Chapter 15 #2
Darcy had thought she’d have to put her jumpsuit back on from last night, so this was a pleasant surprise.
But she supposed it made sense. Juliet obviously had thought about these things a lot, and was constantly playing the offense when it came to protecting this part of herself. Locking doors. Remembering to stay tightlipped. Pre-emptively planning to possibly be seen by a pap.
Juliet had also given her a to-go cup with tea and honey as she’d ushered them out the door, which Darcy was currently sipping on.
“Thanks for this, by the way.” She knew it went without saying that she didn’t expect Juliet to be so thoughtful.
Juliet picked up her own cup, wiggling it back and forth before bringing it to her lips. “I was making it for myself.”
Darcy shook her head, breathing out a laugh. Okay, Juliet.
A smirk slid over her face, though, at the thought: Juliet really needed the tea even more than she did. The sounds that had left Juliet’s mouth last night and this morning echoed around in Darcy’s ears like a symphony.
“Get the smirk off of your face,” Juliet directed. “I know what you’re thinking. And, truly, take a minute to think about how much I had to spell out for you to get us there.”
Darcy shrugged. Whatever. There were a lot of things in her life that Darcy had been made to feel stupid about, but Juliet genuinely desiring her was not one of them.
“I guess it all makes sense now,” she said, thoughtfully. “Why you were so fixated on the way I look.”
She’d assumed – as most people did! – that Juliet had been slut-shaming her. Entirely erroneously, but Juliet hadn’t known that.
All along, Juliet had been attracted to her. The heady rush swept through her all over again.
“Give the woman a Pulitzer.”
“Sorry, I didn’t realize that country music’s angel was a raging lesbian.”
Juliet scoffed. “I’m not always raging.”
Darcy chuckled, before her attention was drawn to her phone vibrating in her pocket.
Emerson – 11:16A.M.
Well? Were you ambushed?
She’d texted Emerson after Shelby’s party – feeling slightly guilty for not texting Blythe, who’d also asked about the dinner party last night. She’d given Blythe an honest response, but not the whole truth.
She’d had a very long walk last night as she’d debated going to Juliet’s at all, and had found herself at the gate. It had taken her a minute of feeling very dumb before realizing the random digits Juliet had written with her address was her gate code.
And then she hadn’t texted Emerson again, because… well, because.
Darcy – 11:16A.M.
Shockingly no
Unless you count being ambushed by Juliet declaring that she hadn’t been taunting me, had been actually hitting on me
And then initiating sex
Then, yes, I was ambushed
She watched as Emerson typed, then stopped. Then typed, then stopped. She could clearly picture in her mind her best friend, likely sitting in the back room at the music store, which was her favorite place, her jaw hanging open.
She’d always loved doing things that evoked that response in Emerson. Like when she’d laid a guy out at their school for grabbing her ass in the hallway.
One of her favorite high school memories, that one.
Emerson – 11:18A.M.
Wow.
She grinned. What an Emerson response.
Are you going to do it again???
Darcy paused, frowning in thought. And then typed the only truth she could say:
I have no idea
She’d had no idea last night was going to happen. If there was anything she knew for sure about anything regarding Juliet at this point, it was that she couldn’t predict anything she’d do or say next.
Emerson – 11:19A.M.
Okay. Do you WANT to do it again?
Now, that was the question to consider. If it was an option, did she want it?
Juliet’s car alerted them to an incoming call from Laura over the Bluetooth. She could see the look Juliet shot her out of the corner of her eye, before she tapped Answer.
“Good morning,” Juliet greeted.
There was a pause. “Did you have sex?” Laura asked.
Darcy couldn’t muffle the snort of laughter that fell from her lips.
Laura gasped. “Darcy? Is that her? Is that you, Darcy?”
Darcy dug her teeth into her bottom lip, shooting Juliet an apologetic look.
Regardless of their history, regardless of the complexity of it all, regardless of the fact that she wasn’t sure Juliet even liked her as a person – she knew she liked her when it came to sex, that was for sure, but…
outside of that? – Juliet’s life was very obviously structured around keeping herself closeted.
Darcy didn’t want to cause a problem with that.
Juliet wasn’t glaring at her like she’d expected, though. Instead, she was glaring at her center console as they inched forward in traffic.
“What’s with the gasping?” Juliet shot back, rolling her eyes.
And it was absolutely fascinating. Seeing Juliet like this. Not the sweet-as-pie public veneer she wore, not the vendetta against Darcy. Just – her, Darcy supposed.
“You knew exactly what the plan was, so you don’t need to act surprised,” Juliet continued with a dismissive scoff.
Darcy reeled back, turning in her seat to gape at Juliet. “The plan?”
Juliet gave her a sidelong look, seeming confused. “Yes, Darcy, I literally told you last night.”
“You didn’t tell me it was a plan–”
“I told you I’ve wanted you since the studio. I, obviously, had been waiting to see you at Shelby’s party.”
… that made sense. But it wasn’t like Darcy had taken Juliet’s admission of desire for her to mean she’d planned to invite Darcy over for sex.
She didn’t know how that should make her feel, but she knew it did make her feel strangely good. A heady rush moving through her.
Maybe Juliet hadn’t been obsessing the same way Darcy had been, but she’d been thinking about it. About her.
Laura cleared her throat. “This is wonderful. I’m so happy to have helped facilitate this conversation.”
“Yeah, me too,” Juliet’s sarcasm dripped.
“Seriously, me too,” Darcy jumped in, arching a satisfied look at Juliet when those dark eyes turned to glare at her.
“I’ll make it short and sweet: I just wanted to make sure you were on your way to the hospital. I’m already here, at the usual entrance in the back.” Laura’s tone took on a more clipped, professional edge.
Darcy’s amusement faded, frowning at Juliet. The hospital?
Juliet didn’t return her stare this time. “Yes, I’m on my way. In traffic.”
“And you have Darcy in the car,” Laura supplied.
“Yep,” Darcy was the one to confirm.
“Clearly I do.”
“That’s what the gasp was for, for the record. Didn’t expect you to be bringing her.”
“I’m not,” Juliet assured, firmly. “See you soon.”
“See you. And, goodbye Darcy!” Laura added, chipperly.
“Bye, Laura!” She returned, before Juliet ended the call. She continued to stare at Juliet’s profile, narrowing her eyes. Studying her. “If you had an appointment at the hospital, I could have just called a car.”
“We were already running late,” Juliet dismissed. “If your hotel is near the label, it’s not far off from where I’m going.”
“It is,” she confirmed, but couldn’t help herself from pushing, “Are you… okay?”
Juliet looked fine. She looked a lot more than fine. Sounded and felt like it, too. But appearances, especially when wrapped up in a package as stunning as Juliet’s, could be deceiving.
“Darcy, I didn’t know you cared.” Juliet took on a breathless affect, putting one of her hands over her heart as she fluttered her eyelashes.
She had no idea where she stood when it came to Juliet, emotionally. It felt very tangled inside of her. There was still the sting from everything before they’d actually met. But now… Juliet had been the one to say it: things felt different, knowing they were in the same boat.
Darcy didn’t know anyone who was in her position, because – obviously – that would mean they were closeted. And it did make her feel a little differently about Juliet.
The mind-blowing sex and the best night of sleep she’d had all year certainly worked in Juliet’s favor as well.
So, she stated with enough certainty, “I care.” She shrugged. “Even if we hadn’t had sex or collabed on ‘Porchlight’ together, I’d care enough about you to not want you seriously sick or something.”
“There’s that plucky naiveté I find so… charming,” Juliet drawled, dryly.
Darcy rolled her eyes, hard. “Now it’s na?ve to not wish you were deathly ill?”
Juliet shrugged, noncommittally. Then she released a sigh. “I’m fine,” Juliet confirmed, pursing her lips. “It’s not… I’m not going for my health.”
Darcy narrowed her eyes. “Ooookay?”
She ran through what Juliet could mean by that.
“You’re being really nosy right now,” Juliet pointed out.
“Yeah, I’m a nosy person. There’s literally a song about it on my album, and I know you’ve listened to it.”
Darcy delighted in the way Juliet’s lips rolled into a tight line, like she wanted to deny it.
Eagerly, she leaned in. “You want to tell me that you’ve listened to enough interviews to know where my favorite food in Nashville is, but you expect me to believe you haven’t listened to my album?”
Juliet had to hear the foolishness in that.
“Ugh, fine. Yes, I know ‘Receipt Queens,’ are you happy?”
Darcy settled back in her seat, unable to wipe the smile from her face. “I’m ecstatic. Thank you.”
Despite her teasing tone, she very much meant it.
She did like that Juliet had listened to her music.
That Juliet had probably kept her alerts on, watching for Darcy’s name in the same way she had.
She, actually, loved that Juliet hadn’t been able to ignore We, The Romantics even though she’d obviously wanted to.
“So… the hospital?” She nearly forgot the purpose of this conversation and was thrilled that they passed the sign on the road letting them know how far they were from the hospital to remind her.
Juliet drew in a lengthy inhale through her nose. “I’m going to volunteer at the children’s hospital.”
Okay, not what she’d been expecting. “Oh.” She sat with that, running back through Laura’s comments. “You do that a lot?”
“Enough.”
“Enough to have a ‘usual entrance,’” she pointed out.
Juliet hummed in affirmation.
An exasperated laugh escaped her. “I feel like most people who are seemingly doing something objectively really nice aren’t usually so tight-lipped.”
She’d definitely never seen anything like this about Juliet in the media. And Darcy was positive that she would have seen it, if this had ever been mentioned in a big article given how much she’d voraciously read about Juliet when preparing for their war.
“Well, I think most people who do things like this and then go running their mouths about it are doing it for the wrong reasons. The last thing sick kids need are cameras popping up trying to get a picture of them,” Juliet muttered.
“Of you with them,” Darcy corrected.
“Same thing.”
It wasn’t, actually, and Darcy felt very strongly about that.
She turned to stare out the window, watching the buildings crawl by.
She’d barely had time to think about anything outside of the whirlwind going on in her life.
Actually, she’d had no time. So, she tried not to feel any sort of negative way at herself for not having thought about doing something like this, before.
Darcy had been on the other side of the spectrum from where she was right now for her whole life.
Having no money, scraping to get by, unsure about the future, unsure about how to weather the storm.
Knowing that even though you didn’t have a contingency plan, you just had to march forward into the unknown.
So, it actually was a little galling for her to think about.
And of all the people she hadn’t expected to be taught an example like this from, Juliet was near the top of the list.
“Can I come with you?” She asked.
Juliet darted her a look, obviously surprised, before she schooled her expression and returned it back to the road. She was quiet for several seconds, before she sighed. “You realize that if I say no, I’m literally depriving children with cancer and other serious ailments.”
“I guess you can’t say no, then.”
“I guess not,” Juliet’s tone was measured, before it lightened as she said, “Hey, one or two of them might even know who you are.”
Darcy shook her head, even as she laughed. She looked back down at her phone, rereading the message from Emerson.
Do you want to do it again?
Darcy – 11:29A.M.
Yeah… I think I do
Right here and now, she decided that Juliet wasn’t the only one of them who could plan a scenario like last night.
She was flying back to Tennessee tonight, but she’d be seeing Juliet in less than two weeks for the live performance of Shelby’s tribute album.
Just like everything so far, Juliet might have started it, but Darcy would take it further.