a case of you

“oh, i think if i was going to have an obsession it would be with books.”  juliette chuckled, shaking her head.  she already had a whole library of books in her study where she often wrote, so that was something she put a lot of money into--though, some of them were freebies or advanced copies, so it wasn’t too bad or too much money she’d spent.  but handbags?  she had a couple her mother had given her growing up, classics.  but otherwise, they weren’t a big deal for her.  juliette nodded her head at hannah’s words.  “you’re right.  but it doesn’t help that i’m tryin’ to be a good mom and she’s got brochures for college’s all the way out in california.  i don’t want her to go that far, but i also don’t want her to feel like she can’t.”

of course, this wasn’t the first time that they’d kissed.  the first time had been, actually, several halloween’s ago when frannie was four or five.  but this time had been different, or at least it had felt different.  and juliette wasn’t sure what to do with herself.  “well was i supposed to just run after him and scream what the fuck?”  she asked, dropping her hand at her side dramatically with a sigh.  juliette raised her eyebrows at anna’s words.  she didn’t really think anybody else had noticed their relationship in detail or anything, except the couple of times people had already told them they looked like they were a couple.  “or maybe he ran away because he’s a chicken shit and afraid of his own feelings.  or maybe he realized it was a mistake to kiss me or something.”  

“oh, she made ‘em.  and i usually keep them on the fridge this time of year.  but there’s not much else you can do with them.”  they weren’t big enough to hang out around the house otherwise, or really decorate with.  plus, she wasn’t the type of person to buy those blow up decorations and stick a blow up turkey in her front yard.  she loved her decorations, but the blow up ones never looked right to her--plus, she used to think if she got them that the dogs would get to them as well.  “do you know many other rico’s?”  juliette asked with a shrug of her shoulders.  “well he hasn’t been answering my messages.  and i guess he took a couple of days off work, so he doesn’t want to talk to me right now, i guess.”

juliette flinched when she heard him hit his head on the counter and she looked over at him, “y’alright down there?”  the redhead asked cautiously, already looking towards the freezer where she could grab an ice pack if he might need it.  but she nodded her head, glad that it didn’t seem like it would take too much longer to fix.  she didn’t want to worry about that going off again the next time she was off at work.  god forbid.  “i managed to find a russian edition of one of my favorite kid’s books!  it’s the boxcar children.  and i got the english copy too.  i didn’t know if you’d want both or what, but i figured both would be better than nothing, right?”  she nodded her head, having been excited to share any kind of books with people.  “and i can help you, and you can even tell me the differences in language.  cause i’m sure it ain’t a straight translation for most sentences.”

juliette rolled her eyes as mason took the photograph out of her hands.  “oh, like i wasn’t lookin at it myself mister.”  she joked, nudging his side with her elbow as she turned back to the photo album on her lap and flipped the page to another couple of photographs.  it was in moments like these that she desperately wished life was like that one scene in mary poppins and she could jump into this picture and be in that moment again.  “you missin’ the tea parties?  cause i still got the crowns in one of the boxes up in the attic.  we can have one.  can’t promise there won’t be some embarrassing photos of us somewhere though.”  she giggled.  it had been so long since her daughter was interested in dress up like that, but juliette had kept everything.  just in case.  “well, it’s hard to focus on everythin’ else when she’s workin’ on college applications at my kitchen table most nights.  can’t really pretend like i’m not payin’ for those applications to be sent out.”  

juliette blinked, shaking her head.  “uh, no, because i literally thought that i was dreaming.  i was like no way in hell does rico run away after kissing me after a lockdown.”  juliette shook her head, because that’s exactly what happened.  “then i realized, that it happened.  and by then i was already standing there staring too long and somebody asked me if i was alright so i just...went home.”  juliette shrugged, putting her head in her hands as she explained the whole situation.  it sounded ridiculous.  it wasn’t like she’d even really done much of anything else, but what the hell was she supposed to do.  “i was in shock.  and then i had to go through halloween dressed as ariel to his eric and we didn’t even speak or see each other.” 

“sorry?”  juliette blinked, scoffing as she sputtered out the word.  her eyes darted around the front of his house.  she didn’t want to have this argument out in front where anybody else could hear her.  but she also didn’t want to brush past him and invite herself in ( as she so often had over the years of knowing him ).  it wasn’t fair to him in this moment to do something like that.  “you’re sorry?”  she repeated again, taking a half step back and shaking her head.  she was furious.  she hated how much this had affected her.  “you can’t pull some middle school bullshit on me, rico.  we’re in our god damned thirties.  i’m not a teenager.  i can’t handle you playing with my feelings like this.  i’m not tetherball.  this isn’t a game.”  she was doing her best to keep her voice low as she hissed the words out, narrowing her eyes at him.  

“oh my god, once when frannie was little she walked down the stairs and i was watchin’ one of those murder shows--” juleitte paused, humming as she thought of what it was she’d been watching, “forensic files or somethin.”  juliette snapped her fingers as she thought of the title.  she shook her head before continuing yet again with her train of thought, “scared the crap outta the poor girl.  she made me turn on all the lights in the hallway for two whole weeks straight.”

it wasn’t that juliette needed to look over the menu when she sat down at the diner--she’d worked here and been in town long enough she had the whole thing memorized.  she just liked to remind herself of it whenever she came in case she wanted something new.  “oh lord, i think the petting zoo or the haunted house woulda been last on my list.  i don’t do well with scary stuff, and the smell alone at the petting zoo?  no thank you.”  juliette shook her head with a laugh as she took a sip of the coffee she’d ordered already.  nodding, she replied, “nobody else really wanted to sing, so it wasn’t a whole crowd.  i kinda felt like i was in charge of a kid’s birthday party tryin’ to get everybody’s attention.”  

“nah, i couldn’t just pick up and leave.  not if anybody asked me.  i got a kid to worry ‘bout, and a couple of dogs.”

“i think i’d like to be a dog.  i dunno why, but there’s something that seems real nice about runnin’ around with a tail wagging and just gettin’ to sleep on the couch all day long.”

“oh, i think every first date would be different.  cause it’ll be with someone new, and ya can’t expect one first date to be the same all around.  but for me, i think it would be doing something and then having dinner.  like, it might be cheesy–mini golf and then a picnic, or somethin’.”

juliette shook her head as she looked at anna, “okay, fine.  i admit it wasn’t my finest moment.”  juliette laughed.  she loved a good night in with one of her best friends, and she was always down for talking about things that happened in the past.  but now, she was worried about things that had just recently happened.  “so, at the festival, when we left the lockdown.  rico found me.  and then kissed me.  and then, well, he ran away.”  juliette curled her legs up onto the couch and rolled her eyes lightly.  “like, am i in high school again?  what the fuck is that about?”

juliette + penelope + kelsi + mattie