Chapter 5 #2
Then again, maybe Darcy had been gone for too long. Maybe it was always that loud, and she’d forgotten what it was like in her years away. She didn’t think so, but –
“Darcy, yeah, sorry for calling tonight; I know y’all are preparing for the wedding tomorrow and whatnot,” Sandra’s voice filtered in after she snapped something at Lyle, one of their regular customers, who was unfortunately also a very messy drunk.
“It’s fine,” she assured, her confusion only growing. Because Sandra occasionally texted her, but they didn’t really chat. Especially not when Sandra was working a Saturday night at the bowling alley. “Is everything okay?”
Blythe stopped pretending she wasn’t listening, turning back to look at her.
Darcy only offered her a shrug.
“Yeah, yeah, everything’s… okay. I just thought you should probably know–” Whatever else she said was drowned out by a collective cheer and the sound of one of Juliet’s old songs playing in the background.
“Sandra, what the heck is happening over there? You need an extra bartending hand for the night or something?” She semi-joked. Mostly, only a joke because it was the night before the wedding. If Sandra ever desperately needed her help, she’d be there.
“Honey, your girlfriend is here.”
That stopped Darcy in her tracks. Her eyes narrowed, blinking across the room at the fireplace. “Sorry. What did you say? My girlfriend… is Juliet–”
“Darcy, do you really think I don’t know who your gal is? I know who Juliet Jacobs is, thank you very much. I’m not so old and out of touch. And she is here . Don’t you hear her?”
She could hear Juliet, but, “That’s not the radio?!”
“No! She’s singing live!” Sandra insisted, “And the people are loving it.”
Well, of course they were; Juliet was an incredible singer. But – “What is she doing there?”
“How do I know?” Sandra shot back. “She isn’t my girlfriend.”
“When did she get there?” Darcy asked, already standing and hurrying toward where she’d kicked off her shoes near the door.
“Ah… about an hour ago, I think? I was over at the front desk; I didn’t realize she was at the bar. But she’s definitely had a few drinks.”
What in the hell was going on?
Darcy dragged a hand through her hair, baffled and concerned. So much so that she realized she’d started tugging her left sneaker onto her right foot. “I’ll be there soon. Leaving Blythe’s now.”
“What’s going on ?” Blythe demanded as soon as she hung up, having followed her to the door.
Emerson was close on her heels, peering around Blythe to stare at her quizzically. “Are you going to the bowling alley?”
“If I’m putting the pieces together correctly… is Juliet at Stardust?” Blythe asked, incredulously.
“Yeah, I guess so. Unless Sandra is playing the world’s weirdest joke on me.”
But first and foremost, Sandra wouldn’t find that funny, and it really had been Juliet’s live voice in the background, once Darcy had taken a second to really focus.
“Can I borrow your keys?”
Darcy had no problem locating Juliet in the crowd. Mostly because she was at the center of it. She was no longer singing, but sitting at the bar.
Jimmy, a guy she’d known since kindergarten, locked eyes with her as she approached. He waved, shaking his head wildly, like he simply couldn’t believe what was happening. Darcy knew the feeling. “Darcy, you – Juliet is so – wow .”
“I know, Jimmy. Get out of my way,” she firmly ordered, reaching out and nudging at his elbow to direct him to take a step to the right.
He quickly held up his hands and stepped to the side.
It didn’t really help the legitimate swarm of people that were still in between her and Juliet, though.
Darcy lifted her index finger and thumb, pressed them against her lips, and let out an ear-splitting whistle that she’d used to cut through the chaos many times over the years. It worked like a charm every time, jarring everyone right down to the eardrum, causing a collective groan.
Satisfied by the way most of the people around her turned to look at the source of the whistle, she arched them all a look.
“If you don’t clear a path for me like I’m Moses and you’re the Red Sea in the next five seconds, I swear I am going to drag you back until you fall on your drunk asses, and you all know that I’m good for it.”
Thankfully, it worked. Good to know that she hadn’t lost her touch. Everyone parted, allowing her a path right down the center to Juliet.
She was so… incongruous. Dressed in the designer black dress she’d obviously worn to the charity lunch with Robbie earlier today, paired with her strappy heels and jewelry that was so expensive she could have bought the entire bowling alley twice over, it really was Juliet.
Perched on the red vinyl stool, one leg crossed over the other.
As always, Juliet looked like a wet dream, so, yeah. She understood why everyone was gathered around her like she was a tiger at the zoo.
Even so, Darcy had plenty of glares to give out as she elbowed her way closer, until Juliet’s knees were pressed against her thighs, like Darcy could block her from the curious stares. She needed to give Juliet a once-over herself.
Sandra’s assessment that Juliet had “had a few drinks” was absolutely correct. Darcy could tell even before Juliet said anything to her, simply from the way her girlfriend smiled. Juliet’s tipsy/drunk smile was very open, especially more than it typically would be in public.
And, frankly, even though they’d been together for years now, Darcy had only seen Juliet have more than one or two drinks on rare occasions.
“Darcy! My love .”
Oh boy.
She heard some whistles come from behind them, and the tips of her ears burned in awareness, but she ignored it. She ignored everything except for Juliet. “What’s going on?”
“I decided to come here and hang out at my baby’s roots!” Juliet proclaimed.
“Ah… okay…” What ? “How about you come and hang out with me?”
“Darcy.” Juliet reached up, bracing both of her hands on Darcy’s shoulders. Seemingly to keep herself level, she held Darcy’s stare. “I would love to go anywhere with you.”
There was something unreasonably cute about drunk Juliet, she decided, as she helped her slide off of the stool. She wrapped her arm around Juliet’s waist and realized – this was the first real public moment they’d shared together, other than their onstage coming out kiss.
This moment at Stardust, as the people Darcy had known for most of her life watched.
It made her feel a little emotional. More than she’d ever have expected.
To be surrounded by these people she’d never told her whole truth to, but people she’d known forever.
And they saw her. They were watching as her arm was around Juliet’s waist, holding her closely, comfortably.
In a manner that she knew spoke volumes about how familiar they were with touching one another.
With that in mind, she tugged Juliet a little closer to her.
Juliet easily allowed herself to be guided, laying her head on Darcy’s shoulder as they moved through the bowling alley, toward the back door.
“You know, I’ve missed you. And not just because I’ve missed, hmmmm, what’d you call it?” Juliet sighed, the heat of her breath washing over Darcy’s neck, making her shiver. “Burying myself in your body!”
Darcy inwardly groaned, shooting a glare at Bobby Givens, who they were passing by, as he whipped his head up to stare at them. Not necessarily his fault; Juliet certainly wasn’t quiet.
She patted Juliet’s hip, where her hand had landed while wrapped around her waist. “I’ve missed you, too.”
“And – Darcy. And the sex wasn’t all because I wanted to forget the chaos storm that was outside of our house. I mean. It was. But it also wasn’t. It was also just ’cuz you – you’re my safe space. And you make me forget how horrible things can be.”
Okay, she couldn’t even be agitated at all about how loudly Juliet had brought up their sex life, could she? Not when she was melting at Juliet’s intoxicated words. No one should have the right to be that adorable when drunk. Darcy would know; she’d dealt with a lot of drunk people.
“All right, here we go.” She turned and maneuvered them to guide Juliet into the passenger seat of Blythe’s SUV.
Juliet let out a sigh, sinking elegantly into the seat as she tilted her chin up at Darcy. “I can do this on my own, Thief. I’m not that drunk.”
“Sure,” Darcy mildly agreed, unable to contain her laughter, gently shutting the door.
Juliet stared at her through the window, as if maintaining that intense eye contact would make her seem less inebriated.
Darcy jogged around to the other side of the car, the concern biting back at her as she climbed into the driver’s seat.
“Are you… okay, Juliet?” She asked before even buckling her seatbelt.
“Okay?” Juliet echoed, like she’d never heard the word before.
Darcy slowly furrowed her eyebrows, staring intently at her. “Yes, okay , as in – are you all right?”
“No, I know what okay means.” She dropped her head back against the seat with a hefty sigh. “And – you know, Darcy? I am okay.”
… strangely enough, for the first time in a month, Juliet actually did sound okay. Which made no sense at all.
“Did something happen at the event with Robbie?”
“Yes. It did.”
Her stomach clenched even tighter, her heart skipping a beat as the worry notched higher inside of her. “What was it?”
Juliet leaned in over the center console. Leaning closer. Closer. Holding Darcy’s gaze with her own, those deep brown eyes looking so unbelievably gorgeous, however glassy they were, until her breath was washing over Darcy’s own lips. “I saw Chloe Larsson.”
… “Huh?”
What the hell did Chloe Larsson have anything to do with this?
“She and I had sex, once.” Juliet wrinkled her nose, falling back against her seat. “Not a great time.”
Darcy definitely wasn’t the kind of jealous person Juliet was, but – well, this? This made that possessive feeling streak through her. She didn’t ever push to know the people Juliet had been with in the past. But she hated knowing that she’d met Chloe.