Borrowed Time

Chapter Ninety Two

Honestly, Juliette felt that her punishment for beating Ingrid up should've ended with the stupid church pageant, but her father making her do the rummage sale simply because he didn't have the volunteers and claiming it was because she needed to spend more time at church just... Felt like a tacked on punishment. Like, she already had another church obligation this week, wasn't that enough?

"How did your dad rope us into doing the Christmas rummage sale?" Shelby sighed, looking at the people milling around the tables as though they were ants rummaging around a picnic - a nuisance, something that she hated.

Which was fair, they were all bitterly annoying and far too preachy, she'd already had three people ask if there was anything they could possibly do to save her immortal soul and she'd kindly told them all that she'd rather burn in hell over becoming someone that she is not...

They didn't like that very much.

"It got us out of mass." She said, and that was true. They'd gotten to skip his sermon to set up and that was what had sweetened the pot for all of them, especially her... And it'd gone faster because they'd roped Becky into it so that she could avoid her mother easier. Shelby sighed and shook her head, resting it against Juliette's as she crossed her arms across her chest.

"Right." She groaned, lifting her head as she remembered something that seemed to be particularly upsetting to her. "And we've got the pageant on Wednesday night..." Juliette grimaced and nodded... Yeah, no one was looking forward to going to that who wasn't a try hard church mom looking to be told that Jesus loved her more than he loved anyone else in the entire world.

"And a flight the next morning, I know." Juliette sighed and shook her head, feeling bitter... It was odd that her father hadn't cared to ask why she wasn't home but had cared to comment on her being 'absent from church'... If he asked about why, she would tell him but he couldn't even look past himself long enough to notice that something was seriously wrong... Juliette was pretty sure that she'd have to disguise herself as a goddamn bible for him to even pay attention to her at this point. "We've been doing a lot for my dad lately, I'm glad to be getting out of here for a bit." She said, and Shelby nodded, looking at her worriedly as she rubbed a hand across her back. Juliette knew that she was still worried about her after what had happened... Hell, she'd been more worried about Juliette than she had herself even though Juliette told her about the threats... She'd said that she'd let herself die a thousand times if he left her alone, but Juliette would never let that happen.

"Same." Shelby cleared her throat, clearly wanting to change the subject to something else, and Juliette could hardly blame her for that. "Are you spending the night at Micheal's on Wednesday?" She asked, and Juliette shook her head... She loved her friends, but they probably both needed nights alone with their respective partners before heading out to a different state for a few days.

"No, I'm gonna sleep at Esme's and they'll drop me off in the morning." She said, and Shelby smirked, nudging her slightly, knowingly... It was odd to think that Shelby knew what was going to happen, knew that Juliette was having sex... and nothing changed. She'd expected judgment, not because of who Shelby was as a person, just because she kind of expected it from anyone she knew.

But Shelby's reactions had made her feel a lot more calm around the idea and had helped her get rid of some of the shame she had for wanting to do it again.

"Cool." Say it.

"Figured I should give you two one good night of privacy before you're in a hotel room with each other where you can't do anything because you won't let me pay to get my own." Juliette said, winking at her. She saw Shelby glance away, seeming almost flustered at the implication... Fair, Juliette didn't imply stuff like that to her very often.