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Juliette realises it’s a bad idea, like most things, a little too late.
One of the things Elinor had called her, years back, had stuck in her mind. Naive. Personally, Juliette didn’t consider herself a naive person.
Maybe that was the problem. Yes, she was socially awkward and inept but not naive.
But with hindsight, she would probably agree with her sister.
It had started off like any regular Saturday. Juliette had woken up, and decided to go for a walk to grab a coffee before she met up with Calliope later on for lunch.
Things were going fine. It was a mundane day, and a routine which was so familiar, that she hadn’t anticipated anything going wrong or even out of the ordinary.
Until she finally reached Starbucks, and approaches the counter to order a drink. “Hi, what can I ...” the cashier trails away. “Juliette?”
Juliette is bad with faces. Her memory isn’t fantastic at the best of times, and Ben had acquired so many various friends and acquaintances that it became hard to keep up with all of the new people in her life.
Recognition suddenly strikes. “Rebecca! Hey!” Juliette smiles, coffee order suddenly forgot. “It’s uh, good to see you” she offers
Rebecca Blackwood. Juliette’s old friend and definitely not who she had anticipated running into on the regular weekend Starbucks trip.
“You too! It’s been awhile” Rebecca replies, looking genuinely glad to see Juliette. “How’s it going?”
Juliette fiddles with her hands awkwardly. “Oh me, I’m fine. What about you?” She politely asks.
“I’m doing great, the move has definitely been a good thing” Rebecca does look happy, Juliette thinks, a lot happier than she was in Savannah.
At first, Juliette had a crush on her new friend but after spending time with the exchange student, it slowly morphed into a close but strictly platonic friendship
Rebecca had moved to town, ironically enough midway through school season, like Cal. They had been paired together, and became good friends.
Juliette hadn’t thought about Rebecca in awhile. They had stayed close friends until her family had to move away for work.
Although it’s easy enough to promise to stay in touch, life happens and Juliette felt herself drifting away from the friendship, to the point where Rebecca became a distant memory.
”I’m glad, moving can be fun” Juliette cringed as the words left her mouth. Social situations were not fun, and even now she didn’t always know what to say around girls.
But Rebecca didn’t seem to mind, and giggled gently. “Well there seems to be a big queue now” Juliette turned around and winced. “Whoops”
She laughed again, and Juliette smiles. “Do you want to maybe catch-up after my shift?” Rebecca offers, and this is when Juliette will later realise perhaps Elinor is right, maybe she is naive
”Sure. That sounds fun” she agrees. Of course her intentions are as far away from romantic as possible. She loves Calliope. Totally and fully.
Juliette did like Rebecca. And through their friendship, she had realised pretty soon that they worked better as friends.
That’s why she had agreed to catchup, to see how life was treating and old friend.
“I finish at twelve, do you want to meet me here?” Rebecca asks, bringing Juliette back to the real world from her thoughts. “That sounds good, I’ll be here” she smiles and walks off.
And it’s only when she’s half way down the street, Juliette remembers that she forgot to order her coffee.
She spends the next few hours flitting between shops, trying to keep herself busy. And hoping the catchup doesn’t overrun either, she was meeting Cal at 2 outside their favourite cafe.
Eventually, times flies by and Juliette finds herself back at Starbucks, five minutes to noon.
She is excited to catch-up with Rebecca and see how life has treated her; maybe she had a new girlfriend too and wouldn’t mind Jules’ gushing about Calliope.
Rebecca greets her with a grin, offering a cup and small paper bag. “Black coffee, with oat milk and a vanilla shot?” She holds the cup out like a peace offering. “That was your order but if it’s changed or anything, let me know!”
Juliette realised how Rebecca hadn’t changed. She was always a sunny, friendly person and it’s clear that time only strengthened this. “That’s still it, thank you” she accepts the cup and takes a sip.
Vampires didn’t need food to survive, or drinks. Especially not coffee. But Juliette was partial to a coffee once in awhile, and a free drink from an old friend was always a bonus.
“So, how did Savannah treat Juliette Fairmont” Rebecca snags them a table in the corner of the cafe and takes a seat, crossing her arms.
Juliette let out a breath. She didn’t exactly like talking about herself; and still felt like a fraud because Rebecca didn’t even know she was a vampire. “Well it’s been good, I’ve just been studying, you know” Jules’ sips her coffee again
Rebecca nods, and begins to explain how she had moved only a few hours away. Times flies past, and Juliette enjoys the conversation. It’s nice to hear how someone can live outside of Savannah.
”So my parents decided to move back to town, only two weeks ago” Rebecca finishes the rest of her tea, laughing at Juliette’s shocked expression “Wow, that’s crazy” she acknowledges, “that you’ve come back”
And before she gets a reply, Juliette glances towards the door. She certainly doesn’t expect Calliope to stroll in.
As though fate demands it, their eyes meet across the room. Calliope smiles broadly, and Juliette returns the smile.
Cal begins to cross the cafe, raising a curious eyebrow when she finally spots Rebecca. She joins them at the table, standing awkwardly at the side.
”Hey Jules” she smiles, and before Juliette can properly introduce the pair, Rebecca is out of her seat and embracing Calliope in what looks like the most awkward hug of all time.
”You must be a friend of Juliette’s, I’m Rebecca” she introduces, and Calliope looks as confused as ever. Before Juliette can intervene, Rebecca is off again. “We’re just having a little catch up” and she winks at Juliette.
Jules splutters, lost for words. She blames her crippling social anxiety. Calliope doesn’t seem to know what to say either, instead standing there with a frown.
If Rebecca notices the tension, she doesn’t say anything and continues with a wide smile. “We used to be close when we were younger, I was just telling Jules how I’m back in Savannah. For good this time”
Juliette chokes on her coffee. Which is apparently possible for vampires. Maybe that is what kills legacy vampires? Choking the death in a Starbucks on a tepid black coffee with far too much vanilla essence.
”Oh, close?” Calliope manages to spit out, and her eyes are dark and unreadable. Juliette is confused at the situation by that point. Is Rebecca trying to flirt with her? Is Calliope mad? Maybe she should’ve skipped her morning coffee
Rebecca nods. “We dated awhile back”. Juliette frowns. “We did?” Calliope looks as confused as Jules’ feels. “You did?”
”You know how close we were, Jules” Rebecca laughs, hand stroking at Juliette’s arm. Now if she had logic or any common sense, Juliette would bat her arm away and probably leave.
But Juliette instead was frozen, she had no idea what was actually going on. Surely she wasn’t awkward enough to mistake a casual friendship for a relationship.
“Well not officially” Rebecca adds, and Juliette breathes out a sign of relief. Good to know she wasn’t going crazy. “I missed you” she ignores Calliope now, and Juliette wants the ground to swallow her whole.
”Well uh, it’s nice to see you Rebecca. I missed you, our, no uh. Our friendship” Juliette finally replies, and Calliope shoots her a look.
Calliope shakes her head. Uh oh. She looks mad. “Well don’t let me interrupt” and before Juliette can even formulate a response, she is gone.
Rebecca laughs, but awkwardly this time. “That was strange, she seemed a bit jealous. Maybe she realised how close we used to be, or still are” She trails a hand across her arm and Juliette pushes her off, standing up quickly.
Now Jules’ realised how bad she misread the situation. Rebecca didn’t want a friendly meet-up, she wanted to explore their relationship. Oh no, was this a date to Rebecca? Had she asked Juliette out on a date?
Had Calliope crashed their “date”?
“Sorry i need to” she staggers to her feet, if only Ben weren’t in Greece, visiting his father. He would have a field of a day with all of Juliette’s lesbian drama.
”Did I do anything to upset you?l Rebecca asks, standing up too. “I thought you wanted to see where things went, I used to always have a thing...”
Juliette interrupts. “I thought this was just hanging out. As friends Rebecca. That’s all we were” she tries to clear her mind. “That girl, Calliope. She’s my girlfriend”
Rebecca seems to understand, and has the gall to look mortified. “That explains why she looked so angry” she murmurs. “I’m sorry Jules, I thought you knew how I used to feel about you”
None of it matters anymore, and Juliette finds herself at the end of the conversation. “It was nice to see you Rebecca and welcome back to Savannah but I can’t do this” she slaps down a ten dollar bill onto the table, to cover the drinks and ignores Rebeccas protests as she ambles out of the cafe.
Things feel too dramatic right now, as though Juliette had stepped straight from her life into the pages of a romcom novel she liked to buy online.
She tried to be logical. Where could Calliope be. Most likely gone home; Juliette theorised. But would she be welcome at the Burns house, not if Calliope told her mother what she thought she saw
Okay. Technology. That can help. Juliette rings Calliope, and the phone beeps for a few moments. This is all bad, terribly bad. A disaster.
Eventually Calliope picks up. “Rebecca is my childhood friend. She asked me out for a coffee but I thought she just wanted a catch-up. I don’t like her in that way. I love you, only you” she blurts out, without even thinking.
A beat. Silence.
”Cal?”
Silence.
”Hey Jules, uh this is Apollo. Cal is having a shower”
Okay, it is official. Juliette wants to run off into the woods, curl up into a ball and forget all this nonsense. Honestly how could this day get any worse. ”Hi Apollo” she finally whispers
“Why have you got my phone?” She hears a voice ask and breathes a heavy sigh of relief. Over the phone, the siblings talk quietly and briefly before Cal’s voice fills the speaker. “Hey Jules”
Juliette sighs. “Hey, look Rebecca is just a friend. An old friend. Where are you, can we talk?” She asks. “Apollo is going out, and my place is empty. You can come over if you want” Calliope replies.
”Great. Okay. Wonderful” Juliette trips over herself. Then before she can hang up, she holds the phone close. “I love you” she tells her girlfriend and waits at the phone, almost pathetically. “I love you Jules” Calliope replies and the phone rings off.
Juliette thinks to herself as she walks across the street to the Burns house. Technically, she did nothing wrong except be too stupid to realise that Rebecca had a crush on her.
Logically, she didn’t think that Calliope was mad at her. If anything, she just seemed confused at the whole situation, and Jules couldn’t blame her for that.
She arrived eventually, knocking at the door. “Hey” she smiled when Calliope answered. “Hey” Cal replied, standing at the door awkwardly, before moving aside to let her in.
They take a seat on the couch. And the silence feels weird, suffocating instead of calming. Juliette can hear Calliope’s heart.
”I was jealous” Cal blurts out, before Juliette can even think how to start. “Oh” Juliette replies. “So I’m sorry” Calliope mumbles, even now she found apologises awkward.
Juliette shakes her head quickly. “No I’m sorry. For not having the social skills to realise that Rebecca asked me on a date” she pauses, “and for not telling her you’re my girlfriend. I was just kinda shocked at her, I thought we were hanging out as friends”
Calliope seems to take this in. “She is really pretty”. And this makes Juliette understand the problem. At its core, Cal is jealous. She isn’t mad at Juliette, she’s jealous at how upfront Rebecca was.
Maybe Elinor is right. Maybe Juliette is naive. She took the arm touching and gentle compliments as two old friends catching up, when it’s clear now that Rebecca meant more.
”But she’s no Calliope Burns” Juliette replies. “She wanted you” Calliope says. Juliette takes her girlfriends hands in her own. “But I want you”
Calliope searches in her eyes, looking for any doubt. But she must realise that Juliette is sincere, and leans forward to rest their foreheads together.
”She was just an old friend. It’s nice to see her, but I don’t think about her like that. I don’t think about anyone like that except for you” Juliette confesses
Calliope is quiet. “I guess it’s just weird, seeing another girl apart from me turn you into a bumbling mess” she articulates. Juliette nudges her playfully, “when am I never a bumbling mess?”
”You really don’t like her that way?” Calliope asks, her eyes curious. Juliette shakes her head, “I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you”
Calliope seems to accept the words, tugging Juliette into a tight hug. They stay in each other’s embrace, and Cal’s heart isn’t racing as fast as it was during the whole ordeal.
”I’m sorry I’m an awkward social mess” Juliette whispers against Calliope’s hair.
”And I’m sorry I got jealous” Calliope pulls away, but she’s back on Juliette straight away, colliding their lips together. When they pull apart, breathless, the confidence has returned to Calliope’s eyes.
“Should we go for lunch tomorrow at Starbucks instead? Show Rebecca whose girlfriend you actually are?” She challenges with a glint in her eye.