C H A P T E R 3 7
?Sometimes all we need is just a new perspective.?
We both froze in our places when we heard the clear click-clack of heels against the marble floor.
I held my breath in anticipation.
"Juliet, there's someone here to meet you!" Amelia's enthusiastic voice made my heart clench in fear.
We didn't turn around and Amelia called for me again and grabbed my arm to turn me around.
As soon as I turned around, I was met with the nightmare next to Amelia.
She was smiling at me. Anytime now she would recognize me and then spill my secret in this room full of hundred people, and more were pouring in.
She stepped forward and I thought she was going to hit me but instead, she hugged me. To say I was shocked would be an understatement.
When she pulled back, she was grinning at me. "Happy birthday, Juliet."
"Ashley," I breathed out.
"Glad to you know you still remember me." She giggled.
"What're you doing here?"
She blinked at me, clearly looking confused. "What do you mean? It's my childhood friend's birthday and you don't expect me to come?"
"What?"
"Well, if Mrs. Jenson hadn't invited me, I would've never known that you were found.
I have to admit I was very disappointed when she told me that you were found a month ago.
Why didn't you try to contact me? Sure, as we grew up we didn't keep in touch as much as we used to but that doesn't mean that you return and you don't even tell me about it. I'm very hurt," she said in mock anger.
"What?" I asked again. Did she really think I was Juliet too? Did she not remember a girl named Julie in one of her classes who she had a nasty fight with?
"Why are you looking so shocked? Is there something on my face?" She asked, feeling up her cheek for anything.
"No, uh..." I looked at Olivia and she was just staring at us with her lips slightly parted.
"Who's this?" Ashley asked, looking at Olivia. Olivia and I studied in different colleges and I only ever met her at the café or hung out with her alone so there was no way Ashely knew her from anywhere
"Oh, uh...this is Olivia Rivera, my friend."
"Nice to meet you," Olivia said.
"I'm Ashley Johnson, Juliet's childhood friend."
"Great," Olivia said blankly.
"If you don't mind, can I talk to Juliet, alone," Ashley asked Olivia. Olivia shrugged.
"Fine."
I wanted to shout at her for leaving me alone with Ashley but refrained from doing so.
Ashley sat next to me on the bar stool and ordered a drink for herself.
"I've got loads to ask you and loads to tell you."
"Okay. What do you want to ask?"
"Everything. Tell me everything about this whole runaway thing you did."
I sighed silently before repeating the same made up story.
"Whoa. Sounds like you had fun," Ashley said, sipping her wine.
"Yeah, kind of, sort of."
"Okay, now I'm going to tell you something unbelievable. I know you won't believe me until you see it for yourself." Her eyes were wide and she looked exited.
"Okay, what is it?"
"I know a girl who looks exactly like you. No difference! It's like you two are twins or something."
I wanted to laugh so bad when I heard that but I faked a surprised look. "No way."
"I told you it was unbelievable. That's why I took a photo of her." Ashley took her phone out of her purse and showed me a photo. "Look!" It was me. I was in class, looking straight forward with books in front of me. I didn't even know when she took that photo. "Doesn't she look just like you?"
"No, I don't look anything like her."
Ashley put her phone away. "Yes, she does. With makeup, she'll look just like you."
"What's her name?"
"Julie James. Daughter of Henry and Emma James. She's an orphan, adopted by her uncle Jeffrey and aunt Summer Greene. She was an only child of her parents."
Creepy. I was convinced she was stalking me from my birth. "How do you know so much about m-her?"
"I got someone to do background check on her."
We were silent for a few minutes.
"I said and did pretty bad things to her. She didn't deserve it, but I had my reasons," she said, looking genuinely guilty. I couldn't believe she was feeling sorry for bullying me.
"What are those reasons?"
Ashley looked up to meet my eyes. "I thought she was you.
I thought you were disguising as someone else and I wanted to see if I was right, if it was really you.
So I tried to get the truth out of her. I bullied her.
It wasn't severe and I only ever just hit her once.
That day I was very frustrated about something, and she was just there, but she was the one who hit me first the day before that.
Honestly, I was being a bitch to her and said pretty harsh things about her family.
By that time I was convinced she was not you.
And it was stupid of me to think it would be you because you wouldn't stay disguised near me, or anyone who knows you for that matter if you were on the run from us. So, yeah I deserved that slap."
"Yes, you did," I laughed. Ashley rolled her eyes at me.
"You didn't even know what I said to her." She rolled her eyes.
"I don't need to know what you said to know that you deserved that slap."
She narrowed her eyes at me. "You're mean. Anyways, I'm going to go meet my other friends and family now. We should hangout sometime."
"Sure."
Ashley left to talk to some of the guests and I blew out a breath I had been holding.
"I'm assuming everything went well?" Amelia asked as she took a seat where Ashley was previously sitting on.
"Yeah, it went perfectly well. Did I mention that she's a girl from my college?"
Amelia's eyes widened. "What?! Ashley's in your college?"
"Yeah, but she totally bought it. She really thinks I'm Juliet."
"Wow, did you know each other?"
"Not really, she wasn't exactly good to me."
"Really? Oh my God, I didn't think Ashley would do that." Her eyes searched the crowds for her, finally landing on her form. "She was nice whenever I interacted with her."
"She said she did it on purpose. Long story short, she thought I was Juliet so she tried to force the truth out of me."
"That still doesn't justify her behavior."
I hummed in agreement. Silence settled for a while before I eventually broke it.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"What exactly happened between Vince and Juliet? I know that he cheated on her with her friend but like elaborate on what went down please."
"It was teen drama. Juliet had a crush on him and he was a playboy.
So she somehow got him to ask her to be his girlfriend.
It was all rainbows and sunshine for about a month and then on her eighteenth birthday, there was a party at her house and she found him in her bathroom with one of her friends after he took her virginity that night.
So basically she woke up after doing the dirty with him and he was not around so she searched for him and found him hooking up with her friend.
You'd expect him to apologize to her but he didn't and he was like 'Thanks for the great fuck, made waiting for a month worthwhile'.
That's when Juliet lost it and in revenge, tried to buy him.
Her parents refused, of course. She was so embarrassed.
He was only with her so he could take her virginity, and then she got dumped on her ass.
And Juliet never ever gets dumped, it's the other way round. "
"That's cruel. He's such an ass. But I don't think she ran away because her parents refused to buy him. Why exactly did she run away?"
Amelia downed a glass of whiskey in one go before slamming it on the table.
"Well, you see she was very embarrassed and was shattered that she lost her virginity to a sex-crazed tool so she didn't know how to face her parents after her stupid demand to buy him.
So she just...took off. She didn't want to come across as an easy lay and wanted to get away from it. "
I nodded. "Understandable. She didn't deserve that. Vince is such an asshole."
"That he is. I don't even know why Mrs. Jenson has invited him here."
"I'd like to know what Mrs. Jenson was thinking when she decided to invite that douche."
"It might also be possible that he crashed the party. I don't know. I didn't have a look at the guest list."
The cake cutting happened soon enough and again I was embarrassed as the people sang the birthday song like I was a freaking kid.
After that, we had a scrumptious dinner with the guests. I was really happy the way the day had gone. I thought my real birthday would not be celebrated at all but it was such a coincidence that Juliet and I shared the same birth date.
It was well until midnight when we finally reached home.
I was extremely tired, my cheeks hurt from all the smiling that I had been doing all evening, my feet ached because of dancing for the majority of the evening in heels.
At least the dress fit me perfectly, it was so comfortable.
Ethan chose the right size for me. I didn't get a chance to thank him for all the gifts or even talk to him for a proper five minutes for that matter.
I decided to thank him tomorrow when I'd be feeling less like death.
"Juliet," a quiet voice in the empty mansion scared me out of my wits. I turned towards the source and saw Keith standing at the doorway.
"Keith! You scared me."
He chuckled softly. "Sorry."
"What're you doing here this late? Why aren't you at home?"
"I waited for you. I didn't get a chance to wish you on your birthday." He took a few steps towards me until he was right in front of me.
My shoulders sagged in guilt. "I'm sorry."
"Hey, why are you apologizing? Happy birthday." He gave me a charming smile which I couldn't help but return.
"Thank you."
"Can I...have a dance with you?"
"Of course! Just a minute," I said and bent down to take off the killer heels. I wiggled my toes, feeling nice. "Ah, that feels amazing."
Keith extended a hand to me and I took it. He pulled me close and I rested my hands on his shoulders, with his lightly resting on my waist.
"You look beautiful," he whispered.
"Thanks. I love this dress. It's Ethan's birthday gift for me."
"I wasn't talking about the dress. I was talking about you."
My cheeks reddened, not expecting that reply. "Thank you."
We danced for a while until he finally stopped. "I've made something for you. I hope you like it."
"What is it?" I asked, excited.
Keith presented a plate before me with the cutest red velvet cupcake I'd ever seen. On it, in tiny letter was written.
Happy birthday, my sous chef
I grinned at his cuteness. "This is so good, oh my God. This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me."
"I'm glad you like it." He sounded relieved.
"I love it."
"Go on, eat it."
I ended up sharing the cupcake with Keith. It was the most delicious cupcake I had ever eaten in my life.
Giving him a kiss on the cheek, I skipped up the stairs, catching sight of Ethan in the hallway where our rooms were. He was making his way to his room.
"Ethan," I called out. He stopped in his tracks for a second before continuing on more furiously.
"Hey! Wait up."
But he ignored me and entered his room, shutting his door with a loud bang.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" I asked, pounding at his door.
"What do you want?" He asked, his reply sounding muffled.
"Come out. I want to tell you something."
"Go away."
"What happened to being friendly with me? It's my birthday today!"
I didn't get a reply. I huffed and entered my own room, shoving Ethan's moody behavior out of my mind.
But what had happened to him? We were fine at my birthday party.
Ethan seemed a little distant from me since we returned from the party yesterday.
I finally decided on a name for my adorable dog. Plowy.
"Plowy!" I picked the dog up and set it on my lap. "Plowy, you like your new name?" I asked him, scratching his neck. He barked in approval.
After playing with him for some time, I decided to show it to Olivia.
She had just finished taking her shower when I walked into her room. When she saw Plowy in my arms, she squealed and reached for him.
"He's so cute. Where did you get him?" She asked, grinning down at him.
"Ethan gave him to me for my birthday."
"Wow. He's really adorable. What's his name?"
"Plowy."
Olivia chuckled and I frowned at her. "What? That's a cute name for a cute pug."
"Yes it is. Did you tell Ethan what you named him?"
"I wanted to, but I guess he wasn't in the mood to talk." I frowned. Was his good behavior all these days only because my birthday was in a few days and now he was going to revert back to his old self? I didn't like that thought.
"What do you mean?" Olivia asked, confused. "Don't tell me you two started a fight again."
"What? No! We aren't fighting. I don't know why he's so moody. He seemed a little off and not in the mood to talk since yesterday after we came back from the party."
"Did you do something upon returning that he might be possibly mad about?"
"I didn't do anything. I literally just danced with Keith, shared the cupcake he made for me and when I noticed Ethan in the hallway I went to talk to him but he ignored me completely and locked himself up in his room."
Olivia narrowed her eyes at Plowy in concentration. It looked like she was trying to scare him and I thought I saw Plowy get a little uncomfortable in her arms, so I gently took Plowy back and he seemed glad to be with me again.
"No way..." Olivia whispered and I looked up to see a small hint of a smile playing on the corners of her lips.
"What?"
"Could it be...I know it might sound crazy and I can be horribly wrong, but could it be that Ethan saw you with Keith and didn't like what he saw?"
"What do you mean?"
"Could it be that he didn't like seeing Keith with you? Could it be that he was...jealous?" Her eyes twinkled with mischief.
As soon as those words left her lips, I couldn't control the fits of laughter her ridiculous words triggered in me.
"Are you alright up there in your head, Olivia? Ethan being jealous of seeing Keith with me? I mean why the hell would he be jealous? He hates me, remember? Well, at least he's trying to hate me less now but what you said was absolute rubbish. Ethan can't be jealous of seeing a man with me."
Olivia shrugged. "It's not impossible and it was just a thought."
"I can't believe you thought of something like that." I chided. There was no way he was upset about that.
"Whatever. I think it might just be something at work that had him in a bad mood." She shrugged.
"Now that's a logical explanation." I approved. "Now come on, breakfast time for you."
"Did you have breakfast already?"
"Yes, your majesty. Not everyone is a sleeping bitch like you."
Olivia gasped. "I think you mispronounced beauty!"
"I'm pretty sure I didn't."
"Rude!" Olivia threw a pillow at me. "Get out. I'll be right out for breakfast."
"Okay!"
I exited the room with Plowy, whilst chuckling about her ridiculous thought process. "Ethan is jealous," I mocked, chuckling at how hilarious that sounded out loud.
Does anyone here remember Ashley?
If you don't, then let me remind you who she is.
Ashley was in one of Julie's classes back home.
She's in Julie's college and she was the one who bullied her, along with Ryder, her boyfriend.
In revenge, Julie and Olivia snuck into Ashley's house and cut her hair and a beautiful purple dress.
Julie also smeared lipstick all over her face.
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