Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
It was weird being back in Pineford. Back in her apartment.
Darcy laid in her bed, the same queen size frame that had barely fit into this bedroom, as dawn broke over the horizon outside of her window. One of her hands was resting on her stomach, the other tucked up under her head.
For the first time, this apartment belonged to her, and only her.
Though Blythe and Colton had closed on their house, the renovations and updating – Colton’s sweat equity – had taken almost two months.
He’d just finished the final coat of paint a few days ago, and they’d returned from filming two music videos for their album coming out in a couple of weeks and doing a promotional spot on late night, two days ago.
So, they’d still lived here in the apartment, and had only just moved their final belongings out yesterday.
And now… she was here by herself.
In the apartment above the bowling alley, which wasn’t yet open. Of course not, because Darcy’s mind was determined to BE AWAKE before six in the morning.
Usually, though, Colton and sometimes also Blythe were awake by now.
The apartment wasn’t very big and definitely didn’t have any sort of soundproofing, so almost all of the sound traveled through every room.
She was used to waking up late mornings – because back when she’d worked at the bar downstairs and at Jake’s, she didn’t get to bed until the early hours.
Back when she used to be able to really sleep – to her sister and future-brother-in-law talking or cooking or cleaning or… whatever.
The quiet was almost eerie.
With a sigh, she reached to the drawer that she put her phone in at night. Trying to remove the temptation to scroll when she couldn’t sleep.
She’d put it away pretty early last night, by nine, because she’d gone down a rabbit hole of watching videos from Juliet’s tour.
Once she started, it was always a slippery slope.
All of her algorithms showed her Juliet, given the months of borderline obsession with one another.
And if she gave in to watching a few videos of Juliet’s tour, it was almost all she saw.
After nearly an hour last night of seeing videos from Juliet’s latest show, one of her last shows, she’d forced herself to put the phone down.
It really was something, though, seeing Juliet in all of these videos, and then really connecting, internally, that it was the same Juliet whose bed she spent so many nights in. The same Juliet she’d had the media feud with, what felt like forever ago now.
The way she looked at Juliet really had been fundamentally altered, though. Juliet did command the stage with a presence that Darcy was impressed by, but she never strayed from her brand. She didn’t dance suggestively, she didn’t wear outfits that were designed with raw sex appeal in mind.
But now, Darcy saw underneath it all, and…
And the videos were really quite exhilarating, especially all of the nights they didn’t spend together. Her body seemed hardwired, now, to respond to Juliet.
She sighed, shaking her head against her pillow, tapping her phone to life.
She had a text and an email from Zayd from last night after she’d put her phone down, which wasn’t abnormal.
Their manager was always communicative, reaching out and letting them know what he was doing, who he was talking to.
As they were ramping up their promo for the album with Copper Canyon, he was busy as hell.
A voice note from Emerson, which perked her up. Emerson’s voice notes were always… masterful was the best word for her to use. She loved to wait until the music store was closed then use the back room to really unleash her own musical vision.
And though Darcy had her own skills, she wouldn’t have any of them without her best friend. Darcy could play piano and guitar, because Emerson had taught her. She’d never mastered the fiddle, which Emerson could play incredibly well.
Though they now had access to music producers with a wealth of knowledge Darcy admired and respected, she didn’t take anyone’s feedback as seriously as she took Emerson’s when it came to melody.
As Blythe had been dialed in on this holiday party she was insistent on hosting – and inviting, like, half of the town to – Darcy and Emerson had started to both look into their upcoming tour. Amusingly, their anxieties were aligning, even if the root causes were different.
Most interestingly, she had a missed call from Juliet, and a text.
Interest and excitement utterly sparked, she tapped that notification first.
J.J. – 10:43P.M.
Well??? What are you thinking?
Confusion swept through her. What was she thinking about what?
Darcy – 6:55A.M.
I’m always thinking about many things, please elaborate
She was just about to click into Emerson’s voice note when she was on the receiving end of a video call from Juliet.
A thrill shot through her and she sat up with it. She and Juliet didn’t ever call one another like this. Not in the two months since they’d started this arrangement. They strictly texted. Even then, it was usually limited to making plans for hooking up.
Swiping her hand over her face, she scoffed at herself. What, so she had some bedhead and she was wearing a threadbare t-shirt hanging off her shoulder with a logo from the bowling alley so worn it was barely visible? Juliet saw her in the morning all of the time.
With that in mind, she answered the call. “Well, this is a surprise.” She clicked her tongue, fluttering her eyelashes. “You just can’t get enough.”
Juliet didn’t take the bait to either dismiss her or flirt with her. She was bright-eyed and fresh-faced for the day, her dark, silky hair tied into a knot at the top of her head. “I can’t believe you didn’t respond to me last night.”
“I didn’t realize we had a deadline to answer one another?” She shot back, baffled. “I, uh, I wasn’t looking at my phone for a while before bed.”
She shifted slightly as the nerves set through her. It wasn’t as though Juliet would be able to read her mind or something, be able to figure out that Darcy had to impose limits to stop staring at Juliet’s tour videos.
But Juliet’s stare was always so intense.
It was even more so now, through the phone, than usual. Her dark eyes narrowed, her jaw set. “Why?” She asked, her voice dipping to that frosty cold place that Darcy hadn’t heard – directed at her, anyway – for months.
“Why?” She echoed. “You know I have trouble sleeping. It’s not good for you to be on your phone before bed,” she hedged. And hey, it was scientifically backed!
“Are you by yourself?” Juliet asked, pointedly. She’d leaned in slightly, eyes moving like she was trying to search the frame she could see Darcy in.
“By… myself?” She echoed again, feeling absurdly slow.
She hadn’t told Juliet how weird she’d felt about being alone in the apartment. They didn’t really… do that. So, she couldn’t fathom why Juliet would be asking.
She shrugged. “Unfortunately, yes.”
“Unfortunately?” Juliet pressed, in that same tone.
“What is with your angry laser-eyes?” She demanded to know. “Yes, I’m alone. Blythe and Colton are officially living in their farmhouse that I think I mentioned to you at some point.”
Juliet blinked, her expression completely flat. “Your sister and her fiancé. That’s why you said unfortunately.”
“Is that a question or…?”
Juliet closed her eyes, working her jaw back and forth.
“Who did you think I’d be with?” It was only then that she understood what Juliet was getting at, the realization shifting through her. “You thought I was with another woman?”
“I didn’t know, Darcy,” Juliet returned, eyes opening again, blazing at her. But the color rose high in her cheeks, giving her away. “Either way–”
“Uh-uh, no,” Darcy immediately jumped in, shaking her head. She couldn’t stop the satisfaction that pumped through her veins or the smile that worked over her mouth. “What if there had been someone else in my bed? Because, if I recall correctly, you didn’t list that as one of your dealbreakers.”
“I said if you were really dating someone–”
“Sleeping with someone obviously doesn’t mean dating,” she stared, pointedly, at Juliet.
Who’s jaw visibly twitched. “Fine. Yes. That’s a dealbreaker for me. If you’re sleeping with someone else, I have the right to know.”
“Are you?” Darcy asked, flipping it around, her heart beating a little harder.
They hadn’t really established this before, but… maybe it was foolish of her to have simply assumed Juliet wasn’t. God, she didn’t want to say that to Juliet and give her more evidence to accuse Darcy of more naiveté.
“No, I’m not,” Juliet informed her, arching a sharp eyebrow up expectantly. Waiting.
Darcy didn’t express any of the swift relief she felt from the momentary jealousy. All she said was, “Me, neither.”
“Okay, then. Regarding the point of this call–”
“You say, as if you weren’t the one who derailed us in the first place,” Darcy scoffed.
So… Juliet.
Who schooled her features again, sniffing haughtily at her. “To establish a fair concern. Discretion is obviously of the upmost importance.”
“I’ve been very discreet,” Darcy insisted. After all, she was the one who dressed down, who walked down the street or the block to and from Juliet’s house, or checked the hallway when sneaking out of a hotel room.
She was so close to pushing, wanting Juliet to admit: was it really about discretion or jealousy? The impulse to ask nearly had the question rolling off her tongue.
At the last second, she bit it back. Because she wasn’t quite sure what to make of her own flash of jealousy, so…
“Speaking of discretion,” she started, going in a different, relevant direction. She used her free hand to toy lightly with the edge of her blanket. “What are your thoughts on my, possibly, telling my sister?”
Juliet’s eyebrows furrowed deeply, obviously taken aback. “You haven’t told your sister about me? Even after you came out?”
“No! You and I haven’t talked about it.”
“Emerson knows.”