Chapter 2

She woke up and when she checked the time, she had been asleep for six hours. She felt refreshed and for a few minutes, she enjoyed the silence in her room and how cozy she felt. She then decided to text Ashley.

Ashley is one of Juliette's best friends since she arrived in New York. They work at the same advertising firm, and lived three blocks away from each other. They first met at the coffee shop on her first day at work. Juliette was late for work and was trying to get her usual hot espresso. She was nervous about going late that she started walking without looking at where she was going. As she tried to rush out of the coffee shop, it was the same time that Ashley was running into the shop, they bumped into each other and there was coffee everywhere. Unfortunately, they both had on white shirts and it was completely messed up. At that moment, Juliette almost broke down in tears for ruining a stranger's shirt. Ashley took one look at her and hugged her while reassuring her that everything was okay. She took her to the bathroom to try to salvage what was left of their shirt. It wasn't entirely damaged but it wasn't good as new. They later had their coffee and went to work late but Ashley covered for her and she didn't get into any trouble. With Ashley by her side, it didn't take long for Juliette to blend in and soon became almost everyone's favorite at work.

Getting a decent apartment for a great price was also Ashley's doing. Being two years older than Juliette, and both being raised by foster parents, Ashley jokes that Juliette is the younger sister she used to pray for everyday till her eighth birthday when her parents passed and she had to stay in a foster home.

When she first started dating Nathan, Ashley didn't approve of him. In fact, she made a list and even did a power point presentation of why he wasn't the best choice for her "Juls". According to her, Nathan was a manipulative and emotionally detached person. She feared that Nathan would cause irreparable damage to her little sister and she wanted to make sure it didn't happen. This caused Nathan to always feel uncomfortable around Ash. Juls had to make her see that she really liked Nathan and it was entirely her own decision whom she dated. Ash stopped being rude to him or glaring whenever he was nearby but her feelings for him remained unchanged: She wished he'd be hit by a fast train.

"Hey" she texted first. Ashley did not respond immediately so she started scrolling through her Twitter timeline, there were a lot of media noise about the dumbest things and she was not interested. Looking at her timeline, she knew she had to unfollow some of the people who posted uncensored images or trolled other people. She hated trolls and blocks followers who troll others.

"Hey Juls, our party was litttttt" a text notification from "Ash" came up.

"My memory is super hazy. I can barely remember anything that happened." She texted back.

"Oh, you didn't embarrass yourself, you're good"

"I didn't, but I feel like something definitely went down" Juliette texted still thinking of the stranger and their kiss.

"Gurlllllllllll, I definitely *wink *wink with Elliot"

"Shut up!! WTAF!!" Juliette chuckled at the thought of her friend and the company's tech nerd, Elliot.

"Right? He might be a nerd but he KNOWS what to do."

"I'm literally disgusted, you slut! *Wink I'm about to call yo ass" Juliette texted and proceeded to video call Ashley who accepted the call in less than a second.

"You!!" She screamed at Ashley.

"What? We left your place and continued our little session at mines" Ashley responded with the look that told Juliette that she was proud of herself.

"Oh my goodness!"

"You know, nerds are underestimated. I thought I was gonna pass out while we were at it"

"Damn"

"Can't you see my glow?" Ashley said moving towards the ringlight that was already turned on in her room.

Juliette laughed but she could tell that Ashley was looking refreshed. Her blonde hair was in a messy bun but she looked effortlessly gorgeous. She had flustered cheeks but Juliette knew it was because she was having flashbacks of what went down the previous night.

"So, what's going to happen now?" She asked Ashley.

"What do you mean?" Ashley responded applying eyeliner to her eyes.

"Are y'all together and all?"

"Nerds are not my type, remember?" She responded as she began to apply a nude lip liner.

"Going out?" Juliette asked as she watched her friend continue with her glam.

"Yeah, I'm grabbing dinner with Winston, this guy I just met. Before you ask, this is not our first meeting."

Ashley's dating life was a complicated circle of zero commitment and Juliette couldn't keep up with the names of all her dates.

"Just be safe okay? You know the drill"

"Sure thing kid, I'll text you immediately I get there, while I'm there and when I'm my way back, got it." Ashley said while making a funny face at her.

"I'm getting a call from Nate, I'll call you later" Juliette call out trying to end their FaceTime to answer Nathan's call.

"Hey" she said immediately she accepted the call.

"Hey" he responded but he sounded very tired.

"Are you okay, you don't sound okay"

"It's nothing, I slept late and I still haven't gotten enough sleep because my parents came over and I've been trying to keep them company."

"Oh, I've missed you."

"Missed me? We saw each other yesterday morning."

"Yeah but I still missed you. Want me to come over?" Then she remembered he mentioned his parents were in town. "Oh! You said you're with your parents. How long are they in town for?"

"Not sure but I hope it's not for long. Look, I gotta go now, we're supposed to have dinner together and we're eating out."

"Okay then, talk later?" She asked but he had hung up before she said it.

She had been dating Nathan for over a year and even though she tries to deny it, he always seemed very detached from their relationship. He never takes her on dates as he used to, or even spend time with her. She loved him more than she's ever loved anyone and always wants to be around him but he grabs every opportunity that requires him not to be with her, including working on weekends just to stay away. She believes anything he tells her and accepts how he treats her. He openly flirts with other girls when they go out but she dismisses it as him being friendly.

They were introduced to each other by a mutual friend from work at one of the company's party. He looked way out of her league and was generally disinterested in the party but after the introduction, he seem to take an interest in her life and they exchanged their contacts. The next day, she worked into her office and it was filled with rose flowers and a note that read "I hope your day gets as bright as these roses." She hated roses because it brought back a nasty memory she decided to bury a long time ago, but the effort and thought put into the gift made her accept it. Everyone but Ashley had thought the gift was perfect. "Does he even know anything about you? Roses? This man should be jailed!" She said looking at the roses.

"I'll tell him" she had replied and she tried to tell him but he told her that roses represented royalty and she was his Queen. She thought it'd be rude to him if she brought up her reason for hating roses but everytime he bought them to her, she'd dispose them when nobody was looking by removing each petal from the flower. It was always a long and painful process but it was the price she had to pay for disliking this flower, and she accepted it.

Her phone beeped, it was a text from Ashley informing her that she had gotten to her destination. She checked the time and it was 7:30pm. She rolled out of bed and went out of her room to try to get something to eat. As she walked out, she heard voices coming from the living room, scared that someone was in the house, she grabbed her flip-flops in her hands and in a fight stance, she walked slowly into the living when she saw him sitting on the couch watching the show she was watching before she slept.

He turned immediately she walked in and when he saw her, he wore a puzzled expression.

"What's going on with you?"

"I thought there was someone else in here, like a burglar or worse, a killer." She replied putting her flip-flops back on.

"And you were going to fight them off with a pink fluffy rabbit flips?" He asked as he gestured at the flip-flops.

"It's a weapon in the right circumstance."

"Sure, if the killer is a two-year old toddler."

"Whatever! Wait till I actually fight off a killer with these bad boys."

"If you say so Ms Kelson." he replied in a sarcastic tone as he resumed watching the movie.

She rolled her eyes and walked into the kitchen. She opened the fridge and fixed herself a club sandwich, an apple and a can of soda. She ate the meal in the kitchen in silence.

His phone rang and when he answered it, he just walked out of the door without saying a word. When she finished eating, she went to continue the movie from where she stopped and an hour later, she got her work laptop and began to work on a project her team was supposed to work on. They had been given a week to research and present their findings for their presentation tomorrow. Her phone beeped again but she thought it was just Ashley telling her she had gotten home or something.

She finished tidying up the work in exactly three hours and was about to head to bed when she realized that Matt was not back and she needed to lock up. She decided to wait for an extra 30 minutes but he wasn't still home. While she waited, Ashley called her.

"Hey" Juliette said immediately.

"Hey"

"You back?"

"Yeah, I just got home."

"Okay. So, how'd it go?"

"It was nice, he was polite and all, I had a good time till I saw a jerk-face!"

"Who? Do I know the person?"

"You're dating him!"

"Ash, don't call Nathan a jerk, he hasn't done anything to you." She replied rubbing her forehead, she was tired of the constant feud between her boyfriend and Ashley.

"He was on a date with another girl!"

"No he wasn't. He told me he was having dinner with his parents."

"I thought he was there with you that's why I texted you earlier. Didn't you see the text I sent?"

"I didn't read it, I thought you were just letting me know you had gotten there safely."

"In the text, I called you a clown for spying on me by coming to the same restaurant where me and Winston went with your boyfriend. But then I saw the girl he was sitting across from was a blondie. He kissed her as they sat before they ate."

"I don't think you saw him well." Juliette replied trying to shake out the truth of the reality from her head.

"I knew you were gonna say that, I have proof, I took a video of the whole thing and I can send it to you now if you-"

"No. I'm not interested." Juliette cut her off. She hung up the phone and immediately called Nathan, it rang and went to voicemail. She called a couple more times and it all went to voicemail.

Then she broke down and started to cry.

Her phone rang and when she checked the caller ID, it was Ashley. She didn't pick up. She couldn't. Ashley might just hit her with the "I told you so" line or try to tell her why Nathan was not worth her time, and she was not in the mood for it. She loved Nathan with all of her and she never held back on her emotions. She overlooked everything he said or did to her because she thought she deserved it. She cried more because she didn't know whether he still loved her or if she was just a bother to him. She cried and blamed herself for everything. She tried calling him again for about fifteen more minutes and it continued going to voicemail. That's when she texted him about seeing him with a girl, she forwarded the video Ashley sent to her even though she told her not to send it, to him, called off their relationship and blocked his number. She cried more till she fell asleep on the couch.