#ojuliet

I’ll re-read this novel until I can memorize every syllable written in it.

Maeve did know that. She was pretty sure everyone in the industry knew that. Hell, she was pretty sure that anyone who’d ever met Juliet knew that. It wasn’t like Juliet was hiding it. “Right,” she said. “Just make sure you don’t run it in front of important people.” Maeve had a tendency to say what was on her mind a lot, too, but she’d managed to tone it down over the years. Not because she wanted to, but because she was tired of seeing her name in headlines that accused her of being rude or annoying or any other negative adjective the press could think of. She didn’t care about being rude or annoying, but sometimes the press got to be a bit much about it. “I’ll come bail you out if you get arrested, though.”

He was used to it at this point. Being an F1 driver meant that you were constantly under scrutiny. “Hopefully not. I haven’t been doing very well this season. And I doubt these people know who I am.” That was probably a lie. Everyone knew who he was. He smiled thinly. “It’ll be fine.“

Priya laughed. She didn’t blame Juliet for the question; she was dressed in a t-shirt and sweatpants, with a smear of flour on her cheekbone. “I’ve been baking all day.” She stepped aside to let Juliet in, making sure not to touch her. She still had a bit of batter on her hands. “You keep the attitude up and you’re not getting any cookies.” She was joking. Juliet was always welcome to Priya’s baking. She washed her hands in the sink and turned to lean against it. “So what brings you all the way out here?”

Priya didn’t doubt it. Every woman in the industry knew what men were like. Granted, not all of them sucked, but enough of them sucked to the point where Priya had learned to be cautious of every man she came across. “They suck,” she said with a grin. “Honestly, if all the men just dropped dead one day, I think we’d be so much better off. No one would be asking us stupid questions anymore.” She hated the questions she’d get about her diet, her looks, or her age. They never made any sense, and she hated answering them. “Are you okay, though? Do you want to talk?” She didn’t know what had prompted the outburst, but Priya had always been a good listener for her friends when they were going through it.

Where was he going with this, indeed. Noah blinked. He hadn’t realized he’d been rambling for the past fifteen minutes. “Jesus,” he muttered, laughing softly. “Sorry. Holy shit. Next time I do that, just tell me to shut up. Seriously.” He shook his head and raked a hand through his hair. “I don’t remember where I was going with that. Sorry.” He grinned sheepishly at Juliet. “Honestly I don’t even remember what I was talking about.”

- Robin Maxwell, O, Juliet