning back in her chair again as she looked over at her.

"No, it's... It's great if either of us could figure out how to talk to each other." Right. Feelings weren't exactly Shelby's thing, which Juliette could relate to. They'd actually made a pact when they were young to not fall in love with anyone because it seemed to just slow them down... and then Shelby fell for Micheal. How awfully poetic.

"Can you?" She asked, and Shelby was quick to shake her head. Fair, none of them had really been great at exposing their feelings, though out of the three of them, Micheal seemed to be the best at it... At least he'd become the best at it after going to therapy and working a bit on his anxiety.

"Nope. Nope, neither of us can seem to figure it out." Shelby sighed, opening her car door to get out. Juliette rolled her eyes and unbuckled, letting go of the pipe dream that they would simply drive home and leave this place behind.

"Yeah, that tracks."

"Come on." Shelby said, taking Juliette's hand so she could pull her behind her. As they were walking in, Juliette's brain was playing every possible scenario... One, she'd have to deal with Bryce and his ability to simply ruin her life with one single sentence... two, she could quietly get drunk and have a good time... and three she would end up walking home. The third and the first ones seemed the most likely, especially when they got inside. The music was ear splittingly loud, making Juliette wince into Shelby's shoulder.

"God it's loud in here." Juliette mumbled, and Shelby paused against the wall, placing her hand over Juliette's mostly exposed ear for a moment to give her a break before pulling it back. It did help, it got rid of the anxious feeling that the sudden influx of noise had given her, and she was able to straighten up a bit more.